#neil_mach

[thebrazilbusinessconnectionstuff]

Neil Mach, Author, So You Want to Write Fantasy, Podcaster, London, England

[rawrampmag]

Karima Francis - Wherever I Go - New Single Set for Release on May 28

There is an extraordinary line on ‘Glory Days’, the poignant, rousing centre-piece of Karima Francis’s album, ‘The Remedy’, that tells the audience, in just a few words, where the Blackpool singer-songwriter is coming from. “They are weak but strong,” she sings, “Who fail but carry on.”

And this new single [ Wherever I Go ] [In memory of Stuart Logan] demonstrates the constant endeavours of those- like Karima Francis- who carry on, yet are feeling ground down by the rigours of the journey.

Cheerful bumpy vibes accompany the pastel-flavoured verse... and these lead to a shaky yet piquantly humming chorus. Making it up to us, Karima sings that when she is “Not at home - (She) is still here loving you...” And this is as personal a testimony as she can possibly give- perhaps expanding on life away- away on the road, away from your heart, and away from your mind...

Tender, wispy and ultimately bittersweet. Laden with memories and feeling.

© Neil_Mach May 2012

Link: http://www.facebook.com/karimafrancis

[rawrampmag]

Lana Carmen Video Gives Us Butterflies

Lana Del Rey has suggestively teased that this song is the key to the puzzle. “CARMEN” she tweeted: “Explains everything.” This song is yet another indication of dissociative identity disorder.

The split personality is explored here - two characters of Lana's creation take part in the song.

The first is a flirtatious sweet, piggy tailed eye-turner ... a Coney Island Queen. The second is a sparkling, gracefully nonchalant ‘Maria Vargas’ type character ... a magnate’s plaything.

The instagramy montage-based video fugue-trip takes us into a graining biopic past that could never have actually happened. Carmen, she says, is just seventeen. And Elizabeth Grant is twenty-six. Yet Sinatra’s graceful Sugar Town world - beautifully evoked in this video- is circa 1966. It is a world that neither Carmen nor Lana could ever have experienced... besides embracing the film footage and images of the period.

The video begins with a rose in bloom. A rose that will die on the shank. Yet it is stunningly beautiful for the day. “She says you don’t wanna get this way ... I’m dying”. And the story unfolds. The song is a difficult study of a teenage girl trapped inside a world that only cares if she provides services and products to the dangerous people that surround her. In return, she become an addict.

Distortion, loss of subjective time and traumatic flashbacks add a sense of danger and loss. Painfully shy at times, at other times brassy and fully matured - Lana’s voice is used to explore the twin personalities revealed. Perhaps all 21st century girls are expected to be a two-in-one. And at times this burden becomes too much. Deadly and “ Tiring, tiring.”

Mérimée’s operatic character ‘Carmen’ also represented ‘dirty love’... perhaps the character was a further inspiration to Del Rey. This Carmen was also a temptress and mischief-maker. She too felt that she was a fatalistic spirit stifled within in a body that men worshiped and hungrily desired. She just wanted to be loved. But life is never as simple as that.

The music of Lana’s ‘Carmen’ gives us a sense of dry paint flaking from once noble picket fences and of past-life chromium bumpers left corroding in the salty air. It feels like loss and it’s all about loss. This is tarnished splendor. A time passing away that never actually made you happy in the first place.

The vivid piano piece at the end is like raindrops crawling down the greasy windows of a downtown diner. And thus it all ends with an empty heart in a cold and lonely room. © Neil_Mach April 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6K8Uq88BEQ

[rawrampmag]

Anison Release Free Download - 'Fluidity'

The debut album from Kingston town indie-rockers ANISON is released on the 30th April. With influences ranging from Radiohead, to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and The Maccabees, the album Memory Flashes is set to soar!

We took a listen to the lead single ‘Fluidity’ (available from their site as a free download) and this is what we thought:

Cocky bass with snake-like notes squeezed out at intervals. Strident sounds of crushed glass lay dangerously underfoot, and an abundance of the kind of honeyed vocals that leave a slightly menacing and fateful threat lingering in the air. Moody, mystifying and moreish. – © Neil_Mach 2012 –

Catch the fellas at their album launch next Friday (20th April) at the Tooting Tram & Social with XFM’s John Kennedy and Ex-Libras.

http://www.facebook.com/anisonuk

[rawrampmag]

Joyce - Keep The Lights On

South London singer Joyce (aka Katherine Fussey) is born of rock heritage- as the niece of Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson and Suzi Fussey (Bowie’s hairdresser and creator of the Ziggy Stardust haircut.)

Her father was the sound engineer for the likes of Bowie and Roxy Music. Despite these routes naturally pointing to the sound of the 70s, it’s very much the influence of mid-sixties era Nico that shapes the style and vision of Joyce, spun together in a flurry of icy yet fuzzy synth-pop.

Abundant and flexible bongo-bongo beats add pliantly punctuated stamps to this aloofly electric song. Synthy stutters match the taste of the citrus lyrical content. A bosomy bass creates a heavy counterpoint to the airy fairy lights of those highest pinnacles. A smoky and atmospheric accompanying video reminds me of a time ..... aah ... does anyone remember 70’s oil wheel lighting effects? This song has hippie vibes and a smoky disposition. Go seek ...

