IN THE PICTURE WITH ROBERT CHANEY

Cracked Picture Frames, the bristling full-length debut of American-born, London-based songwriter Robert Chaney, opens with Black Eyed Susan - a scene of domestic violence sung from the point of view of an ashamed abuser - and sets off ticking through a further nine songs; chronicling assaults, traffic accidents (two, in fact), and all kinds of heartbreak.

"The record almost didn't happen," recalls Robert. "After moving from Florida to London, I didn't know anyone. I thought I was going to have to get into the open mic grind. So I went to one and showed up late and they put me on last." But it was on the strength of this performance that Robert was approached by producer Ken Brake (The Clientele, Louis Philippe), and the two started working in Ken's London studio, recording dozens of songs over a number of months. Most of the songs on the final record are first or second takes.

The negative space afforded by the spartan guitar-and-voice arrangements serves to bring the lyrical content into hyperfocus, and it is here the 33-year-old truly differentiates himself from his peers. “There was this great DVD rental place around the corner from me on Brick Lane,” Robert explains, “I started to get into old foreign films, art stuff. I started to think like a director or screenwriter. How to maintain tension, how to write from a character.” He pauses for a moment, and is then quick to add, “It’s not all exercises in storytelling, though. There’s a lot of personal stuff on there.”

This tension between love song and story song provides much of the motivating force behind the album. ‘The Cyclist’ is equal parts tragic romance and cliffhanging thriller, as a couple deal with the aftermath of a hit-and-run car accident. ‘The Ballad of Edward and Lisa’, written about a former co-worker of Robert's, offers a sly critique of organized religion as the song masquerades as an old-fashioned blood-soaked murder ballad.

Though he is still a relative newcomer, the past two years have seen Robert Chaney become one of the most talked-about performers on the London singer-songwriter scene, and with Cracked Picture Frames, he proves that the titular shattered glass isn’t the only thing about this record that’s razor-sharp.

See the video for 'Patch It Up'.

Robert plays The Railway Tavern, 2 St Jude Street, Dalston, London on Thursday 5 March.

http://www.robertchaney.net
https://www.facebook.com/robertchaneymusic
https://twitter.com/robertjchaney

CARRY ON SERGEANT - BUZFUZ RETURN WITH THEIR SIXTH ALBUM

South London indie-folk band Sergeant Buzfuz return with their sixth album, the long awaited follow-up to 2012’s highly-rated Go To The Devil And Shake Yourself. Recorded, as usual, at One Cat Studio in Coldharbour Lane, Brixton by Jon Clayton (Band Of Holy Joy, Chris T-T, Pete And The Pirates), if the album has a theme, it’s the city in which it was recorded: starting out in Manor House we visit Stratford, Kensington, Elephant & Castle, Hampstead and Kilburn along the way. The exception is ‘S6 Girls’, set in songwriter Joe Murphy’s hometown of Sheffield.

Balloons For Thin Linda is preceded by a single ‘Gold Feelings’, which has already been picked up for airplay by Gideon Coe on BBC 6 Music. See the video here 

Alongside Joe, Sergeant Buzfuz are Willie Barr, Ian Button, Polly MacLean, Joss Cope, Stu Crane and Eilish McCracken.

Joe’s songs are a mixture of the pop, post-punk and folk he grew up with and the Irish story-telling tradition of his ancestors. As well as fronting the band, he is a widely-touring solo artist and co-runs the Blang label. Sergeant Buzfuz’s fifth album Go To The Devil And Shake Yourself received substantial media exposure, including several plays from Gideon Coe, while novelist Ian Rankin listed it in his top 20 albums of the year. Joe and Polly performed Go To The Devil And Shake Yourself as a show at the Edinburgh Free Fringe in 2012. The band have also played live sessions on BBC 6 Music for Marc Riley and Tom Robinson.

Joe contributes a song to Shirley Collins Inspired, a triple vinyl album of covers of songs sung by the Sussex folk icon due Easter 2015 on the Fire label, alongside contributions from Alasdair Roberts, Will Oldham, Graham Coxon and Tuung. 

This is what folk have said about Sergeant Buzfuz….

