email: [email protected] website: nightshift.oxfordmusic.net Free every month. NIGHTSHIFT Issue 146 September Oxford’s Music Magazine 2007

Look out, there’s a rap man coming! Mr Shaodow Meet Oxford’s bright new hip hop star

OXFORD ACADEMY OPENS! Win Free Entry for a whole month - inside

NIGHTSHIFT: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU. Phone: 01865 372255 NEWNEWSS Nightshift: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU Phone: 01865 372255 email: [email protected]

TRUCK FESTIVAL organiser Robin Bennett has spoken to Nightshift about the events that led to the cancellation of July’s event when the festival site was left under a metre of water following the heaviest rains to hit the UK in 40 years. Robin took the decision to postpone Truck Festival on the Friday afternoon, the day before it was due to take place, when a nearby brook burst its banks, deluging the field with water. Much of Steventon village was also flooded, including Robin’s family home. Despite the chaos and the devastating effect of the floods, the Truck organisers and a team of volunteers quickly moved to organise two nights of gigs up at Brookes University Union, featuring many of the acts due to play Goldrush - Robin Bennett far left at the festival, including headliners Garth and Maud Hudson and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Those gigs also acted as an emergency fundraiser for was very surreal seeing people dancing in wellies to DJ Fresh at Brookes. the festival which might otherwise have been financially ruined, cancellation “Ninety percent or more of the original line-up will be playing on the new insurance having been unaffordable. dates, and we have also added some more favourites including Foals and Truck Festival now takes place over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd Forward, Russia. We don’t yet know the long-term financial implications of September with the vast majority of the original line-up set to play. With the postponement. Needless to say, it’s hard to organise two events for the around 700 tickets returned there are expected to be some tickets now price of one and we may well lose money, which will in effect put us back to available for punters who missed out on the original dates. square one. Keep an eye on www.thisistruck.com for ticket news; there is Robin explained the events of the weekend: likely to be an extra ticket issue in September once we have counted all the “I think the people working in the festival field noticed the situation before returns and band members. If you read this in time, we are also having a we did in the office. We were convinced we could deal with it but suddenly BBQ at The Star on Rectory Road from 12 noon on Bank Holiday Monday, the brook burst its banks, leaving much of the farm under a torrent of water, 27th August, where we will also be selling tickets. As for where Truck goes and it was instantly clear we had to postpone. It only took a few moments from here, as R Crumb put it, Keep On Trucking. There is too much to decide on a new date. My parents didn’t realise ‘til a while later that their enthusiasm and passion to stop because of a bit of water.” house was also under a foot of water. “ It was very hard work to organise the Brookes gigs at such short notice Details of any available Truck tickets are online at www.thisistruck.com. A and special thanks to Toby Kidd for getting it together. It gave us all the benefit gig for the festival, featuring Mules and Emmy The Great, takes chance to have some fun, and the farmer got to sell some pasta salads! It place at the Port Mahon on Tuesday 18th September. THE CARLING ACADEMY is events nationally and raised over looking for experienced sound £1million for Oxfam. For details of OXFORD ACADEMY RE-OPENS engineers and lighting engineers. how to take part, email Kevin at KATE NASH is among the latest Anyone interested in working should [email protected] or visit crop of star names added to the email the new venue’s technical www.myspace.com/oxjamoxford. schedule for the new-look Oxford manager Spike at spike@oxford- Alternatively, bands can submit Academy which re-opens this academy.co.uk with info about demos to 21 The Paddox, Banbury month after a four-month, themselves, or call him on 07752 Road, Oxford, OX2 7PN. £2million refurbishment. 887737. Recent chart topper Kate appears A PAIR OF EXTREMELY RARE at the Academy’s new 1,020- JONQUIL release their new album, guitars were stolen from a local capacity main hall, which will st ‘Lions’, on 1 October on Try musician at the end of July from his become Oxford’s largest regular gig Harder Records, the follow-up to last house in Stratfield Street. The guitars venue, on Thursday 25th October. Last month Editors became the first band year’s critically acclaimed debut are a Rickenbacker 360 12 left- to sell out the new Academy, quickly followed by local heroes Supergrass and ‘Sunny Casinos’. The experimental handed 12-string in Sunburst finish, Madchester legends Happy Mondays. The Academy’s upstairs Zodiac venue folk/electro/pop troupe launch the modelled on George Harrison’s guitar; will have a flexible capacity of up to 436, with the venue’s total combined new album with a special concert at also a Gibson Les Paul ‘Black Beauty’ capacity up to 1,350 – up from its previous maximum of 750. Additionally the Jacqueline Du Pre Building on left-hand 1974 model. The guitars a smaller Academy Bar venue, with a capacity of 220, can be utilised for th Monday 17 September where they were stolen from the musician’s house local and unsigned bands. will be performing two sets. while it was undergoing building work The Oxford Academy is officially scheduled to open on Tuesday 18th Thereafter Jonquil head off on a and it is likely that although they are September, but as Nightshift went to press the line-up for that night was national tour with labelmates almost irreplaceable, the thief may unconfirmed. The first confirmed date at the venue is Thursday 20th Youthmovies and Adam Gnade. Visit well be unaware of their value. September, when New Young Pony Club headline. Other shows lined up this www.myspace.com/jonquiluk for full Anyone with any info should call PC month include Young Knives, Gallows, The Holloways, The Enemy and Ska tour dates and tracks. France at the Police Enquiry Centre Cubano. October will see gigs by Alabama 3, The Thrills, Decemberists, The on 0845 8 505 505. Cribs, Foals, Fightstar, Seth Lakeman, Super Furry Animals and THIS YEAR’S WALLINGFORD Youthmovies amongst others, while highlights of November include The BUNKFEST has been cancelled, due DON’T FORGET TO TUNE IN to Twang, Porcupine Tree, Digitalism, The Cardiacs, Black Rebel Motorcycle to a shortfall in grant funding and the The Download every Saturday night Club and Calvin Harris. Full gig listings for the Academy are online at after effects of the flooding the town between 6-7pm on BBC Radio Oxford www.oxford-academy.co.uk, along with booking information. suffered in July. The annual three-day 95.2fm. The local music show plays Academy Music Group spokesperson Louise Kovaks told Nightshift, festival, which features live acts, the best new Oxfordshire releases as “Oxford’s getting a fantastic new venue, whereby our increased capacity will ceildidhs and music workshops across well as featuring interviews with local bring larger and more high profile shows to the city such as Editors, The various venues in the town, was due acts and a regular demo vote. The Twang, The Coral and Kate Nash and the varying formats of Carling to run over the weekend of Friday show is available to listen to online Academy Oxford will allow us to showcase new artists and emerging talent. st nd 31 August – Sunday 2 September all week at bbc.co.uk/oxford. This is a £2 million development that will provide the facilities for these but organisers announced its artists to play in a professionally equipped venue and we’re looking forward cancellation at the beginning of NIGHTSHIFT