Mercury Prize Blog

Artist Favourites: recommendations from Biffy Clyro and Dizzee Rascal

posted 02/09/2010

Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro’s evolution from cult favourites to stadium fillers has be gradual but constant, the trio building on their dedicated grassroots following with a succession of acclaimed albums. With their fifth long player ‘Only Revolutions’, a 2010 Barclaycard Mercury Prize Album of the Year, the band have taken their stadium filling sound to the biggest audience so far, winning mainstream adoration and performing to their biggest crowds yet at this year’s festivals.

The band’s songwriting has always been shaped by their live performance, and their taste for touring has also informed their own personal listening habits, give the high calibre of bands they take out on the road as support acts.

Pulled Apart By Horses could be described as a real band’s band. As harmonious as they are heavy, the quartet from Leeds have a legion of devotees that includes the likes of Blood Red Shoes, Muse and Biffy’s fellow Mercury Prize artists Foals. They supported BIffy Clyro on their 2009 UK tour, and joined them once again at The Roundhouse for this year’s iTunes Festival. Their eponymous debut album was released earlier this year on Transgressive Records and perfectly captures the raw energy of their frenetic live shows.

Manchester Orchestra also supported Biffy on their tour last year, and much like their Caledonian contemporaries the band’s sound has been shaped over years of constant touring. They’ve played thousands of gigs since forming in 2005 in Athens, Georgia; after releasing their sophomore album ‘I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child’, the band played 300 shows in under 12 months. This approach to touring becomes all the more impressive when you consider their young age. Andy Hull, the hirsute lead singer and founding member of Manchester Orchestra, recorded the band’s first record ‘Nobody Sings Anymore’ during his last year of High School in 2004.

Rolo Tomassi are another favourite of Biffy Clyro’s. Forming in Sheffield in 2005, they’ve always ensured their music is as original as it is intense. They counterpoint the ferocious dynamics of Metal with the intricacies of Math Rock, bringing in elements of Punk, Free Jazz and Hardcore. With such an electrified concoction of influences, the band’s greatest accomplishment is their ability to imbue everything they do with a surreal kind of Pop. Even at their heaviest and most uncompromising, their music is always completely infectious. They supported Biffy on their UK tour earlier this year, and released second album Cosmology (produced by Mad Decent’s Diplo) shortly afterwards.

Unlike some of Biffy Clyro’s other favourites, Oceansize have been playing together for over a decade. Forming in Manchester in 1998 they’ve released a bevy of albums and EP’s that have seen their progressive and punchy take on Rock constantly evolve. The quintet write all their material through jam sessions, and as such their music is perfectly suited to live performance. The band have been longtime friends of Biffy Clyro, as they both cut their teeth on the same gigging circuit. It’s a friendship that has grown over the years, to the point that Oceansize’s Mike Vennart now joins Biffy live as their second guitarist. Their fourth album ‘Self Preserved Whilst The Bodies Float Up’ is released this September.

Biffy Clyro’s recommendations in full:

www.myspace.com/rolotomassi
www.myspace.com/pulledapartbyhorses
www.myspace.com/thexx
www.myspace.com/oceansizeuk
www.myspace.com/manchesterorchestra
www.myspace.com/mymorningjacket

Dizzee Rascal

Over the course of four albums, Dizzee has managed to adapt his unique sound in a way that has appealed to a mainstream audience without sacrificing his original following. Before the Number Ones and international tours, Dizzee was one of many young rappers living in East London performing at raves and on pirate radio stations. It was whilst cutting his teeth on this circuit that Dizzee first met D Double E, a true veteran of the Grime scene and founding member of Newham Generals.

After the success of his albums ‘Boy In Da Corner’, ‘Showtime’ and ‘Maths + English’, Dizzee decided to leave his record label and release his own music via Dirty Stank, the label he had established whilst still at school. Newham Generals were one of the first signings and have since become mainstays, releasing their album ‘Generally Speaking’ through the label. The duo host their own show on London’s famed Rinse FM, and in doing are influencing a whole new generation of MC’s.