“It's mental - in a good way! Absolutely hooked on it”  IAN RANKIN       
“It will be a long time before you hear the like again”  BEARDED

“I find myself almost lost for words...absolutely glorious”  PETER MUGGS, THE ARTS DESK

“Musically inventive, they are by turn complex, playful and challenging”  R2
“An eye-opener and an eyebrow-raiser”  GIDEON COE, BBC 6 MUSIC

“Absolutely brilliant”  TOM ROBINSON, BBC 6
“Ceaselessly inventive"  TIMEOUT
“Universally charming”  NME    
"Perverse and memorable, modern-day folk music"  MORNING STAR

www.sergeantbuzfuz.com

www.facebook.com/sergeantbuzfuz

BOB COLLUM - LITTLE ROCK CALLING

Essex-based Okie, Bob Collum returns in January with his first full album since 2007’s Set The Stupid Free. Once again he’s joined by his faithful band The Welfare Mothers, once again featuring fellow transplanted American Marianne Hyatt, plus special guests Peter Holsapple, Martin Belmont and David Lewis. The album was produced by renowned producer and ex-Vibrator Pat Collier at Perry Vale Studios in Southeast London, and is Bob’s first under a new deal with Harbour Song Records, also home to fellow Essex mavericks the Lucky Strikes and M G Boulter.

Of the ten songs on the album, Bob says “If I had to have an angle I'd say they are mostly about looking back at what I remember America, particularly the South, was like and how different I seemed and felt about what was around me.”

“Johnny Held Em Down is about the Confederate flag and how it's used a weapon of keeping people aware of their place. Quite sinister stuff that loses its context outside of The US. Little Rock is about looking at home with equal parts longing and trepidation. An ex-pat’s lament! Wasted Wonderland is a bit of a romantic autopsy. I think that tells the story of the majority of people I knew growing up. Locust Grove is the true story of the murder of three girl scouts at a scout camp outside of Tulsa in 1977. It was like a gothic horror story that really affected kids my age and I've never been able to shake the awfulness of the whole thing.”

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the decade and more since Bob arrived in the UK, he’s come up with a series of memorable albums: the solo releases More Tragic Songs Of Life and Low Rent Romeo, plus two with his band The Welfare Mothers: The Boy Most Likely To and Set The Stupid Free, and latterly the Twisted Lines & Mixed Up Rhythms and The New Old Thing EPs. He’s also shared stages with an equally memorable cast list of the great and the good of American music, including Dave Alvin, Marshall Crenshaw, Greg Trooper, Alejandro Escovedo, Robert Earle Keen, Robbie Fulks and many more.

Alongside Bob and Marianne, The Welfare Mothers feature Allan Kelly (pedal steel), Paul Quarry (drums) and Gareth Davies (bass).

www.bobcollum.com

www.facebook.com/bobcollummusic

www.harboursong.co.uk

“Collum's Anglophile Americana reaps subtle yet sustaining dividends...” **** Daily Mirror

“Collum… like Nick Lowe is able to express a wry riposte and an aching heart within the same breath.” **** R2

“Possibly his finest yet… He continues to refine his songwriting with some quite stunning musical arrangements.”  Maverick

“…a truly gorgeous bundle of country joy..” FATEA

“The Boy Most Likely To... is a testimony to the enduring power of finely crafted songs played well . It deserves a wide hearing and appreciation." Bucketfull Of Brains

“With The Boy Most Likely To, Collum has crafted roots pop perfection" Amplifier

“Pop melodies and hooks that’ll have you humming the chorus to each song before the record is halfway through" Subba Cultcha

STIV CANTARELLI & THE SILENT STRANGERS HEAD DOWN TO THE RIVER

Stiv Cantarelli & The Silent Strangers are back, building on the success of their critically acclaimed debut Black Music / White Music with more post-punk revolutionary blues.

Having recorded their debut in an abandoned church amid the isolation of Italy’s Romagna hills, Stiv and the band decided to up sticks for the city for their next project; specifically the super-trendy environs of Hackney Wick, East London – on the banks of the River Lea – where they holed up in the infamous Gizzard studio with producer Peter Bennett (founder of Monkey Island, The Dublo and Morning Bride) and studio owner/engineer Ed Deegan (Billy Childish, Mudhoney, The Fall, The Cribs). In a nod towards the stripped down Thames Delta sound of Dr Feelgood et al, Dave Dulake, landlord of Southend rock’n’roll boozer The Railway Hotel, was also on hand to lay down some barrelhouse piano.