was saddened to learn, to a bumper opening week, with a mixture of club nights and bands including August. Full refunds are being issued, as we went to press, of the death of local heroes Supergrass and the Young Knives”. while a benefit gig was being organised SUE KING at the end of August. Sue st for Saturday 1 September. was the first landlady of the Louise also offered one lucky Nightshift reader the chance to see every Hobgoblin on the Plain, which later single gig at the new Oxford Academy in September and October for free! RECENT NIGHTSHIFT COVER became The Pub Oxford. From the This fantastic prize could be yours if you can correctly answer the following STARS The Joff Winks Band will be very start Sue was a great supporter question: giving away a free copy of their debut of live music and was instrumental in album, ‘Songs for Days’, to the first helping Mac set up the Point venue Which band became the first act to sell out a gig at the new Oxford 50 punters at their gig at the upstairs in the pub, which became Academy? th Wheatsheaf on Wednesday 19 of legendary for, amongst other things, September. hosting the first UK gigs by The Answers on a postcard (no email entries) to: Oxford Academy Competition, Strokes and White Stripes. Our best Nightshift Magazine, PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU. Deadline for STUDIO 45 launched their new wishes to Sue’s partner Colin and all entries is the 15th September. Please include your address and daytime purpose-built recording studio in her family and friends. phone number. Multiple entries will be fed to Pertwee the Nightshift cat. Cowley last month and celebrated by presenting a cheque for £3,400 to ROSY, a charity providing respite care for sick children in Oxfordshire. DR SHOTOVER: Hit The North The money was raised at a benefit gig Bloody hell. I knew there were a few of you old-school Goths out there, earlier this featuring many of the but I never expected such a HUGE response to July’s column. The soul, r’n’b and hip hop acts Nightshift office was bombarded, nay OVERBOMBED with mail from championed by Studio 45. Plans are enthusiasts in bands called things like Cloistershadow, Sexy Vampire and now in place to organise a full live (bless) Black Tulle Box. Not to mention a French tribute act called Les music festival next year in the Soeurs du Merci. Well, I have no personal beef (or boeuf) with what these grounds of Cornbury Park, whose people do in the privacy of their own batcaves, as long as they don’t owner Lady Rotherwick, is a patron frighten the horses (or eat them)... In fact a bit of gloomy Gothic of ROSY. Acts interested in playing skullduggery would probably come as a welcome relief from all that can call Studio 45 events organiser Eurodisco in the charts, not to mention “Cheggers Plays Pop”... (What do Cheryl Lee Foulsham on 01865 you mean it isn’t the early 80s any more? Shut your ugly face and buy a 774806, or visit www.studio45.org.uk round, you insolent puppy! I’ll tell YOU what year it is, thank you very for more details. much...). Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, we’ve decided to move the East Indies Club to the North. To Stoke-on-Trent, actually. Apparently, due to THIS YEAR’S OXJAM gets some council cock-up, the smoking ban hasn’t been enforced yet, and local underway later this autumn and local wags are already renaming the city “Smoke-on-Trent” – marvellous! organiser Kevin Jenkins is looking for Hopefully there are still a few Goth bands up there too - Leeds isn’t that venues, promoters and bands keen to far, is it? I bet you can’t wait to hear my version of “Severina” rendered in take part. Last year’s Oxfam- a Potteries accent... The French Andrew Eldritch (real organised Oxjam featured over 2,000 Next month: Semo-lee-na name Didier Gauloise). A Quiet Word With Mr Shaodow THIS MONTH MR SHAODOW regards doing his music? releases his debut single, ‘Look Out, “Hmm first off, stress levels. There’s A Black Man Coming’. London will always have a place in Potent, witty and insanely catchy, it’s my heart but Oxford is wonderful: less easily the best rap song to come out people, more peace. The problem of Oxford, the equal to the best of with London is everybody and their hip hop coming from the UK or mum is a rapper; it doesn’t matter beyond. The crying shame is that the how good you are, there are so many, song even needed to be written. good and horribly wack, clamouring ‘Look Out, There’s A Black Man for the same thing that nobody gets Coming’ deals with the everyday, low- the chances they deserve. Now I’m level racism experienced by young starting to make a name for myself in black men: being searched in Oxford I’d hope to begin performing nightclubs, followed round shops by in London and the wider area.” suspicious security guards or people With regard to ‘Look Out There’s A crossing the street at the sight of Black Man Coming’ what differences black skin. are there between the two in your The single deals with racism in the experience of racism or the way best way possible – by mocking its you’re perceived? utter ridiculousness. While the Shaodow found the video – a of peace that I’d never experienced “I hope nobody takes offence but I underlying message is deadly serious, knockabout interpretation of the before and because I went on my own have to be truthful, when I first you can laugh out loud as Shaodow song’s lyrics mixed up with some I got to learn so much more about arrived in Oxford I thought I was the hits the main hookline: “Look out, kung fu display – refused airplay on myself; it was also the place that I only black person in the city. London there’s a black man coming / People rap station Channel U because it was began developing my rapping style, I is a lot more diverse. In London I’ll in wheelchairs get up and start deemed “violent and racist with wrote my very first song, ‘Back 2 Da carry myself and act in a completely running” over solid, minimalist beats offensive lyrics”. Oh the irony. Drawing Board’ out there. different way to how I would in and a rinky-dink electronic melody. “Back in the UK I also wrote `Tim£ Oxford; for one thing I’m more NIGHTSHIFT TALKED TO MR I$ Mon£y’, which was a song about relaxed here. But some of the habits, MR SHAODOW IS THE Shaodow as he prepared to launch my experiences in that call centre, such as wearing my hood up, followed performance name of Elliott Haslam, ‘Look Out…’ and asked him first but also about how people sometimes me and for a while I’d feel the strange a south London-born 20-year old about the origins of his oft- get so caught up working to live that looks and apprehension people would currently studying law and business at mispronounced stage name. they end up living to work. My new have towards me as if they expected Brookes University. Although he only “Well the name Shaodow dream is to now get a music video on me to rob them. starting rapping a couple of years ago (pronounced Sha ow dough) is part TV and in some ways it’s even “In a way it was my fault as well he has an assured, easy flow to his Shaolin, part Shadow, so already kung harder.” because of the vibes I was giving off delivery, sometimes smooth and fu is a part of my music. I’m a big but really there isn’t anything wrong languorous, at other times rapid-fire believer in following your dreams and IS THERE A PLACE WHERE with wearing a hood; it made me and hectoring. Moving to Oxford to ambitions: what’s the point in being Elliott Haslam ends and Mr Shaodow reflect on some of the stereotypes we study he quickly started organising blessed with life if you’re not gonna begins? have forced upon us. On top of that hip hop nights in local venues, live it? Kung fu has always been my “The way I see it Elliott and on my birthday I got into a fight with seeking out likeminded spirits in a passion. I’ve trained since I was 15 in Shaodow are the same person, both some guy because he called me the N rock-dominated scene. a variety of styles.. parts of one