Monday 30 October 2017

Sound System: The Political Power Of Music

Dave Randall's book Sound System: The Political Power Of Music was published by Pluto Books back in April. It is a very timely, and necessary, book.

Randall isn't the first to write about music, politics and protest, in fact, you could say that, following on from Dorian Lynskey's 33 Revolutions Per Minute in 2011, and his blog of the same name, Matthew Collin's collected works (most recently Pop Grenade, a series of essays from 2016) and Daniel Rachel's Walls Come Tumbling Down (also from 2016), that it's a growth area, publishing wise.

But Sound System is different.

Firstly, it was published as part of the Left Book Club, a new initiative in left wing publishing stemming (as is so often the case these days) from an initiative that began life in 1930s Britain.

Secondly, it is quite a slim book, which is particularly remarkable given the complex nature of the subject matter, and the timescale covered.

Thirdly, it is written by someone who is a professional musician (Randall has been a member of Faithless, records his own music under the name Slovo, and has also played with Sinead O'Connor and Dido) as well as a writer and activist, and who isn't afraid to be candid about the realities of life as a working musician, including some of the more surreal, absurd, damaging and exploitative bits. For example, he outlines some interesting statistics as regards those working in his profession:
US government statistics recently revealed that 11.5 per cent of adults working in the 'arts, entertainment and recreation' sector report heavy drinking in the last month. That's above all the other sectors except 'accommodation and food services' (11.8 per cent), construction (16.5 per cent) and mining (17.5 per cent). I suspect that if our category was narrowed to 'touring musicians and crew', we would top the chart.
What's interesting about this quote is that it's not being used to promote some stereotype of the freewheelin', binge drinkin', coke snortin', shag anything with a pulse rock'n'roll god, instead it is being used to support Randall's claim that music is often about conveying feelings of estrangement and alienation.

He eloquently explores the idea that everyday life for the touring musician can be a dichotomy. On one hand there is a clear expectation that the performer will go out on stage and make the audience feel fantastic every night, whether they happen to feel fantastic themselves or not, and that connected to this is the twin expectation that the performer will make it all look easy, desirable, alluring and a lifestyle to be coveted and envied, even if they are dreadfully homesick, suffering from flu and their house is about to be repossessed.

As Randall points out, the day to day reality of the touring artist is often lonely, repetitive, involves a lot of waiting around, exiles you to a weird bubble for two years at a time, which in turn separates you from your friends and family for two years at a time, and is not the glamorous fairytale mythologists and propagandists would have us believe.

Which is not to say he's moaning, because he is equally eloquent when it comes to discussing the amazing highs and giddy moments of joy attached to being a working musician and makes it clear that it's worth doing. His point is more that what can make you a really great musician and garner success can also be what really screws you up as a fully functioning human being.

Randall isn't the first to discuss the downside, but he's probably the first to say it so eloquently and explicitly while still living that lifestyle. (It's different if you're a retired rock star because, as with any profession, once you've retired you can say what you like about your former employers and profession) The suggestion that Randall doesn't belong to the mythology school of rock'n'roll writing is refreshing and gives his book an edge it wouldn't have otherwise.

It's also worth pointing out that, despite covering a certain amount of critical theory and a dizzying range of geography and history, Sound System is always coherant, concise and readable and that this is not a book that treads the well trod narrative of Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan to The Clash and Billy Bragg, The End. Not only does he go right up to the present day, he also begins his tale centuries back, pre Peasants Revolt and, as with Lynskey's book, doesn't focus purely on the western world.

From the origins of carnival in Trinidad and Tobago and how what began as resistance music led, ultimately, to the Notting Hill Carnival, to the co-option and censuring of previously radical musical styles and subcultures by the state (rave and disco being but two comparatively recent examples), to the subversive impact of the Beatles in Cold War era USSR, to soul in 1960s West Africa, colonialism, apartheid in South Africa and todays cultural boycott of Israel. He also pinpoints particular radical flash points, such as Rock Against Racism, Beyoncé and Black Lives Matter, and the impact of social media and smartphones as regards the spread of the music of the Arab Revolutions.

In a more wide reaching and insidious sense, he also discusses the role of advertising and sponsorship as regards musicians and decisions about personal integrity, as well as the acknowledgement that, particularly in the UK, musicians are not operating on a level playing field in the first place, with issues such as racism, sexism and classism having an impact on who gets the breaks, who gets to be heard, who is promoted and pushed.

The book concludes with what can be regarded as an open letter to fellow musicians: The Rebel Music Manifesto, which I won't spoil by trying to summarise.

It is to be hoped that this book will be read by as many musicians and music fans as possible, because it has a lot to say about music and the social-cultural scene in 2017. There may be a lot of history in this book, but it wears it lightly without treating it lightly. It's also a book that speaks very much of, and to, now. As such, it should be devoured enthusiastically and be much recommended.

Dave Randall made a visit to Salford's Working Class Movement Library in July to talk about Sound System and the the political power of music. Not only did he charm the audience, but he was engaging, interesting and energetic. He will next be appearing at Louder Than Words, "the UK's biggest music based literature festival", in Manchester over the weekend of the 10th-12th November at the Principal Hotel on Oxford Road. Both of these visits might suggest Dave to be a northern boy but he is in fact resident in Brixton.

Friday 20 October 2017

Magnificent in Purple

What strikes you most while listening to Purple, the debut album by Gothenburg's Pink Milk, is that these are not so much songs as experiments in sound. Free form compositions that sound as though they were crafted from the elements as much as from conventional drums and guitars. 

