6 Music Festival 2023 Preview - Lauren Laverne and Stuart Maconie
The BBC 6 Music Festival takes place this weekend, with the event having swiftly established itself as a staple in the alternative music calendar. The first event in Manchester in 2014 included headline sets from Damon Albarn and the Horrors over two days, and the preceding nine years have seen the festival expand and evolve, all the while travelling the length and breadth of the UK.
But times change and, while previous years have featured new and established acts playing regular sets, the 2023 iteration will showcase the broad mix of artists listeners expect to hear as well as some exclusive material, in the form of acclaimed rapper Loyle Carner teaming up with the AMC Gospel Choir. In addition, both Christine & The Queens and Arlo Parks will be premiering their new live shows on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Yet the biggest change to the festival’s set-up is taking place on a structural level; while the 6 Music contingent has passed through Newcastle/Gateshead, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol, London, and Cardiff, for the foreseeable future it will have a permanent home in Greater Manchester, near the BBC Media Centre in Salford. The move is part of the BBC’s wider commitment to broadening their operations across the UK but, for the network, it’s a logical move as Lauren Laverne, host of the 6 Music Breakfast Show explains: “The majority of our programmes come from Salford and we’ll be making that transition over the next few years, so it seems like a really sensible thing to do.”
Interview - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
“I had four years of working aimlessly, just trying to use up time because I didn’t know when the next tour would be, or even if touring was going to happen again at all. We worked on music thinking, ‘is there a music industry any longer?’”
We forget now, but such extremities of thought were never far from our minds in 2020. The sense of paralysis and despair was palpable for most of us, although for those in the entertainment industry, there were larger questions marks; namely ‘if’ rather than ‘when’ they would return to normal work.
That’s not to say there weren’t some perks to being a successful musician at the time, or indeed that they deserved our unbridled sympathy. For Ruban Nielson, the mastermind behind Unknown Mortal Orchestra, his time was split between Hawaii and Palm Springs, but the lockdowns coincided with a planned hiatus following years on the road, as he explains over Zoom: “When I finished the tour for the last record (2018’s Sex & Food), I was in pretty bad shape, physically. I was heading towards my Fat Elvis era so I just had to get off the road, I’d been touring for eight years and I’d never had more than two months off. It takes its toll and I wasn’t treating my body particularly well. I worked quite hard, and most of that was in the band. We only graduated to the (tour) bus towards the last album so I was ready to get off the road.”
https://www.clashmusic.com/features/everything-came-together-unknown-mortal-orchestra-interviewed/
Inspiral Carpets - The Complete Singles
Somewhat unjustly, Inspiral Carpets are largely perceived as third in the ‘triumvirate’ of the Madchester scene.
While it’s fair to say they didn’t burn as brightly or have the same cultural impact as the Stone Roses, or fuse as many different artistic ideas (nor make as many headlines) as the Happy Mondays, this appraisal of their legacy (their first singles compilation in 20 years) seems long overdue.
The chronological collection follows their progress with early, non-album singles setting the foundations for their sound from the outset.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/03/review-inspiral-carpets-complete-singles/
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - V
After a highly productive spell, which included one-off singles, two albums and a hefty world tour, in late 2019 Ruban Nielson took a well-earned break which coincided with the pandemic. After focussing on family matters, the architect behind Unknown Mortal Orchestra found inspiration in some unploughed terrain. Unusually for the New Zealander, who’s oeuvre sits very much left of the mainstream, the motivation to make new music came from the much-maligned likes of Journey and Toto.
Yet while much of V has the same carefree positivity as those school-disco mainstays, UMO’s trademark muffled psychedelia is still firmly in place.
https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/unknown-mortal-orchestra-v/
Interview - The Lathums
“I’m a firm believer in being yourself and not conforming to what’s popular at the time. The world we live in is filled with fads all the time, there’s a new fad every week. If you stick to who you are and the person you are, that will do more good than anything, I think.”
