I've put the EP on the back-burner in order to write some new songs (sorry Ladiesfans), which is long overdue. Abandoning one's muse for any period of time is not to be advised or taken lightly. Currently in the pipeline are "Deep dish", feels like it will turn out to be pretty minimal; I'm going for a cross between "I want a little sugar in my bowl" and "Your flesh is so nice", but it will most likely not sound like either. "Something beautiful" is probably going to sound like something Billy Corgan never got round to writing.
The gigs are pretty interesting, I've been alternating between playing with the superbass, the telecaster and my new spanish (classical) guitar, all of which lends a slightly different vibe to the evening. The classical has a real warmth that you don't get with a steel-strung guitar; the superbass has a mellow fullness because of its awesome low end; and the telecaster, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, "sounds great played in a room with a corrugated iron roof and a concrete floor". It is one zingy motherfucker.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Ladies in the house
Hello everyone
No Ladies news for ages, hence no bloggage. There have been a few gigs, some of which have been wonderful and others which haven't. The rich tapestry of life etc etc. We're currently working on a new recording which will probably be an EP. At the moment there's a new guitar instrumental called "Not New York" which was recorded in a relentless rainstorm, and the guitar and uke parts for "The Clouds at the Top of the Sky" are roughly complete. The other songs slated for inclusion are "One of those Girls", "How you could have been in love with me" and a new acoustic recording of "D-E-A-D". So I just to need to record the mofo.
No other news, more as it breaks...
No Ladies news for ages, hence no bloggage. There have been a few gigs, some of which have been wonderful and others which haven't. The rich tapestry of life etc etc. We're currently working on a new recording which will probably be an EP. At the moment there's a new guitar instrumental called "Not New York" which was recorded in a relentless rainstorm, and the guitar and uke parts for "The Clouds at the Top of the Sky" are roughly complete. The other songs slated for inclusion are "One of those Girls", "How you could have been in love with me" and a new acoustic recording of "D-E-A-D". So I just to need to record the mofo.
No other news, more as it breaks...
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
God is in the TV Review Review
The fabbo God is in the TV zine have just reviewed Tissue of Lies, dudes what they are... it says the usual stuff "promising debut of musical genius in waiting" type thing. Ok, don't believe me; it says
"...the affecting, bittersweet 'I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry' ... perfectly evokes waking up to a beautiful sunny morning and half an empty bed..."
and that The Ladies' music
"...shows a refreshing understanding of music outside the rock spectrum whilst retaining direct songwriting and a good sense of melody...points for getting the word 'inauspicious' in there, but it matters little when the tender, thoughtful 'Spider' and aforementioned 'I Promised.' have been knocking around your head for several days, the most obvious and natural accolade for a record that there is..."
Read it in its entirity here:
http://giittv.hypnotisingsilence.net/reviews/theladiestol.htm
and check out the rest of the zine while you're there.
"...the affecting, bittersweet 'I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry' ... perfectly evokes waking up to a beautiful sunny morning and half an empty bed..."
and that The Ladies' music
"...shows a refreshing understanding of music outside the rock spectrum whilst retaining direct songwriting and a good sense of melody...points for getting the word 'inauspicious' in there, but it matters little when the tender, thoughtful 'Spider' and aforementioned 'I Promised.' have been knocking around your head for several days, the most obvious and natural accolade for a record that there is..."
Read it in its entirity here:
http://giittv.hypnotisingsilence.net/reviews/theladiestol.htm
and check out the rest of the zine while you're there.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Reviews
The Ladies have a couple of new reviews, the first one is here:
http://www.vanityproject.co.uk/
and the best bits go
Light bossa nova "Worse" opens the 7 track EP with a gentle tap on the shoulder, "Nightmare #6" continuing the hushed pace, the ghostly backing vocal leading it stealthily into a more rabid strum. This is a soft, considerate record of mild melancholic music that brings to mind Black and the Blue Nile...
which is nice. I always enjoy being compared to bands I've never heard (of).
The Ladies combine John Zorn's careening sense of space with Whitehouse's attention to detail and their hushed vocal is reminiscent of Faust and Dogbox
Hey, I'm not complaining! I expect reviewers only compare to what they know. They do better than I do - all the reviews I wrote mentioned the Pixies or Tori Amos...
And Backlash Magazine is out, which has a lovely review. You'll have to buy it to find out what it says. Visit them here
http://www.backlashmagazine.com
because it is really rather good...
http://www.vanityproject.co.uk/
and the best bits go
Light bossa nova "Worse" opens the 7 track EP with a gentle tap on the shoulder, "Nightmare #6" continuing the hushed pace, the ghostly backing vocal leading it stealthily into a more rabid strum. This is a soft, considerate record of mild melancholic music that brings to mind Black and the Blue Nile...
which is nice. I always enjoy being compared to bands I've never heard (of).