This is probably an example of an album being sonically imbued by it's surroundings, for Purple was recorded on the isolated Swedish island of Gotland and mixed and produced by the band themselves. As such, there is a strong sense of sparseness and isolation to the finished album.

Pink Milk are Maria (vocals/drums) and Edward (guitar/vocals), and they have been going for two years now. Their first three singles, 'Detroit', 'Kill 4 U' and 'Awakening of Laura' are all here, along with their unnerving and doomed composition for Swedish television, 'Drömmens Skepp', and their initial sonic calling card; the frankly terrifying rendition of Foreigner's 'I Wanna Know What Love Is'.

As such, good things are expected from this album and the opening track, 'River Phoenix' certainly hits the spot and grabs the attention. A jagged guitar scythes through the silence, eerily, menacingly... It sounds very filmic, like the opening scenes of a gothic western or dark screwball fantasy based around some intangible idea of reckoning. It broods magnificently, achieving atmospheric wonders with guitar and reverb alone. 

As 'Awakening of Laura' has shown, the band are capable of doing light as well as shade, but their strengths are jagged guitar work and brooding vocals, the sonic equivalent of lacerating wind and icy rain. These elements are strong on 'Muscles' and 'Sushi Dreams (Flesh & Blood)' but both 'Awakening of Laura' and the light and almost synthy 'Sans Toi' show that there is another side to them, the latter track sounding almost wistful, swirling around you like a cat made of fog. It sparkles like icicles. 

This is a strong debut album for the band, and it has the air of a sonic manifesto, suggesting very much that this is just part one for them. That they will be back with more sonic landscapes in the future.

I can't wait.

Purple is out now on Black Hair Records 


Wednesday 18 October 2017

Noga Erez - BALKADA (Official Video)



The woman of the moment is back!

This is Noga's new single, and she's currently touring the UK, stopping off at the following venues.

October 21st: Bristol Simple Things Festival
October 22nd: Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Think Tank Underground
October 23rd: Glasgow The Hug And Pint
October 24th: Leeds Headrow House
October 25th: Brighton The Joker
October 26th: London Corsica Studios
October 27th: Cambridge The Blue Moon
October 29th: Bedford Esquires

I do recommend you check her out.

For European readers, Noga hits France on October 30th and will be playing Lille, Bordeaux, Paris before continuing across Europe to Martigny, Brussels, Utrecht, Berlin, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Erlangen, Munich, Zurich, Dudingden, Vienna and Rome between October 30th and December 9th. Look out for her.

Friday 13 October 2017

Pre-Code Hollywood - Shake It Out



I'm not entirely sure who it was who originally introduced me to this mash up, but I think it was my friend Michelle Drury who combines her encyclopediac knowledge of all things Fall, Doctor Who, Radiophonic Workshop and Wars of the Roses with a similar degree of knowledge of all things Pre Code Hollywood and silent film.

This mash up is pretty apt given that the official promo video for 'Shake It Out' is very 1930s glamour anyway. This particular take on it never fails to cheer me up, as did Florence Welch's very emphatic disowning of the Conservative Party's unauthorised use of the Florence + The Machine's version of 'You've Got The Love' at their recent party conference in Manchester. I didn't make it to the customary anti-Conference march this year because I had a horrific migraine, but I gather it went well.

Monday 9 October 2017

Pale Honey - Get These Things Out Of My Head (Official Video)



Gothenburg band Pale Honey are currently touring with our friends Pink Milk (whose album I now have!) in Sweden, but will be playing a London show at The Old Blue Last on November 7. Their second album, Devotion, is out now and this single, 'Get These Things Out Of My Head' captures life on the road for the band, as well as providing a taster of the album. It is, in their words, 'Heavy', but is also an exhilarating ride.

Saturday 7 October 2017

Wolf Alice - Beautifully Unconventional in the Live Lounge




I'm posting the live session version rather than the promo video to this single because I really don't like the promo at all, and feel it undermines (what I understand to be) the message of the song. That is to say, there's nothing innately offensive about using the well trod big white dress, blonde wig Monroe/Debbie Harry circa Parallel Lines schtick but, Ye Gods is it tired... There are some promo videos that you watch and feel really disappointed by. Not just because the idea is tired, but because it doesn't even seem to be the right tired idea to fit the image/sound of the band in question. It feels weird. Like you're watching that video of the the Waitresses 'I know what boys like' with the Kirsty MacColl version of 'They Don't Know' dubbed over the top of it.

'Beautifully Unconventional' isn't the new 'Rebel Girl' by any means, but it has a nice affirmative female solidarity message all the same. Not so much 'Rebel Girl' as 'She's Amazing'. The album, Visions Of A Life, is out now, and it's really, really good and definitely lives up to the hype. It should consolidate the momentum the band are building up around themselves and has all the hallmarks of an indie rock classic.

On that theme, Wolf Alice are the band at the heart of Michael Winterbottom's new film, On The Road, which follows the band as they tour the UK. The film weaves fictional characters and situations in and out of the day to day activities of the touring band. An unusual concept, which seems to have garnered a positive response, critically, so far.


Wednesday 4 October 2017

Miya Folick - God Is A Woman - Live at London Calling



Along with Daughter's 'Burn It Down', this is my current song that I'm obsessed with. On 'God Is A Woman' we find Miya in a brooding, contemplative mood and, as such, this song isn't as guitar orientated as most of her work, or as angry/self lacerating.  It's a bit of a quiet recording, but it's also the only clip of 'God is a woman' that there is on YouTube so 'twill have to do.

'God Is A Woman' is available through Spotify and other streaming sites though, if you want to follow up by listening to the excellent recorded version