whole. Rappers have a word. If you listen to my songs it’s Nightshift chanced upon one of “I found a website giving the chance big enough ego and I’ve noticed that easy to tell that I don’t swear in them Shaodow’s first local gigs, stunned by to train out in China with the Shaolin some adopt their own artist name let alone use that word, therefore I the way he had the crowd – mostly monks when I was 16. I decided then after a while. It seems to me you’ll don’t expect to be called it. first-timers – clinging to his every and there that I would go. Problem end up forgetting who you really are. “Look Out There’s A Black Man line and singing along to set closer was I was still in college so I put the Being Mr Shaodow – yeah, that’s Coming’ sounds controversial but in ‘The British Are Coming’, a dream on the back burner. When my great, people like my music, they fact its just a reminder to people, celebration of UK hip hop and a gap year came along I realised I’d cheer for me, they tell me that I including myself, that the colour of rallying cry to rappers to retain their need something called money to get should be famous etc, and it’s all too your skin doesn’t automatically own identity. Add in some genuinely to China. My plan of walking there easy to get lost in that and believe all dictate the way that you are going to funny, self-effacing between-song was ruined so I began working in a the hype but at the same time being behave, whether you’re white, black, banter and the odd demonstration of call centre. To be honest that period Elliott Haslam reminds me that I Asian or blue. Big shout out to the kung fu moves and you’ve got a was so tough; there were times when I have a mother and father and a life Smurfs! Unfortunately some people natural-born entertainer. Back in May really believed I wouldn’t have full of stress away from music. still don’t understand that.” Shaodow opened the Oxford Punt enough money to go. If it wasn’t for Ultimately it reminds me that I’m How do you feel that, after all this with a performance at Borders. my own perseverance as well as the just human and I’m not as great as time, you still need to write a song amazing support from my girl and my everyone thinks I am. It’s this like ‘Look Out...’? MR SHAODOW’S WORLD OF family I might have given up. mentality that keeps me pushing “I see this is a difficult subject but rap is far removed from the dominant “Eventually I made enough money, forward to improve my lyrics and the one that I welcome because the song US-led commercial style. Out go booked my place and my flight and quality of entertainment that I’m is meant to induce conversation. The gangs, guns and bling; in come incisive was off. At one point it did occur to providing; the moment you think days where a person would openly personal politics, tales of dead-end jobs me that I had just sent money to a you’re the best is the moment you cuss you about your skin colour are and the odd love song. Local gig-goers kung fu school on a large hill that no- stop trying to be better.” almost gone. It’s now replaced by have quickly taken to Shaodow and his one had ever heard of. I figured I’d little snide comments and a lot of reputation is spreading the best way – get there and some people would turn ELLIOT GREW UP IN LONDON confusion often defended by ‘I can’t by word of mouth. up to laugh at me for a bit and then and came to Oxford to study; what be racist, I have friends who are Not that it’s all been plain sailing. On send me home. But the trip was have been the main differences *insert skin colour*’. It’s really the eve of the new single’s release everything and more: I found a type between the two cities for him as difficult because as a young black man I feel I have to go the extra mile: if I APART FROM ‘LOOK OUT…’ don’t open my mouth and show I the real scene-stealer in Shaodow’s set have a brain in my head I feel as if is `The British Are Coming’ the people will think otherwise. ‘Look rabble-rousing, singalong call to all Out There’s A Black Man Coming’ British rappers to celebrate their own wasn’t written to accuse; at best it roots and not just try and copy the was written to make people think and big American stars. have conversations like this. It pokes “When it comes to hip hop people fun at the issue because what else can are genuinely not interested unless you do? Disliking somebody or you are American. Most hip hop on fearing them because of their skin our airways comes from the USA and colour is such a ridiculous thing. It’s I really believe that rappers over similar with sexism and it’s disgusting there get a lot of support. The scene that some people feel the need to here is still growing; if you consider belittle and treat women as objects.” that a few years ago British rappers were rapping with fake American HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT accents you’ll see the problem. ‘The September Channel U banning the video for British Are Coming’ really examines being racist? the issue and goes into more depth “It was a big blow to me and has about it. If I could change anything really made things more difficult. I it’d be the level of support that Every Monday won’t say anything defamatory but if artists with talent are given in this THE FAMOUS MONDAY you watch Channel U it’s easy to see country; there are so many talented the calibre and content of music that people that end up giving up because NIGHT BLUES they play. I did follow up the matter nobody seems to care. I would advise The best in UK, European and US blues. 8-12. £6 everyone to actively support these and they admitted that the song was rd relevant to events today but they chaps, go to hip hop shows in 3 RICHIE MILTON & THE LOWDOWN (UK) didn’t feel that their audience would Oxford. Especially if I’m performing. 10th MEMO GONZALEZ & THE BLUESCASTERS understand the level of satire. It hurts And buy a CD off a poor artist. (US/Germany) Especially if it’s me.” me especially because when I tried to th do something positive it is rejected in 17 THE JOHN O’LEARY BAND (UK) favour of the same old same old. The CURRENTLY MR SHAODOW’S 24th THE ROBIN BIBI BAND (UK) video for ‘Look Out There’s A Black time is divided between his music and Man Coming’ is on studying law. His ambition is to move www.myspace.com/mrshaodow. I on to law school after finishing his invite anyone reading this to have a degree. Given the choice, would he Every Tuesday look for themselves and see if they prefer to be successful rapper or draw the same conclusion” successful lawyer? Or could he THE OXFORD JAZZ CLUB You’ve said before that you don’t combine the two in court? 4th THE HUGH TURNER BAND listen to a great amount of rap. What “Well, rapping is my passion and 11th / 25th HOWARD PEACOCK I’m sure we’d all prefer to be doing are your main musical inspirations? th “Surprisingly I’m not that influenced what we love. Unfortunately life 18 THE COLINS OF PARADISE by music, apart from the fact that I doesn’t work out that way so I also Free live jazz plus DJs playing r’n’b, funk and soul until 2am disliked a lot of what I heard, so I have law, which I genuinely enjoy. started making what I liked to listen Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to to. Mostly it’s God, life, my keep fighting for my music but at experience and the people around me. the end of the day I’m going to Every Friday To me hip hop and music in general is have to make a choice. I still think BACKROOM BOOGIE an art and I just want people to hear it’s important to chase your dream what I can do. I don’t just do hip hop, but recognise that things may not Funk, soul and R&B. 10.30PM-2.30AM; £4. I try to take influences from a work out. I’d like to be a solicitor. (last Friday of the month with guest DJ Aidan Larkin) variety of musical backgrounds, so When I was younger I would tell you might hear me do a rock or a people that I wanted to go into classical or a jazz track or one with soliciting, I now understand the one bongo drum and me screaming. looks of horror. Saturdays “I like to think that the music I have If Mr Shaodow was a cartoon super 1st TBC hero, what would his special power so far is as original as it’s going to get. th Funky House 9.30pm-4am It’s also another reason why I don’t be and who would he fight? 