Birmingham folk rock band “Boat To Row are known for delivering an intricate set woven with strings and vocal harmonies, layered with an ever-expandingcollection of instruments. They combine a genuine ease in each other’s musical company with an energetic, skilfully crafted sound. We thought we’d give you an update on what we’ve been up to and invite you to celebrate our second album ‘Rivers That Flow In Circles’ first birthday this weekend.
We’ve been working on some new music, we finished a recording session days before lock down in March and since then we’ve been exchanging demos via email. We can’t wait to be able to properly get together and work on these new ideas but it’s been something to keep us sane during the long weeks at home. ‘Rivers That Flow In Circles’ turns one this weekend. With all that’s happened in 2020 we’ve not been able to get put playing live as we’d hoped but we’re still very proud of what we created and we hope you’re enjoying listening to it.
Our pre-recorded live session that was programmed at Moseley Folk and Arts Festival 2020. All tracks are taken from our latest album release, Rivers That Flow In Circles. We joined Moseley Folk and Arts Festival for their virtual festival earlier this month and recorded this four song set. It was our first time together in 6 months, let along playing together and it felt like a great release to play. Hopefully we’ll have the chance again soon. Moseley Folk are running a crowd funding campaign to help keep the festival running following this year’s cancellation.
TRACK LIST: Moth to the Light Fairest Flaws Spanish Moss On Your Own
Released on 20th September 2019 on Static Caravan Recordings.
Warp Records reissue. Originally released in 2006, “The Future Crayon” is a collection of Broadcast’s early rarities, B-sides, compilation tracks, and other hard to find material. For Broadcast completists, this release is a must. Our vintage Lab review from the original release: After toiling in Warpscurity for the better part of the late 90s / early 00s, Broadcast have had a quick come-up in the past few years, ever since the Pitchfork massive started catching on. It stands to reason that they’d wanna capitalize on their newfound fanbase with this collection, which features almost 20 tracks, all of which are hard-to-find or just plain out-of-print.
Broadcast were formed in Birmingham in 1995 by Trish Keenan (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and James Cargill (bass). Their musical style blends elements of 1960s American psychedelia with experimental electronica, incorporating samples from various sources, Keenan (formerly of folk duo Hayward Winters) and Cargill met in the mid 1990s at the Sensateria psychedelic club, and formed Pan Am Flight Bag in 1995, renamed Broadcast after several concerts. The band’s first release in 1996, was the 7″ single “Accidentals” (issued on Wurlitzer Jukebox Records), which was written based around a sample from Joseph Losey’s 1967 film Accident. The same year, they released The Book Lovers EP (issued in November by Duophonic Records). In 1996, the band recorded a Peel Session. for BBC Radio.
Warp released a compilation album, Work and Non Work, in June 1997, compiling the EP and two singles. The 1999 Broadcast track “You Can Fall” was included on the soundtrack album for the film Morvern Callar.
You get the entire Extended Play, Extended Play #2andPendulum EPs, plus a handful of B-sides and compilation appearances spanning from 1998 to 2003. Highlights include “Illumination,” “Chord Simple,” the hazy and beautifully psychedelic “Where Youth and Laughter Go” and “Locusts.” Not necessarily a collection for the Broadcast neophyte, but everyone will find something to like here. 18 tracks; 69 minutes.
official reissue of Future Crayon, a collection of Broadcast rarities and B-sides
originally released in 2006
Trish Keenan died on 14th January 2011 at the age of 42, following complications with pneumonia, which she suffered from after earlier contracting H1N1. Cargill, the sole remaining member, said in a 2011 interview with Under the Radar that a new Broadcast album was in the works, featuring vocals recorded by Keenan shortly before her death. He later said: “Trish left a lot of tapes, four-tracks and stuff, and I’ve been going through those. It’s difficult, and I’m connected to it at the same time. It’s wonderful, but I’m also feeling a sense of loss. The next thing I release with Trish on it will be more like a monument and a tribute to her rather than this obsessive thing I used to have about making albums.” As of 2020, however, the album has still not been released.
The Debut full length album from Birmingham band Broadcast. formed in 1995 by Trish Keenan (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and James Cargill (bass). Their musical style blends elements of 1960s American psychedelia with experimental electronica, incorporating samples from various sources, and earned the band a cult following. “The Noise Made By People” came after the band signed to Warp Records and spent nearly three years in the studio. It was time well spent, as they built on the sounds and textures they explored in their earlier singles (archived by Warp on the excellent Work And Non Work). Reared on a heavy dose of vintage British psychedelia, Broadcast drew early (and somwhat lazy) comparisons to their mentors Stereolab. The slick pop song writing and expert production on “Unchanging Window” and “Papercuts” feels vaguely familiar yet hard to pinpoint; in retrospect, more similar to the nostalgic aura conjured by labelmates Boards Of Canada. More experimental tracks like “Minus One” and “The Tower of Our Tuning” reveal influence from The BBC Radiophonic Workshop and similar sound effects units. Considered at the time to be a left-field choice by Warp’s A&R staff, as the indie powerhouse had dealt exclusively with artists working in the fields of techno and dance music, Broadcast’s signing to Warp makes much more sense in hindsight, and it’s hard to imagine them having such a fruitful run on any other label.
This was the group’s debut studio album, The Noise Made by People, was released by Warp Records in March 2000. It was self-produced in the group’s own recording studio after having been through three producers to get a particular sound. Regarding the expensive two year production of the album, Keenan said, “There [were] no financial benefits in getting it right.” The band issued two EPs in the same year, “Extended Play” and “Extended Play Two”.
The Noise Made By People indeed rocks, but there are hardly any noticeable guitars in the mix at any time throughout the course of the record. Their inventive approach to a five-piece band setup and non-purist attitude predates the ubiquity of electronics in indie rock that would follow in their wake. While James Cargill has been working intently on finishing Broadcast’s final album since the tragic and untimely passing of Trish Keenan in 2011, the uncanny brilliance of Broadcast continues to shine most brightly on The Noise Made By People. Recommended.
Broadcast have released three studio albums—The Noise Made by People (2000), Haha Sound (2003), and Tender Buttons (2005)—as well as several EPs and a collaboration album with the Focus Group titled Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age (2009).
official reissue of Broadcast’s debut album with gatefold sleeve
originally released in 2000
As a young teen fan watching “Top Of The Pops”, getting into The Move was natural, It was rewarded with an intense admiration of albums such as “Shazam” and then later Roy Wood’s“Message From The Country”. Back then, affordable compilations covering the career of The Move were few and far between save for the rather good “Greatest Hits Vol. 1” released on budget label Pickwick (SHM952), partly in “electronically created stereo”.
The advent of the CD and the release of several anthologies and expanded album reissues has kept admirers of The Move pretty content over the last decade but, for me, there hasn’t been a single disc compilation that ticked all the boxes in covering their career from “Night Of Fear” up to “California Man”. That is until now. “Magnetic Waves Of Sound: The Best Of TheMove” (ECLEC22554) is a remarkable release in that the 21 tracks on the CD are twinned with another 21 audio-visual treats on the accompanying DVD including the bands full infamous “Colour Me Pop” performance and a pristine promotional film for “I Can Hear The Grass Grow”. The folks at Esoteric Recordings (an imprint of Cherry Red Records) have done an admirable job in not only including every single issued by The Move on the CD, but also in selecting wisely album track nuggets such as “Kilroy Was Here”, “What?” and the classic “Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited”. An observation (but not a criticism) is that I’d have loved to see “Beautiful Daughter” included within the CD too,
All the hits are there and then some. The attractiveness and value of “Magnetic Waves Of Sound: The Best Of The Move” has been rewarded with impressive pre-orders and, at the time of writing, an entry into the Official Album Chart Update at a healthy #54, The Move and their role in the sparking creativity of The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) is a well known fact but this superb double disc collection gives both the avid fan and the casual music buyer a wonderful journey through the hit laden career of not only one of THE best bands of their time. This collection is also an appreciation of the stellar songwriting output of the one and only Roy Wood as well as those immovable contributions of Bev Bevan, Carl Wayne, Chris ‘Ace’ Kefford, Trevor Burton, Rick Price and, of course, Jeff Lynne.
Continuing its series of reissues dedicated to the Birmingham rockers The Move, Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint has just issued a CD/DVD collection that chronicles the band’s many facets and iterations between 1966 and 1972. Magnetic Waves of Sound: The Best of The Move, featuring 21 tracks on CD and a further 21 live performances and promotional films on DVD, is certainly not the group’s first anthology, but it’s doubtless among the finest.
Over the course of just four studio albums – all but one of which, 1971’s Message from the Country, has been reissued and expanded by Esoteric – the band made a dizzying number of transformations. Pop-psychedelia, mod soul, hard riff-rock, country, cabaret, folk, and rockabilly were all part of The Move’s repertoire. The band went through five line-ups, with singer/songwriter/guitarist Roy Wood and drummer/vocalist Bev Bevan the two constants; Wood and Bevan would, of course, go on to form the original Electric Light Orchestra with Jeff Lynne, the Idle Race leader who joined The Move in 1970. Lead singer Carl Wayne’s 1966-1970 yielded the lion’s share of the group’s hits, while the seemingly rotating bass chair went from Chris “Ace” Kefford to Trevor Burton to Rick Price before the Wood/Lynne/Bevan triumvirate abandoned a permanent bass slot for The Move’s final incarnation.