The result eschews much of the gentle Americana of their debut album, the band now immersing themselves fully in the dark and savage blues that they’d only just begun to hint at on record, but that had already made their live shows a thrilling and cathartic ride. If you’re thinking The Gun Club, Thin White Rope, The Scientists or Gallon Drunk, you’re getting close.

Stiv Cantarelli initially came to prominence as leader of Italy’s number one alt.country band Satellite Inn, who were recruited by North Carolina label MoodFood as a replacement for the ascendant Whiskeytown. Touring the States intensively, Cantarelli became firm friends with Portland, Oregon roots legends Richmond Fontaine, which has led to him releasing several records on their El Cortez label and employing them as his backing band on his solo debut Innerstate. It was this connection that found him at the wheel of a tiny Fiat beside Bob Mould for an Italian odyssey during the miserable winter of 2009. In the Silent Strangers, Stiv is joined by former Satellite Inn rhythm section Fabrizio Gramellini (bass) and Antonio Perugini (drums) along with new member Roberto Villa (guitar and sax).

The album release will be followed by a series of UK dates in mid-October.

http://stivcantarelli.com/

https://www.facebook.com/StivCantarelliAndTheSilentStrangers

https://twitter.com/scandthess

Praise for Black Music / White Music….

A long night’s ramble through the musical fleshpots of the soul… The urge to listen again is powerful. 4/5  R2

Destined to be a seminal classic 9/10 Vive Le Rock

An overwhelming success… 9/10 Americana-UK.com

This is bluesy country punk for grown-ups Q

An exciting mix of post punk rock and desert blues  4/5  AAAmusic.co.uk

A really fascinating album…. It will reward the time you give it. Stiv Cantarelli & The Silent Strangers take a no compromise approach to their recording and long term it definitely pays off.  FATEA

Cantarelli has grown into a bluesman whose songs can break your heart, while also sounding like they could handle themselves in a barroom brawl. Classic Rock Blues

Fantastic album… Absolute killer.  Pennyblackmusic.co.uk

ABC GUITARIST LAUNCHES NEW BLUES ALBUM

Matt Backer is a leading guitarist and songwriter, having performed and toured with an array of artists including Laura Mvula, Emilia Mitiku, Aimee Mann, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Kim Wilde, Swing Out Sister, Elton John, Cher, Bananarama, Joe Cocker and Alice Cooper, amongst others.

Matt’s new blues album Get Backer is produced by Matt and his long-time collaborator Ian Shaw (Nick Heyward, Julian Cope). The album features special guests including former Shakespeare’s Sister Marcella Detroit, Peter Cox (lead singer of Go West), US blues legend Bill Blue and world-renowned blues harmonica player, Adam Gussow. Award-winning British director Steve Graham directed the video to accompany the first single, Histrionic Narcissist Blues (Let’s Talk About Me). Both single and album are released on 15 September.

Matt’s debut solo album, The Impulse Man, resulted in two US Independent Music Network Number 1 singles and won Best Adult Contemporary Newcomer at the New Music Awards in Los Angeles. Mojo described the album as having ‘the chunkiest riffs and licks you wish youʼd learned to play wrapped around songs reeling with fat choruses and wry humour.’

His second solo album, Idle Hands, earned him Favourite International Artist at the Independent Music Network Awards 2013. Matt was also nominated for Favourite Group/Duo, along with collaborative partner Julian Lennon, who co-wrote, produced, and shared lead vocals on the anthemic single All That Youʼve Wanted. The track was play-listed at radio stations across the USA, and reached Number 1 on several Independent Music Network charts. Martin Fry took time out from his position as ABCʼs inspired frontman to duet on the track Halfway To Jessica. The single Let’s Art, was played on UK radio stations nationwide, including BBC Radio 2.

Matt has toured the world with artists including Belinda Carlisle, ABC (with whom he sold out the Royal Albert Hall performing an orchestral version of their seminal Lexicon Of Love album) and Rumer, on whose double platinum debut Seasons Of My Soul he performed, as well as its follow up Boys Donʼt Cry.

www.mattbacker.com

www.facebook.com/MattBackerMusic1

MR PLOW: NOT THE BEGINNING, NOT THE END

Murderbilly, Gothic Country, Americana Noir. Just three of the terms sort of useful in sort of describing the music of Mr Plow, who release their third album Not The Beginning, Not The End this Summer.
 