Another member of the Dirtee Stank family is Smurfie Syco, who first joined the label with debut signings Klass A and had since worked on his solo career. The rapper, who hails from North London, progressed through the Capital’s pirate radio community much like Dizzee. He released his first mixtape last year and is currently working on new material for his debut album.

www.myspace.com/dizzeerascal
www.myspace.com/dirteestankrecordings
www.myspace.com/newhamgenerals
www.myspace.com/smurfiesyco
www.myspace.com/voterinsefm

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/mercuryprize/blog?page=3#ixzz0yNxFH7ny

Artist Favourites: Corinne Bailey Rae and Villagers

posted 26/08/2010

We continue on our quest to uncover the listening habits of those artists included in the 2010 Barclaycard Mercury Prize Albums of the Year.


Corinne Bailey Rae

‘The Sea’ is quietly striking album that references Corinne’s Soulful side and also calls on her background in Leeds thriving musical community. Both these influences have always helped shape her own music, but it seems they’ve also informed her iPod.

One of Corinne’s current favourites is a singer very much in the ascendent. Janelle Monae first came to the attention of the world at large with ‘Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase)’, a concept driven set of songs that were completed with her first album proper ‘The ArchAndroid’. A hugely original performer, Monae calls on R&B’s many various incarnations to create something completely fresh and exciting, and it’s not just Corinne who’s championing the singer from Kansas City: both Sean ‘Diddy’ Coombes and Big Boi of Outkast have been huge supporters.

A singer whose style differs greatly from both Corinne and Janelle is John Grant, the former singer of cult Denver-based band The Czars. Now embarking on a solo career, Grant worked with the excellent Midlake on his debut album ‘The Queen of Denmark’, a set that has won rave reviews across the board. The singer’s sparse mix of Seventies Rock and delicate Folk may seem a million miles away from the charismatic Monae, but the two do share a taste for alter egos and dressing up: the recent video for ‘Chicken Bones’ saw the hirsute Grant dressing up as super hero down on his luck and roaming the streets of Cardiff. Corinne discovered the singer at this year’s Latitude Festival, but you can catch him supporting Midlake on their forthcoming UK tour.

Local Natives are another band Corinne encountered at one of this summer’s festivals. The band from LA were one of the most talked about band’s at these years SXSW, and their album ‘Gorilla Mansion’ has earned them plenty of positive press coverage. The band’s four-part harmonies are central to their sound, and have earned them more than a couple of comparisons to Fleet Foxes. The breadth of their music has, however, ensured that Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear and Vampire Weekend have also been mentioned in relation to the quintet from Silver Lake, CA. Find out for yourself when they tour the UK in November.

www.myspace.com/janellemonae
www.myspace.com/johnwilliamgrant
www.myspace.com/localnatives

Villagers

Conor O’Brien’s Villagers have captured the hearts of many with their debut album ‘Becoming A Jackal’. The record boasts beautiful acoustics and gently paced songwriting, two attributes that are becoming all the more common in modern music. Rather than echoing the work of others though, Villagers unique voice marks them out as a unique force and leaders amid the quiet revolution.

Our Little Secrets draw many parallels with Villagers: both bands have cut their teeth in the diverse music scene of Dublin, and both are built around the songs of their front men. Like Conor with Villagers, Rhob Cunningham has assembled a band of sympathetic musicians to breathe life into his songs. The intoxicating mix of laid back styles suit his impassioned vocals perfectly, and Our Little Secrets are building a dedicated following, both in their native Dublin and also further afield. They’ve supported Villagers (at their shows in the Old Vic Tunnels in London), Throwing Muses’ Kristen Hersh, Turin Brakes and Tori Amos amongst others and have recorded a song with Lisa Hannigan on their eponymous debut album which is out now.

Another band who are no strangers to Dublin venues such as Whelans are Squarehead. Their music might not share the same acoustic sensibilities as Villagers and Our Little Secrets, but there’s a heartfelt sentiment at the root of their Surfy guitar Pop that has struck a chord with Conor. The band support a No Age and Male Bonding later in the Autumn and have their debut single out on Any Other City Records.

