#7: Kizzy Crawford Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff - 25th July 2015 Support: Ellie Makes Music, Natalie Holmes
This should have been one of our year's highlights. Instead - utter disappointment. This turned out to be the shortest gig I've ever been to. That's in 27 years of gig-going! OK, so tickets were a mere £8, and we didn't get to the venue until just before 9, which meant we missed the opening act. However, I had hoped to catch Ellie Makes Music, a teenage singer-songwriter from Cardiff with stacks of talent. But as we walked in, she was just starting her last song.
Fortunately, we didn't have to wait too long for Kizzy Crawford, and she'd brought a full band with her - electric guitar, bass/double-bass, keyboards and drums. She started with her most recent single Shout Out Loud, which you may know from the Wales tourism TV ads. Then she played a new song about being a pond skater. Kizzy's blend of folk, soul and jazz could tempt comparisons to someone like Amy Winehouse, but that would be totally unfair to one so young. Nonetheless, the girl has something very special, that's for certain. She spoke to the small audience in English and Welsh, played her new single Pili Pala (trans. Butterfly) and seemed to be on a roll. But then... it was all over. At 9:35! On a Saturday night! The crowd called for an encore. "We'd love to play an encore for you but we don't have time," Kizzy informed us. Six songs, less than half an hour and that was it?
MrsRobster said: "That could have been one of the best gigs we've ever been to, but I actually feel ripped off." Once again, she's spot on!
#8: Young Marble Giants The Globe, Cardiff - 6th August 2015 (Grassroots Fundraiser) Support: Headfall, The Irascibles, Guto Pryce (DJ set)
Grassroots is a project operating in Cardiff that for more than three decades has been helping young people develop their skills in the arts, be they musicians, budding record producers, sound technicians, film-makers, animators, etc. But above all, it's about supporting troubled and vulnerable youngsters and helping them to do something creative. Typically, Grassroots, like many projects that actually do something useful in society, is under threat thanks to council budget cuts. The thing with Grassroots is it has many friends and supporters.
Thirty-odd years ago, a young band just starting out was helped by Grassroots providing them with rehearsal space. On Thursday night, that band played its first show in their home city for seven years at a benefit show for the charity. Young Marble Giants don't play much, but when they do, they're guaranteed a full venue. It was already filling up nicely by the time the first band arrived on stage, featuring a couple of familiar faces. The Irascibles feature Phil and Drew Moxham of YMG and play a brand of country-tinged garage rock that I imagine would have gone down well at somewhere like the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA. sometime during the mid-80s.
I can't imagine anything by the second band of the evening going down well anywhere. Headfall were just awful. I suppose they would say they were an experimental art new wave kind of thing, like the Velvet Underground meets Wire, perhaps. The thing is, both those bands had a point. They sounded like they knew what they were doing and the music they made inspired generations of musicians after them. Headfall only inspired me to want to find the venue's electrical master switch and turn everything off. I've heard bands playing their first rehearsal that sounded more convincing. Avoid at all costs!
Young Marble Giants treated the audience to a nearly hour-long set of faves from their sadly small back catalogue interspersed with some anecdotes about Grassroots and the venue. Alison relayed how she saw her first ever film at the Globe back in the days it was a cinema, and the last ever film it hosted (An Officer And A Gentleman, apparently). She also owns one of the mirrors that graced the cinema's halls. Their beautifully sparse and eerie music resonated around this great little venue. Most of the set consisted of tracks from their only studio album 'Colossal Youth' (released 35 years ago, if you please!), with highlights (for me) being Credit In The Straight World, Choci Loni, Wurlitzer Jukebox and that wonderful album title track.
It was a delight to catch one of the most revered and influential Welsh bands of all time still able to spellbind their audience as if it were still 1980. The fact they only play once in a blue moon these days makes it even more of a privilege. Actually, wasn't there an actual blue moon this week? Point made.
I was feeling on the up-side when I compiled this podcast three years ago. This was a time when quite a few music blogs were shut down, yet I was still going and decided to get busy. To be honest, my site was nowhere near popular enough to worry the powers-that-be. 'Rollin'' was one of my favourite podcasts at the time and it remains a particularly good 'un. As usual the article that follows is as it originally appeared.
Pod 27: Rollin' (first published 2 March 2012)
I
suppose I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment. Dunno why. Maybe it's
because the time for blogs like this is numbered. The Feds are cranking
up the pressure (while the record companies are cranking up the prices of their recently-deceased stars' records.
And if you believe, as Sony would have it, that it was an "employee
error", then quite frankly you deserve to be treated like the idiots
they clearly think we all are...) and good music sites are biting
the dust one-by-one. I have loads more to share with you so perhaps
that's why I'm churning these out at the rate I am - get them out there
while I can. Whatever, Pod 27 sees a return to the random mix format. No theme, no concept, just a half-hour of great tunes. Enjoy. 1. The GodfathersI Want Everything [1986, Hit By Hit] One
of my favourite songs of all-time this. It has swagger, energy and
loud guitars, all built around a basic 12-bar rock 'n' roll structure.
