Introducing Devon’s finest folk-rock band sure to get your feet stamping at Glasto this year. Mad Dog McRea have been touring the country for more than a decade. They still don’t sound antiquated, nor dusty, as “Am I Drinking Enough” testifies. It seems the cider and whiskey they drink just fuels the fire burning in their bellies to entertain an audience as much as possible, dancing all round the staging really in tune with those dancing below them.
It’s stylish in the prop-er way, the accents, the fiddle and the growling frontman magics an atmosphere of sheer delight. But it’s ultimately the passion that me; even in a semi-concious state this was obvious. By their final song at a recent headlining performance at a festival, (an extended version of ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor’) I was more than just a convert, I felt like part of the flock.
Mad Dog McRea are scheduled to play the 22nd + 23rd at Glastonbury. And the weather? It will certainly rain, with revellers ensured of a mud bath. The Glastonbury coverage on Nothing But Green Lights continues tomorrow. Read all the NBGL coverage here.
“Fire in the garden” is stark and obvious, Rose Kemp holds nothing back and it all comes across as honest. It has a very precise and laboured definition, Rose seems like an artist who cares for her artistry so much, to the point of self-indulgence? No, in this particular tune there is nothing you can grab hold of, no gaps to glimpse through, just repetition. But when you stop looking for her, and just look up maybe you’ll understand.
But then the song stops, Rose has moved on. “Violence” demonstrates the upper reaches of Kemp’s ability, but it all returns me to one point: The Mars Volta. She misspells them under the disappointedly obligatory “influences” section; it’s certainly a casual influence, but it tells you of Rose Kemp’s power, and the movements where you feel she is lifting you above songs, lyrics and guitar up to that rarely reachable moment. Rose Kemp is signed to One Little Indian in the U.K, the home of Bjork and has an album out now.
At Glastonbury:
Fri June 22nd: 2.30pm Bandstand stage (solo)
Sat June 23rd: 2.00pm Bandstand stage (Jeremy Smoking Jacket)
Sun June 24th: 6.00pm BBC Introducing Rose Kemp + band
Recommended if you like: Post-rock and instrumental jam.
Welcome to the throbbing and gristly world of instrumental rock where everything is created in a very particular fashion. Fridge, comprised of Kieran Hebden (of Four-Tet electronica fame), Adem Ilhan and a chap called Sam Jeffers on the drums: old school friends, now superstars of British indie, folk and electro. They are releasing their first album in over 5 years.
Fridge squelch through a 2:47 jam that reveals maturity of their musical awareness, whilst maintaining the personality that could only develop in teenage years. It has innocence and power in equal measure, like an immature gas giant trying to out manoeuvre a black hole that has absolutely no forgiveness. But of course, this track only gives you a brief introduction to uncomplicated Fridge, a first glimpse, the experimental, grandiose and complicated world of Fridge is not to be put in a box and sealed with generic constraint, our three heroes of this musical world have many skills, rocking it instrumentally is but one of them. Just don’t call them folk-tronica. This track is taken from Fridge’s album “The Sun” which is released on June 19th. Here the full range @ http://www.myspace.com/fridgemusic
********
NBGL Glasto coverage:
Four-Tet play:
The Lounge - Friday 23rd
The StoneBridge Bar - Saturday 23rd.
Click here to read all of the Nothing But Green Lights Glasto preview coverage (whether or not you are lucky enough to have tickets, you might still enjoy it).
The perfect way to waste your day in Britain is to sit in front of daytime television for a minimum of 4 1/2 hours, bookended the aforementioned Australian soap opera, and being treated to a menagerie of crime solving authors, doctors and the occasional forgettable western.
Singer Song-writer Eugene McGuinness is going to avoid this sort of a day; to convince us he injects colour into the mix; it bubbles up the surface turning the grey daytime wasteland into a bright green and blue undulating hills where cities are built downwards and people walk slowly, much more considerate than usual. Mr McGuinness’ prophetic mantra swings and swirls in its own time - “Like a shark. In the night” - Eugene tells us.
He has an EP called Monsters Under my Bed, (out 2nd July) and you can listen to some of it, including the excellent title track over at myspace.com/eugenemcguinness85
**********
Eugene McGuiness is playing Glastonbury Festival, read all of the NBGL Glasto coverage here.
Co-inciding with the year anniversary of this sites conception a year ago, I’m introducing a new feature to counteract the ephemera (something that disappears quickly) of writing about new bands. Basically, I write about a lot of new music, but rarely get the chance to talk about what these artists go on to do, release, who they get to dance to their funky music.
A similar thing will probably happen again every few weeks so that all the bands and artists I write about won’t get so lost in the tubes the internet.
***********
Slow Club: Good friends of mine. It began at very little and sacred folk night called “Cool as Folk”, blowing away everyone there, touring everywhere (Including my house) and playing with some of the beautifulist faces in British music and all sorts of popstars. They have since recorded a live session for Radio 1, and have their debut release (7″/ Digital Download) out on one of the UK’s finest labels, Moshi Moshi. Their sublime folk-pop will tour the country will the glee and happiness of a 100 men all opening a cold beer similtaneously.
“Frequently overwhelming, dark, upbeat, frantic and utterly charming.” said I. Toured with Broken Social Scene, been let of out of their cold northern cage by the kind Dance to the Radio records, run by Whiskers from Forward Russia. They are playing of a dozen dates this summer culminating with a set at Leeds Carling Festival. They’ve been on Radio 1 and NME, and you should expect more flights of fancy (gigs) this summer.
Los Campesinos: It love at first listen for me and L.C “tangled melodies that unravel themselves to reveal a 7 headed, multi-coloured, glokenspiel wielding indie pop behemoth”. I stood on the rooftop and shouted about them. They played with Broken Social Scene too, NME + Radio 1 kiss and hugged their grandoise take on indie-pop and they signed to Wichita after major label clamour, simply because they were nicer. Scheduled to play Loolapalooza, Glasto and some U.S dates this summer.
Robin Allender: “a Bristol based musician who will wrap you in his story from the moment the vocals appear on your doorstep, unannounced, drenched from the now clearing rainclouds”. He has an album out in July on Dreamboat Records. He is currently playing with Gravenhurst, who are signed to Warp Records.
Essie Jain: Haunting and daunting, the best singer-songwriter of the last year. Daytrotter got to the bottom of it, “Jain’s measured and immaculate voice pours over you and dries slowly like melting candle wax, which you can break out of, but it feels better to just wear that windbreaker of a plastic coat.”
Magic Arm were loved by grizzly bear and I called them “lo-fi ambitionalists” which means less and less the more I think about it. They have a record out on the 11th. I looked forward to it the more and more I think about it.
************
Here’s to another year, and more frequent updates, here’s to British music.
"...Afrobeat has gone all desert-storm, with instrumental precision: an assault of funk and drum... the sandstorm churned up behind it betrays kilowatts of energy and a solar rhythm" [11th May: more] | [Photo credit]
"Unsettled grey-skies of whispered lyrics and quietly plucked strings send us away from the dusk with ever increasing energy... electric-guitar feedback shreds the stars and moon and scatters a light causing everyone to sing..."
[16th February 2008: more]
