Nancy Elizabeth Update

Those nice people at Leaf gave me a copy of Nancy Elizabeth's new single 'Hey Son' to pass on to you. No more words, joe needs sleep. Just enjoy it, I really did.

Nancy Elizabeth - 'Hey Son'

Nancy Elizabeth

I have had a very pleasant evening, one of those rare, marvellous summer nights that mix exuberance with calm, and I'll tell you why. I ventured out into a part of town I have never been to before, wandered into a church and gave eight pounds to the studenty-looking gentleman sat inside the door. I then joined the congregation sat cross-legged on the joyfully rug-strewn floor and listened with great awe and (environmentally apt) reverence to two wonderful acts (with one diabolically dull one in between them). Headliner of the night was the magnificent and graceful Colleen; if you're a fan of experimental, instrumental loop-music with a slightly unsettling folky texture, go grab any one of her releases on the Leaf Label, because they're all great.

First up though was brand new Leaf Label signing Nancy Elizabeth (formerly Nancy Elizabeth Cunliffe, truncated as 'this is too much of a mouthful, plus no one outside of Wigan can pronounce Cunliffe properly').

In a world where, it seems, any old monkey can learn a few picking patterns, adopt an airy-fairy voice and call themselves a singer-songwriter, it's nice to finally see one so startlingly different from the current trend, they come across as a poised ballerina amongst a herd of lawnmowers.

The live, solo style of the music is much in the tradition of classic European folk, accompanying her rich, mellifluous vocals with acoustic guitar, a small harp and a suitably creaky-looking, golden stringed instrument I didn't recognise. Great care and attention has been placed into the composition of each song, lending the music an air of supreme craftsmanship I think is quite rare. I hope I am forgiven for finding it even more shocking that a sound so graceful can emerge from Wigan.

I couldn't find any downloads, I'm afraid, but I urge you to visit her myspace and listen to the two tracks appearing on there for streaming. 'Hey Son' is from her forthcoming album 'Battle and Victory', due for release on Leaf in September. This multi-instrumental recording has extra largess and grandeur not heard in her solo performance tonight--we'll have to wait and see if this operatic production style helps or hinders her songs on the album. In the meantime, if you live in London, Southport or Manchester, you can catch her play live over the next month. She will also be appearing at the Green Man Festival in August, along with every other folk musician in the universe.

[update] Echo found this link, containing a selection of mp3s from older releases:

Nancy Elizabeth's page at Timbreland Recordings

Thanks, echo! Enjoy, all.

Alexander Tucker

Kentish acoustic balladeer Alexander Tucker has been gradually making his name as a purveyor of what could be described as folktronica or perhaps even - in a pathetically transparent effort to maintain ever more spurious genres - countrytronica. With two albums released through ATP/Recordings, Old Fog (2005, from which Hag Stones is taken) and Furrowed Brow (2006).

Hag Stones is typical of Tucker's looped open-string and detuned acoustic style. Layered over this country-tinged finger picking and strumming are distant droning vocals and occasional bursts of blissed noise. On record, this is comparatively polite, but live, one man and his army of effects combine to create an ear-splitting, often highly improvised wall of noise. I recommend witnessing one of his sets very highly (and for anyone living in southwest England, he is playing at the ATP festival, 18th May in Minehead).

Tucker is also a visual artist, creating artwork for all of his album covers and side projects, including ongoing drawings and comic artwork for 'Sturgeon White Moss' (White Moss Press) and the new cover for Nordic doom-master Wolfmangler (Aurora Borealis).

Alexander Tucker - Hag Stones MP3 off of Old Fog (ATP/Recordings, 2005)

Alexander Tucker on myspace

Bacanal Intruder

Bacanal Intruder is a Spanish gentleman by the name of Luis. He plays all of his own musical instruments - piano, melodica, harmonica, spanish guitar, double bass, anything lying around - and records the results into his computer and mashes the results up.

So much electronica released on the net is either repetitive, derivative house or a million and one ambient soundscapes, so it's refreshing and invigorating to hear such lively, imaginative, melodic music, all glitched up into a cocktail of rhythms and harmonies.

Modem is the title track from his release on Zymogen Records, and is an excellent example of his work.

You can download the following EPs:
Modem on Zymogen
Room-A-Tronic on So Soft
Herramientas Para Abrir Un Libro on Test Tube

FJ McMahon

There’s nothing new anymore.

Everything has been done to death, but when a piece of music starts to play and makes your spine tingle with delight, you tend to forget about originality and just go with the flow of the tune.

FJ McMahon’s ultra-rare folk LP "Spirit of the Golden Juice" is one of those albums.

Originally released in 1969 on the Tigereye Music label and reissued on vinyl in the late 90’s, this is a glorious folk album, very much in the style of Tim Hardin and my ears can hear a huge nod to the acoustic side of Stephen Stills.

Most of the tunes on the record are drawn from his experiences in Vietnam as a member of the US Air Force and were recorded after his return to Santa Barbara, California.

'Sister, Brother' is the opening song from the album and draws you in with its simplistic beauty.

Enjoy.

Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam

TaSTatSBwTaS are a guy called Tim and his band, of which there are usually six, none of which are called Sam. When they play live, half the members wear T-Shirts with 'Tim' written on them, no one wears a T-Shirt with 'Sam' written on it. Only one member, Tim, is called Tim. They make instrumental music with acoustic guitars, clarinets, cellos, glockenspeils and ahhhhs. The sound is organic, melodious and, well, cute; kinda like a forest saying goodnight to all the little woodland creatures. In my experience, it's rare to find a band that attempts to channel youthful awkwardness into something so graceful and unashamedly uncool--I think it's great.

I bought this EP from Tim's mum, as she was sat behind a table at the gig. It came with a free teabag. But if you don't live in Manchester, you can grab Tim's self-released three track EP from the myspace. Here's the magnificent title track; enjoy:

Tim and Sam's Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam - Stepping Stones

Diane Cluck

1 of 2 guest posts from Manchester's Slow Joe

Diane Cluck - Countless Times (Important Records 2006)



Firstly, Diane Cluck's 'Countless Times'. Surprisingly, this album has been recorded in a much more low-tech manner than her debut. Her songs are phenomenally good and somehow seem to glide along that edge of doom and angst without ever being overcome by it. Comparisons are easily drawn to Nina Nastasia and Kristin Hersh's solo career, but I think this holds it's own through the quality of the songwriting and the garage atmosphere. The track I've sent is perhaps not the most reflective of the album style, but it's so gripping and strange, I can't stop playing it.

• Diane Cluck - My Teacher Died Mp3
  

Ben Christophers

2 of 2 rapid fire guest posts from Manchester's Slow Joe

Ben Christophers' Viewfinder (Rocketeer 2005)



Also, Ben Christophers' 'Viewfinder'. I've been a fan of Christophers' sly, sideways, wired folk stylings for a long time now. This last album is lacking in both the pop-sensible joie de vie and the brazen bizzarity that previous albums seemed to flit between with abandon. It's also lacking in length, being 38 minutes, a fair chunk of which is filled up with short instrumentals (perhaps this was meant to be an EP?). Though, while this may be down in energy, the result is coherent, sophisticated and even romantic. The variety of genre influences are wild, but they are never beaten into you. This song is definitely one of the more upbeat tracks on the album, but despite the overall laziness, I don't feel that any point in the album falls into anything remotely akin to self-pity.

Hope you like them, have a good one this weekend...

• Ben Christophers - Night Monsters Mp3