What more do you need? 2. Richard HawleySome Candy Talking [2006, b-side of Hotel Room] I
met Richard Hawley around, ooooh, 17 years ago when he was lead
guitarist with the Longpigs. I managed an after-show chat with him and
his bandmates in (of all places) Barnstaple. A jolly nice chap he was
too. Since then, he has forged a career as a much respected solo
artist, and collaborated with Pulp, Elbow, Arctic Monkeys and All Saints
(!). This cover of the Jesus & Mary Chain's 'Some Candy Talking'
is a perfect showcase for his wonderfully resonant baritone voice. 3. Young Marble GiantsChoci Loni [1980, Colossal Youth] Very
few acts can ever claim to have released just one album which has since
become hailed as highly influential, even rising to 'classic' status.
The La's are one, the Sex Pistols another. Cardiff's Young Marble
Giants are not talked about in the same breath as those other luminaries
perhaps, but they can count Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, Belle &
Sebastian and R.E.M. among those who gained enormous inspiration from
their only official album 'Colossal Youth'. And I defy anyone to tell
me The xx are not indebted to them also. It's so obvious, isn't it? 4. Steel PulseHandsworth Revolution [1978, Handsworth Revolution] One
of British reggae's finest moments came in 1978 with the release of
Steel Pulse's debut album. The Birmingham outfit have gone on to become
one of the most successful British bands in the US, but for me (and
most fans), it is 'Handsworth Revolution' that marks their zenith. 5. Luke HainesGorgeous George [2011, 9½ Psychedelic Meditations on British Wrestling of the 1970's & Early 80's] Eccentric,
maverick, genius - just a few words used over the years to describe
Luke Haines, former frontman of the Auteurs and Black Box Recorder.
There's no doubting, whatever your viewpoint, that the subject matter
of his second solo record is perhaps more than a tad off-the-wall. If
you are not British, you probably won't get it. If you are but did not
grow up in the 1970s and tune in avidly every Saturday lunchtime to
watch the wrestling on World Of Sport, you won't get it either. References to Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Rollerball Rocco et al are
strewn across the record, though oddly this track is named after
legendary American wrester 'Gorgeous' George Wagner who fought between
1932 and 1962. 6. CardiacsDive [1988, A Little Man And A House & The Whole World Window] Talking
of eccentrics... Though Cardiacs may remain unheard of in many
quarters, they remain hugely influential. At their peak, their blend of
punk, jazz and prog-rock accentuated their utterly bizarre image.
This track is taken from one of my all-time top LPs. Can't believe
its 24 years old this year! See a live version of 'Dive' here. (2015 update: 'A Little Man And A House...' is 27 years old now!) 7. Lucy Wainwright RocheWild Mountain Thyme [2007, 8 Songs] Daughter
of Louden, half-sister of Rufus and Martha, Lucy is the latest of the
Wainwright clan to grace the world with her musical abilities. She
certainly has the family touch - her releases so far have not been far
short of wonderful. This beautiful take on the traditional Irish folk
ballad appears on her debut mini-album from a few years back. 8. ClearlakeI Hang On every Word You Say [2001, Lido] While
he could never be on a par with Luke Haines or Tim Smith, Clearlake's
Jason Pegg might still be justifiably tagged mildly eccentric (he
actually contributed a track to the recent Tim Smith benefit album
'Leader Of The Starry Skies'). The band seems to be on hiatus
currently; their fourth album has been on ice for a few years in spite
of being finished. This track remains a big fave of mine from their
debut. 9. Yank Rachell's Tennessee Jug BustersGet Your Morning Exercise [(1963) 1998, Mandolin Blues] A
sort of blues supergroup featuring guitarist Sleepy John Estes (after
nearly 20 years out of the public eye and at one point presumed dead),
harmonica pioneer Hammie Nixon and mandolin player Yank Rachell. The
classic album 'Mandolin Blues' was recorded in two informal sessions in
the early 60s, during which the foot-stompin' became so enthusiastic, it
dislodged plaster from the ceiling in the apartment below! 10. CalexicoLove Will Tear Us Apart [2005, Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs] Considering
they've been together fifteen-plus years, released a number of
critically-acclaimed albums and had their music featured in all kinds of
ads and movie soundtracks, it's a mystery how most people I know still
have never heard of Calexico. Their interpretation of the oft-covered
Joy Division classic is probably my favourite. Roll with it right here.
It’s New Year’s Eve, which means the final day of the year. So what could be more fitting than a song entitled Final Day? Except this isn’t all about one year turning into the next – it’s about there being no next; this is the final day of life as we know it.
Cardiff’s Young Marble Giants released just a couple of singles and a solitary album, but their legacy is extraordinary. Their desolate minimalist music sounded like little else at the time (late 70s/early 80s) and has become the template for so many others since to base their sound on. I can’t hear The xx without thinking YMG.
Final Day is basically about impending nuclear destruction at the hands of the warmongering leaders during the Cold War. The rich and powerful will take shelter while the rest of us poor sods will suffer in the fallout. It remains the band’s best known song; it is probably also their darkest and most haunting. Remember, in 1980 this threat was very real, or at least that’s what our distinguished world leaders led us to believe. So this track must have been terrifying to many who heard it, this facing up to reality was absolutely not your regular topic for a pop song. It retains a certain chilling eeriness to it to this day.
The band occasionally reforms for a gig or two every now and then, all of which pretty much sell out as soon as they are announced. As is typical of such artists, they’re often unappreciated until the world catches up with them. For Young Marble Giants, it took about 30 years…