8 SIMPLE th listen to much hip hop generally: a “Ha ha! Join Mr Shaodow in his 15 OX4 Drum&bass rapper begins to rap and sound like never ending fight against wack 22nd RETRO NIGHT 9pm-3am £5 the people that he/she listens to. I’d rappers. I’d have a cape, a talking th like to hope that people will find it a mic as a side kick and for some 29 THE QUARTER FINALS + BIG BAD lot more difficult to pin point my rap reason I can breath fire and at the CITY + DJ set from THE MONEYSPINNERS influences. There are multiple reasons end of every episode I’d break into 9pm-3am £4 why I avoid sampling; one is because a cheesy final thought that rhymed. everyone does it and there is always Like in episode 14 where I fight the something nice about hearing evil rapping policemen: `Those PCs something truly original. Another is were trippin’ so we squashed their Sunday 2nd LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY because if the song became a hit, the bugs / Come on now kids, don’t do makers of the original would be drugs!’. Actually that’s an idea, I 8-11pm £6/7 knocking on my door looking for might copyright that...” Sunday 9th Burning Legacy Promotions presents their money. MIDASUNA 8-11pm £5/4 ‘Look Out There’s A Black Man “I have a few collaborations with th Oxford artists in the pipeline that I Coming’ is out now on Elements Wednesday 12 REDOX Album launch 8pm £5 am very excited about and I’m Bound. Visit www.myspace.com/ Sunday 23rd Burning Legacy Promotions putting together a new CD that is mrshaodow to hear new tracks and presents ALAMOS 8-11pm £5/4 completely different to what has been watch the video. Mr Shaodow plays done before; it’s so amazing and at Bayard’s School in Barton on secret that I haven’t even told myself Saturday 8th September as part of the full plan yet. Ha ha ha!” Oxford Urban Artz Festival. Sponsored RELEASED by furtive funky bassline following the metronomic SUNNYVALE NOISE electro beats of twitchy album opener ‘Godzilla SUB-ELEMENT vs. Kathleen Hanna’, or the deceptively alert ramble that is ‘Talking To John About Punk ‘Box Three, Spool Five’ Rock’ towards the CD’s end. There’s a sharp focus and tight grasp of dynamics at play too, (Field) moments of frantic busyness rising out of It seems hard to believe that this is Sunnyvale’s passages of almost atonal ambience. The best debut album, such a fixture have they become songs here are those we’ve heard before, the on the local scene over the past six years, both metallic clanging machine rock of ‘Girl Thief’; as instigators of the annual Audioscope festival the buzzing, throbbing drum and bass smack of and purveyors of a finely-honed malicious ‘Techno Self-Harm’ and of course ‘I Love musical damage that was best described in these You…’ wherein a sparse, metallic guitar line tip- pages as the sound of Kraftwerk being remixed toes over a hissing drum machine like a robot by Shellac. ballet dancer negotiating a nest of vipers. Sunnyvale’s sonic assault and battery is best Sunnyvale only fail to satisfy when they leave experienced live where volume and the harsher the drum machine on random play for ‘Sputnik extremes of frequency expose the sharpest have been put out by every underground record Was The Start Of All This Peculiar Weather’, edges. On CD the brutality is restrained and label in the country in some format. but even here, as with much of the album, the their innate sense of melody – oh yes, it’s true – Not that that should detract from a band who near-future industrial atmosphere provides a comes to the surface. Much of ‘Box Three, are inspired primarily by the possibilities of neatly simmering backdrop to humankind’s Spool Five’ sounds familiar, since a good deal of post-rock but never sink into the tired post- slow decay and self destruction. Which isn’t it has been released before on the band’s myriad Mogwai dirges of a million other instrumental something you’d ever find yourself saying EPs, not least long-term favourite ‘I Love You bands. Instead the feeling of restlessness about Keane. Every Time You Smile’, which must now surely pervades almost every track, whether it’s the Victoria Waterfield

precocious kids’ end of term disco rather than get a quick chorus of ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ FOALS an interminable lecture on jazz structures. The anytime soon. ‘Mathletics’ band’s infectious live energy rubs off on this Mark always denies that his band name is new, limited-edition single, uptight but oddly taken from the old ATL? song of the same name (Transgressive) free-flowing in the same way post-punk but they share a similar through-a-glass-darkly Foals’ musically academic playfulness is funkateers like Rip Rig & Panic and Kissing attitude to lyrical observation as well as a sometimes a bit like listening to savant The Pink once were. And chanting. You just luxuriantly grungey lo-fi sound that could be the scientists mocking less brainy types with don’t get enough chanting in pop music these meeting point between a pub-addled Teenage complex mathematical equations: all those poly- days. Not since Spandau Ballet lost the plot Fanclub and Guided By Voices. Sweetly rhythms and jagged tangents. Which would anyway. depressing stuff and about one millionth as self- make them arch irritants if the end result wasn’t Dale Kattack pitying as the title might have you believe. Even so bloody great and made you want to dance as you read this Ninestone Cowboy has like a spasming speed freak. probably just invested his life savings in a new- And that’s the real big difference between Foals build house on a Gloucestershire flood plain. and the likes of Hella and Battles – with Foals NINESTONE COWBOY Enough inspiration for a full album, surely? you always feel like you’ve stumbled into a Dale Kattack ‘Jesus Doesn’t Like Me’ (Own Label) If Ninestone Cowboy was a real person, you wouldn’t want to get stuck chatting to him at a party. By the end of the conversation you’d be downing neat arsenic, convinced it wasn’t worth carrying on with life. Because you’d probably get mown down by a train on your way home anyway, just like his friend Matthew in this new single. We know of course that former-Candyskins guitarist Mark Cope - aka Ninestone Cowboy - really isn’t as down on life as his songs would suggest, but when your attempt at a love song centres on a suicide bomber on a tube train (the superb ‘Closer’ from his last EP), you know you’re not going to Selected Oxford releases are now available on the ground floor HMV Oxford supports local music Open Sundays 11-5pm & late Thursdays till 7pm. 10% student discount every day textured moments are filled with dread, but it’s DAVID K FRAMPTON exactly the sort of musical carpet bombing Radio ‘Rock’ 2 should be forced to pump out at breakfast time. That’d learn everyone. (Eyeless) Victoria Waterfield Sometimes we worry about David K Frampton; at other times we worry about ourselves. David, much like fellow local doom-mongers Umair Chaudhry and Daniel Clarke, is extremely WITCHES prolific, offering up a new slice of aural nastiness every couple of months, each one seeming intent ‘Heart of Stone’ on surpassing the horror of the last. We worry (Within The Woods) about him because the logical conclusion to such an escalation is simply a recording of him cutting As stated in last month’s cover story, Witches off all his limbs in meticulous order until he have produced a fine debut in ‘Heart of Stone’. decapitates himself. And we worry for ourselves On first listening you are immediately sucked in because, like a swollen river, such carnage could and taken on a twisting journey. Tumbling lightly burst its banks and flood our homes. over delicious melodic pop, edgier darker on the album, thanks