Memotone's #DreamSofar

A man hardly famed for his friendly, bubbly personality, even by his standards Calvin Harris was not a happy chap approximately one month ago. It all started when a video which appeared to show one-third of DJ supergroup Swedish House Mafia, Steve Angello, doing nothing more than pressing play on a pre-mixed segment of a festival set cropped up online. Even despite Mr. Harris selling unthinkable amounts of records himself, you wouldn’t have thought he would particularly object to being compared (albeit inadvertently) to such a global superstar and legend in the game as Steve Angello. Wrong, and unfortunately BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat had to find out the hard way and very, very publicly. See, the mentioning of merely ‘pressing play’ and CDJs (the equipment Angello is alleged to be using in the aforementioned video) is considered near-on blasphemy in the EDM world. And what did Greg Cochrane of Newsbeat go and do? Cut his interview with the Scot DJ in such a way that suggests theWe Found Love man not only is okay with the use of CDJs and the like, but actively endorses it! Cue Calvin talking himself into such a rage in full view of his almost 2 million Followers he ends up Tweeting ‘Looking into taking action on @BBCNewsbeat for that libellous broadcast’. Amazingly, you can still see the naughty Newsbeat article online.

So on one side you’ve got the likes of Steven Angello taking the art out of ‘artist’ in the EDM scene, and then on the other you’ve got William Yates, aka Memotone, who promises he’s never even used a laptop on stage and vows to keep it that way.

When I play live I try and make it so every sound you hear you can see me create or trigger (when samples are involved.) I never use a laptop on stage and want to keep it that way. I think it’s much more interesting for the crowd and as a performer.

Impressive. Even more so when it is considered just how many sounds Yates puts to good use. Of course there’s the expected piano, keyboard, bass and drums. Not so expected are the clarinet, trumpet, zither, glockenspiel, organ, conversation and toy instruments (to name a few). Consequently, it was always expected that Memotone would come up with an interesting #DreamSofar and he certainly doesn’t disappoint (see below).

Curious as to how one can mesh together so many diverse sounds and do so successfully? There’s plenty to be found on Memotone’s website, including links which take you to places where you can buy his various records, as well as a whole host of free downloads.

Leafcutter John:

'This fellow not only plays instruments beautifully and sings, he is also a genius when it comes to audio manipulation using computers and customised hardware. He writes his own programmes to make sounds do as he pleases and can do it all in a live environment. I have never actually seen him live, only videos, but I imagine it would be totally engrossing. Also - having worked with him myself, I can confidently say he is also a really nice chap!'

Puma:

'Surely one of my favourite bands. A three piece from Norway packing enough punch to shake a standard living room to pieces. I think it would be an utterly invigorating and uplifting experience to see this band live. On Half Nelson Courtship (released by Rune Grammofon) each track holds it's own majesty and driving power, rising up from sometimes unfathomable depths to finally crescendo high above the atmosphere, notes falling from the sky and creating pools of multicoloured liquid where they land. Imagine that!?'

Joanna Newsom:

'There is some music which seems to have been designed for the living room environment. Even though Joanna Newsom transcends any living room, I think her live performance would be perfect for a Sofar event. Her music is intimate, peaceful, poetic and tangible. If you found a place large enough to get her harp through the door and wheel a grand piano in after it, I think you would have the set up for an incredibly moving and memorable evening.'

Max Richter:

'Max Richter has the capability to transform any environment into one of beauty. So I could imagine seeing him perform live from the comfort of a living room would be almost ultimate bliss. I have seen him live once before and it was one of the best live musical experiences I have ever had. So reliving that if possible would be a chance I could not pass up. Truly a great composer and musician.'

Talk Talk:

'Laughing Stock by Talk Talk is one of my favourite albums of all time. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it sounds and feels as if it's being performed live right in front of you. If it were actually being performed live right in front of me I would probably be overwhelmed. It's the perfect balance of quiet, thoughtful composition and profound elation. It's patient refrain keeps the ear hanging to every note. Beautiful.'