The Ladies combine John Zorn's careening sense of space with Whitehouse's attention to detail and their hushed vocal is reminiscent of Faust and Dogbox
Hey, I'm not complaining! I expect reviewers only compare to what they know. They do better than I do - all the reviews I wrote mentioned the Pixies or Tori Amos...
And Backlash Magazine is out, which has a lovely review. You'll have to buy it to find out what it says. Visit them here
http://www.backlashmagazine.com
because it is really rather good...
Monday, April 10, 2006
Newsflash
Newsflash!
**drops donut**
Who am I kidding, no one reads this for news. Do you even know how to set up a feed? I thought not. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Shall I just send you an email? Ok, I'll do that.
The news is, I'm playing a short set at the Electroacoustic Club's Easter Egg! Don't come for me, I'm only doing a few songs, come for all of the other acts. It should be a good one.
**drops donut**
Who am I kidding, no one reads this for news. Do you even know how to set up a feed? I thought not. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. Shall I just send you an email? Ok, I'll do that.
The news is, I'm playing a short set at the Electroacoustic Club's Easter Egg! Don't come for me, I'm only doing a few songs, come for all of the other acts. It should be a good one.
Big Note at the Red Room, Picadilly
My first gig at the Red Room, really nice space. Unfortunately I ducked out for Chinese after my set because I was absolutely ravenous. My hunger made me go all blurry.
Man, that salt and pepper squid/salt and pepper spare ribs/spring roll/char sui noodles in soup went down well. I wanted duck but they didn't have any! We laughed. tI've got a quiet couple of weeks before my next gig on the 25th so I might put my feet up and eat some donuts*. I've realised it coincides with Songs in The Dark, which I've been meaning to get to for about four months but some minor catastrophe (forgetting, depression, dinner date) always intervenes. I feel like a massive loser. Everyone should probably go to SITD rather than my gig. Unless you live in Greenwich.
*God, that's a romanticized version of my life! 30% of my time will be spent working in an office, 10% travelling, 20% eating, 20% passing through turbulent vistas of acute anxiety in the search for a decent song, 10% swearing, 9% misc (washing, thinking about climate change, etc) and about 1% writing, recording, practicing and being vaguely happy with any material. Oh, that's not including sleep time
Man, that salt and pepper squid/salt and pepper spare ribs/spring roll/char sui noodles in soup went down well. I wanted duck but they didn't have any! We laughed. tI've got a quiet couple of weeks before my next gig on the 25th so I might put my feet up and eat some donuts*. I've realised it coincides with Songs in The Dark, which I've been meaning to get to for about four months but some minor catastrophe (forgetting, depression, dinner date) always intervenes. I feel like a massive loser. Everyone should probably go to SITD rather than my gig. Unless you live in Greenwich.
*God, that's a romanticized version of my life! 30% of my time will be spent working in an office, 10% travelling, 20% eating, 20% passing through turbulent vistas of acute anxiety in the search for a decent song, 10% swearing, 9% misc (washing, thinking about climate change, etc) and about 1% writing, recording, practicing and being vaguely happy with any material. Oh, that's not including sleep time
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Another review
I found this one by accident! They also seem to quite like me/The Ladies.
"...a collection of subtle semi-acoustic tracks set against his sombre, gently-swooping voice. ‘Worse’ almost recalls the uncluttered sonic distance to some of Jose Gonzales' self-penned work, with a bossanova twitchiness and a lilt to his voice a tiny bit reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright in places. Standout ‘Nightmare #6’ works best though, casually shifting up an understated gear into something fierier and more poised halfway through, before falling into unsettled drones of feedback..."
You can read the full review here.
Oh, here is the gist of the Russell review.
"...the music itself falls into two categories, jazzy sounding loveliness and wailing oddities. In the former section we have 'Worse', all Thom Yorke mumbled vocals and tropicalia rhythms and the Lambchop like 'Spider'. 'Nightmare no 6' and 'I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry' fall into the latter..."
Weirdly, he hates the tracks the other dude liked the bestest. Critics, eh? And mumbled? H' shol hi ma spik...
"...a collection of subtle semi-acoustic tracks set against his sombre, gently-swooping voice. ‘Worse’ almost recalls the uncluttered sonic distance to some of Jose Gonzales' self-penned work, with a bossanova twitchiness and a lilt to his voice a tiny bit reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright in places. Standout ‘Nightmare #6’ works best though, casually shifting up an understated gear into something fierier and more poised halfway through, before falling into unsettled drones of feedback..."
You can read the full review here.
Oh, here is the gist of the Russell review.
"...the music itself falls into two categories, jazzy sounding loveliness and wailing oddities. In the former section we have 'Worse', all Thom Yorke mumbled vocals and tropicalia rhythms and the Lambchop like 'Spider'. 'Nightmare no 6' and 'I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry' fall into the latter..."