-- © Neil_Mach 2012 --

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b8OX5Ti4Wk&w=560&h=315]

[rawrampmag]

Paloma Faith is 'Picking Up the Pieces'

“ Do You Wish I was a Bit More Like Her?” Who is Paloma referring to in this line, Lana Del Rey?

A magnificent string arrangement introduces us to this autumnal world of her imagination- then emotions seriously pick up in the second verse with some angry vocal aerobics. But above all, we know where we are going through this maze. The plot twists are fairly easy to follow, and there are no surprises and puzzles in this piece.

The trademark quirking and oddity also seems a thing of the past for Paloma (shame) but perhaps this is because this is the kind of fayre that it is necessary to produce if an artist wants to compete in the bloated rankings of impassioned soul ballads. The accompanying video is sumptuous - redolent of those golden-years 1950’s melodramas (this is a vintage speciality period for Paloma) - the haunting ‘Picking Up the Pieces’ chorus is sad and distressing.

Altogether, this is an emotion filled delight - a little ‘more mature than you’d expect from the artist. But don’t delay, download it today. Because it will linger. -- © Neil_Mach 2012--

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijel4Vcqd9g&w=560&h=315]

[rawrampmag]

The Murder Act - Polygon download

Experimental krautrock post punk band The Murder Act (London, UK) has added a new song for Soundcloud download entitled ‘Polygon’. Described as “Early Swans meets early Bad Seeds” the band have already released a highly respectable debut E.P. ‘Traum’ - available now from their bandcamp site at: http://the-murder-act.bandcamp.com/

We took a listen to the ‘Polygon’ track and this is what we thought:

From a misty and tentative beginning grows a mucous filled chasm of despair. Thrumming and relentless tom-tom beats push out a gloomy pace as the morose vocals (almost spoken) hesitantly stew up an inexorable lather. The song seems to be stepping tremulously towards a milky-light horizon. Enmeshed within the coils of barbed guitars and sparkling riffs are festering unanswered cries for help and miserable reasons for release. This song grabs your soul, and it won’t let go till you are sunk into the depths. -- © Neil_Mach March 2012 --

http://soundcloud.com/the-murder-act/polygon

[rawrampmag]

Ellen and the Escapades - Live at Boiler Room, Guildford

The past two years have been an exhilarating journey for Leeds-based folk rockers Ellen and the Escapades. Blending the three elements of folk, pop and rock, the band’s distinctive and appealing sound seems to have everyone talking. After winning 2010’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition and playing BBC Introducing stages at both Reading and Leeds Festivals, the band has gone from strength to strength.

Ellen’s dusky, enchanting vocals and strikingly well crafted songs have already captured the attention of BBC Radio 2, BBC 6 Music and Amazing Radio listeners. Fans include Lauren Laverne and Steve Lamacq, and the band was recently play listed for ten weeks on Amazing Radio.

Supporting the likes of Josh T. Pearson, First Aid Kit and Paolo Nutini have brought the band’s music to even bigger audiences all over the country. We were fortunate enough to catch up with the band on their extensive UK tour- prior to the launch of the eagerly anticipated ‘All The Crooked Scenes‘ album.

We saw the band at the superb Boiler Room venue in Guildford, Surrey. Ellen (Smith) (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica) introduced Ben on the bass guitar. By her side was Jeff (guitar, backing vocals) and Chris (keyboards). James was on drums.

Playing the Surrey crowd a selection of titles from their new album, as well as old favourites, we enjoyed songs like ‘Yours To Keep’ which starts off with an intensely tinselly shimmer of cymbals, then the night-line beat whispers along. Helpful churchy piano helps to fill out the sound, as big bags of bountiful bass and pleasurable lines of southern electric vibe start to ease your troubled mind. All the while the soda-stained, hickory-smoked rusty voice of Ellen embraces you, coiling gently around the room. Seductive.

‘I’ll Keep You Warm’ is a tender love song that has syrupy shiny guitars cascading gently over ripples of lush percussion. ‘All the Crooked Scenes’ has an onslaught of savory beats, sizeable chunks of chunky pattering chords and those foggy vocals that loom like spectres from a moist moor. Eventually the song starts smashing and crashing with an intense energy and commitment not normally witnessed in a folk song. And there is more than a hint of wild west attitude corralled into this piece. Sizzling.

‘Coming Back Home’ - This song, about outstaying your welcome, is the most ‘Janis Ian’ sounding piece in the Ellen and the Escapades repertoire. With a rattle of drums and a slow rise to a flowering of lush sounds before the chorus takes a cheeky hold. This is enchanting stuff.

With imaginative guitar-work, old school-hall piano accompaniments and fragile, mossy, almost translucent vocals from Ellen, this was a sumptuous show filled with quality musicianship and stirring song-writing. I cannot wait for the album!

© Neil Mach. March 2012

Link: http://www.facebook.com/ellenandtheescapades

Album Out 16th April

APRIL LIVE DATES

Sunday 15 April Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

Monday 16 April The Lexington, London

Tuesday 17 April Buffalo Bar, Cardiff

Wednesday 18 April Thekla, Bristol

Thursday 19 April Hare & Hounds, Birmingham