Wilful Missing
Bradford has never looked so pretty ;o) Wonderful new self-shot and produced video from Wilful Missing. Cry For The City is taken from their album Molehills Out Of Mountains.
Walk Off The Earth
Ontario, Canada
I don’t know how you are not one of the 112,000,000 plus people that has already watched this amazing cover of Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ but until tonight when @predacomDom showed me this I was too. Wonderful OK Go style dedication and flawless execution. Check out their Karma Police cover on the YouTube too. I look forward to finding out more about them soon.
Local Music this weekend
If you can bear to tear yourselves away from your BBQs this weekend in Coventry there is a ridiculous menu of local music to enjoy. I’ll be at two of these so say hello to Mr Spoon if you see me!
Friday 25th - Ditch the TV at the Maudsley Pub, Allesley Old Road
Atlum Schema, Bukechi and Fearne
Saturday 26th - Criterion Theatre, Earlsdon
Wes Finch with Stylusboy, Lucy Anne Sale and Kel Elliot
www.criteriontheatre.co.uk/events/touring_production/index.php - sadly SOLD OUT
Sunday 27th - Costa Coffee, Cannon Park Shopping Centre
Lee Mitchell
www.musicglue.net/whoisleemitchell/
All include some amazing Coventry based musicians and all are a cheap (in Lee’s case, FREE!!) night out with good company, good laughs and a chance to give your ears a present.
Laurence Hélie
Québec, Canada
Just so you don’t get to settle thinking you know what The Spoon Player is going to deliver. Yesterday we had almost an article about a rock band. today I present a female vocalist singing in French with a banjo! Laurence is one of Bandcamp’s staff picks so that’s why I heard it, I’m not seeking out this kind of stuff ;0)
Laurence’s vocals are beautiful and haunting and remind me somewhat of Sarah from Paper Aeroplanes…I just don’t understand what she’s singing.
Are Coventry City Council really the enemy?
Not a good time for music in the city, not a good social media landscape to seem to be screwing over a local success and hoping to get away with it. Shame.
All text below is from Tom Clarke’s Twitter feed tonight.
Right…..gonna say a few things about Cov Cathedral gig, and this “free” gig the council have gone on about. I’ve sat quietly and listened.
Now I’m gonna tell you all what really happened.
We wanted to do something special for Cov. The council had a new shopping centre they wanted us to launch. So…
We priced up doing an open air gig, that would be free for the fans. It worked out that it would cost us 100k. Council offered to put in 20k
We dont have 100k to drop on promoting the councils new shopping centre. And their offer to put in just 20% of the costs was an insult.
So… We moved the gig to the cathedral.
The council didn’t grant a license for the gig, and said they would decide on the day.
You’ve all bought tickets, and I decided I wasn’t going to let you all down by having the council pull the plug on the morning of the show.
They also imposed a 90db sound limit, (which is very very quiet compared to normal gigs) and said they’d pull the plug if we exceeded it.
Making it impossible to put the gig on.
We were also going to loose, 29,000 quid doing them, which frankly I didn’t care about because I was so excited about the show.
But they made it impossible for us.
I will be doing a bunch of interview on Monday about it. But don’t believe everything you read!
And remember this!!! - so far, we’ve put out hands in our pockets to put on a show, and you’ve put yours in your pockets and bought tickets.
The council have spent??? £0 pounds
We love Cov, and we’re still gonna do everything we can to make the show on Monday and Tuesday amazing.
Innovation of Sound - Lost Souls
Innovation of Sound
Coventry, UK
A recent discovery by a third party tweet to @robmacca. Innovation of Sound are Matt Cattell and he describe it as a musical project which has released a free album in March. With influences listed that include Sigur Ros, Radiohead and Royksopp it certainly gives you an idea of what you are going to hear. IOS have been featured in a couple of BBC advertising campaigns so the recognition may not just be the musical similarities of Matt’s tastes.
I was sucked in by the wonderful backwards video for Lost Souls which feature some of the less salubrious areas of Coventry but ends with a great reveal that struck a chord with me.
It is dreamy instantly likeable music which drifts between electronic notes and ethereal vocals. It’s certainly not a soundtrack to a Summer picnic but for a relaxing backdrop to a calm evening with some wine and nothing to do.
The “Science of Life” is the second studio album from Innovation of Sound.
The songs were written, recorded and mastered by Matt Cattell at the floor3 studios in Coventry during 2011.
The album is the follow up to the successful “Listen” which was released in Nov 2010. The first single is Lost Souls.
Towma
London, UK
The best thing about running this blog is when people keep tweeting me artists they think I’d like and should go on the blog. I love the fact that people have picked up on the style I like and the suggestions are not random scattergun. I’ve also had a couple of bands contact me to suggest I might blog about them. This is always met with a slight suspicion by me, probably because we all get spammed by twits that are just pushing their business of their service.