To Kill A King's #DreamSofar

Described as 'Sky-scraping folk' by The Fly and producers of 'Dark lyrical musings matched by epic musical sensibilities' by Mojo, following last week's triumphant launch of our new #DreamSofar initiative, it is the turn of To Kill A King to tell us who would make up their #DreamSofar, and why. Although they've not been around for long (debut single Fictional State was released only last year), the heights to which TKAK have already soared are huge. The follow-up to the aforementioned Fictional State, Bloody Shirt (off their free-to-download My Crooked Saint EP) was particularly embraced by music critics and fans alike; it was iTunes' Single of the Week and received regular airplay from Radio 1, Radio 2 and XFM. It is not only to the recording studio that To Kill A King's talent is constrained, though - they have quite the affection for live material. After releasing their Word Of Mouth EP, a collection of live recordings from their Fortress Studios and from which the single Howling was spawned, they not only embarked on their 'guerilla gigs' program, performing acoustic sets in unusual and secret locations throughout the nation, they also performed at over sixty living rooms shows (a couple of which were Sofars!). And yet, despite the amount of time and effort that's required to take the band such places, the outfit (in particular frontman Ralph) somehow still finds the time to give back. Not only has Ralph been recording the musical sessions that have taken place on his balcony this past year or so, accompanied by the likes of Bastille, Youth Imperial and We Were Evergreen to name a few, for all you guys to see (at To Kill A King's official YouTube channel), he's also recently made the audio of said recordings available to download. What's more, all profits are to go to Great Ormond Street Hospital. And if that wasn't enough, To Kill A King have an album produced by Jim Abbiss (Adele, Bombay Bicycle Club), Charlie Hugall (Florence And The Machine, The Maccabees) and Andy Green (Keane, Paolo Nutini) set to be released in 2013.

To Kill A King's #DreamSofar would consist of:

Bastille (Ralph, vocals/acoustic guitar):

'Intelligent pop at its finest. I've seen them many times, once at Sofar Sounds - great to hear the songs stripped back.'

Two Gallants (Ralph, vocals/acoustic guitar):

'I'd also recommend Two Gallants. We're currently on tour with them in Germany and they are fantastic. Great lyrics. I'd love to hear them in a more intimate setting.'

We Were Evergreen (Ralph, vocals/acoustic guitar):

'Lovely bunch. Quirky upbeat pop, and French to boot! Did a balcony session with them earlier in the year and it was great fun!'

Teitur (Ian, electric guitar):

'One of my top albums is The Singer by Teitur. He'd be bloody great for a Sofar Sounds. The album is led by him on acoustic guitar and keys but has some incredibly beautiful string and brass arrangements; it's dramatic, exciting and he tells some great stories which the Sofar crowd would lap up like thirsty cats.'

Professor Penguin (Ben, synth & keys):

'They are pals of ours but I forget about that when I watch them, which is a good sign. Johnny has a great voice, the music is uplifting and melancholy, and there's brass and harmonies in there too.'

Review of Maia's 'Pepper Stars' for Artrocker magazine

“Here at the Olympic Games in London, our attention is presently focused on the 100m hurdles final. And they’re off! And, well, what we’re witnessing here can only be described as quite bizarre; the favourite in Lane 4, Maia, is not bothering with jumping over the hurdles and simply running through them. Unsurprisingly, they are being considerably slowed down as a result.” Not only does this metaphor recall the high spirits provoked by this summer’s Olympics, albeit with the help of a slight twisting of reality, it also handily captures my feelings about Maia’s new album, Pepper Stars. The fact that they are the favourites in my fictitious hurdles final represents the idea that the quartet from Huddersfield have the natural talent. That much is obvious. The finger work in the latter half of opener Alien, for example, could not be tighter. The breakdown in Where Else But Earth uses the combination of guitar and various elements of brass to great effect. Constant Play and Towards The Onion, which help close the album, show that the band have some really strong song writing in them. It is what the imaginary hurdles represent that so peg the band back, though – their inability to take themselves seriously. You’d struggle to find a chorus more plain irritating than that of Zuma Aluma, Dear iO features such nonsensical lyrics as ‘I headbutt your position in the coldest reaches of space’ and More Strangely Than The Moon contains more genres than most bands explore in their whole career. Whilst I’m ready to admit that joke acts aren’t exactly to my taste, I can still nonetheless appreciate that there is appeal – one only has to look at the sales of Tenacious D and The Darkness to see that. The issue with Pepper Stars, and perhaps Maia in general, though, is that it’s not obvious enough whether they’re an act to take seriously or to laugh at. If a band doesn’t know how they want to be interpreted, how can their listeners be expected to know? It’s frustrating as the band clearly have the ability to be a great example of one or the other, but instead try to be both. It is this that ultimately fails them.