Finally, Conor’s third pick also hail from Ireland, albeit further down the East Coast in Wexford. Adebisi Shank make highly charged, synth-driven Indie that defies any exact categorisation but is winning the popularity of blogs the world over. Just this week the band appeared in Hype Machine’s ‘Most Blogged Artists’ list, appearing alongside the likes of Chromeo, Arcade Fire and Röyksopp with their track ‘International Dreambeat’. Visit the band’s Myspace page where they’re streaming tracks from their nattily titled album ‘This is the Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank’

www.myspace.com/rhob
www.myspace.com/squareheadmusic
www.myspace.com/adebisishank

Read more on our Myspace Blog

Artist Favourites: from Wild Beasts and I Am Kloot

posted 10/08/2010
The Barclaycard Mercury Prize ‘Albums of the Year’ highlight some of the best new albums released in past twelve months, bringing together emerging artists, underground favourites and chart-topping icons alike.

We’ll be finding out what the dozen bands and artists who appear on this year’s list have been listening to recently, as they share their favourite new music exclusively on our blog.


Wild Beasts

Wild Beasts have cultivated an original sound over the course of two stunning albums; Two Dancers, their sophomore set, is one of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2010 Albums of the Year. The distinct dual vocals of Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming are certainly idiosyncratic, lending operatic introspection and an inherent eloquence to the well crafted songs, but at the very heart of Wild Beasts is the band’s shared musicianship. As Hayden and Tom move between bass, guitar and keyboards, Ben Little and Chris Talbot hold down rhythm guitar and drums respectively.

Two Dancers was recorded in the wilderness of Norfolk with producer Richard Formby, the band favouring to record live as a unit and, as Thorpe puts it, “not over thinking”. The resulting record is a dynamic and distinct collection of songs that pulse with dark wit, sordid subject matters and soaring melodies, taking musical cues from a diverse range of influences.

When a band makes music that’s as striking as that of Wild Beasts, it stands to reason that their own favourites are equally original.

Esben & The Witch
James Ferraro
Oneohtrix Point Never
Lone Wolf
Sketches

Visit Wild Beasts MySpace page to hear songs from Two Dancers.

I Am Kloot


The Mancunian trio have, over the course of the past decade, experienced many of the highs and the lows that come with being in a band, turning their experiences into a rich source of inspiration that is reflected in their music. With their fifth studio album ‘The Sky at Night’ John Bramwell, Peter Jobson and Andy Hargreaves have returned triumphant, imbuing their own particular brand of melodic Rock with soulful songwriting and heart rendering arrangements. The record is one of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Albums of the Year.

The band have been friends with Elbow for many years, Guy Garvey in fact produced their debut album Natural History. I Am Kloot approached Garvey and band mate Craig Potter to help produce The Sky at Night, an opportunity which both jumped at. “Producing Natural History was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life, so I jumped at the chance to do it again” explained Garvey. “The songs are some of John’s best, and listening to the demos was like being jostled by gentlemen thieves. I looked down and my heart was gone; and my wallet!”

The trio put everything in to their songwriting, something that has proven a key ingredient in their steady, slow burning success. It also shines through in the acts and artists that the band themselves love listening to .

Everything Everything
Kathryn Edwards
The Trophy Husbands
The Virgin Marys
Kong

To hear songs from I Am Kloot’s album ‘The Sky at Night’, visit the band’s MySpace page.

Thank Folk for Cambridge!

posted 29/07/2010

Cambridge Folk Festival Now in its forty fifth year, the Cambridge Folk Festival is rightly regarded as a one of the most important fixtures in the festival calendar, bringing artists from all over the world to the small village of Cherry Hinton.

The organisers have always used a very broad definition of the term Folk, something that has ensured exciting line-ups and helped build a loyal audience who are as well versed in Blues, Country and other worldlier genres as they are in traditional Folk.

The first festival in 1965 saw a late addition to the bill in the shape of the then young American emigre Paul Simon, setting a trend for some of music’s biggest names who’ve since made their way along the M11. Joe Strummer, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez and Nanci Griffith are just some of the internationally renowned acts to have graced the festival.