Hugh from Towma immediately won me over though with his opening gambit of seeing my blog about Ben Folds Five. Anyone who is a Ben fan is ok by me…so I wandered over to Google and put in Towma. After 5 minutes on the Texas Organization of Wildlife Management Associations website I tried again ;o)
I then came across a wonderful EP called Rockets and Ideas and fell in love with one of the eponymous-ish track ‘Rocket to the Moon’. The BF’s comparison is immediate and hits you right between the ears. The song itself immediately tugged at my Daddy heartstrings as it appears to be about a child wanting to grow up and do big boy things NOW! “I want to ride a 26 year old’s bike, I want to hit a golf ball out of sight”. The rest of the Tracks (that’s track 2’s name?!) on the EP are equally dripping with beautiful piano and vocals and well worth 15 minutes of your ear time. And the artwork? all lovingly drawn by local school children!
I’m still finding it difficult to find the right words to describe a band and music that can do them both justice…good job Hugh sent through the following interview then! ENJOY! Thanks guys.
For anyone who has never heard of you, how would you describe Towma?
Always tricky to make a good job of this one, but in short we are a piano-based alternative pop trio. We like original melodies, close harmonies and intricate arrangements, with a few twists here and there for good measure.
How did you meet and form a band?
I (Hugh) met Mark at Durham Students Union in December 2007 when he was playing a jazz gig there. After a lot of initial mumbling about wanting to start a band, I pulled out the trump card of saying I was a big Ben Folds fan. He was pretty malleable after that. Mark already knew Will and before long we had ourselves a trio. Due to various work and study commitments, it didn’t initially last very long, but here we are back in 2012 in the original formation!
How do you write your material?
As we move forward, we are trying to write as much as possible (music & lyrics) as a trio in the studio, the aim being to find a voice that is most unique and representative of our combined identities. For Rockets & Ideas, it was more a case of the songs being written by Mark or myself on our own, and then taking them apart as a band to arrange and produce them in the best possible way.
Who inspires you musically?
We would have to start with Ben Folds, particularly the early Ben Folds Five stuff, because we’re all massive fans. I guess you can’t play in a piano trio in the pop world and not be inspired by his work. That said, we like to think, and hopefully you do too (!), that we do something that is also very different to his stuff…so…here goes for other inspirations…
We love listening to amazing songwriters like Paul Simon and John Martyn, lots of funk and jazz (E.S.T. & the Bad Plus especially) as well as chilled stuff like Bon Iver, Lambchop and Kings of Convenience. Then there’s bands like Elbow, Everything Everything and Radiohead. In terms of individual idiosyncrasies, Mark is very partial to hours of down-beat electronic music, Will’s partial to a good Britten opera, and I love Mulatu Astatke’s Ethiopian grooves!
Which song do you wish you’d written?
‘One Angry Dwarf And 200 Solemn Faces ’ by Ben Folds Five is one of his cult classics, but if we’d written ‘Crazy Frog’ we’d be rolling in it, so it’s a tough one…
Tell me about your latest EP.
Sonically, it’s us sticking with the core of who we are: piano, bass & drums with everyone singing. No extra bells or whistles and as little production as we could get away with (on the quiet that still ended up being a fair bit though).
The songs were all initially written at very different times (‘Tracks’ 3 years ago, ‘Not a King’ literally a few days before recording) but we felt that they all worked together well as a unit once we’d worked on the arrangements together. Lyrically, they’re also all underpinned by the same kind of tensions around identity and ambition.
One of the most enjoyable parts of making the EP was teaming up with the Priory Primary School for the artwork. We figured some budding young artists could do a much better job than we could, so we left it in their capable hands and got some amazing results! More on that here: www.towma.com/raiartwork.html
What is a Towma live gig like?
The short answer is three blokes having fun playing their favourite tunes and pulling ridiculous faces into their mics.
The long answer would say something about energy, action, variety and hopefully lots of musical nourishment for spectators, but I guess we can’t necessarily be fair judges of that!
What’s next for Towma?
In terms of the immediate future, we’re pushing the promotion of our new EP and launching it with London shows at the Spice of Life and the Barfly.
Once we get into the summer (which feels a long way off meteorologically at the moment!), we’re trying to get out and about in the UK more and cast the Towma net a bit wider. So far the schedule includes shows in Lincolnshire, Kent and a brief stint in Edinburgh during the fringe.
Writing new tunes is always on the agenda, so I’m sure there’ll be plenty of that too.
Which band should I blog about and interview next?