Hailing from the urban anonymity of the English Midlands, the band first released an EP (Four Murder Ballads) on PinkBox Records (2008), securing them a live session for Mark Lamarr on BBC Radio 2. Their debut album The Book of Common Despair was released the following year to  several excellent reviews and features in the Americana press, plus copious radio play, righteously earned through many hours traipsing up and down the country to promote it. Both The Guardian and The Sunday Times namechecked Mr Plow in articles citing the best of UK Americana: “Leicestershire's own Man In Black” proclaimed The Sunday Times!
 
Mr Plow's second album Joyful In Song Are We was released in July 2011, and was reviewed very nicely by many nice people. The band again played a raft of gigs in support of the release, which included them being cited as 'Moment of the Weekend' at Moseley Folk Festival. The second album also saw Mr Plow rated as one of Europe's most 'intriguing' Americana acts by the US Americana site ‘The Alternate Root’.
 
The Mr Plow band is currently made up of - Mr Plow (vocals/guitar), Sgt. Thorley (guitar), The Crusher (drums) and Flame Boy (bass). It's 2014 and they're unleashing album number three!

Not The Beginning, Not The End will be available on limited edition coloured 12" vinyl (300 copies) plus digital download. It will be available to buy from selected record stores, plus direct from PinkBox Records. They’ll be playing a whole crop of dates to go with it, and are available for interview right now!

www.mrplowsplace.co.uk

www.facebook.com/mrplowsplace

www.mrplowsplace.wordpress.com

www.pinkboxrecords.com

 

THE BRAINIAC 5 - WHEN SILENCE WAS SOUND

Do you remember when silence was sound?

This timely compilation documents the first flourishing of psych-punks The Brainiac 5, born out of the free-flowing Cornish freak-scene of the mid-70s. Featuring seventeen extremely rare recordings, highlighting the band’s New Wave smarts melded with lysergic guitar workouts influenced by the late-60s San Francisco scene, the release comprises the band’s 7-inchs, along with sole long-player World Inside, produced by Hawkwind/Hawklords drummer Martin Griffin, and live tracks recorded at The White Horse, Launceston in 1980. Including a sixteen-page booklet with full band history by archivist Colin Hill, When Silence Was Sound is packaged in mindbending art from the paintbox of noted UK artist John Hurford. Released on 7 April on the specially reactivated Reckless Records imprint, the anthology chimes neatly with the current resurgence in all things psychedelic.

Formed out of the ashes of free festival favourites the Half Human Band – also featuring Griffin – the initial Brainiac 5 line-up of guitarist/vocalists Charles Taylor (aka Charlie Nothing) and Bert Biscoe, bassist John ‘Woody’ Wood and drummer Steve Hudson made a name for themselves on the isolated yet thriving Cornish pub, club and festival scene. Coming to the attention of the NME with their Mushy Doubt EP, and with Richard Booth of early Stiff signings Plummet Airlines replacing Biscoe, the band made the move to London to enjoy the fruits of a gig circuit enlivened by punk. However, they split before World Inside could be released, the album eventually seeing the light of day in 1988 via Reckless Records, the label arm of the secondhand record empire founded by Taylor, also responsible for releases by such psych legends as Bevis Frond, Black Sun Ensemble and Mu.

Fast forward to 2013 and with Taylor returning to the UK after 20 years running Reckless stores in the States, the opportunity to reconvene the Brainiacs results in Space Is The Place, a 10-inch EP of new recordings on Bucketfull Of Brains magazine founder Nigel Cross’s Shagrat label. Garnering effusive reviews from the likes of The Wire and Shindig! magazines, and with Charlie and Woody now joined by another Plummet alumnus Duncan Kerr on guitar, along with Nick Onley on sax and flute and Wayne Worrell on drums, The Brainiac 5 are once again very much a going concern. A long strange trip indeed!

The band will launch the release with two shows in London in April....

Sat 5 April         The Betsey Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road, Clerkenwell EC1

Fri 25 April       The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Road, Dalston E8

www.facebook.com/TheBrainiac5

www.brainiac5.co.uk