This year’s festival, which takes place this weekend, features headline performers Kris Kristofferson, Natalie Merchant and Seasick Steve, but elsewhere on the bill are some lesser known names who are equally deserving of attention.

Megson

Husband and wife Stu and Debbie Hanna are a refreshing force in the new British Folk movement, reviving traditional songs from around the UK as well as capturing contemporary times with their own compositions. Their latest long player, their fourth since they started playing together in 2004, takes its inspiration from the songs of their hometown of Teeside, bringing the standards right in to the 21st Century. Seth Lakeman, who will also appear at the Cambridge Folk Festival, said of the duo “For my money, Megson are amongst the most exciting trailblazers of British Contemporary Folk

The Unthanks

Originally Rachel Unthank and The Winterset, the band formed around sisters Becky and Rachel Unthank has evolved since ‘The Bairns’, an album that found its way on to the 2007 Mercury Prize Albums of the Year. Now known simply as The Unthanks, the band counts ten members who provide a rich and original backing to the sisters’ haunting harmonies. Like their fellow Northumbrians Megson, The Unthanks are a key talent in a vital and voracious scene that’s transforming British Folk. The band have just completed their first tour of America, returning for this much anticipated performance.

Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit

The vibrant scene that’s already given the world Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons and Noah and the Whale can also boast Johnny Flynn amongst its number. Born in South Africa and transposed to Hampshire at a very young age, He toured the world as a Shakespearean actor but gave it up to follow a musical career, first playing with Emmy The Great, and then with his own band The Sussex Wit. Two albums in to his career and Johnny has cultivated a sound of his own, melding traditional Folk with elements of Americana. Latest set ‘Been Listening’ has seen him push things even further, incorporating brass and strings into the mix.

Sharon Shannon & Imelda May

The festival has always placed as much emphasis on the people involved as it has the music they play, and in this spirt two of Irelands leading ladies join forces for a unique collaboration. Shannon is revered by the traditional music community in Ireland, playing many instruments including the accordion, fiddle, melodeon and tin whistle. She was the youngest ever winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Meteors in 2009, the same year that May won the Best Irish Female Award. Between Shannon’s forward looking take on traditional music and May’s charismatic revision of Rockabilly, this set should provide the Cambridge with one of its most interesting moments.

For more information, visit the Cambridge Folk Festival website

2010 Albums of the Year

posted 22/07/2010

This week saw the launch of the Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2010 Albums of the Year at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden. Taking to the podium and addressing an expectant crowd, Lauren Laverne revealed the twelve albums… a set that readily reflects the rude health of British and Irish music.

As ever the shortlist is rich and varied, featuring many bands and artists at different stages of their career. There are some striking and impressive debuts from bands who are making their mark on the industry, namely The xx, Mumford & Sons and Villagers.

The xx’s ethereal Indie has found a huge following in both the UK and US, with their near eponymous ‘xx’ achieving cult status overnight. Where The xx use a delicate balance of time and space to metre their music, Mumford & Sons rely on powerful delivery and heartfelt passion. Their debut ‘Sigh No More’ is an emotive collection of acoustic songs that pulses with an honest and unwavering energy that is core to the band’s already legendary performances.

Villagers, the band based around the songs of Conor O’Brien, sit somewhere between their two contemporaries, using the same acoustic approach to elaborate arrangements as Mumford & Sons, but adhering to the same less-is-more maxim so keenly endorsed by The xx. ‘Day of the Jackal’ is a wonderfully understated and beautifully intricate album that Conor himself has described as sounding like ‘someone whispering in your ear’.

Kit Downes Trio’s debut album also features in the list, although it seems strange to talk of the young pianist as a newcomer given his prolific presence on the Jazz scene. Having already played with Empirical, Troyka, Golden Age of Steam, Nostalgia 77, Acoustic Ladyland, Seb Roachford and fellow Purcell student Micachu, Downes has an impressive CV for someone in their mid twenties. He brings all of this experience to the fore when playing with the trio, a band he formed five years ago whilst studying at the Royal Academy. Their debut ‘Golden’ is an inventive set that consistently switches between hushed tones to wild and wilful expressionism.

There are a number of artists who have already put their debut behind them and have moved forwards, proving that there’s little weight behind the ‘difficult second album’ theory. Foals ‘Total Life Forever’ is a mature and masterful record that harnesses the energy that has abounded throughout their career, and combines it with the band’s finely tuned ear for composition and arrangement.

Wild Beasts have also achieved plenty with their acclaimed sophomore outing ‘Two Dancers’. Highly cerebral, yet continually immediate, the album is as infectious as it is intellectual and confirms the band as a highly original voice in British music.

Laura Marling, whose debut ‘Alas, I Cannot Swim’ was included in 2008’s list, makes her second successive Mercury appearance with ‘I Speak Because I Can’. Detectably darker and at times heavier than her debut, the album proved that even still at such a young age Marling is one of the UK’s finest songwriting talents.

Corinne Bailey Rae may have her grounding in a different sphere of music, but like Laura she demonstrates both strength and subtleties with her album ‘The Sea’ which she wrote, performed and co-produced. The album matches the sheen and shine of her 2006 debut, but finds Corinne a more mature musician and a brave and accomplished writer.

Two solo male artists make their presence felt on this year’s list. At first they may seem polar opposites, but on closer inspection Dizzee Rascal and Paul Weller have more in common than you might first expect. Both have been figurative in the continuing transformation of British youth culture, both have followed a path of their own making and refused to give in to the expectations of others. So perhaps it was fitting to see them share the spotlight together at the Albums of the Year Launch, posing shoulder to shoulder for the many cameras that filled The Hospital Club.

Weller’s ‘Wake Up The Nation’ is his tenth solo album, and many critics have labeled it his best. As he explained in an interview (visit Recommends for more information), he adopted a brand new working practice for the album, and as a result has arrived at something all the more instantaneous.

Dizzee, now on his third Mercury shortlisted album (only Pulp have achieved three nods and Radiohead four, meaning Dizzee finds himself in some rather illustrious company), has opened up his sound and successfully made the transition from Urban artist to mainstream star with ‘Tongue N’ Cheek’, an album that arrives six years on from ‘Boy In Da Corner’.

Finally, finishing off the dozen albums are two bands who have shared a similarly organic evolution. Both are five albums in to their career, and both have built up a passionate and ever growing following through tireless touring, exhilarating live shows and, most importantly, word of mouth recommendation. Even more coincidentally, both bands make the shortlist for the first time this year with their latest offerings.

Biffy Clyro’s ‘Only Revolutions’ is an immense and emotive revision of Modern Rock, an accomplished set that distinguishes them as some of the finest exponents of their genre.

I Am Kloot’s journey has been similarly progressive. With ‘The Sky At Night’, the band have rekindled the relationship that gave life to their 2001 debut ‘Natural History’ and got Elbow’s Guy Garvey and his bandmate Craig Potter back in the studio to help produce the album, a dramatic and deeply moving set that shines with its honesty and imagination.

As ever there’s plenty of positive discussion surrounding the 2010 Albums of the Year, which looks set to continue until the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Albums of the Year Award Show on 7 September.

Flying Lotus in London

posted 15/07/2010

Stephen Ellison has been been thrilling audiophiles and fans of abstract electronic music since his earliest releases under the guise of Flying Lotus. Having already established himself amid LA’s thriving musical community Ellison’s attended 2006’s Red Bull Music Academy in Melbourne, an experience that resulted in ‘Tea Light Dancers’ featuring Andreya Triana. The track helped establish Flying Lotus as an innovative and instinctive producer and brought him to the attention of a worldwide audience.

2008’s ‘Los Angeles’ found the producer atop many end of the year lists, confirming him as an important and original talent but also setting a particularly high bar for any proceeding releases; he more than met the challenge with self-titled Space Opera ‘Cosmogramma’ when it was released earlier on this year. The album, which Pitchfork described as ‘An intricate and challenging record… an album in its truest sense’, features an impressive roll call of collaborators and contemporaries, all of whom go some way into explaining just how Ellison arrived in his unique position.

