Miscellaneous - July 2011

  by Admin

published: 26 / 6 / 2011

intro

Hello, and welcome to the July edition of the Pennyblackmusic magazine. The cultural impact of the punk movement was such that it both spawned and

Hello, and welcome to the July edition of the Pennyblackmusic magazine. The cultural impact of the punk movement was such that it both spawned and provided the way for many other musical movements and genres. Without it, there would have been of course, no post-punk, or alternative rock, or probably for that matter even independent record labels. One of the most misunderstood, but influential of these movements was the short-lived New York no wave movement. While it shared many of the characteristics of the punk genre–similar abrasive sounds and driving rhythms, and a sense of nihilism-it was as much a reaction against punk as it was for it, and was an important influence on musicians and bands as diverse such as Brian Eno, Sonic Youth and the Fall. Over the next two editions we will be publishing a four part series written by Jon Rogers about the No Wave movement, which will chronicle its rise, and some of its principal figures including Lydia Lunch, James Chance and the Contortions, Mars and DNA. We will be publishing in our Profiles section the first two parts of the series this month, and the second two instalments next month. Elsewhere in the Profiles section, there are features on two box sets, the 40th anniversary edition of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’, and ‘Let Yourself Go’, which compiles together the Supremes' final post-Diana Ross recordings between 1974 and 1977. Our lead interview this month is with much acclaimed psychedelic folk act Akron/Family, whose Seth Olinsky speaks to Jamie Rowland about his group’s Japanese-influenced seventh album, ‘S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT’, the emotional response his group provokes and the video films that have been created to accompany each of the tracks on the album. Our other main interviews this month are with iconic/hip-hop rock trio the Fun Lovin’ Criminals; one-time Hipsway and Cowboy Mouth front man Grahame Skinner in one of his first interviews about his new project Skinner: acclaimed singer-songwriter Jon Allen about his second album, ‘Sweet Defeat’, and former Black Box Recorder front woman Sarah Nixey about her new solo CD, ‘Brave Tin Soldiers’. There are also interviews this month with Californian singer-songwriter Sam Phillips who has recently released her twelfth album, ‘Cameras in the Sky’; bassist Chris Layhe, who speaks about his eight years as a member of the Icicle Works, and self-described “urban country” outfit Morton Valence, whose second album, ‘Me and Home James’, is a concept album about an illegal cab drive from South to North London. Other interviews this month are with Yolanda Be Cool about their international dance hit ‘We No Speak Americano’; the Sandman’s Orchestra, the new lo-fi project of French musician Pierre Laplace and his sixteen year old niece, Léonie Gabriel, and Flounder, one of the organisers of the Endorse It in Dorset Festival, which this year will take place between the 12th and 14th August and whose headliners include the Rezillos and New Model Army. There are new live reviews of shows by Ladytron, John Cooper Clarke, the March Violets, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Charlie Simpson, the Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Darren Hayman, Gomez and Herman Dune, and also an article on the Ottawa Explosion, a three day punk festival which took place in a variety of that city’s homes, record stores, nightclubs, practice spaces and even a laundrette. In our Regular Features column, Ben Howarth provides an alternative list of excellent albums of recent years that have tended to miss out on other ‘best of’ lists. Spencer Robertshaw with the latest in his ‘Evidently Spencertown’ series has written a very funny poem about beer drinking, while Marie Hazelwood has provided a ‘Photoscape’ of Liverpool band, the Rialto Burns. In our Re:View section, in which our writers look back at albums from the past, there are articles on Tim Buckley’s 1969 third album, ‘Happy Sad’, and Hefner’s 2001 electronic-influenced final album, ‘Dead Media’. Our Website of the Month is Black Diamond Merchandise, the website for the new screen printing and badge making company of Pennyblackmusic writer Paul Waller and his wife Clair. There are also 24 album and single reviews. We put up another 19 reviews in our previous reviews only up-date in June. Thank you to Peter Allison, Malcolm Carter, Andrew Carver, Dan Cressey, Richard Ernill, Ben Howarth, Adrian Huggins, Sarah Johnson, Sarah Maybank, Spencer Robertshaw, Jon Rogers, Jamie Rowland, Maarten Schiethart, Kelly Smith, Anthony Strutt, Helen Tipping, Lisa Torem and Paul Waller, all of whom also contributed articles to this edition or the June reviews up-date. Thank you to Marie Hazelwood for Rialto Burns photos, and Neil Bailey for the photographs that accompany the March Violets and Darren Hayman reviews, and also for in what was his first interview for Pennyblackmusic the Endorse It piece. Special thanks to our webmaster Richard Banks. We will back in late July with an album and singles reviews up-date and then in early August with another new edition. We hope to be running interviews with Roy Harper, John Hiatt, the Tom Tom Club, former Echo and the Bunnymen bassist Les Pattinson, Ladytron, Brian Eno collaborator Rick Holland, the Jasmine Monks, Stealing Sheep, Thrum, Gagarin and the Repomen. There will be the final two parts of Jon Rogers' No Wave feature, and a new series about some of the world's best music venues. Thank you as always for reading, John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk