Thursday 13 September 2012


Bob Dylan - Tempest

In some ways writing a Bob Dylan album review is a thankless task; there are the fans who will unerringly proclaim that every Dylan album is a triumph, the equally staunch groups of doubters who feel he’s past it and never recovered from his dip into holy waters, then there are the newcomers who will most likely become fans by listening to 'Highway 61', 'Blonde on Blonde' or 'Blood on the Tracks' before hearing the rasping squawks of Dylan’s voice on his more recent LPs. He also probably doesn’t give two cents to what an obscure writer across the pond thinks of 'Tempest', his 35th album, but then he never did really care what anyone thought.
But 50 years on from his first Dylan shows that his fire still burns bright, even if his voice doesn’t. As he growls on 'Early Roman Kings', "I ain’t dead yet, my bell still rings."
Musically Tempest has the same blend of expertly constructed blues, folk, rockabilly and western as all of his albums have had since 2001’s 'Love & Theft'. Dylan’s voice has been shot for a while now, as anyone who’s seen him live recently can attest, where guessing the song over his gravelly rasp is becoming increasingly difficult. Yet his old snarl suits the blues. None more so than on 'Tin Angel', a track with a shuffling, sinister backing which has Dylan at his raging best as a tale of murder and revenge unfolds; "it would take more than needle and thread, bleeding from the mouth he’s as good as dead."
'Duquesne Whistle' breezes in with a country swoon before it launches into a bluesy number with a bit more swing and a bit more punch. It seems that something has angered Bob considering the video has him stalking the streets of an American suburb, mob in tow, as some poor chap is dealt a thrashing. And an angry Dylan can only be a good thing. Fuelled by this, his lyrics, and let’s face it they’re the primary reason for listening to Dylan, are bold, fun and vitriolic, something which was missing on his last studio album, 'Together Through Life'.
The driving rocky blues of 'Pay In Blood' has Dylan enjoying himself with his sneering snarl taking on a mobster-like menace that would put Tony Soprano to shame; ‘the more I take, the more I give, the more I die, the more I live,’ and ‘I pay in blood but not my own.’ It’s a devilish ditty that shows that Dylan hasn’t lost any of the venomous contempt that made Mr Jones quake in his boots. But to compare Tempest to anything from the time of 'Ballad of a Thin Man' would be foolish – it wouldn’t do justice to either era – and would detract from what is largely a brilliant return to form.
On 'Modern Times' Dylan was ‘thinking ‘bout Alicia Keys,’ this time round he’s name checking Leonardo DiCaprio on the title track, a 14-minute ode to the Titanic in the guise of an Irish-tinged country waltz. It’s hard to imagine someone else taking on such a task, particularly once you realise that the song spans 45 verses. But after all these years that’s why Dylan’s still in a league of his own when it comes to writing verse.
It’s a shame that, sentiment aside, the one song that doesn’t quite hit the heights is 'Roll On, John' – a late tribute to his friend, John Lennon - with lines like ‘I heard the news today, oh boy’ and ‘come together right now over me’ it’s a tender lyrical tribute, but musically it drifts and lacks resonance.
At 71 Dylan’s voice might sound more like a bark but with Tempest he shows the bite’s still as strong as ever.
8/10
By . Tweets at @herbert_sam
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.