All ten of the band’s U.K. charting singles are here, from 1966’s Tchaikovsky-quoting “Night of Fear” through 1972’s fifties retro-style “California Man,” as well as “Do Ya,” The Move’s only U.S. hit. (It was famously re-recorded by Electric Light Orchestra for 1976’s A New World Record.) A healthy selection of B-sides and album tracks are peppered throughout the set, as well. All of the tracks showcase not only the band’s great stylistic diversity but the strength of Roy Wood’s melodic pop sensibility. Though The Move could rock (the harsher sound of “Hello Susie” is still jarring in this chronological context), their singles were more often than not compact pop creations, including the controversial “Flowers in the Rain” (subject of a High Court lawsuit that forced Wood to forfeit all of his royalties, then and now, from the composition), the urgent “Fire Brigade,” shimmering “(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree” and baroque “Blackberry Way.” Move records were reliably filled with lush harmonies and unusual, dramatic instrumentation, sometimes courtesy of then-assistant producer Tony Visconti. Indeed, The Move were progressive before the word had entered the rock lexicon.
The final tracks on the CD portion of Magnetic Waves of Sound, culled from the Message from the Country era, were recorded as Lynne, Wood, and Bevan created Electric Light Orchestra. As such, they complement the debut of ELO (the band’s only album with Wood (though he played, uncredited, on a couple of tracks from ELO 2). “Ella James” was selected as the first single from Message, though it was quickly withdrawn and replaced with the jauntier “Tonight,” which was more redolent of the “classic” Move sound. The brisk, breezy “China Town” has Wood and Lynne trading vocals, with the latter already bringing a Beatles influence into the band and Wood bringing his best George Harrison-esque slide lines.
The second disc of this set – The Move on the Air: TV Broadcasts 1967-1970 – is an essential part of this package but could easily stand on its own, with 21 clips on DVD. Note that this disc is region-free/NTSC, playable everywhere. Quality is variable, particularly because the original aspect ratios have been converted to widescreen, leading to some “stretching” of the image. The images are otherwise sharp and detailed, and the audio equally fine. The centerpiece is a ten-song set from The BBC’s Colour Me Pop (in color, naturally) recorded on January 4th, 1969 featuring not only hits like “I Can Hear the Grass Grow,” “Flowers in the Rain,” and “Blackberry Way” but also covers such as Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing on My Mind,” Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s“Goin’ Back,” and the Louvin Brothers’ “Christian Life.” Three songs from this set are lip-synched, while the remainder showcases the four-piece band after Chris “Ace” Kefford’s departure in its potent live prime. Other strong, primal performances have been culled from broadcasts of Top of the Pops and Germany’s Beat Beat Beat and Beat Club.
Magnetic Waves of Sound is housed in a digipak containing both a fold-out poster and a 20-page booklet featuring a new essay by Mark Paytress as well as credits, a chart of the band line-ups, and discography. Ben Wiseman has remastered, and sound quality is identical to the remasters, and comparable for the tracks new to this series. The first eleven tracks on the CD are happily all presented in their original mono mixes. This set is a fine addition to Esoteric’s stellar program dedicated to the underrated Brumbeat band.
CD
Night of Fear (Deram DM 109-A, 1966) (*)
I Can Hear the Grass Grow (Deram DM 117-A, 1967) (*)
Wave the Flag and Stop the Train (Deram DM 117-B, 1967) (*)
Kilroy Was Here (from Move, Regal Zonophone LRZ 1002, 1968) (*)
(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree (from Move, Regal Zonophone LRZ 1002, 1968) (*)
Walk Upon the Water (from Move, Regal Zonophone LRZ 1002, 1968) (*)
Flowers in the Rain (Regal Zonophone RZ 3001-A, 1967) (*)
Fire Brigade (Regal Zonophone RZ 3005-A, 1968) (*)
Birmingham quartet Swampmeat Family Band have announced their new album “Muck!” will see a release on the 5th June on vinyl and digital formats.