As mission statements go, Alex Moore and The Lathums are keeping true to it. The Wigan four-piece currently inhabit an unusually rarefied spot in alternative contemporary music. Previous single ‘Say My Name’ was the recipient of Radio X’s Record Of 2022, seeing off challenges from Wet Leg (one accolade they haven’t hoovered up) and both Gallagher brothers (an achievement in itself) while current single ‘Struggle’ has been B-listed on BBC Radio 6 Music. The two stations occupy the different ends of the alternative scale (with very few newer acts straddling both) and it’s even rarer to find young men with guitars on the latter’s playlist. Proof that Moore’s stance is reaping dividends as they commence the campaign for album two.
https://www.clashmusic.com/features/no-bells-and-whistles-clash-meets-the-lathums/
Sleaford Mods - UK Grim
Trigger warning: Contains swearing.
Defiance. It’s an easy characteristic to define and to portray but not so easy to implement in contemporary society.
Sleaford Mods are the very embodiment of defiance. After multiple attempts to make headway in music through the traditional ‘band’ route from his late teens to mid-30s, Jason Williamson defied what was surely insurmountable pressure to give up and focus on the day job.
Then, at the ripe old age of 37, defying the expectation of being ‘too old to make it’, he found a perfect outlet for his frustration in the form of Sleaford Mods, eventually drafting in Andrew Fearn to make the music to backdrop his diatribes.
Since then they’ve been defying everyone and everything, whilst at the same time casually creeping up festival bills.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/03/review-sleaford-mods-uk-grim/
The Lathums - From Nothing To A Little Bit More
The Lathums’ long-awaited debut, How Beautiful Life Can Be, came as a pleasant surprise to Joe Public (reflected in its chart-topping status) upon its release 18 months ago. But for those who had been paying attention, namely their not-insignificant fanbase, it was merely an official release for songs that had been in their personal lexicons for a long time.
https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/the-lathums-from-nothing-to-a-little-bit-more/
Italia 90 - Live at the Exchange, Bristol - 23rd February 2023
Here’s a question that hasn’t been answered in over 40 years: what is the next stage after post-punk? Post-post punk? Punk 2.0?
Of course technically the answer was ‘new wave’ back in the early 1980s, but what of the 21st century iteration?
Perhaps, as we live in a time of sequels, remakes and everything all at once, we are destined to have to manage with only a handful of genre titles. That’s your lot, music journalists (ahem). Work with it.
Which is just as well, because south Londoners Italia 90 have been drinking from the post-punk well for 7 years, releasing music at a snail’s pace until they finally unleashed their fine debut album Living Human Treasure back in January.
Indeed, it’s reflective of modern Britain: we aren’t evolving, we are stagnating, and the quartet successfully harness that through their intentionally repetitive lyrics (or message discipline, as they call it in politics).
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/02/review-italia-90-exchange-bristol/
Gorillaz - Cracker Island
Whither Song Machine Season Two? It should always have been obvious that a mind so relentlessly creative as Damon Albarn’s (for it is he in case you weren’t aware) was never likely to stick to one idea for long.
Over the last decade or so the orchestrator of the virtual band has tended to release two Gorillaz albums in quick succession (generally each side of a tour), with the second album being less considered and bombastic.
The scrappily experimental The Fall (2011) was recorded on Albarn’s iPad during the Escape To Plastic Beach world tour in 2010, while The Now Now (coming hot on the heels of the sprawling Humanz in 2018) was something of a ‘solo’ album also recorded largely on the road.
Therefore, Cracker Island prolongs the general pattern although it’s a much more rounded and coherent piece work than the its bedfellows.
Albarn frequently smothers his themes and observations in Gorillaz under oblique references (and there’s plenty to be found here) but, when announcing the album, guitarist Noodle claimed it is, ‘the sound of change and the chorus of the collective’.
Meaning: the latest adventure for our cartoon heroes is joining a cult in California as metaphor for our collective reliance on technology, a topic with which Albarn has dabbled before (on 2014 solo album Everyday Robots) but offers rich ploughs to furrow.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/02/review-gorillaz-cracker-island/
Reverend & The Makers - Live at Bristol Academy, 10th February 2023
As chilling as it may be, Jon McClure (The Reverend) and his comrades (the Makers) are perilously close to becoming veterans of the music industry. At least, by recognisable criteria.
