Griff says; Say hello to Laura Hocking & The Long Goodbye

It's an odd sort of business, if I can glorify it with that term, writing a music blog. Sometimes the music comes flooding in waves that make it hard to keep you head above water; other times it slows to a trickle. Sometimes you come across an artist one evening and post about them the next; energised and enthused about your new find. Other times you watch an artist from a distance, sensing greatness not yet ready to be unleashed. Time passes and you stalk them silently across the internet, watching them develop and biding your time. Yeah, music blog writers are pretty creepy that way; too much time spent with computers and not people, I guess. Anyway, tonight's artist is one I've had my eye on for what seems like a very long time; in a journey across several Myspace pages and name changes until tonight... when Laura Hocking (pictured above) comes of age.
If you've not heard of her before, Laura Hocking is an extremely talented, London-based, singer/songwriter from Leeds via Cambridge, who up until last year was a solo artist doing the folky girl with a guitar thing (admittedly with a unique vaudevillian twist) very well indeed. When I first heard her, what made her stand out from the crowd was undoubtedly the quality of her lyric writing. In songs like; Oh La Lolita, Lola B's Got Ultrazoom, Loves of a Girl Wrestler and Strongmen & Acrobats it was immediately apparent that this was a songwriter endowed with not only a strong sense of melody, but crucially also with a keen observational eye and a dark and witty way with words. On the aforementioned Oh La, Lolita for instance, we were given a young girl's perspective on a, shall we say, 'unsuitable' relationship in a penetrating, intelligent and non-sensationalist manner. This is not hyperbole, but when I first heard that song, and the others on Laura's original solo album 'Gin & Scissors' I quickly realised that here was an original talent, blessed with humour and wise beyond her years, who seemed destined to go on to greater things.

And now those 'greater things' appeared to have materialized. Laura is no longer a solo artist and these days has a full band called The Long Goodbye. What's more, Laura and The Long Goodbye launch their debut 7" single this very night with an appearance at The Slaughtered Lamb in London (unfortunately The Streetlamp will not be attending due to the distance and my oft repeated assertion that the only good reason to visit London is The British Museum). Leaving my idiosyncracies aside for a moment, I should mention here that the single comes with an accompanying 4-track EP and is released on Laura's own newly-formed label, Chrome Yellow. The single which can be ordered from the band's bandcamp page is a double A-side featuring ‘Strongmen & Acrobats’ – a wonderful, touching song about her autistic brother – and ‘Talented Tailor’, a typically quirky and mischievous tale of 'forcible tattooing'. The record was mixed and produced by Laura’s bassist Phil Brillo, arrangements are by viola player Danyal Dhondy. The remaining members of The Long Goodbye are Drummer Karl Penney and violinist Flora Curzon.
Laura and the band appear to be gigging around the South East in the next few months, so if you get the chance check them out. In the meantime, as mentioned above, the 7" vinyl single and CD EP can be ordered now on bandcamp, with 20% of the profits from the CD going to the National Autistic Society. If you're interested in the provenance of the music, Laura's early, solo, 10-track demo album 'Gin & Scissors' remains available as a free MP3 download on her last.fm page.

To further persuade you of the marvel that is Laura Hocking & The Long Goodbye, here are the two songs from the new single:







And here is a video of Laura solo, singing Oh La, Lolita live:



Enjoy!

Griff
xx

Griff says; They that go down to the sea in ships.

Cornwall is one of my favourite places in England. Its isolated, rugged landscapes, its wind-blown western seascapes and its place names and people mark it out as a Celtic relic and bring a welcome sense of easy familiarity to any Celt otherwise marooned in the territory of our large and sometimes troublesome neighbour. The Sea Kings, the fine young musical trio whom I want to introduce tonight, all hail from Cornwall but are currently exiled in London. Interestingly, seperation from their roots has produced within them a yearning for their home by the wild sea that runs like a silver thread through their music and art; the sure sign of the Celt far from home.
The Sea Kings are James Wills (Vocals/Guitar), Joe Holtaway (Vocals/Mandolin) and Jake Alexander (Vocals/Percussion/Cello). They describe themselves thus:

"The sound that The Sea Kings make is rooted in folk music but with branches twisting through rhythmic asymmetry, carefully-crafted vocal harmonies and contemporary pop melodies, all under an acoustic canopy."