Expert purveyors of a blend of uptempo garage rock and gentle Americana, which they meld it into a lush, cinematic whole, the new record sees them adding new layers and fresh flourishes to their trademark sound. Punk Slime Recordings are proud to present the new full-length album from Birmingham, based Swampmeat Family Band. Their new album Muck! is due out on June 5th on vinyl & digital and it’s a massive step forward both songwriting and production-wise, offering up a blend of uptempo garage rock and gentle americana. Featuring members of PNKSLM’s own The Castillians and Terror Watts as well as Low Cut Connie, PWEI and Bentley Rhythm Ace,
Swampmeat Family Band have already drawn praise from the likes of KEXP, The Line of Best Fit, DIY and GoldFlakePaint while turning heads with their live shows around Europe, and the band will be making their US debut at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX this year.
The Band:
Daniel Finnemore
T-Bird Jones
Richard March
Tommy Hughes
Conceived over a bucks fizz binge in Birmingham UK early 2018, Cherry Pickles comes at you like the basement band you always wanted to start.
Priscila B brings from Brazil her love of early Tropicalia and the kind of ‘let’s be bad’ attitude that can only come from a land chock full of Catholic guilt. Mimi B brings her love of stripped down, bare essential rhythm. If two drums are good enough for Peggy O’Neill then they should definitely be good enough for you. Together they bonded over a mutual love of 50s malt-shop-pop, 60s minimalist garage, no wave, fuzz and all forms of outsider art. ‘Art damaged’ isn’t a slur, it’s a compliment. Anything lost in translation with this transatlantic duo only doubles the charm.
Played entirely on thrift store instruments with the kind of enthusiasm and naiveté severely lacking in a lot of today’s music this is not some clever re-imagining or ironic take on lo-fi, this is the real deal! Technique and skill be damned, the message comes through strong and that message is “Don’t think about it, just cross the line and enjoy it.” All rolled together with gum, glitter and stickytape in the studio by fellow Birmingham noisemakers Black Mekon, the result is slightly wrong-sounding but infectious one-minute-garage-pop with gusto. One guitar, 2 drums, the basement band you always wanted to start.
Cherry Pickles’ debut LP Cherry Pickles Will Harden Your Nipples will be released on April 5th 2019 via PNKSLM Recordings following the band’s US debut at SXSW.
Run Out Groove curated new collection of Idle Race’s best Liberty-era tracks.
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s who garnered a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success. In addition to being the springboard for Jeff Lynne’s career, the band holds a place of significance in British pop-rock history as a link between The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, The Steve Gibbons Band and Mike Sheridan and The Nightriders. The band was initially formed in 1959 under the name of Billy King and The Nightriders; and consisted of core-members rhythm guitarist Dave Pritchard and drummer Roger Spencer, along with vocalist Billy King, bassist Brian Cope, and lead guitarist Al Johnson. In 1962, King departed and was replaced by Mike Tyler who changed his name to Sheridan and this change coincided with the band’s rise and gaining a record deal with EMI in 1964.
Around this time Cope was replaced by Greg Masters and Johnson by lead guitarist, Roy Wood. Wood who went on to find greater success in subsequent bands, had his first commercially released composition, Make Them Understand, with the Nightriders in 1965. By 1965 Wood then formed the Move and the band started touring by 1966. Johnny Mann was eventually replaced by Jeff Lynne—who at the time was an unknown guitar prodigy from Birmingham. They released one single in 1966 on Polydor—It’s Only The Dog / Your Friend featuring Lynne on lead guitar. Eager to showcase Lynne’s vocal and guitar skills as well as his growing cache of catchy Beatlesque songs and wishing to embrace the psychedelic movement of the time, the group changed its name, first to The Idyll Race and then The Idle Race. Roy Wood who had become a star as The Move became a successful chart act, helped arrange a partnership with producers Eddie Offord and Gerald Chevin for The Idle Race. In 1967, the band was the first major signing by the new British arm of Liberty Records. Only their first single (not issued in the UK) and their first album got released in the US on Liberty. The band was well received by the press for their melodies, whimsical lyrics and inventive production. They often appeared live in performance with such bands as The Spencer Davis Group, The Who, The Small Face, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Status Quo, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Yes and Free. BBC disc jockeys such as John Peel and Kenny Everett were big champions of the group.
Despite critical respect and famous admirers such as The Beatles and Marc Bolan, The Idle Race failed to catch fire with the public. After suffering through bad luck that sabotaged their efforts in releasing singles Here We Go ‘Round The Lemon Tree, The Skeleton and the Roundabout, and The End Of The Road, the band splintered, leaving in their wake several of the quirkiest and most distinctive pop records of the psychedelic era.
The Fat Angel Sings 