The nephew of Modern Jazz legends Alice and John Coltrane, Ellison is completely in tune with music’s spiritual side and is in touch with many musicians who share his outlook: Ravi Coltrane, trumpeter Todd Simon and Thom Yorke are some of those featured on ‘Cosmogramma’. Reflecting Fly Lo’s standing in  contemporary circles (as well as his own productions he heads up the Brainfeeder label alongside The Gaslamp Killer) the record boasts appearances from Austrian synth prodigy Dorian Concept, Harp toting producer Rebekah Raff and wife of Daedelus and multi-instrumentalist Laura Darlington.

Many of the players involved come together as Infinity, a live project that reflects Fly Lo’s recorded catalogue. The co-operative will come together for one of three very special Flying Lotus events in London this August, performing at The ICA. They’ve only performed a handful of shows and the reviews have been universal in their praise.

Exploring the cinematic nature of his music Ellison will appear at another of the Capital’s most prestigious venues, Tate Modern. Following in the footsteps of experimentalist icon John Zorn he will be performing a live score to Harry Smith’s avant garde 1962 film ‘Heaven and Earth Magic’.

Few musicians garner the kind of cultural acclaim that sees him invited to both the ICA and Tate, and though Ellison is comfortable moving in such circles there’s no denying that his natural home is amid large soundsystems and appreciative dance floors. It’s this side of the producer that’s reflected with the first of the weeks events. Brainfeeder take over the Herne Street Car Park in East London, a well known spot for all-night parties. Flying Lotus curates, bringing along some of his most talented peers from either side of the pond Representing the UK, Werk Disc’s Actress performs live whilst Hyperdub label boss Kode 9 presents yet another tastemaking DJ set. The US corner features spots form  Brainfeeder signing an young hope Lorn, Low End Theory regular Kutmah who makes his UK debut and fellow Californian Teebs.

After all these shows Flying Lotus heads to the Isle of Wight for this year’s Bestival.

For more information on all of these events, visit the Flying Lotus website

A Pastoral Party

posted 08/07/2010

In the space of four short years, Field Day has become something of an institution in London’s jam packed calendar of summer events. That the line-ups have constantly reflected all that’s excellent in emergent music is no surprise given that the annual event is the product of a collaboration between some of the UK’s best respected promoters: Eat Your Own Ears, Adventures in the Beetroot Field, Bugged Out and Bloggers Delight are a constant presence throughout the capital, collectively responsible for a constant run of concerts, parties and gigs that help shape the musical landscape.

This year might be the strongest line-up yet, with a the kind of programming that would normally take up a three day festival. Headliners Phoenix return to the capital after their sell-out shows at The Roundhouse, but that’s literally the tip of the iceberg… here’s a quick run down of some acts worth catching if you find yourself wandering around Victoria Park:

Anna Calvi.

The hotly-tipped songstress has caught the ears of audiences and artists alike over the past year. Having supported Arctic Monkeys at their Royal Albert Hall shows, the young singer songwriter has also recorded with The Invisible’s Dave Okumu (who will also be DJing at Field Day). Her music is intense and involved, citing Nick Cave, The Velvet Underground, Messeian and Debussy as influences.

Caribou

Dan Snaith’s latest album Swim is being hailed as one of the albums of the summer, and just this week found itself nominated for the Canada’s Polaris Prize (which Snaith won in 2008 for his last album ‘Andorra’). The album finds the producer moving ever closer towards Dance music, but his exhilarating live shows see him bring on full live band with two drummers and a wall of dazzling projections, taking things down an all together more psychedelic path.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Arguably one of the most interesting Brass bands in the world, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is formed of eight brothers from Chicago who take their lead from their father Phil Cohran, a trumpet player and composer best known for his work with Sun Ra. Their live shows are genuinely exhilarating, as anyone who saw them opening for Blur at Hyde Park will testify. Most recently the band have contributed to the new Gorrilaz album ‘Plastic Beach’

Cate Le Bon

No stranger to the Mercury Prize, Cate Le Bon sang vocals with Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip’s ambitious Neon Neon project. Her own music plays down the pop in favour for a dark and freaky revision of Folk. Gruff once decried her music as sounding like “Bobbie Gentry and Nico fighting over a Casio keyboard” which is perfectly captures the singer’s strange and psychedelic sound.