The forthcoming Heatwave In The Cold North is Reverend And The Makers’ seventh studio album in sixteen years, which itself follows a 2019 Best Of. Sobering facts, to be sure.
However, experience has its demonstrable benefits in their live show; after a brace of support acts in the form of Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey (punchy pub-punk rock) and Ramona Flowers (80’s electro-pop), McClure and company utilise the best tricks of the trade from the off across a packed set, as the slow keyboard notes from the title-track of 2007 debut The State Of Things build the atmosphere succinctly before the Streets-meets-ska bop of the song truly kicks in.
Shortly afterwards McClure shrewdly gauges the capacity for crowd interaction by dividing them for some ‘nah-nah-nahs’ on the appropriately sun-kissed ‘18-30’ – not that much prompting is required because a) it’s Friday night and b) the love Reverend And The Makers get from their audience is unconditional.
Even so, no chances are taken, with the backbone of the set made up of tracks from the debut garnished with choice career cuts and a sprinkling of new material: the title-track is Marvin Gaye-inspired soul while ‘High’ (a self-professed B-side, the subject of which is unambiguous) is knowingly slovenly.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/02/review-reverend-and-the-makers-bristol/
James Wakefield - Little Jar OST
Listening to a film soundtrack is a tricky exercise to perfect.
It’s all down to timing: ordinarily, the music will be released before the movie itself and so the risk of spoilers is large, especially if the track names are titled with something ambiguous like ‘Lead Character Dies’.
No, the best soundtracks should give an indication of the beats of the movie by virtue of mood and tempo, which this collection of songs achieves with aplomb.
For those who haven’t taken the time to read about Dominic Lopez’s forthcoming indie flick Little Jar, it stars Kelsey Gunn as a misanthrope who hates people but finds herself in isolation with no-one to talk to apart from (logically) a dead mouse in a jar.
In just one sentence, the concept and mood of the film is clear, and the accompanying soundtrack by composer James Wakefield will surely complement it beautifully.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/02/review-james-wakefield-little-jar/
The Waeve - The Waeve
After mastering solo life, which arguably culminated in two fine albums in the mid-2000s (2004’s Happiness In Magazines and Love Travels At Illegal Speeds in 2006), erstwhile Blur guitarist Graham Coxon has since turned his hand to alternative projects.
Now, after providing the soundtrack to coming-of-age dramas (The End Of The F**king World) and, wonderfully, a graphic novel (Superstate), follows a formal collaborative album.
At least in principle that’s what The Waeve is, yet the simplification hugely understates the concept. Uniting with Rose Elinor Dougall (formerly of The Pipettes and a one-time foil to Mark Ronson), whose presence seems to have galvanized Coxon, the duo have produced a piece of work hugely ambitious in scale and expansive in scope.
Yet on first listen it’s quite overwhelming. Where last year’s standalone single ‘Something Pretty’ was easy to digest, the ten tracks on this self-titled album veer from one sound to another with little warning.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/02/review-the-waeve-the-waeve/
Hotel Lux - Hands Across The Creek
As unwelcome as they were, the lockdowns brought about the opportunity for intense self-reflection and, in some cases, the steely determination to enact those changes when the world reopened.
Yet for London-via-Portsmouth’s Hotel Lux, any changes were seemingly unnecessary. Entrenched in the hallowed South London music scene, back in early 2020 the group were on the crest of wave.
Their early clattering pub-rock singles had received widespread acclaim and their Barstool Preaching EP had gained patronage from the likes of Iggy Pop, while a maiden appearance at SXSW beckoned before everything went upside down.
For the band’s members however, the self-analysis went further than deciding banana bread was the answer to their prayers. By bassist Cam Sims’ own admission the quartet, ‘always cared too much about how we were going to be perceived’, and concluded that they had been pandering to their audience rather than harness their individuality.