They go on to admit that their music doesn't fit one particular genre but if you must have a tag for your MP3 player then you might file them under; Folk, or Sea Shanties, or Harmonies, or best of all perhaps, "Medieval pop". That's certainly the tag I'll be sticking with. I can certainly hear how this strange reference has arisen, as one of the most distinctive parts of their sound is undoubtedly Jake Alexander's djembe playing. Rather than providing a straight-forwardly rhythmic underpinning, he experiments with unusual shifting tempos and time signatures that are unlike anything else I've heard from the English folk scene. This gives the music its unusual 'Olde Worlde' feel and also, in many ways, makes it somewhat reminiscent of 'Celtic fusion' folk acts like Old Blind Dogs. The other distinctive element of The Sea Kings sound is their beautifully arranged, three-part, vocal harmonies, which you will hear used to good effect on the two songs we're bringing you tonight (below). Both tracks are taken from the band's debut EP 'An Introduction To The Sea Kings' and the band have kindly agreed to let us make them available as free downloads to Streetlamp readers.

Track 1 is the romantic and aching Villages:

Villages - The Sea Kings by SadPanda




Track 2 is the more boisterous Sails and Boards:

Sails and Boards - The Sea Kings by SadPanda





Aaah, you can almost smell the sea-salt in the air; hope you enjoyed that. The band are currently hard at work recording their debut album (hopefully out sometime later this year, keep your eye on The Streetlamp for details). You can also find out more about The Sea Kings, and hear more songs, on this excellent fansite and on Facebook and Myspace.

Griff
xx

Griff says; Rainy night in Austin

Just a short blog tonight to bring you up to speed with the latest songs from our old friends; quirky indie-pop duo, champions of Creative Commons, and all round nice guys, Julandrew (pictured below). We've written in more detail about them before 'here' but, in a nutshell, Julandrew are Julie and Andrew; a pair of free spirits who currently live in Austin, Texas and make lovely, poppy, music for the whole world to enjoy. The duo have been posting their music online since 2008 and have become something of an internet phenomenon. Check out their website (love that 'cost of U.S. wars' counter, wonder if we can get a UK equivalent?) and their Jamendo page.


Last year our own Ray did a wee video for their song 'Wait Just A Litle Bit Longer' and he has been something of a confirmed fan ever since. In a fit of enthusiasm, he's now decided to make two more videos for their latest single releases. The first is for 'Don't Wanna Wake Up' (this is my favourite as I like the psychedelic dream sequences, it's like he can see inside my head!).



The next is for the more melancholy 'Raining' (which Ray tells me is his favourite).




As ever, the songs are available as free downloads. Julandrew are quite the evangelists for Creative Commons licences and they appreciate the exposure it gives them. However, if you do like the songs enough to download them and want to do something in return then you should send them a nice e-mail to say thank-you. They'll like that.

Enjoy,

Griff
xx

~Nippy Sweeties~#7: The Monkees Give Head....

....and blow their brains across the screen!!

Okay....Pop quiz, Hotshots!
How many major artists do you know who have committed suicide before their adoring public?
G.G. Allin? Nope, he may have threatened to on many an occasion but he never went through with it, and he's not exactly 'major' anyway!
No....perhaps such an award can really only go to The Monkees who committed spectacular (career) suicide in 1968 when they released their only full length movie 'Head'. After 'Head', NOTHING would ever be the same for The Monkees again. Not only did they succeed in ostracising the teenybopper audience that worshipped them, but they confounded the more serious protagonists of the counterculture by delivering something truly worthy and completely 'out-there' while still being a musical pariah, an insult to the (cough) serious music scene.
'Head' was originally loathed by almost EVERYONE upon it's release and was virtually ignored and forgotten throughout the 1970s. In the early 80s, thanks to some film festival showings, the film was rediscovered as a curious timepiece and now is critically acclaimed as a major work of counterculture film making.
'Head' now sits at the top table of rock music movies with 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Gimme Shelter' and pisses all over such fluff as 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter', 'Catch Us If You Can' or any of Cliff's or Elvis's movies.
So let's take another look and we'll see what all the fuss is about....
'Head' originated when the band's very successful TV show was axed after it's second series. As with their music, The Monkees themselves wanted more input into the shows. The last ever episode, 'Mijacogeo - The Frodis Caper' was written and directed by Mickey Dolenz and is completely off the wall. The band were given one more project, '33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee', an extended TV special in which the band gave a psychedelic hued interpretation of Darwinism....yes, really! It didn't go down well with audiences, but gave the band the courage to break out on their own and go for the big screen.
If popular myth is to be believed, the four Monkees, the band's creator Bob Rafelson, and Jack Nicholson (yes,THAT Jack Nicholson) locked themselves in a hotel room with a bunch of pharmaceuticals and left a tape recorded running into which they babbled all their ideas.
The result, pretty much, is 'Head'....