No Age

A band intrinsically linked to LA’s DIY scene, No Age have been figurative in American independent music’s metamorphosis over the past couple of years. The duo thrash their way through Shoegaze, Punk and Experimental Rock, arriving at a sonorous conclusion that carries on a fiercely fought for tradition of underground US bands.

Chilly Gonzales

Of the many bands and artists performing at Field Day, there is no one else quite like Chilly Gonzales. Starting life as a comedy rapper, he has since gone on to release a hugely acclaimed album of solo piano pieces, produced Feist’s Grammy winning album, remixed Daft Punk, broken the Guinness World Record for Non-stop Piano Playing (27 hours) and is currently making a film about Jazz Chess with Peaches and Tiga called Ivory Tower. His Bloomsbury Ballroom show earlier on in  the year was riotous, with Gonzales captivating the crown with his virtuosic playing and his razor sharp wit.

There’s plenty more acts worth catching during the course of the day and on top of all the music there’s the Village Green,  an area reserved for more pastoral pleasures in keeping with the classic fete: Splat The Rat, Coconut Shys, Egg and Spoon Races, Winner Stays On Ping Pong and Bowling For Bacon (a competition to win a week’s worth of breakfasts) are just some of the entertainments on offer should your ears need a rest.

For more information visit the Field Day website

The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness

posted 01/07/2010

Gruff Rhys has never been shy of other people’s input, especially when it come s to his work outside of Super Furry Animals. Neon Neon, the duo he formed with Boom Bip, relied heavily on collaborations; Har Mar Superstar, Cate Le Bon, Yo Majesty, Spank Rock and The Magic Numbers all appeared on the album ‘Stainless Style’, one of the Mercury Prize Albums of the Year. Even on his own solo album ‘Candylion’, Gruff worked closely with Welsh vocalist Lisa Jen from the band 9Bach.

Once again, Rhys has called upon another creative spirit for his latest musical project, only this time he eschews the sheeny Pop of Neon Neon and the bucolic Folk of Candylion in favour of something all the more outré. He’s teamed up with a Brazilian musician called Tony Da Gatorra, a somewhat unique figure who’s won over fans from much further afield than his home town of Esteio in Southern Brazil.

Da Gatorra sports flares and ties up his long hair with bandanas. He looks, to all intents and purposes, like a South American fan of the Grateful Dead, or a surviving member of Tropacalia, the Sixties movement that swept through Brazi bringing with it psychedelic leanings, political awareness and cultural rebirth. However, regardless to appearances De Gatorra isn’t that easy to pigeonhole.

Known primarily as a TV Repair Man around the neighbourhood, Tony started making use of his workshop and experimented with making music instruments. He gave birth to The Gatorra, and with it his signature sound. The instrument looks like a cross between a sickle and a guitar and is worn around the neck. Rather than using strings, the Gatorra houses a drum machine and synthesisers, giving the users a complete – if slightly rudimentary – backing band in one easy to carry package. The deconstructed, distorted sound of the Gatorra, coupled with its creators slightly atonal singing, doesn’t evoke the spirit of other Brazilian musicians like Jorge Ben or Gilberto Gil, but rather recalls the fringes of the Post Punk.

Gruff met Tony whilst making ‘Separado!‘, a Psychedelic Western musical documentary which found the Super Furries frontman tracing back his family tree to Patagonia. As well as meeting Tony, Gruff also discovered that an unresolved death in the 19th Century led his family to split in two, with one side moving to South America and producing Rene Griffiths, Gruff’s long lost uncle and a poncho sporting Argentinian Pop Star.

More information on Tony Da Gatorra, his music and how to follow in the footsteps of both Gruff Rhys and Franz Ferdinand’s Nick McCarthy and avail yourself of your own Gatorra can be found here.

To watch a clip of Tony taking to the streets of Esteio with his trusty Gatorra, click here

The trailer for ‘Separado!’ and news on forthcoming screenings can be found here.

And finally, to hear a new song the from Gruff Rhys vs. Tony Da Gatorra ‘The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness’ click here.