Saturday 8 September 2012


TOY - TOY

Halfway through TOY’s self-titled debut release, on 'Motoring', a song awash with swirling synths and scratching guitars, all held together by pulsing drums and Tom Dougall’s understated vocals, it becomes staggeringly obvious that this is going to be one hell of an album. Given that it’s a debut makes it even more astounding; the bold, soaring soundscape created suggests that this is a band on their third, not first album. It’s no surprise that The Horrors touted them as the band to look out for this year.
It was when they supported Faris and co last year that the quintet first started turning heads. The unassuming almost motionless stage presence, dressed in black with long straggly hair covering their eyes, conflicted with the loud sounds coming out of the speakers. A sell-out four-week residency at hipster haunt, the Shacklewell Arms, followed and the buzz has been growing louder ever since. Word got around that three members of the band (Dougall,Maxim Barron and Dominic O’Dair) had a monkey on their back in the form of Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong, whose hype was canned alongside their debut album back in 2008, to the relief of everyone involved.
Yet on listening to TOY you’d never know that any of the quintet were once part of an indie-band with pop sensibilities. None more so is this so than on final track, 'Kopter', a mesmerising 10-minute sprawl of scattering drums and yawning guitars, which steadily grows and grows to end in a ferocious, expansive release of sound. There are similarities toDeerhunter on the psychedelic infused 'Make It Mine' and The Horrors on the brooding 'Strange' but TOY are more than an imitation of the two.
'Heart Skips A Beat' is a tender, uplifting song and opener 'Colour’s Running Out' fizzes by in a mind-bending haze of sounds. There are definite nods to the motorik grooves pioneered by krautrock bands Neu! and Kraftwerk in the 70s, as in stand out track 'Dead and Gone', but instead of one straight route down the Autobahn TOY branch off, picking up influences from My Bloody Valentine and Wire along the way.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about the LP is TOY’s ability to blend all the influences they’ve picked up from their vast record collection into something which sounds fresh and new, yet which still has a soupcon of nostalgia, enough familiarity to cling onto without it sounded old and worn. What’s certain is that TOY have created one of the albums of the year and, for at least for three of them, have finally banished the ghost of Joe Lean.
9/10
By . Tweets at @herbert_sam
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.

Secret Garden Party 2012

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
Seated on a crowded, muddy bank gazing up in child-like wonderment at the explosions of colour and noise scattering the night sky, a result of the Secret Garden Party fireworks show, I can’t help think of Jack Kerouac’s infamous quote and how relevant it is in describing the hedonistic goings on at this particular festival. It’s safe to assume that Kerouac would’ve loved SGP; the diverse mix of music, arts and theatre intermingled with the madness of life – at the end of four days of debauchery you feel as if you’ve lived a wild chapter of 'On the Road' and not even a week in a health spa would be long enough to recuperate.
Experiencing the 10th birthday of SGP - and it is an experience - is akin to diving head-first into a giant deluxe party bag; hidden in every nook and cranny is a stage, tent or hut as bizarre and fantastical as the last one for you to get lost in.
On Saturday the Colli-sillyum, a four-tiered, hay-stacked arena, was host to male and female mudwrestling competitions, to the hooting and howling of a baying crowd. At night the hay barrels shook and shuddered to the driven party rock of Fake Blood (among others), causing much foot-stomping stupidity amongst the wide-eyed night owls. Earlier raucous scenes unfolded as Oxide and Neutrino brought the Solid Sound of the Underground to Wormfood’s Valley of the Antics stage treating everyone’s adolescent-self to hit after garage hit.
It’s so easy to get lost in the madness of the festival that you constantly have to remind yourself that there are bands to see, and some good ones at that. Alabama Shakeswhipped the Great Stage crowd into a Friday evening frenzy with their brawling blues thundering out across the resplendent lake. Midday Saturday and the sun greeted Tim Minchin who tinkled the ivories and tickled the hearts with songs about Woody Allen Jesus, being ginger, and, one in particular about the Pope which had more profanities than an entire series of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. With the fireworks show warming up the crowd better than any support band could Orbital took to the stage to deliver a rambunctious set of both old and new material proving what a terrific headline act they are.
Yet the truly magical thing about Secret Garden Party is that it’s not so much a festival about the music but one that celebrates life; the silliness of it, the brilliance of it and the madness of it. There were mud beasts, fake funerals, tattoo parlours, a man playing and driving a piano, Fagan-esque blokes offering their services in photo-booths (take that how you will), strange cults, trapeze artists, a fairground, a Nordic Jesus in a trance, flash mob dancing under a bandstand, a badger wood, boating and naked swimming in the lake, all kept under supervision by a giant fox with a monocle.
Kerouac also wrote that "happiness consists in realising it is all a great strange dream". In many ways that’s how Secret Garden Party felt and I for one will be dreaming again next year.
Video by Matt Proud - @Mafyoo
By . Tweets at @herbert_sam
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.