to Benek Chylinski on But then we remember that it’s always the bible- moments, almost annoyingly unforgettable riffs trumpet. ‘At Night I Dream Of Black Dogs’ is a reading James Blunt-listening types who go out and moody rock-outs, all pointing towards personal favourite – the first minute sounding and slaughter crowds of innocent passers-by and something special. like Eeyore’s theme song (if he had one). All told all David here is doing is a little mental blood- One thing is for certain, trying to make any it’s a landscape of bell-like vs. growling guitars, letting. Which isn’t to say that this album points of reference is difficult. And that’s for a eerie drum patterns, trumpets, glockenspiel, wouldn’t cause nightmares in children and more really good reason. Just when you thought it was unusual time signatures, with sweetly vulnerable delicate souls, because it damn well would, impossible Witches have gone and created a vocals reflecting the troubled lyrics. mixing up body parts of Throbbing Gristle’s unique sound, even as a few glimpses of ‘Heart of Stone’ is an incredibly grown up album more atonal industrial excursions, Cabaret Radiohead, Sparklehorse and The National creep but without losing its fresh-faced innocence; it’s Voltaire’s electro-primitivism and Wolf Eyes’ in, and very occasionally Dave Griffiths reminds complicated and yet so simple. Sometimes you dissonant rage. It sounds like David simply me of Ray Davies. Every song is individual yet get a group of people together, they all do their turned up every knob to eleven and recorded they all sit comfortably together. ‘Until Your own thing, yet when it all comes together the everything as loud as possible in order to Death’ couldn’t be anything but the opening whole is so much bigger than the parts. It could overload the recording equipment, clanging track. Its grooving layers building slowly, melting be accidental; it could have all been intricately electronics and sheet metal guitars swamping the into the next song. The title track is a worked out, but it doesn’t matter. The end result electronic beats as voices from some forgotten straightforward 3/4 song with a country lilt. The is the same - a wonderfully produced album full corner of hell mutter darkly or simply shout until darker but irresistible ‘Taking Myself Home of textures and subtleties, which will hopefully the needle goes into the red. It’s pretty Again’ is followed by the lovely uplifting see Witches off to a brilliant start indeed. unrelenting stuff, even the quieter, more subtly ‘Glowing Sky’, which has one of catchiest riffs Katy Jerome

THE ANY DAYS

CD single `MONDAY MORNING’ at Polar Bear Records, Cowley Road gig guide

SATURDAY 1st improvised drones from Smear Campaign and THIS CITY + DATA.SELECT.PARTY: The SEPTEMBER Sunn0))-inspired drone-metal from Lex and co. Cellar – Double bill of post-punk thrills JAZZ CLUB with THE HUGH TURNER tonight with Brighton’s uptight and angular + FEE FI FO FUM: The Wheatsheaf – BAND: The Bullingdon This City moving on up after the acclaim Spiky post-hardcore and math-rock in the SHUSH OPEN MIC SESSION: The X, accorded their recent Bloc Party remix, making style of Q & Not U from headliners City Cowley out with some urgent disco-rock. London’s Lights Just Burn, plus jittery indie-pop from OPEN MIC SESSION: Far From The Data.Select.Party return to town with their The Youngs Plan, doomy post-rock from Madding Crowd Gang Of Four-inspired punk-funk racket. Devon’s RPD and Oxes/Hella-inspired math- WEDNESDAY 5th THE HEARTWEAR PROCESS: The X, rocking from local newcomers FFFF. RUSSIAN CIRCLES: The Wheatsheaf – Cowley – Dark’n’doomy rocking in a Nick AN EVENING WITH THE RATPACK: Fat Isis-style instrumental rock from current Tool Cave vein from Reading’s Heartwear Process. Lil’s, Witney – Tribute to Sinatra, Dean tour support – see main preview QUICKFIX presents TOY #1 + DESERT Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and chums. LAMBORGHINI CRYSTAL + PATEL STORM + MISSING LEG CANALFEST: The Rock Of Gibraltar, PRETEL + DIVINE COILS: Port Mahon – COMPARTMENT: The Port Mahon – Local Enslow – All-day live music festival with Experimental trance and drones from New bands showcase from the Quickfix crew, with a Redox, The Pete Fryer Band and more. Yorkers Lamborghini Crystal, featuring ex- headline set from grunge-rockers Toy #1 SKITTLE ALLEY LIVE: King’s Head & Skaters people JC Peavey and James Ferraro. CITY LIGHTS JUST BURN + THE Bell, Abingdon – Acoustic sets from Les OPEN MIC SESSION: Folly Bridge Inn YOUNGS PLAN + RED PAPER DRAGON Clochards, Adam Matthews, Urban Idol and OPEN MIC SESSION: Temple Bar Yorkshire Luke. THURSDAY 6th Wednesday 5th MELTING POT with TEMPLE + THE HEYS: The Jericho Tavern SAVAGE HENRY: The Wheatsheaf – First RUSSIAN CIRCLES / nd night of a new Rocket Club with local heavy SUNDAY 2 rockers Savage Henry. SUNNYVALE NOISE MONKEY SWALLOWS THE UNIVERSE + THE BLACK LIPS + BROTHER POCKETBOOKS + IT HUGS BACK: The FRANCISCO + THE CORVIDS: The SUB-ELEMENT: Port Mahon – A night of twee musical Cellar – Rough’n’raw r’n’b out of Atlanta, The Wheatsheaf pleasure from the Swiss Concrete crowd with Georgia with the Black Lips over in the UK to Sheffield’s Monkey Swallows The Universe promote new album, ‘Good Bad, Not Evil’, You want some serious riffage? Russian coming on all dainty and doe-eyed with their mixing up early punk and 60s garage rock with Circles have got some serious riffage. Hailing winsome semi-acoustic pop, fresh from hook-laden Beatles pop. Support from South from Chicago, the trio, formed by guitarist supporting kindred spirits The Long Blondes Coast psych-rockers Brother Francisco and Mike Sullivan and bassist Colin DeKuiper, and Camera Obscura. Pocketbooks go the full krautrocking local stars Corvids. share a similar taste for heavyweight twee mile, resurrecting the sounds of Heavenly DAN AUSTIN + DUDLEY THOMPSON: instrumental soundscaping as neighbours and The Field Mice, while Kent’s It Hugs The X, Cowley – Grinning Spider night with Pelican as well as Isis. They’re over in the Back (aw, how cute…) make out like a hazy angel-voiced songsmith Dan Austin headlining. UK now for a tour with Tool, having 60s-styled acid-folk party. HARRY ANGEL + THE FOURTH previously supported Minus The Bear and ELECTRIC JAM: The X, Cowley – All- CHAMBER + VON BRAUN: The have a tendency to blow headline bands out comers jam session with in-house band The X Hobgoblin, Bicester – Gothic fuzz-pop and of the water. Unlike myriad post-rock types Men. incendiary grunge noise from Harry Angel at they do seriously rock out rather than try POWERCUT with THE ANYDAYS + tonight’s Bicester rock night. and show everyone how clever they can be. BAREFOOTIM: The Jericho Tavern – OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon Nuclear bombast mixes with sweet, post- Carbon-neutral live music club night with SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks storm pockets of calm, their expansive, chirpy 60s-styled pop people The Anydays th sometimes proggy, sound exacerbated by the headlining. FRIDAY 7 use of sampling and loop pedals. It’s an MONDAY 3rd KLUB KAKOFANNEY with MARY’S epic, sprawling journey, and one you’ll be GARDEN + LITTLE FISH + AND ALL ERASURE: The New Theatre – Synth-pop powerless to resist joining. Support tonight THESE ARMS: The Wheatsheaf – Return to hitmakers Andy Bell and Vince Clarke promote comes from local electro-rock destroyers live action for Mary’s Garden and their darkly new album ‘Light At The End Of The World’ Sunnyvale, launching their new album and exotic gothic-tinged Euro-rock. Current hottest as well as digging into their extensive catalogue blending sheet metal guitar noise with harsh new band in town and recent Nightshift demo of hits, including ‘Sometimes’, ‘Ship Of Fools’ electronics in a sound reminiscent of of the monthers Little Fish hit the raw, bluesy and ‘Always’, fresh from touring with Debbie Kraftwerk being remixed by Shellac. Not a garage-rock trail again. Harry