Ivory in the Alleyways

posted 23/06/2010

Installation artist Luke Jerram stumbled upon his Play Me, I’m Yours project quite by accident. Originally commissioned to create a piece of music that would be performed by musicians floating above Birmingham in hot air balloons, Jerram’s big plans were brought firmly to ground by the MET office who declared weather conditions on the day unfit for flight. In an attempt to still reach the same amount of people with his work (he had promised Birmingham City Council that 100,000 people would interact with the original project) Jerram turned an artistic hand to a bunch of old pianos and unleashed them on to an unsuspecting city… so it was that Play Me, I’m Yours was born

In the following years the pianos have visited Barcelona, Bath, Bury St. Edmonds, Sao Paulo and Sydney, challenging peoples perception of public spaces and bringing some much needed music to the streets. This year Jerram undertakes his most ambitious project yet… simultaneous installations in London and New York will bring together the two cities; quite literally in the case of the two pianos in New York’s Time’s Square and on London’s Millennium Bridge. A live link up between the 1st – 4th July will allow pedestrians on either side of the Atlantic to partake in a round of chopsticks with each other.

As the London leg coincides with the City of London Festival, there will be a number of free events at various sites. In a continuation of Jerram’s desire for people to get involved with their own environments, everyone is encouraged to host their own events using the pianos. An online community is already set up, allowing people to post any proposed piano parties they may be thinking of throwing. For more information on the London project and a detailed map containing the locations of the 21 pianos, visit the Play Me, I’m Yours website.

Congotronics

posted 17/06/2010

Parisian record label Buda Musique is synonymous with its Ethiopiques, a series of compilation albums that have brought the rich and mysterious world of Ethiopian Jazz to an international audience. Focusing initially on the music of the 60’s and 70’s the series, which clocked up 23 volumes in the space of 10 years, made stars of Mulatu Astatke, Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete, artists who have since gone on to influence a whole new generation of seemingly unconnected bands and artists like Foals, Vampire Weekend and Television on the Radio.

A new series of releases follows a similar format, with a specialist European label unearthing African gems. Congotronics, the brainchild of Belgium’s Crammed Discs, differs on two very distinct points though: firstly, as the title suggests, all music featured originates from the Democratic Republic of Congo; secondly, and most interestingly, rather than retrospective releases all the material is completely contemporary.

The series, coordinated by Crammed Disc’s in-house producer Vincent Kennis, aims to capture the many bands who are known for playing ‘Tradi-moderne’ a style and genre that appeared by pure chance: having relocated from the suburbs to inner city Kinshasa, many musicians found that their newly adopted homes were too noisy for traditional instruments like the likembe – an African thumb piano similar in form to to the mbira. Improvising with home made pick ups and improvised amplification a whole new sound emerged, and it is this accidental amalgam that lies at the very heart of Congotronics

The first instalment featured music by Konono No. 1, a band from Kinshasa who have defied description and actively avoided categorisation since their inception in the Sixties. Building likembé’s  and percussion instruments out of materials found in junk yards, their approach is distinctly DIY. Although at its root their music is completely traditional, the distortion derived from their homemade amplification and the space within their compositions has meant their appeal stretches far further than the wide African skies: Bjork and Herbie Hancock have both worked with the group, whilst Simpsons creator Matt Groening picked them to play at the ATP he created earlier this year.

Just as Konono No. 1 have appealed to fans of Post Rock, Minimalism and Abstract Electronica, so the Kasai All Stars have also found an appreciative audience in the West. Again, they hail from Kinshasa, but what makes their sound even more involved is the make up of their 20-strong band: unlike any other band, or that many aspects of life in the Congo, Kasai All Stars are made up of members from five different and very separate tribes. Each brings elements of their tribes native music, bringing them together with the same stylistic sweep as Konono No 1. Their album, the nattily titled ‘In the 7th Moon, the Chief Turned Into a Swimming Fish and Ate the Head of His Enemy by Magic’ was the third release under the Congotronics stamp.

The label are now bringing together all of their releases to date with an impressive limited edition box set. The collection is a comprehensive collection of all five of the albums, with many extra bonuses. More information can be found on the Crammed Discs website.