So, after recruiting new guitarist Max from fellow South Londoners LEGSS, Hotel Lux underwent an overhaul of their sound, incorporating the likes of Neil Young and Brian Eno to their influences.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/01/review-hotel-lux-hands-creek/
The Murder Capital - Gigi’s Recovery
In the natural order of things, bands follow a standard timeline: Get to know each other, form a band (these two stages are interchangeable), hone your craft, write songs that will appeal, unleash on the public. A tried and tested method.
Not so much for The Murder Capital. Although the Dublin five-piece formed at college and found success and acclaim with 2019 debut When I Have Fears, the album was released within 9 months of their knowing each other and, by their own admission, they only became firm friends during the pandemic. In tandem, the tortuous months of isolation afforded the group the opportunity for merciless self-evaluation, while guitarists Cathal Roper and Damien Tuit invested in new FX pedals and synths to expand their sound.
Money well spent. While When I Have Fears was equally blistering and urgent, Gigi’s Recovery offers more varied textures and sonic experimentation. Comeback single ‘A Thousand Lives’, with its scratchy, trip-hop percussion, shimmering synths and arch guitar licks, set the standard last year, each instrument revealing itself slowly across the course of the song before a snarling outro. Likewise ‘Crying’, on which scaling and queasily dipping violas precede purposeful drums and a bruising bass, as the group work their way through the gears. Virtually all of the tracks follow this pattern of building as they go, almost a musical metaphor for the burgeoning relationships between the members of the group.
https://gigwise.com/reviews/3428453/album-review--the-murder-capital-gigi-s-recovery
Dave Rowntree - Radio Songs
Admit it, you didn’t see this one coming.
Before their uber-gigs at Wembley Stadium later in the year, it seems like the members of Blur are keen to remind us of their solo projects, or perhaps they are simply clearing their decks.
Within the next two months Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz release ‘their’ latest album, while Graham Coxon’s latest project (The Waeve) unleash their debut album in February. Indeed, the only idle member is Alex James but the state of the world is bad enough without adding new Fat Les music to the mix.
Which just leaves the band’s drummer Dave Rowntree, who is anything but idle. Most famously a former councillor for the Labour party, he also has strings of lawyer, composer (wonderfully, he composed the soundtrack 2018’s Bros documentary) and light aircraft instructor (among others) to his hefty bow, to which he can now add ‘singer’.
Singing drummers may be an acquired taste, but Rowntree has taken lessons in preparation and his weary sadness and exhaustion adds real emotion to these already-moving ten tracks.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/01/review-dave-rowntree-radio-songs/
Ocean Colour Scene - Bristol o2 Academy, December 15th
Gigs in the lead-up must be tricky for bands to negotiate.
It’s the party season, so punters (not unreasonably) want to hear the hits and have a good time. Fortunate then that Solihull’s finest are in town.
For a few years at least, Ocean Colour Scene were arguably Britain’s best singles band, and all from their imperial period (’96-’99) are present and correct within tonight’s setlist. Shrewd operators that they are, it makes for a rapturous final 40 minutes of the set as virtually all the singalongs come thick and fast.
The remaining hits are liberally sprinkled across the opening hour. The Motown stomp of ‘You’ve Got It Bad’ opens the main set, Steve Cradock’s vibrant funk complementing Oscar Harrison (surely one of rock’s under-rated drummers) who manages to contain himself until the outro.
Mid set, the three standout tracks from 1999’s One From The Modern keep things ticking over nicely: the low-key but lovelorn ‘So Low’ braces the audience for a snarling ‘July’ (with amended lyrics to reflect the time of year) while the marching ‘Profit In Peace’ provides the first singalong of the night.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/12/ocean-colour-scene-live-22/#gsc.tab=0
Live4Ever Tracks Of The Year - 2022
Do you want to know something scary? We’re more than a quarter of the way through this decade.
And we can all agree it’s been a belter so far. As the West continues to be in permanent Crisis Mode – from populism to COVID to Ukraine to the cost of living crisis (not forgetting the death of the planet) – there has been little respite from the horror. Apart from the sort that can be found in music.