and Cyndi Lauper in the States. night for pussies, then. SCRIPT + AGENTS OF JANE: The X, RICHIE MILTON & THE LOWDOWN: Cowley – Eclectic, dark-minded rock from The Bullingdon – Swampy blues-rock with a Script. heavy Stax soul influence from the British STORNOWAY + SEVEN YEARS ON: The guitarist and his nebulous backing band. Jericho Tavern – Currently amongst the main RATFACE + RUS SUBSTANCE: The Port contenders for best unsigned band in Oxford, Mahon – Punk-hip hop soundclash cabaret Stornoway continue to seduce all-comers with from Nottingham’s Ratface. their sweet-natured, celtic-tinged pop; perhaps TUESDAY 4th one of the last chances to catch them in such SERFS + SMEAR CAMPAIGN + LEX, LEE, intimate surroundings. Support comes from DAVID & TOBY: The Port Mahon – Swindon’s Seven Years On. Acoustic psychedelic jamming from The Serfs, OXFORD FOLK CLUB: The Port Mahon RESERVOIR CATS: Fat Lil’s, Witney – what we get here, with a quality line-up of Hard-rocking blues. local bands including Harry Angel, The RED HOT BLUES & BOOZE FESTIVAL: Quarterfinals, Ivy’s Itch, The Black Hats, Didcot Labour Club – Didcot Blues Club’s King Furnace, Baby Gravy, The Dirty Royals, first weekend festival with sets from The Tristan & The Troubadours and 100 Bullets Peacetakers, Bullfrogs, Blues Factory and Back, as well as out-of-town guests Brother more, plus open mic sessions. Francisco and the mighty Sweeney. BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Bullingdon – URBAN ARTZ FESTIVAL: Bayard’s School, Weekly soul, funk and disco club night. Barton (12-5pm) – First Urban Artz session, ATTACK OF THE…: Mangos – Gabba, aiming to showcase the best local urban music, breakcore and mashup mayhem with Alan art and film. Live music comes from the cream Titmash, Oozat, DJ Bread, Hellboy and of Oxford’s rappers, Zuby, Mr Shaodow, th Christ, Someone’s Dead. Inspekt’A’Rhyme and Don JoJo as well as Thursday 20 SATURDAY 8th street dance from Messy Jam, plus fashion, NEW YOUNG PONY END OF THE SUMMER ALL DAYER: The video and art displays – see main interview Port Mahon (12pm) – End of the summer? feature on Mr Shaodow CLUB: The Oxford What bloody summer? Oh well, never mind, COO COO CLUB with THE NUBILES + sunshine isn’t conducive to standing in hot, MEPHISTO GRANDE: The Jericho Tavern Academy sweaty gig venues watching noisy young – The recently reformed former local stars At time of going to press, tonight’s gig is the things cutting a rug, so to speak. Which is return to town after their star turn at the first confirmed date at the new Oxford Zodiac’s closing party, reprising the jerky, Academy, although Tuesday 18th is planned Sunday 9th funked-up post-punk noise that they made as the official opening night. No matter, it’s a their own back in the early-90s before it quality start for the new venue. Although RICHARD HAWLEY: became de rigeur for every indie band around. included on NME’s New Rave tour earlier Satanic gospel-blues rocking from Mephisto this year, London’s New Young Pony Club The New Theatre Grande in support. are nothing of the sort. Like fellow tour- It’s heartening, if a little surprising, that WITTSTOCK FUNDRAISER: The X, mates CSS, they mix up synth-pop and Richard Hawley is headlining a venue of this Cowley – With live sets from Quadrophobe, disco with jerky post-punk, marking them size. The man’s rise and rise has been slow Alphabet Backwards and Jeremy Hughes. out closer in spirit to the likes of Tom Tom and steady, his reputation built on a SIMPLE: The Bullingdon – Funky house Club, New Order, Grace Jones and in succession of gently wonderful albums, but club night. particular ESG (oh, and you could maybe you always feel he’s been more of a critics’ BLUE WHISKEY: Fat Lil’s, Witney – Rock add in Salt’n’Pepa, Miss Kittin and even favourite than a commercial success. Well, it’s covers. Peaches into that sweet little mix). Initially good news anyway, because he more than RED HOT BLUES & BOOZE FESTIVAL : the cool name to drop in trendy Hoxton deserves it. Not that you’d have imagined Didcot Labour Club circles after their early clutch of singles that back in the late-90s that the pissed-up TWIZZ TWANGLE: Chester Arms – managed to balance cool and aloof with guitarist from The Longpigs would become a Madcap anti-pop from the enduring local cartoonish playfulness, NYPC seem to have Radio 2 favourite and Mercury Prize musical eccentric. been vindicated by their Mercury Price nominee. It’s Hawley’s odd juxtaposition of SUNDAY 9th nomination for debut album ‘Fantastic earthy humour and low-life tales on the one RICHARD HAWLEY: The New Theatre – Playroom’. hand and his gorgeous Bobby Darin-like Sonorous slice of northern city life from the croon and warm, dreamy romanticism on the one-time Longpigs and Pulp guitarist – see other that makes his songs special. Each of main preview PEACOCK QUARTET: The Bullingdon his albums, ‘Lowledges’, ‘Coles Corner’ and MIDASUNO: The Bullingdon – Frantic but SHUSH OPEN MIC SESSION: The X, the new one, ‘Lady’s Bridge’ are named after melodic hardcore from Merthyr Tydfil’s hard- Cowley his hometown Sheffield landmarks, but the gigging Midasuno, all set to release their debut OPEN MIC SESSION: Far From The downbeat lovelorn nature of his laments is album, ‘Songs In The Key Of Fuck’, on Madding Crowd universal. So much so that everyone from Sugarshack. WEDNESDAY 12th Radiohead and Coldplay to Nancy Sinatra ROCK ALL-DAYER: The Hobgoblin, THE ALISON BENTLEY QUARTET: The and REM are declared fans, while he’s Bicester – Ten hours of heavy rock, punk, X, Cowley – Live jazz with Alison Bentley played guitar for All Saints and Gwen blues, grunge and indie at the Hobgoblin with plus Ewan Baird on sax. Stefani. It was Jarvis Cocker who first sets from Frowser, King Furnace, Beard of REDOX: The Bullingdon – Album launch gig recognised Hawley’s talent (he played on Zeuss, Mephisto Grande, Andensum, for the enduring local swamp-rock and festival Pulp’s ‘This Is Hardcore’) and the Reservoir Cats, Fatally Yours, Diatribe and funkers. intelligent, romantic documentation of life is Reign Upon Us. OPEN MIC SESSION: Folly Bridge Inn shared by both. Good to see that Hawley is MONDAY 10th OPEN MIC SESSION: Temple Bar now a star in his own right. MEMO GONZALEZ & THE THURSDAY 13th BLUESCASTERS: The Bullingdon – 300lb ROLO TOMASSI + MEPHISTO GRANDE of Tex-Mex dynamite is how Memo Gonzalez + CLANKY ROBO GOB JOBS: The describes himself, and with over 1,000 gigs Cellar – There’s a storm a-coming and its under his (ample) belt his reputation isn’t in name is Rolo Tomassi. They’re loud; they’re doubt. The Dallas-based singer covers classic fast. No, that won’t do. They’re really fucking Texan roadhouse blues as well as swing and loud and really, really, really, fucking fast and r’n’b, and a lively show is always guaranteed. they sound like The Locust on a fizzy pop ELIZA CARTHY & THE RATCATCHERS: frenzy and they are fronted by the Devil’s Nettlebed Folk Club – Princess Royal of the own daughter. Seriously, we are not making English folk revival gathers her supergroup this up. See them, fear them, love them. Love together again – featuring Spiers and Boden and fear Mephisto Grande too for they are the amongst others – for another feast of sound of Captain Beefheart being eaten by adventurous fiddling and songs about death. werewolves. Love and laugh at Clanky Robo TUESDAY 11th Gob Jobs. He shouts! He screams! He’s got an JAZZ CLUB with THE HOWARD bloody synthesizer! What’s not to like? DESERT STORM: The Wheatsheaf – Turn Into Demons and one-man Growly stoner metal. synth’n’theremin band Euhedral. OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon ELECTRIC JAM: The X, Cowley SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks MONDAY 17th th FRIDAY 14 THE JOHN O’LEARY BAND: The GAMMY LEG PRODUCTIONS with Bullingdon – Blues harpist and vocalist with FOXES! + ANTON BARBEAU + TANDARA over 40 years experience behind him, initially MANDARA: The X, Cowley – Local oddball inspired by Alexis Korner’s