Weirdly, he hates the tracks the other dude liked the bestest. Critics, eh? And mumbled? H' shol hi ma spik...
Sunday, March 26, 2006
My first review
The first review of the Tissue of Lies EP is up here. He doesn't unequivocally love all the songs, but at the same time I get compared to Thom Yorke and Lambchop in the same paragraph, so you won't hear me complaining...
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Some good news, some bad news
Sadly, the Backlash launch night scheduled tomorrow has been postponed until June. The bassist of headliners The Pistolas received some bass-related injury and had to pull out.
The good news is I'll be playing at their launch when it does take place! And the "Tissue of Lies" EP receives a (possibly complimentary) review this month, and their cover CD features "Worse". Visit their website here.
Also, I had a fun night at the Carling Islington Academy last night (I know, hard to believe) watching celebrity pals The Known Unknowns rock da nn0+h3rfvc|<1ng house! Rock da leet! Yeah!
Don't they look pretty?
The good news is I'll be playing at their launch when it does take place! And the "Tissue of Lies" EP receives a (possibly complimentary) review this month, and their cover CD features "Worse". Visit their website here.
Also, I had a fun night at the Carling Islington Academy last night (I know, hard to believe) watching celebrity pals The Known Unknowns rock da nn0+h3rfvc|<1ng house! Rock da leet! Yeah!
Don't they look pretty?
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Backlash Magazine launch
The Ladies's Tissue of Lies EP is reviewed in this month's Backlash Magazine* (http://www.backlashmagazine.com/home.asp), released on March 23rd. To celebrate the new issue, Backlash are organising a party at the Luminaire, London's favourite venue, featuring live sets, goodie bags, free CDs and hopefully ice cream and jelly. But they're much cooler than me, so probably not the latter. Anyway, come down cos the Ladies aren't playing again this month so you'll have to get your kicks elsewhere. It should be fun. I'm leaving the house to go to it and you know how rarely that happens.
*don't ask me what they say, the issue isn't out yet!
*don't ask me what they say, the issue isn't out yet!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
The Electroacoustic Club, The Slaughtered Lamb
Classic venue/night, this one. I had my friends from Leicester, The Fabulous Foxes, down, they seem to be taking Dirty Three elements into their alt.country/sea shanty vibe, and anyone reading that sentence must know that to be a Good Thing. Here they are rocking out.
I had an honourary Lady onstage with me for the gig, we opened with a ukulele version of "Oh What a World" by Rufus Wainwright. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Here I am. A straight man. On a fast train. Travelling. But not arriving. Don't I look a hottie in me cardy?
The cover of the night was "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, which won an EP, and also "She don't use Jelly" by Flaming Lips. What a cover-filled evening. More than 50% and I can no longer call myself a singer-songwriter. Hopefully I will never describe myself as that.
The very talented Samantha Whates (no website - just check out her live shows, you net-losers) disgraced herself by asking me to play my song about my favourite T-shirt. A song I have never written, never performed and WILL NEVER WRITE.
Although if you write it, I may well cover it...
I had an honourary Lady onstage with me for the gig, we opened with a ukulele version of "Oh What a World" by Rufus Wainwright. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Here I am. A straight man. On a fast train. Travelling. But not arriving. Don't I look a hottie in me cardy?
The cover of the night was "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, which won an EP, and also "She don't use Jelly" by Flaming Lips. What a cover-filled evening. More than 50% and I can no longer call myself a singer-songwriter. Hopefully I will never describe myself as that.
The very talented Samantha Whates (no website - just check out her live shows, you net-losers) disgraced herself by asking me to play my song about my favourite T-shirt. A song I have never written, never performed and WILL NEVER WRITE.
Although if you write it, I may well cover it...
Friday, February 24, 2006
The Betsey Trotwood, Farringdon
Quite a quiet night, but some good bands playing. No photos as The Betsey is too small to accommodate cameras. More blogs to come as the gigs come
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Big Note at the Hope and Anchor, Islington
A real outing of hardcore Ladies fans for this one. Mr Hugo Hutchison of 5, Landmine Terrace, Clapton, won a demo CD when I accepted his suggestion that I play "a Guns 'n' Roses song". Sweet Child O' Mine has never sounded so good. Especially when I tried to play the guitar solo with my feet.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Electroacoustic club, Slaughtered Lamb, Clerkenwell
Fine night in Clerkenwell with some fantastic acts on the bill. Samantha Whates headlines with her stunning voice. Jess Bryant is doing something all her own. Andy Raeburn is another great singer, a really expressive voice, and it's worth checking out. One of the best nights I've played at.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Twist acoustic night, Oliver's bar, Greenwich.
My first ever set at this established Greenwich night held in a cellar. Smallish crowd, but a nice bunch. For my request spot, I sang "Creep" by Radiohead and encored with "Hallelujah" (the Buckley version). And I thought my music influences were becoming less transparent?
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