2/5

Review of 'Just Music Cafe Vol. 4: The Ambient Zone' for Artrocker magazine

Now, I know what you’re thinking: that a review about an album called The Ambient Zone will send you to sleep just as quickly as the music in question does, that there’s only so much one can say about an LP which is bound to be pretty well entirely comprised of slightly variable noises that all suspiciously sound like they came from a whale. And you’d be right. Lucky, then, that this is no ordinary ambience album. Sure The Ambient Zone makes use of the stereotypical flute-sounding instrument (Digitorial’s Sense) and has cringe-inducing song titles that could only be on an album of this kind (Viragi’s Slowtide), but what relaxation album doesn’t? It is telling that, whilst it might get the job done, Marconi Union’s Weightless (voted by Time Magazine to be the 11^th best invention of 2011), compared to its counterparts, is particularly unexceptional. Whilst it must be admitted that none of these tracks will get the heart pumping like, say, the prices of The Rolling Stones reunion tour will, the number of moments that seize the listener’s attention for musical reasons is unexpectedly high. The combination of piano and guitar on Dan Arborise’s Flicker is particularly effective, for example, Honeyroot makes good use of especially soothing vocals (Radiant) for another, whilst the conveniently named Loner lets a simple piano and nothing else work the magic on Beneath The Ivy. And yet the surprises do not end just there. Sure enough Echaskech’s Little Rays starts off in typical ambient style with its ethereal infused electronica then bam!, half a minute in, a post dubstep-worthy bass line is dropped. Just as you weren’t expecting the use of such exciting punctuation (the exclamation mark) and the word ‘dubstep’ in this review, so too was I not expecting to be so entertained by an album who’s primary purpose is to help people sleep.

4/5

Review of The Sundowners' 'Hummingbird' single for Artrocker magazine

Let’s play a game of true or false: The Sundowners are a current, up-and-coming, Liverpudlian band? Surprisingly, true. ‘Surprising’ in the sense that debut single, Hummingbird – produced by James and Ian Skelly of The Coral fame and released on the band’s own record label, Thin Skin Records – could not be less ‘current’ and ‘Liverpudlian’. To start, the sound is of a real vintage feel (perhaps exaggeratedly so); the guitars are bordering on being more jangly than The Smiths (!), whilst the vocals seemingly adopt the belief that strength comes in numbers, much like, say, The Beach Boys did and still do. Comparisons to bands that aren’t quite so ‘current’, then. Secondly, Hummingbird is 2 minutes 36 seconds of Americana-laced sunshine. Were Americana and sunshine to be our whole nation’s currency, let alone just the city of Liverpool’s, our financial situation would be... Well, our financial situation would be much like it is now but you get the point. What cannot be disputed, though, is the popularity of old school-styled artists and bands, like The Sundowners, at the moment – you could even say they were ‘up-and-coming’. Handy.

4/5

Review of Andy Burrows' 'Company' for Artrocker magazine

The next sentence will not make for pleasant reading. Johnny Borrell. (Told you.) Now imagine if that sentence followed you around wherever you went. Grim, I know. Given that he is only one album deep into his solo career, these unfortunate circumstances is what Andy Burrows has to deal with. Every. Day. Case in point: The words ‘Andy Burrows’ means very little to you. The words ‘the ex-drummer of Razorlight’ mean considerably more. This is by no means to say that Burrows is content with barely having a name for himself, though, far from it. In an attempt to put his name on the musical map, for example, this album around he’s chosen to fly under his own name rather than his previous I Am Arrows moniker. And, if Company is anything to go by, he’s also trying to make his own musically speaking; some songs on the album could not be more different to the Razorlight of old. It’s all very grandiose (strings are a predominant feature, for example), unfortunately too much so at some points – Hometown is sickly-sweet, whilst Maybe You, bizarrely, could well have fitted into Funny Looking Angels, a Christmas album produced in collaboration with Editors’ Tom Smith. Although there is the odd good moment (the razzmatazz towards the latter stages of recent single Because I Know That I Can was a pleasant surprise), it’s all a bit too mopey.


3/5

Introducing #DreamSofar

It's here. #DreamSofar.

It's your chance to tell Twitter which 5 artists/bands would make up your #DreamSofar. It's your chance to find out which 5 artists/bands would make up various people in the industry's #DreamSofar. It's your chance to make your #DreamSofar a reality.

The Twitter names of the 5 artists/bands that would make up your #DreamSofar. @Sofarsounds. The hashtag #DreamSofar. Put all of these in a Tweet and just maybe, with a little luck, your #DreamSofar could happen.

We have but 1 rule when it comes to your 5 artists/bands. You are only allowed 5. That means your 5 can be already famous, any genre, even dead! You get the idea. Have more than 5? Changed your mind after you've sent your Tweet to us? Don't worry, #DreamSofar will be back. When? Well, you'll just have to look out for the clues we leave on our Twitter and Facebook as to who's telling us about their #DreamSofar next.

To give you a little inspiration, we've asked varous people in the industry to tell us who would make up their #DreamSofar, and why. As it's December 1st, and thus officially the start of Christmas, we thought what better excuse than for the artists/bands playing our special Christmas Sofar to start proceedings (you'll find the #DreamSofar of the first on our line-up, Beachwalk Canvas, below).

Strength comes in numbers. Tweet. Retweet. Reply. Favourite. Just remember, the power is in the hashtag #DreamSofar.