harpist Cyril jangle-popsters Foxes! kick up a surprisingly Davies before discovering Muddy Waters, sweet party sound inspired by the likes of Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker and now Ooberman and Talulah Gosh at tonight’s playing everything from blues and boogie to Gammy Leg Productions club, while honorary swing and rock’n’roll Saturday 22nd Oxfordian Californian Anton Barbeau keeps the spirits of Syd Barrett and Robyn nd rd THE YOUNG KNIVES Hitchcock alive as he promotes his 423rd Saturday 22 – Sunday 23 Sunday 23rd album, ‘The Automatic Door’ with local songstress Su Jordan. Balkan folk trio Tandara TRUCK FESTIVAL: SUPERGRASS Mandara open proceedings. Hill Farm, Steventon QUICKFIX presents VERBAL KINK + July’s floods were devastating for so many The Oxford Academy JALOPY + MONDO CADA: The people, none more so than Truck which had What better way to welcome into being the Wheatsheaf – Witney’s grunge rockers Verbal to be cancelled at the last minute when the new Oxford Academy venue than with a Kink hit the comeback trail at tonight’s festival field was under a metre of water, weekend of gigs by two of Oxford’s most Quickfix club. At The Drive-In and McLusky- while organisers Robin and Joe Bennett also successful bands? The occasion will be a inspired hardcore from Jalopy and extreme found their family home flooded. A particular triumph for The Young Knives on grungecore noise from Mondo Cada in superhuman effort on all the organisers’ Saturday night as they play their biggest support. parts meant many of the bands due to play hometown gig ever, and this fresh on the THE JACKS + were able to perform over two nights at back of their Mercury Price nomination for SUPERDEADLYNINJABEES + THE Brookes, but it’s heartening that most of the ‘Voices Of Animals And Men’. Henry, BRIGHTS: The Jericho Tavern – original line-up is still able to return to House and Ollie have spent much of the Lightweight acoustic pop from Newcastle’s Steventon for this re-arranged festival. In summer recording a new album, ‘Terra Jacks, plus funk rock from particular it’ll be great to see former-Band Firma’, up in Glasgow, which will see the Superdeadlyninjabees. Pick of the night is legend Garth Hudson, with his wife Maud, light of day in November. Tonight’s gig gives Essex’s jangle-pop hopefuls The Brights. who are flying back to the UK specially. Oxford fans a first chance to hear the new OXFORD FOLK CLUB: The Port Mahon Other highlights include Saturday night songs ahead of the band’s full UK tour in REDOX + THE PETE FRYER BAND: The headliners Idlewild (pictured), unpredictable November. Magdalen psych-rockers The Brian Jonestown Supergrass too are set to release a new CHEAP THRILLS: Fat Lil’s, Witney Massacre, dark-minded indie troupers album later this year, following on from BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Bullingdon iLiketrains and sublime narcotic drone- 2006’s ‘Road To Rouen’. Although they do SATURDAY 15th play Oxford reasonably regularly, each gig is rockers Early Years. This being the tenth WITCHES + THE WORKHOUSE + FLIES a treat simply because the ‘Grass are one of Truck there’s an air of nostalgia about it, ARE SPIES FROM HELL: The Wheatsheaf the best pop bands of the past decade, with with a heavier emphasis on the sort of local – Album launch gig for Witches’ debut, ‘Heart an armoury of hits that would be the envy of bands who made the festival’s name in the Of Stone’, providing a warm, exotic mix of any band. It’s easy to forget that it’s not that first place. Obviously hosts Goldrush will alt.country, glitchy pop, folk and lysergic long ago that Oxford gig-goers couldn’t even be taking their place on the main stage, while rock. Shoegazey dreamers The Workhouse dream of having a venue of this size in town, Nought, who headlined the first ever Truck, provide top-drawer support along with never mind local stars to fill it. Plenty of are always a welcome blast of noise. Foals complex electro-rockers FASFH. reasons to rejoice, then. are a great addition to the bill from the MELTING POT with THE COLOURS + original line-up and they’re joined by THE SWAMIS + BENEVA + ZOE BICAT: Youthmovies, The Rock Of Travolta, TAMARIND SUN + SONS OF ALBION: The Jericho Tavern – Anthemic, emotive Winnebago Deal, Mules and A Silent Film The X, Cowley – Wistful acoustic pop from indie rocking from Reading’s Colours at amongst other Oxford luminaries. Thame’s Tamarind Sun, fronted by three tonight’s Melting Pot. Meanwhile Truck regulars like Piney Gir Anglo-Mexican sisters. ATTACK OF THE…: The Coven – Two and Buck 65 make their usual appearances. HANGMAN’S JOE + THE DYING floors of breakcore, gabba and mashup with Let’s hope the sun shines and Truck can ANIMALS: The Port Mahon – Thrashy live bands and DJs, featuring Shitmat, remind us just why it’s the best little festival heavy rock from Hangman’s Joe, plus punk Chevron, Randomoidz, Oozat, Sinister Tek, in the country. noise from Dying Animals. The Walk Off, Cutting Pink With Knives and DJ Fluffywuffy. SUNDAY 16th ONLINEFLYERS.CO.UK COMMUNITY NOISE ALL- DAYER: The Port Mahon – Flyers, Leaflets & Posters Permanent Vacation present a full day of experimental and leftfield live music, including eight-piece Glenn High quality litho printing Branca-inspired big band Action delivered in the mainland UK Beat, drone-rock duo Traktors, within 4 working days. Swans and Suicide-influenced experimenters Elapse-O, post-rock newcomers Twat Trot Tra La, Find us at: www.onlineflyers.co.uk sinister ambience from Divine Coils, Or call us: 01844 218 531 Sonic Youth-styled heavyweights You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All JONQUIL: Jacqueline Du Pre Tavern – Epic, gothic-tinged indie Building – Launching their second album rocking from Shifty Disco signings. THE GOLDEN WOK in style at the JDP concert hall, Jonquil OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half continue to be a mesmerising and esoteric Moon Finest Chinese Cuisine Take-Away proposition, moving more into folk SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks territory but touching on sea shanties, st 170 Cowley Road experimental pop, and ambient FRIDAY 21 (Opposite Tesco) soundtracks, always with a sweeping RX BANDITS: The Oxford Academy – sense of melody at their core. Lively mix of ska, punk, rock and reggae 01865 248158 BEN’S BROTHER: The Jericho from Californian Drive Thru signing RX Tavern – AOR soul-rock balladry from Bandits, promoting their fifth album, Home Delivery Available the London band that make The Feeling ‘And The Battle Begun’, mixing up sound like Napalm Death. influences as disparate as Bad Brains, Open 7 days a week THE CHRIS WHILE BAND: Nettlebed Fugazi and Toots & The Maytals. Folk Club – Traditional English folk EASY TIGER + SPACE HEROES OF from the northern singer. THE PEOPLE: The X, Cowley – th Grinning Spider night with southern fried TUESDAY 18 blues and rock supergroup Easy Tiger, MULES + EMMY THE GREAT + plus synth-popping, krautrocking LADYBIRD: The Port Mahon – Truck experimentalists Space Heroes in support. Festival benefit with new wave/gypsy OXFORD FOLK CLUB: The Port dance/punk crossover starlets Mules. Mahon Anti-folk songbird Emmy the Great BIG ARM + TOY DRUM + PORT supports alongside sweet-natured indie ERIN: The Jericho Tavern – One-time popsters Ladybird. Happy Mondays bassist and Sean JAZZ CLUB with THE COLINS OF Ryder’s brother, Paul, brings his new PARADISE: The Bullingdon – Special band to town, keeping it funky with his guest appearance at the Bully’s jazz club new northern soul sound. Bath’s emotive for recent Oxford Punt stars COP, mixing indie-funkers Port Erin support. funk, drum&bass and prog into their jazz BACKROOM BOOGIE: The sound. Bullingdon SHUSH OPEN MIC SESSION: The nd X, Cowley SATURDAY 22 OPEN MIC SESSION: Far From The TRUCK FESTIVAL: Hill Farm, Madding Crowd Steventon – Rescheduled summer th festival featuring sets from Idlewild and WEDNESDAY 19 much more besides – see main preview THE JOFF