The Sharks! Brixton-based punk/pop/rock band. Full of life and great songs. We’ve worked a fair bit with the drummer, Will Udall, who’s a fantastic songwriter in his own right too.
www.facebook.com/thesharksbrixton
And finally…when I asked Hugh whether I could use his band as a guinea pig for a Spoon Player Interview he of course said yes but he’d like a Lego band photo. So:
@BenFolds was lonely alone, so he has his two mates back and they are FIVE again! For some bizarre reason they are currently unsigned so are going it alone. Following in the footsteps of @wesfinch they are asking fans to Pledge to fund the new BFF album. So if you love a bit of piano thrashing and want a signed copy of the new album go and pledge. Also we are being asked to Tweet, Facebook, Blog hell anything social media to spread the word about the project, the music and the band…so expect more tweets from me, your local Ben Folds Five VP of Promotion!
0 plays
Ben Folds Five are returning! They posted this last night and want people to blog it and share it…who am I to let Ben down?
They’ve done it again. Another wonderfully interpreted cover by @hopeandsocial recorded in a day in their studio The Crypt. This week was ‘Dress Like You’ by Madonna, recorded with She Makes War.
Lee Mitchell
Coventry, UK and Norn Irn
Even when the talent isn’t originally from Coventry we can certainly import the best! Lee hails from Bangor, Northern Ireland but is now resident and making music in Cov…and I’m pleased he is. I discovered Lee via an Atlum Schema, Luke Leighfield ménage à trois as they all know each other and manage record labels, attend weddings together etc. THEN Lee only goes and plays on Duke Special’s latest tour in his home country…it just goes to show that great musical minds play alike.
Anyway, Lee’s music for me started on the first part of his Whisky and Water EP set with Fires. The track starts off as a simple acoustic guitar track which bursts into life when Lee’s band The Stolen Few join in a rouse the chorus of “If you’re caught in the fire, run home, run home”. I’m glad Lee hasn’t yet and stayed around long enough for part two, Water, to be released this week.
Expect more heartfelt lyrics and blistering bass lines from Lee and you may even fall Heart over Head with him.
Al Britten
Coventry, UK
This man may take the title for the most self-deprecating musician in Coventry. Of all the artists I’ve met I have not come across anyone who blows their own trumpet (or even plays one) much and certainly no arrogance or inflated egos. However, I have known about Al’s music for ages but never really found out how to hear more than 4 tracks on mySpace on certainly no way to buy his music.
I’ve followed Al on Twitter for ages too but never really engaged with him, then along came LEGO! Al suddenly popped into my timeline with an excellent submission for my name the minifigure competition. I judged that Al won the second round by naming my space trooper….Damon “Solarflare” DeAngelo.
So, Al was sent the prize of a Sherbet DIP Dab…and I cheekily asked for a CD (intending to pay). Al replied that of course I could have a CD and he has never felt comfortable charging for his music. WHAAA???
Al’s CDs arrived today and I so far think they would be worth the money. The style is very simple, stripped ‘man with an acoustic guitar in his living room’ but this doesn’t mean it’s simple music. The songs are all very rich in lyrics so you find yourself stopping typing the blog to listen…”the rubble of hope and the debris of dreams”, “she’s a pretty little thing, with a dirty little soul” wonderful!
So, it might be hard to seek Al out but please try his 4 tracks on mySpace then maybe you can ask for a CD too!
Simon Little
London, UK
If you’ve ever listened to Duke Special or The Divine Comedy and thought to yourself “this is great music but I’d really love to hear some more of that bass player” then…I’d be surprised. But, Simon Little is certainly worth seeking out (I’ve made it easy for you to listen here!) and his third solo album (un)plugged deserves some ear time.
Simon is a session bassist who can often be found playing with the aforementioned bands plus Claire Teal, and even artists ranging from Nick Cave to Ben Folds. Surely though the achievement he must be most proud of is his bass track for Coventry Market: The Musical produced by my wife!
The album is a live semi-acoustic improvisational journey made by just Simon, his acoustic bass and a few looping tools including the wonderfully named Looperlative LP1. I don’t think it’s an album you’d listen to in the car with the windows down and the wind in your hair…but for a drizzly evening in front of the fire it provides some chilled calm in your hectic life.
The first track ‘frostbite’ builds up slowly from a quiet hum to some frenetic strumming, but all in a muted almost serene way so you never lose your peaceful state of mind. The second track ‘into the out’ offers more of the same then track three ‘lie down and be counted’ sees Simon break out a little beepy friend to add another layer. My favourite track has to be the penultimate one, not really because of the drips throughout (reminding you that you are safe and warm from the rain outside the window?) or the mellow vibes but the title ‘the avant gardener’ is one of the best I’ve heard for a long time.
The rest of the album continues in the same vein, never shocking you out of your zen-like state and providing you with a soundtrack to potter round the house or flick through the newspaper to. Whether this is what Simon intended I don’t know but it’s not a bad way to spend 37 minutes.
And this is why I love @hopeandsocial. Come Dine With Them!
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