MIKE DAVIES COLUMN JULY 2022

If the phrase English Zen Rock conjures up enticing thoughts of majestic, chilled, meditative and pastoral music to calm and soothe the mind and spirit during these dark and troubled times, then you want to make a pilgrimage to the temple of the ARMCHAIR GODS.

Brummies born and bred with a friendship stretching back over many year, Paul Kearns and Steve Peckover have a collective musical career of playing in numerous bands based in and around the Midlands, among them Hela, touted as ones to watch back at the end of the 90s. Steve was a regular at the Ronnie Scott’s  Singer Songwriters festivals while, studying music at the Musicians Institute in London, Paul was a finalist in  the UK Guitarist Magazine of the year competition.

Today, however, they are Armchair Gods, a progressive rock instrumental duo with a full pantheon of sound drawing on such diverse influences as Kate Bush, Nick Drake, Heather Nova, Jonatha Brooke, IQ, Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery, PFM and, perhaps, most notably, The Enid. Not to mention a touch of Mozart, Rodrigo and John Barry.

Their mission is to create extended, nuanced and multi-faceted musical compositions that will engage and immerse listeners in  its sonic tapestry, the first fruits of which are the debut album Vanaprastha, titled from a Sanskrit term derived from vana, meaning "forest" and prastha, meaning "going to", translated as  “retiring to the forest”,  one of the most important concepts in the Hindu religion, representing the third of the four ashramas, or  stages of human life.

Recorded using a repaired Dell Inspiron N5050 laptop, it’s loosely based on a symphonic arrangement with an exposition section of contrasting themes (Hero I and Riverman I) with a  transition (The Waltz) a developmental section (The Hunt), a recapitulation section (Hero II, Riverman II) and a coda (The Gate) all flowing together as a seamless whole.

Each of the themes conveys different life experience/stages. Emerging from the early morning mist to embrace classical acoustic guitars amid the hypnotic swirl and disembodied voices, Hero I represents finding the courage to step into the unknown for the very first time, an experience that can bring joy, but also a realisation of grief. 

Announced with a fanfare flourish and floating on pastoral strings with a hint of Leonard Cohen to the guitar lines, Riverman I marks a return to the familiar, finding comfort in going with the flow  while The Waltz is a pulsing, woodwind flavoured piece representing being locked in step with toil but with the knowledge and hope that things will get better. 

With its steady drum beat, nervy strings, keyboard trills and echoing distant electric guitar howls The Hunt, the first single, captures the sensation of fear and how to confront it, appropriately visited by a thunderstorm and the evocation choral voices mid-way, unfolding into the aftermath calm of Hero II and an exultant Riverman II before closing with The Gate, its David Gilmour tinted guitar wizardry and a state of acceptance, ready to move on to whatever the next state of the journey may be.  (Available to download from armchairgods.bandcamp.com)

Ploughing similar territory to Paolo Nutini and Jack Savoretti, JAMES BROADFOOT lays down a warm, smooth funky groove with debut single Ordinary People featuring Isaiah Sharkey on vocals and a tasty guitar solo.

THE PINES are a three piece (Callum, Conor, Cartney) indie outfit with Oasis and Arctic Monkeys colours, the new single Standard Model being about not working so hard to never have a life (“To get this far, work this hard/And you'll have a life of happiness my friends/But on the flip side you might miss out/On all the pretty memories instead”. 

GLASS CEILINGS are another “light-hearted indie sweetness” crew, this time a four piece, with new single When In Rome the sort of catchy summery funky pop designed for lazing in the grass.

A noisier proposition, HEADSHRINKERS line up as Garran, James, Xavier and Scarlett, a post-punk cocktail of guitar riffs, thunderous bass-lines and pummelling drums headed up by frontman Garran Hickman.