Beachwalk Canvas, who made a hugely successful Sofar debut on October 2nd of this year, are a young indie-folk band from West London, comprised out of two brothers and one sister of the same family, with new material out early next year. Their #DreamSofar would be made up of:

Bishop Allen (Becky's choice):

'They have probably been the biggest influence for Beachwalk Canvas. Before we became a band, we used to play their songs together, and still do! As a three piece they have a great mix of lively and relaxed songs.'

The National (Lee's choice):

'Certainly one of my biggest inspirations. They have written so many great songs across so many great albums! Beautiful music with the incredible melancholy vocals of Matt Berninger. They would completely captivate any Sofar Sounds audience.'

Sufjan Stevens (Matt's choice):

'He is probably my favourite artist and has been since I first heard him. The instrumentation varies so much across his songs and they would be great for a sing along. With ten Christmas EP's, he would be perfect for a festive Sofar session.'

Sigur Ros (the band's choice):

'Listening to their songs is a mind, body and soul experience, from hazy weightless relaxation to awe inspiring walls of sound. May cause tears, uncontrollable grinning or throw you into a state of blissful paralysis.'

I'm From Barcelona (the band's choice):

'A twenty-nine piece, insanely happy Swedish band. What more do you need to know? One of the most fun evenings you're likely to experience!'

Interview with singer-songwriter Al Lewis for tmrw magazine

Al Lewis - he's just like you and I; so too does he suffer heartbreak when that seemingly unbreakable relationship falls apart, so too does he feel the ache when the previously clear career path becomes infringed, so too does he ride the rollercoaster that is life with all its ups and all its downs. Why, then, is he - and not you, nor I - featured in this magazine? When life does it's best to make living everything other than plain sailing, chances are you and I like nothing better to have a good old fashioned moan and to be done with it. Whilst listening to us spew our troubles out might be seen as a duty, a nuisance even, listening to Al Lewis do so is seen by many to be a pleasure. This is why he is featured in this magazine, and you and I are not.

Take Lewis's new album, Battles, for example. In reference to the album's somewhat cryptic title, I tell him that as much as I'd like these 'battles' to be epic Lord of the Rings-style, I figured that he'd most likely be talking a little less Tolkien and a little more figuratively. He tells me that the album is about the realisation that "life is hard". He's right on both accounts; the album is indeed about life being hard (on opener The Truth in Growing Old, Lewis tells us 'Life can take it's toll - loved ones come and go', for example) and life is indeed hard - Al tells me he wrote the aforementioned track when a few loved ones sadly passed away during the recording process.

But by no means is it all doom and gloom for the Welsh singer-songwriter, far from it. Although the start of his musical career was a little bleak (but who's isn't?), scouring our country up and down in a quest for the next available open mic night, him and his ability to be a man of the people, and sound 'reminiscent of the classic singer-songwriters of the 70s delivered with a modern twist' has got him going to all the right places and meeting all the right people: it got him sharing the stage with King of Collaborations Mark Ronson (at Welsh festival Wakestock), it got him meeting his musical childhood heroes, such as Manic Street Preachers and Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals (at the ceremony of the Welsh Music Prize; Lewis' first English language album, In The Wake, made the shortlist (he also operates in his native Welsh tongue, which tends to have a bit more of a 'band' feel and makes for a more "raucous" set)), you could even say it's what got Battles produced. Regarding the latter, Al tells me he only got in touch with producer Charlie Peacock on a whim having liked the sound of a band Peacock had previously produced (The Civil Wars) as they performed on Later...with Jools Holland. Lewis was expecting nothing of it. Peacock e-mailed back the next day saying he had liked what he had heard of Al's material, and invited him to his recording studio in Nashville. Things went from there.

Somewhat bizarrely, Al has rather made a knack of being swayed by musicians appearing on television shows. Whilst it is almost expected for Al to take inspiration from such 70s greats as Jackson Browne, Neil Young and Cat Stevens, and even their modern day equivalents, such as Damien Rice, Michael Kiwanuka and Ben Howard, what is not expected is for him to be getting ideas from the likes of Cheryl Cole. Yes, you read that correctly. Cheryl. Cole. Whether it be a defence mechanism or whether it be a legitimate excuse, in an attempt to defend his corner Lewis alleges that it was somebody else's idea (his manager's) for him to cover something contemporary. "But why, of all people, Cheryl Cole?" I quite rightly enquire on behalf of all music fans. Well, guess who appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show?

In an attempt to move conversation onto artistry that's a little more, well, credible in the music world, I ask him who his dream collaboration would be with. I breathe a sigh of relief when he comes out with an absolute corker: "It's got to be Bob Dylan." Well, given the way he's going, does dim drwg am gofyn. Which, if you didn’t know, is Welsh for 'there's no harm in asking'.