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10 things we learnt at The Secret Garden Party

As the frivolities end, the muddied punters drag themselves home and the clean-up begins we take a look at the 10 things we learned at another fabulous year at the Secret Garden Party.
10. Festivals are made so much easier when you get a lift to and from the site from a friend’s fun-loving uncle and aunt. It also helps if the return leg goes via a beautifully remote cottage deep in the Cambridgeshire countryside for a full English and fresh coffee. Bliss.
9. Just because SGP is situated near Warboys, a village known for its roots in witchcraft (it’s the last recorded place where witches were hanged), there’s no need for cults using arrows and the ‘healing power of the human mind’ to sprout up at a festival. Stop that chanting and get to the bar.
8. Dancing like Audrey from Twin Peaks while listening to Violet (Pixie Geldof’s band) is a perfectly acceptable way to spend an afternoon at a festival. Well, part of it is. We’ll let you decide which part.
7. Dancing in unison with a rabble of random drunkards is fun. It’s even more fun doing it beneath a bandstand next to a lake. NOW DO THE MATRIX!
6. Tim Minchin is ginger (he’s also extremely talented). 
5. Risk Assessments are a thing of the past at SGP. Instead they allow people to think and care for themselves (and others) – at what other festival would you be able to swim freely in a lake, dance madly atop of tall hay bales or indulge in some semi-naked mud wrestling in the confines of a place called the Colli-sillyum? Exactly.
4. If the bread man doesn’t deliver the bread you ordered, at the time stated, then serving three measly rashes of bacon with only a plate as an accompaniment is not cool.
3. Back at the beginning of the century not even the maddest Oxide and Neutrino fan would have considered them to be a festival highlight. But the garage duo from London blasted their way through a nostalgia filled set to prove that they can still mix it with the best of them.
2. As far as spectacles go the SGP fireworks show remains the best thing I’ve seen at a festival. And I have a feeling there’s nothing that will beat it. 
1. For pure all-round entertainment SGP is the best festival out there. Okay, Glastonbury’s bigger and Primavera has a better line-up but as far as setting, atmosphere and fun go SGP wins hands down.

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY SGP!
By . Tweets at @herbert_sam
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.

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Secret Garden Party - 10 to watch