That said, it’s becoming an annual tradition to bemoan the outside world in these roundups and sadly, the music industry isn’t entirely a safe haven.
Even if it’s been a marginal improvement on the preceding years (acts could actually tour, for one thing), there is still much cause for despair.
Compounding the fact that artists make negligible money from their output (because, y,know, streaming) are the increased bills, felt equally as keenly by venues, musicians, and stage crew. Inevitably, these price hikes must fall at the feet of the consumer who are being hit by huge jumps in their monthly bills…you see the problem?
So, at the risk of becoming repetitive in these end-of-year features, it’s been another scary year in which we also lost another tranche of musical heroes…
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/12/live4ever-tracks-22-feature/#gsc.tab=0
This Is Colorama! - Volume 1
Initially launched as a vehicle for Andy Crofts (lead songwriter with The Moons and bassist in Paul Weller’s band) to release his own music, Colorama Records have steadily built up an impressive portfolio over the last 18 months, with a host of releases showcasing the diversity of acts signed up to the Moons man’s boutique label.
However, some of their releases may have slipped through the cracks and not received the attention they deserved, so this compilation release, which collects the best cuts, is a handy starting point.
As is his right, Crofts bookends the record. Today, by his band, is a welcome bit of percussion-heavy sunshine as the nights draw in, his dreamy vocals recalling summers past and a reminder of how underrated The Moons are.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/11/this-is-colorama-volume-1/
Interview - Matt Everitt, BBC 6 Music
Back in 2007, BBC Radio 6 Music DJ Steve Lamacq launched a new initiative on his show: Wear Your Old Band T-Shirt To Work Day. Designed as an exercise in nostalgia, for one episode per year Lammo encourages his listeners to participate with tales of the gigs at which they bought the T-shirts, who they were with and any further conversations about the band or artist. As any listener to Lamacq’s show can testify, it was one of several features that resonated with his audience.
15 years on, the initiative has gone from strength to strength. Accordingly, this year’s event on Friday 4th November has a celebratory feel, with a wealth of treats including: a live set from indie darling Sports Team at Maida Vale; a panel of specially invited judges including Roisin Murphy, Orlando Weeks and all-round goddess Jo Whiley taking part in The Polyester Prize, where they will choose the best design from a shortlist of iconic T-Shirts, as well as the usual special guests and listener interactions.
While other features have come and gone, T-Shirt Day is now a huge tentpole in 6 Music’s calendar. But why is that? ‘I think Lammo really touched a nerve when he first did it,’ music news reporter Matt Everitt tells me when we speak. ‘It’s obviously a pretty potent thing, but it’s not just about T-shirts, is it? Like all the best ideas, it’s not just about the surface level of, ‘aren’t band t-shirts brilliant?’ It’s about what they represent and what they mean. Not just the relationship you’ve got with the band, but that moment in your life when you bought them, be that years ago or something really recent that’s quite visceral.’
https://gigwise.com/features/3427561/matt-everitt-on-6music-s-t-shirt-day--sustainability---merch
Kasabian - Live at Alexandra Palace, London - 29th October 2022
On the biggest party night of the year in old London town there are few bands better suited to provide the required soundtrack.
After The Lathums warm the crowd with a selection of cuts from both last year’s number 1 debut and their just-announced second album, Sergio Pizzorno and The Other Members ratchet up the excitement for an already well-lubricated Ally Pally.
We jest of course, as simply referring to them as The Others doesn’t do justice to the contributions of Pizzorno’s bandmates.
Long-time drummer Ian Matthews, never found wanting for enthusiasm, is a beast on the skins as he liberally peppers the electronics with thunderous percussion, while fellow veteran Chris Edwards provides either funk or rigidity on bass, depending on what the song requires.
Elsewhere, Tim Carter (recently promoted to full-time member) bolsters the sound on guitar, but Kasabian’s new secret weapon on the live stage is Robert Harvey.
It was an inspired move to bring in The Music frontman to step into Pizzorno’s shoes on guitar and backing vocals (and keys and occasional percussion) while the big man went up top.
https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2022/11/kasabian-live-alexandra-22/