Their debut EP,  Doorway Conversations, pulls together five propulsive numbers, kicking off with a New Orderish Interrobang and keeping the energy exploding through the title track and the bass-heavy Monocle while showing their slower side on the delightfully named and very Joy Division influenced march beat drums and keyboard swirls of Haggard Mullins and the more acoustic, spoken poetic lyrics of The Sea Has No Friends, gradually swelling to huge climax. Named Brum Radio’s Band of the Year in 2020, they’re now ready to conquer far wider territories.

An early taster of his forthcoming The Glass Age album, an online collaboration with producer Gustaf Ljunggren and born from the Rising Sun Stream Series he ran from Japan during lockdown,  DAN WHITEHOUSE releases ‘Campfire’, a beguiling minimalist folktronica single using a single synthesizer, that likens the glowing sunrises over Tokyo Bay  to the campfires burning back in the UK. Speaking of how we are unified by the warmth of the sun and fire and the transformative power of perception,  he sings “When you change the way you look at things; Watch the things you look at start to change”.  

ALBUMS

JOHNNY HUNTER – Want (Cooking Vinyl Australia)

The debut album by the Sydney four piece comes steeped in a high energy, driving mix of New Wave and gothic post-punk. It’s 70s punk that launches proceedings with the title track, summoning thoughts of iconic Australian new wave legends The Saints with its driving riffs and declamatory vocals, though you might also hear traces of The Skids and Cactus World News. That feel is carried over into Endless Days with its assault battery of hooks, but then The Floor introduces a new, and more pervasive, influence  with its heady evocation of Joy Division (and, naturally, New Order) while Life and Dreams bring both The Cure and The Smiths to the party.

Although the album is predominantly a  ball of power and energy, as with the ringing guitars of Cry Like A Man, they do slip in some slower moments with Nick Hutt’s Ian Curtis-styled vocals of Fracture where they find beauty in sadness  and big building soaring and positive album closer Clover. A hugely impressive debut, that should certainly see them building an enthusiastic following well beyond their antipodean shores. 

MIKE DAVIES COLUMN JUNE 2022

HONEY I SHOT THE PRESIDENT are a new local four piece comprising singer Nathan on rhythm guitar, Jack on lead, Josh on bass  and Brad on drums. They describe themselves as an eclectic rock band, which seems a fair description given their stylistic diversity. The recently released the earworm single On A Whim which with its circling guitar pattern and Nathan’s vocals called to mind REM and The Mighty Lemon Drops. They follow now with a debut 6-track EP, Cutting Corners, that shows a harder edge, opening with the riff-driving Devils In The Details while Here Comes The Kennedys has a punkier urgency sporting some pummelling drums and a blistering guitar solo. The swaggery blues rock Monroe has echoes of The Stranglers had they been reared on hard rock riffs while Porcelain Promise suggests some Deep Purple DNA and allows Guy to showcase his drum solo muscles. Shoot The Crows is more hard rock riffery with a bass line that had me thinking of Jack Bruce and it ends with the slightly poppier and melody-led 80s guitar rock and descending chords punch of Time, taken together a very impressive calling card.

It’s been nine years since OCS guitarist STEVE CRADDOCK last released a solo album, . but he returns now in a very different mode to his psychedelia-influenced previous albums, with A Soundtrack To An Imaginary Movie (Kundalini), a jazz, folk and classic inspired instrumental album that, variously featuring assorted family members and friends on gong, Tibetan singing bowls, piano, cello, violin, congas, flute and trombone ably demonstrates his multi-instrumentalist and compositional skills across the ten tracks where traces of Coltrane, Morricone, Satie Bacharach and Glass can be heard.

Each track named for a colour (most being obscure terms), it opens in serene fashion with the troubadour classical guitar work of Lapiz Lazuli featuring Joe Cox’s cello and Morricone hints, keeping things tranquil for Quercitron, Cox joined by Lila and Hugo Levingston on violin and flute respectively, the closing moments conjuring bird song and distant church bells.

Built around Hammond organ and featuring congas, Cochineal recalls the music from late 60s Italian reveries while Sarcoline sees the return of flute and comes with a late night, neon streets sax from the late Brian Travers. The first half ends with the floating ethereality of Annato that has a similar relaxed vibe to Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross, part two seeing his wife Sally on gongs and singing bowl for the eight-minute slow gathering meditational and minimalist Dragon’s Blood, a track that’s the equivalent of a wind spirit whispering quietly in your ear. 