The film begins with the band (literally) committing suicide (the first of many metaphors) by jumping to their deaths from a bridge. This leads us into the very psychedelic opening titles, and an early indicator of how good the music is going to be in this movie with 'Porpoise Song', The Monkees own 'I Am The Walrus' or 'Whiter Shade Of Pale'.


It becomes obvious after this that the movie is not going to follow any concrete narrative. Scenes begin and end without explanation, there are references to the Vietnam war which was raging at the time ('Head' is one of very few movies made at the time that actually dared speak out against the madness of that war!), then the band do a cheerleader style chant decrying their own fame and slaughtering their own manufactured image,"The money's in// We're made of tin", before we cut to staggering live footage of the band performing Mike Nesmith's 'Circle Sky' proving that not only could they play very well, but that they were a pretty dynamic rock band.
The performance ends with the band being ripped apart by their fans, only to be revealed as mannequins.


It's clear by now that this is an angry movie. The film rages against so many things, from the aforementioned Vietnam war to the manipulation of advertising, the fakeness of Hollywood, police brutality, faux spiritualism, and The Monkees own branding and image. The inner-band rivalry between Davy Jones and Peter Tork is used to create an uncomfortable tension, Mike Nesmith's blatant disinterest in both The Monkees as a band and as people is glaringly obvious, and Mickey Dolenz's wacky persona is often peeled away as a mask revealing a serious man at odds with what the world has thrown at him this last few years....Cue 'Can You Dig It'.....


The films lack of structure, similar to that of Monty Python's Flying Circus which would follow a year later means that the film can cut from humourous parody to a series of shocking images (napalm burned children, the infamous execution of Vietcong guerrilla Bay Hop), back to scenes with a giant Victor Mature and then into the snowy pastoral scenes that accompany 'As We Go Along'...

(unfortunately the audio has not been authorised for this video so all that remains are the images...sorry!)

As the film progresses it keeps turning everything on it's head (if you'll excuse the pun); Peter Tork hits a woman because the script requires it, only for him to spend the rest of the movie lamenting the damage such a scene will do to his image, the band parody The Beatles meetings with the Maharishi by meeting their own swami only to denounce everything he has taught them, Mike Nesmith takes bets on whether a suicide will jump to her death, Mickey Dolenz spears a huge cigarette butt only to sniff it and procalim rather dreamily that its 'an El Zoomo', and in an odd snippet of what appears to be behind the scenes footage is seen rambling cosmically (for real) to an unseen interviewer; and Davy Jones plays a typical Hollywood romantic lead claiming that his face is his fortune only to have said face beaten to a bloody pulp by Sonny Liston. Later he'll bump into Frank Zappa who'll inform him that song he's just performed, 'Daddy's Song', was 'pretty white', meaning lacking in any soul.....

There's no doubting that the film was made with the drug crowd in mind, and the final song of the movie, called (deep breath)"Long Title Do I Have To Do This All Over Again" is a complete psychedelic barrage of the senses. The whole scene is obviously meant to resemble an acid trip and is far more successful in doing so than say, Roger Corman's mega-bore 'The Trip' or the final sequences of 2001: A Space Odyssey....


There are some interesting cutaways and cameos littering the movie too; Jack Nicholson is seen emerging from behind a camera, future Spielberg and Scorsese favourite Teri Garr appears in a scene, as does Beach movie starlet Annette Funicello. Kubrick actor Timothy Carey turns up in a bizarre scene in a wheelchair, and the band end up as dandruff on a giant Victor Mature's head.

The soundtrack album was one of the band's worst selling albums, probably because it only has six songs as well as snippets from the movie, and also as they included a studio version of 'Circle Sky' rather than the blistering version used in the film.
'Head', once so cruelly hated or ignored is now quite rightly regarded as a major contribution to the late 60s counterculture and has recently been given the whole Criterion DVD package, who clearly see it as not just a classic of it's time, but possibly one of Hollywood's only truly avant-garde surrealist movies.
So what have we learned from 'Head' then? Well, we now know that The Monkees really should have been taken a lot more seriously than they were at the time. Remember this was the band who on the very first episode of their TV show performed a song called 'Take A Giant Step Outside Your Mind', delivering it right into the homes of middle America at tea-time; that The Monkees had the foresight to take a neglected Jimi Hendrix on tour with them as nobody else in America 'got' him. That 'Head' is now seen, along with Easy Rider' (which followed a year later), as the beginning of 'New' Hollywood. That The Monkees COULD play. And write. And perform live.
Of course, I may be a tad biased as I consider The Monkees in the Holy Trilogy of 60s Geniuses along with The Beatles and The Beach Boys. I know it's an unpopular view but....ppffffttt, do I look like I care?

Hey Hey We're Tragically Underrated!

~Gordon~