Introducing: Charlie Lankester

Charlie Lankester

By Leanne Sherman

Dedicated singer-songwriter and pianist Charlie Lankester has had a pretty damn good musical life since he began in the ’70s touring with Aussie band The Last Chance Café and then going on to perform keys for the past twenty years with the likes of Linda Gail Lewis, Otis Grand and The John Warwick All Stars – it doesn’t really get much cooler than that now, does it? Nope. And, he has an awesome beard. Props to you, sir! … Continue Reading

Wilderness Festival 2012: A Preview

By David Atkinson

The 2012 Wilderness festival takes place 10th-12th August, Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire (website/tickets)

Last year, the first ever Wilderness festival transformed a charming corner of Oxfordshire into a paradise of music and all manner of artistic experiences. Wilderness doesn’t claim to have the biggest or best music line up, but rather it bills itself as “a celebration of the arts and outdoors”, but its thoughtfully curated line up holds some real treats for music lovers as well as a whole host of other bohemian experiences. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Still Going, Irregular Disco Workers and Cassian

Still Going - Work That Shit Party

By Stef Siepel

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

‘Work That Shit Party’ by Still Going

Here we go, here we go. Still Going gets it going (…) with this one, a release on their own label after previously being affiliated with DFA (if memory serves me correctly). It has all the makings of a track that’ll just kill it on the dancefloor. It’s got the pace, the beat, that real house vibe that makes you just want to work it on the floor like it’s the start of that era. Some tracks just have that tribal sense that you have to move your body, and this is a very good example of that, in my opinion. I don’t know why anyone would stop dancing when this comes in. There’s just something in the essence of this beat that works, and Still Going knows how to ride that for nine minutes without making it feel stale. And one way to make it not boring is to put some strong female vocals in after 3:30 or so, and she is saying that at least she is working it, so if you hadn’t been doing that already, that is the perfect time to join in. After the female vocals come the male vocals, which in good House tradition do not actually sing like the female vocals but rather instruct you that you really should be working it. There is a nice break in there as well, in which those female vocals return and get some space to belt it out. Naturally, after that, soon the sound and the beat come back, and it gives it one last go before, just prior to getting into double digits, it closes shop. Fabulous house track, great to dance to, one I would like to play for sure. … Continue Reading

Hop Farm Festival: The Preview

By Jimmy Blake

The 2012 Hop Farm Festival takes place June 29th – July 1st, at Paddock Wood, Kent (webstie/tickets).

Last year’s Hop Farm Festival was described as like being in your Mum’s back garden. This is a fairly accurate description of what to expect from this year’s soirée, that is if your Mum’s garden resembles the rolling Kent countryside and she got some musical legends over for a BBQ. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Julio Bashmore, Matthias Zimmerman and Evan Stalker

Julio Bashmore

By Stef Siepel

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘Troglodytes’ by Julio Bashmore

TUNE! That’s what this is. Bashmore does it again with this fabulous track, which I would happily fit into any set (well…). It’s got these fab, masculine talking vocals, which is very house.  I believe there is something like that male vocals have to talk and female (or feminine) vocals have to sing and that they are the ones that bring all the emotions to songs. Not only the vocals are great though, that sound is really catchy and not just that same old same old beat or anything. It is that mixture of the beat, the lighter instrumental sounds, and then those masculine vocals which make it work. And work it does. If you want a quick peak on what this song is all about, just listen from 4:00 to 4:30, which gives a good indication of the contrast that I like so much. First almost nothing but that talky voice speaking of a time where there was nothing but primal instincts (cavemen, troglodytes!), and then the beat comes along with that light sound which makes it shine. The combination that Bashmore finds is just a really nice one, it just fits his house vibe, which the Jimmy Castor version isn’t exactly. But as said, it just fits, Julio surely heard that right. … Continue Reading

In Pictures: Justin Townes Earle, London, KOKO

June 14, 2012

A few shots from Justin Townes Earle’s headline show at Camden’s KOKO last week. All photos by Richie Soans.

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Interview: Karima Francis – “My heart’s in a different place than before.”

In many ways Karima Francis is a walking oxymoron; tiny in stature but impossible to miss, a delicate physique with a powerfully soaring vocal and based on our meeting outside Hoxton Hall on the last leg of her UK tour, the complete opposite personality of a stereotypical musician. “I’m so sorry, the last interview wiped me out of change, I had to buy three of them a drink!” laughs the softly spoken Karima from behind an oversized pair of sunglasses which, when combined with a wild mane, creates an almost formidable presence. Almost in the sense that from the neck down lies an otherwise normal-sized frame laden in black. Of course she didn’t have to buy the previous interviewers a drink but this becomes an apparent attribute of Francis’ subconscious charm as she leads me to a pub opposite the venue.

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Walls, London, Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen

Walls

By Jim Merrett

May 28, 2012

It’s not where we are right now, it’s where we are going that matters. For the crowd in the short-term that means aurally (and visually) propelled astral projections into imagined soundscapes; for the bands, if you can call them that, you would hope it leads to venues more in keeping with the scale of what is on offer. Cramming that much sensory bombardment into such a restricted space is some feat. Walls in particular seem on a mission to prove that the solid enclosing structures from which they take their name offer little in the way of containment. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Max Essa, Matthew Dear and Museum Of Bellas Artes

Max Essa

By Stef Siepel

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘I’m Dancin’ by Kotey Extra Band (Max Essa remix)

I love Max Essa, and this one slipped under the radar for me, but I happened to come across it, and it is pretty funkilicious as far as I’m concerned. It isn’t really disco funk though, that synthy sound that comes in about 40 seconds in gives it a certain city vibe me thinks. Essa does keep it rolling with the main sound, but it is not like this is one of those straight dancefloor cuts (perhaps more of someone dancing through the city even, if you’re brave enough to do that sort of thing). The vocals (Kyle Chandler’s work) come in at 2:50, and they fit that synth sound perfectly if you ask me. Just before the four minute mark Essa goes bass, and he can do that, just see his Jan Ken Po album he released this year. It really sounds like an entity this track, not one of those remixes that gets a beat slapped on it, but it just is a smooth ride that rolls along. Essa delivers again. … Continue Reading

The Weekly Froth! With Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club & Eleonora, Prince and Matthew Dear

Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club & Eleonora - Divine (Vincenzo Remix)

By Stef Siepel

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week: ‘Divine’ by Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club & Eleonora (Vincenzo remix)

Vincenzo isn’t afraid to do some deep house, and this track lends itself perfectly for the Vincenzo treatment apparently. Good beat for the dancefloor, and what I assume is Eleonora sure has a nice set of vocals for this without having them too much on the fore. I like it when the vocals go from way out in the backgroud and then come towards you, which is capped by the beat coming in and taking you along for the ride again. Love the contrast in terms of where the sounds are coming from (way out back or more to the fore) and how he plays with the beat and the contrast in that. I assume that the fade out isn’t the actual end of the song (if it is, off with his head!), but these four minutes do give a nice indication of what one can expect on the dancefloor. Really nice house cut. … Continue Reading