reviews

The Weird & Wonderful World Of Tunng

by

Tunng have built one of the most unique catalogues in modern British music. Folk meets electronic, their other-worldly charms are at once permanent and

Tunng have built one of the most unique catalogues in modern British music. Folk meets electronic, their other-worldly charms are at once permanent and traditional, but also questing, forever reaching to the unknown.

Debut album ‘Mother’s Daughter And Other Songs’ emerged from ad hoc shows around London, late night recording sessions in borrowed spaces, and endless conversation, with friendship at the heart of the band’s progress.

As it happens, Tunng are ready to toast 20 years of that release with something new – out now, ‘Love You All Over Again’ underlines their status as devoutly independent creators, working totally outside time and trend.

Tunng co-founders Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay map out the band’s unique universe in this special guide for CLASH readers.

—

‘Tale From Black’

Sam: Mike was listening to a lot of English folk guitarists like Davy Graham and Bert Jansch as well as lots of non-vocal electronica from the record label next door to his studio – Expanding Records.

I turned up at the studio one day – which was under a ladies clothes shop in Soho… you literally had to walk through the back of the changing cubicle Narnia-style to reach the staircase down into the dark windowless box beneath… anyway… I turned up one day and he’d written ‘Tale From Black’ – everything apart from the lyrics and melody. I started playing about with these odd dark words inspired I think by The Wicker Man soundtrack which Mike had recently played me..and Mike loved them and that was that and I remember after that something clicked for us about the kinds of music we might be able to write together.

Read more

Dr Strangelove review — Steve Coogan impresses but it’s oddly stolid

by
Oliver Alvin Wilson, Steve Coogan and Dharmesh Patel in Dr Strangelove MANUEL HARLAN
Oliver Alvin Wilson, Steve Coogan and Dharmesh Patel in Dr Strangelove
MANUEL HARLAN

By Clive Davis

The comedian plays all four main characters with aplomb, but this reboot at the Noël Coward theatre in London could have done with more creative flourishes

At the end, as we shuffled out of the auditorium, a wickedly funny Randy Newman song, Political Science, played over the speakers. The mischievous call to set the world free by dropping nukes made an ironic coda to Vera Lynn singing We’ll Meet Again.

It also made you wish the show’s co-adaptors, Armando Iannucci and Sean Foley, had applied a few more creative flourishes to what is, all in all, a stolid remake of the classic Stanley Kubrick Cold War satire.

Don’t get me wrong: this is still a decent star vehicle for Steve Coogan, who outdoes Peter Sellers by taking on four rather than three of the main characters. As well as portraying US president Merkin Muffley, RAF Group Captain Mandrake and the sinister title character, he straps himself into the cockpit of a B-52 bomber as Major Kong, the gung-ho pilot intent on carrying out the order to lay some megatons on the evil Russkies.

It’s a reboot that will appeal most of all to Coogan fans who aren’t familiar with the film, which celebrated its 60th birthday this year. If you do know the original, it’s fun to hear some of the slivers of extra dialogue added by Iannucci and Foley after scrolling through Kubrick’s notebooks and drafts.

All the same, set designer Hildegard Bechtler’s war room is never going to look as imposing as Ken Adam’s James Bond-like screen creation. And if the scale model of the B-52, flying high over a video backdrop, gives the second half of the show an undeniable kick, the rest of the production looks cramped in the confines of the Noël Coward.

Still, Coogan handles all the roles with aplomb. His Mandrake is a bumbler with more than a hint of King Charles, and he brings an aura of playful menace to Strangelove, who, in contrast to the film’s villain, is instantly plagued by robotic tics.

How is the star manoeuvred into his many costume changes? Iannucci and Foley — who is also the director — solve that problem by inserting time-killing ploys and a presidential stand-in. It’s all a little distracting.

While I’ve often complained that video imagery sometimes seems to be pushing flesh-and-blood actors aside in the West End, this is one venture where a little more hi-tech trickery would have been welcome.

Giles Terera gives us a breezy impersonation of General Buck Turgidson, the manic hawk who cheerfully runs the numbers on a nuclear holocaust. No one could ever improve on George C Scott’s original, but if you’ve never seen the movie you’ll still be impressed.
★★★☆☆

Source: Dr Strangelove review — Steve Coogan impresses but it’s oddly stolid

Hickory Notes: Bill Fay was one-of-a-kind

by

By Steve Peck

II got word late Saturday night that the great Bill Fay had passed away at the age of 81. Many will ask, “Bill who?” Suffice it to say, Bill Fay was a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter whose wisdom and insight into the human experience were truly profound. Don’t expect grand proclamations or wordy exercises meant to impress—everything he did was subtle and unassuming, yet deeply meaningful. To me, he sounded like the humblest musician I’ve ever heard.

Bill Fay

Fay was born in north London, where he lived most of his life. He first recorded a single in 1967 and released two beautiful albums in 1970 and 1971 that have become cult classics. However, Fay fell victim to the cutthroat music business and was dropped from his recording contract after his records failed sell. He felt he had been “deleted,” but never stopped making music and writing songs over the coming decades. Fay compiled a mountain of demos and songs, including a couple of unreleased albums. To Bill’s great surprise, his old albums were re-released in 1998, which set off a chain reaction that led him back to the studio in the 2010s. He had a champion in Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who said “I can’t think of anyone whose records have meant more to me in my life.”

Fay’s comeback album, “Life Is People,” received wide-spread critical acclaim and earned a 5-star review from MOJO magazine—ranking at number 3 on their top ten albums of 2012 list. However, Bill was painfully shy and private and never returned to the stage—allowing only one public performance on the Jools Holland TV show in November of that year.

Read more

Breaking The Waves: An Interview with Brìghde Chaimbeul

by

By Christine Costello

Full page

Off the back of playing Glastonbury, and the release of her thrilling new album Carry Them With Us, Christine Costello speaks with acclaimed smallpipes player Brìghde Chaimbeul about the sounds and inspirations behind her singular craft

Photos by Monika Ruman 

Carry Them With Us is Brìghde Chaimbeul’s second solo album and features a combination of original compositions and songs inspired by Gaelic folklore and archive recordings. The album is as dark as it is whimsical from the soaring lilts of ‘Banish the Giant’ to weighted tragedies of ‘Oran an Eich Uisge’.

Chaimbeul’s rich understanding of her instrument adds a new layer of depth to these old tunes, injecting them with an infectious modernity that invites audiences to explore the history of the Highlands, all without losing the enigmatic charm of their origins. 

Despite the Scottish roots and heavy Scottish influence in her music, Chaimbeul’s unprecedented popularity with Irish audiences continues to grow. While currently residing in Northern Ireland and a frequent collaborator with Irish musicians such as Radie Peat of Lankum, she believes there’s an added explanation for this resonance: “A lot of what I play is rooted in traditional music and although a lot of the material is Scottish, there’s a strong connection between Scottish and Irish traditions, not just in the language, but the songs as well.” 

Read more