The Satie-like piano based Falu featuring son Cass is a true piece of keyboard magic that deserves prime exposure on Radio 3, followed by Fulvous, a  showcase for Cox’s dark, droning cello and hints perhaps of Sibelius or Delius that conjures the build up to a gathering storm. Glaucus is another tentative notes piano piece complemented with sad, brooding cello and violin and it closes with the seven-minute orchestral sweep of Gunjo where the strings are joined by Tim Smart’s mellow trombone as it builds to a brief swell before the dying fall.  Think Pasolini, de Sica, Visconti, Fellini, Bresson, Tavernier or, perhaps English director Terence Davies and  you can build the film in your mind’s eye, this really deserves a showcase at the Town Hall.

 

SICKY has a new album due shortly and there’s a couple of tasters doing the rounds. The Bridge comes with a video that has it soundtracking Uma Thurman and John Travolta’s dance from Pulp Fiction, the track an upbeat chugging slice of catchy 70s pop with a percolating keyboard riff that recalls Doug Sahm and The Texas Tornados while, after a whirligig intro, Swim Shallow (Kitchen Dance Part Deux) rides a glam stomp swaggery handclap rhythm with a shadowy seam of menace to the breathy vocals and urgency. On this form, it could be his best and most commercial album yet.

And on the subject of glam, R.John Webb unleashes his DANDY THE VANDAL project, with debut album The Ingenious Gentleman Dandy The Vandal & The Godforsaken Sweethearts (Catch The Buzz Records). As you might have surmised with the nod to  Dandy In The Underworld, Marc Bolan is a prime influence (though Ziggy and his Spiders are there too) and were he around I’m sure the bopping elf would have loved this. Described as  having a  Brexit backdrop and a dialogue with the 70s, it kicks off in surging manner with Coup Coup Collider where it’s apparent that T.Rex is but one of the touchstones, the pop particle collider also swirling together Roy Wood,  Mud, Slade, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and more. The strobe light swagger of Dandy The Vandal  welcomes Bowie and The Stones to the party, followed by  the Chic funk groove meets  Robert Plant of Do Juan Don and the skittering Feel The Madness where Talking Heads get a look in. 

A tip of the hat to 6os Spector (and a sniff of Bryan Ferry) arrives with the synth backed   Small Island, then it’s the dreamy retro crooning balladry of The Moment You Love Me before everything gets thrown up in the air with Toast Gown, basically a cacophony of Margaret Thatcher samples, returning to Young Americans era Bowie for the simply irresistible funky grooved siren cry strobe-lit march We Are The Subterraneans. It ends in fine style with the chant rhythm and Hotlegs marching beat of We Belong To Her with its rousing synth anthemics, a glorious pinata of 70s pop and Dylan undertones waiting to be beaten open with a big listening stick.  A cornucopia of affectionate reference points, it’s basically a 21^ST century answer to The Dukes of Stratosphere and one of the best things you’ll hear this year. It gets an official launch on July 28 at the Hare & Hounds, and it promises to be night to tell the grandchildren about.

Not a solo artist, QUENTIN FRANCIS is in fact a four piece indie-pop outfit headed up by songwriter Matty George, with bassist Luke McCrohon, lead guitarist  Ross Carley  James Morris on drums. The latest self-released single is Work, a fine earworm number with Postcard era choppy guitars and swirling keys that, given  decent headwind, could set then up as the next breakout act. 

I was much impressed with the previous single from Birmingham trio  THE MASSES and even more so with the latest, Inside My Head, a wheezing, riffing swagger and stomp of distorted guitar, handclap shuffle, raspily sung voodoo swampy Louisiana blues that has a similar vibe to John Kongos 1971 hit Tokoloshe Man by way of Dr John. An eventual album is highly anticipated.