A celebration is in order as this weekend welcomes back the downright barmy goings on at Secret Garden Party. To guarantee an extra glug of revelry it’s also the 10th birthday of the festival that brings an eclectic mix of music, art, theatre and other madness to the idyllic Cambridgeshire countryside. Last year’s event was one of the highlights of the festival calendar, rivalling Glastonbury for pure unadulterated fun. Amongst the madness and debauchery there’s also a great line-up of bands, here’s who we’re looking forward to seeing.
10/ Caravan Palace
SGP welcomes back the Parisian seven-piece Electro-swing band who’s second album, Panic, was released earlier this year. Their unique fusion of the Gypsy Jazz style pioneered by Django Reinhardt and the fuzzy beats and bleeps of French electronica launched by the likes of Daft Punk make Caravan Palace the ideal band to close proceedings at this year’s festival.
9/ Laurel Collective
You’re standing in a field, wet, muddy and hungover looking up at the grey sky and wondering if it will clear. Fear not, Laurel Collective will be the perfect antidote to warm your spirits and lighten your mood with their brand of infectious pop to put a skip back in your step. The London-based five-piece have been busy creating a buzz in the indie-scene since the release of their debut album, Heartbeat Underground and are not to be missed at the Great Stage.
8/ Daughter
Nestled in a corner between the verdant foliage and rippling lake is the Where the Wild Things Are stage, which is where you’ll find the not so wild Daughter wooing the addled audience of SGP with their brooding melancholic folk. Sit back and get swept away by the ambient sounds created by Elena Tonra and Igor Haefeli.
7/ Tim Minchin
Having recently ruffled a few festival goers’ feathers in Henley for his ‘blasphemous’ act, Tim Minchin will surely go down a treat in the more relaxed confines of SGP. The Australian musician/comedian has won pretty much every award going, written the music and lyrics for the smash West End musical, Matilda, and toured extensively with a whopping 55-piece Heritage Orchestra. Throw the fact that he’s very, very funny into the mix and you have a gig not to be missed.
6/ Little Roy
Take a soupcon of the Seattle grunge scene, a dollop of steel drums and a large dose of reggae and you have the chilled vibes of Little Roy. The soothing reggae renditions ofNirvana classics 'Come As You Are' and 'Lithium' will no doubt be lapped up by the SGP crowd as Little Roy transforms the Huntingdon countryside into shores of Kingston, Jamaica.
5/ CITIZENS!
The story goes that Alex Kapranos, of Franz Ferdinand fame, was so hooked when hearing an early demo by CITIZENS! that he demanded to produce their first LP, 'Here We Are'. With their catchy hooks and spritely funk-punk melodies these London lads will have your toes tapping, knees jerking and arms pulsing as if Ian Curtis were to possess the entire crowd for the entire set.
4/ KT Tunstall
If nothing else I’m hoping the mystical confines of SGP can conjure a mass sing-a-long to 'Suddenly I See', creating one of those rare festival moments, faces beaming, arms held aloft in exaltation, a mass wave of euphoria sweeping through the crowd. A moment where you can say, ‘I was there,’ to your grand-children. If this doesn’t happen then you can still recline next to the splendour of a beautiful lake and watch a charming Scottish songstress launch a plethora of hits.
3/ Summer Camp
Oh! If only summer actually felt like summer did long ago when flowery jumpsuits, sweatshirts with Wyoming boldly written on the front and denim shorts hitched up to your shoulders were fashionable. Hang about, it is in fashion. Still at least we don’t have a Tory government leading a country in a recession piling misery onto everyone. Oh, wait. Allow Summer Camp, whose sepia tinted melodies and blissful harmonies will further help transport the crowd at the Where the Wild Things Are stage back to the 80s – it’ll be like stepping into Doc Brown’s time machine and hitting 88. Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads (we just need SGP).
2/ Alabama Shakes
Should you get the blues at SGP (this is very unlikely given the ridiculous amount of fun that you will have. And you will have fun.) then head down to see Alabama Shakes. If you don’t have the blues but just want to listen to some gritty old-fashioned rock & soul then head down to see Alabama Shakes. Just go and watch them, preferably whilst drinking whiskey from the jar and chewing on some straw. Then you can tell all your friends, ‘I saw Alabama Shakes and they were fucking great.’ Agreed? Agreed.
1/ Orbital
It’s a festival. You want to dance. You want a euphoric release. You want that ringing in your ears after hearing something very loud. You need to see Orbital. The Hartnoll brothers (Phil & Paul) have been blowing festival goers away since the very beginnings of the acid house scene. Their Glastonbury set in 1994 is widely regarded as one of the best gigs of all time, they’re one of the best live acts around and they’ve just released a belter of a new album in 'Wonky'. Whatever you do, don’t miss them.
Aside from the music there’s plenty of other treats in store at this year’s SGP. Visit the Be Ready Playpen to get in touch with your inner-child, indulge in the healing powers of the Sanctuary or get mucky at the infamous SGP Paint Fight at the Great Stage. In terms of fun, frivolity and outrageous behaviour SGP can’t be beaten. Leave your morals at the gate, open your mind and dive in for what will be one of the weekends of the summer.
By . Tweets at @herbert_sam
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.