WINKS BAND: The THE YOUNG KNIVES: The Oxford Wheatsheaf – Dreamy, lysergic jazz- Academy – The local Mercury- tinged rock in the vein of Steely Dan and nominated heroes try out Oxford’s new Hatfield & The North from Joff and mega-venue – see main preview chums, celebrating the release of their THE FALL OF TROY + DAUGHTERS: debut album by giving away a free copy The Zodiac – Epic, proggy post-hardcore to the first 50 punters. rocking from the young Washington State GAPPY TOOTH INDUSTRIES with trio who try to find that meeting point BEELZEBOZO + INDIGO MOSS + between Rush and King Crimson on the SEFTON: The X, Cowley – One-off one hand and At The Drive-In and Blood venue change for the monthly GTI club, Brothers on the other. Alternately tonight featuring local heavyweights melodic and poppy, virulently noisy and Beelzebozo. experimental, they’re plugging their OPEN MIC SESSION: Folly Bridge acclaimed new album ‘Manipulator’, Inn although their next project is apparently a OPEN MIC SESSION: Temple Bar concept album about a ghost ship THURSDAY 20th featuring each band member as a character NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB: The in an ongoing story. Not yer straight- Oxford Academy - Synth-pop and new ahead emo chimps, then. wave disco from the Mercury Prize ZATORGUS + nominees, launching the new Oxford SUPERDEADLYNINJABEES + NEIL Academy in sleek electro style - see main NAYER: The Port Mahon preview DJ COOL + MR CEE + SID G: The X, TITUS + MONEYTREE + EDUARD Cowley – Soul, disco, reggae and r’n’b. SOUNDINGBLOCK: The Cellar – TRIBUTE TO QUEEN: Fat Lil’s, Maths-rocking from Titus at tonight’s Witney Big Hair club, featuring ex-members of SUNDAY 23rd Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia, TRUCK FESTIVAL: Hill Farm, Theo and Diego Garcia. Former-Suitable Steventon – Garth and Maud Hudson Case For Treatment chaps Eduard headline the second day of the rearranged Sounding Block support. Truck – see main preview CAINE: The X, Cowley – Proggy SUPERGRASS: The Oxford Academy ROCK-POP-DANCE-GOLDEN OLDIES-INDIE- heavyweight rockers. – Gaz, Danny, Mickey and Bobsie SOUL-TECHNO-HIP-HOP-JAZZ-LATIN-REGGAE- THE JONES RADIO: The Port Mahon showcase some new songs in front of a DRUM&BASS-GARAGE—R&B-DISCO-1950s- – Gothic post-punk noise. hometown crowd at the new Academy – 2000s. Brand new back catalogue CDs £4 - £7 SEAGULL STRANGE: The Jericho see main preview each. Brand new chart CDs £5 - £10 each thought no-one would ever want to go. You pianist Luke Smith. He’s joined by Glasgow’s were wrong. It’s where Air Traffic were born. folky jangle-popsters Finniston and sultry, Actually they were born in Bournemouth but bucolic laptop pop lady Helen Lawson. it’s their spiritual home. Geezer rock rubs up JAZZ JAM: The X, Cowley – Jam along with against anthemic ballads. EMI went mad for it the X’s in-house jazz band, led by Paul and signed them. And now their debut album, Jefferies. ‘Fractured Life’, is out and plenty of other OPEN MIC SESSION: Folly Bridge Inn people will similarly fall for its gruff piano-led OPEN MIC SESSION: Temple Bar charms. There’s no accounting for taste. THURSDAY 27th INME: The Zodiac – Angsty post-grunge THE ENEMY: The Oxford Academy – metal from the enduring cult rockers, all set to Coventry’s The Enemy find themselves in release new album, ‘Daydream Anonymous’. surprisingly rarefied territory after their debut THE ROBIN BIBI BAND: The Bullingdon album ‘We’ll Live & Die In These Towns’ hit – Best known as a session musician for BB the top spot in the album charts earlier this King and Robert Plant, blues guitarist Robin year. Tour support to the Manics probably Bibi’s own material is more traditionally blues th helped them along the way, although their Tuesday 25 based, ranging from heavier Steve Vai- sounds is closer to (okay not so much close as GALLOWS / influenced rocking to mellower Albert King- sitting on top of) The Jam. Here be more tales styled songs. of humdrum crap town existence, as if the POISON THE WELL / MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK: world really needed reminding just how shit its Nettlebed Folk Club – Two of the grand old life is. LETHAL BIZZLE / men of English folk team up again for a night of traditional songs. th BLACKHOLE: The TUESDAY 25th Saturday 29 Zodiac @ The Academy THE HOLLOWAYS + THE WOMBATS: iLIKETRAINS + HER The Oxford Academy – In theory Holloways Take heart, children, the death of emo may are an appalling idea – Libertines-inspired yet be here and its name is Gallows. They NAME IS CALLA + indie-punk with more than just a hint of Chas come from Watford, Kerrang! recently & Dave about it. But come on, you love that THE WINCHELL declared them “the future of punk rock” and ‘Generator’ song, don’t you? Sometimes you they rock like bastards. Formed a mere two have to put your hand up and admit to these RIOTS: The Zodiac @ years ago their ascent has been rapid and things. Liverpool’s Wombats return to town in explosive with the acclaim afforded debut The Academy support, Kaiser Chiefs-styled indie rock tales album, `Orchestra Of Wolves’, almost as Leeds’ iLikeTrains must be one of the most of goats with drug habits and the like. rabid as the band’s furious live shows. unusual bands in the UK at the moment, and GALLOWS + POISON THE WELL + They’re a rage-filled racket, furious, frantic not just because they tend to dress in LETHAL BIZZLE + BLACKHOLE: The hardcore guitars fronted by a wiry, heavily- vintage British Rail uniforms and spell their Zodiac – Watford’s punk crew head an tattooed, ginger-haired sociopath called name with an annoying grammatical glitch, impressive bill – see main preview Frank Carter. Songs about date rape and but because while their indie counterparts JAZZ CLUB with THE HOWARD family violence abound and no quarter is are getting rich quick singing about going to PEACOCK QUARTET: The Bullingdon given in their savage attack. Nice one. McDonald’s or fighting at taxi ranks, SABRE PULSE + USK + CALIS: The Incredible to think that Florida’s hardcore iLikeTrains are making ten-minute epics Cellar – Gameboy gabba techno from giants Poison The Well are supporting but documenting everything from the Aberdeen’s Sabre Pulse, Japan’s USK and that’s tonight’s superlative bill for you: their assassination of British Prime Minister Sweden’s Calis as the Chiptone Alliance tour melodic, eloquent take on hardcore broke Spencer Perceval, to the Beeching Report to hits Oxford. new territory with `Opposite Of December’ chess champion Bobby Fischer. All of which SHUSH OPEN MIC SESSION: The X, and they could probably fill the venue on are conveyed by way of funereal epics that Cowley their own. Sometime Gallows collaborator marry goth, shoegazing and new wave. OPEN MIC SESSION: Far From The and former More Fire Crew MC Lethal They’ve been coming to Oxford regularly Madding Crowd Bizzle continues his crossover from grime over the last couple of years and this is their th star to indie favourite having recorded with WEDNESDAY 26 biggest show to date. With any luck, slow everyone from The Rakes to Pete Doherty, FUTURE OF THE LEFT + MEET ME IN St. and steady wins the race. Support comes while his sampling of The Clash and his LOUIS: The Wheatsheaf – Predictably ace from the even more epic Her Name Is Calla, quickfire lyrical delivery fits in with hardcore noise from Cardiff’s Future Of The mixing up prog expansiveness with dark, tonight’s punk bill. Hertfordshire metallers Left, formed from the ashes of McLusky and post-rock soundscaping. Former Fell City Blackhole complete the bill. Jarcrew, cranking out more wittily Girl chaps The Winchell Riots open the misanthropic tales of south Wales lowlife in show. wonderfully frenetic and belligerent style DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH? + WE somewhere betwixt Fugazi and Big Black, SMOKE FAGS: The Zodiac – Synth-punk while Surrey’s Meet Me In St Louis bring the shouting and electro squelches from hip new high-wired math-rock and hardcore pop to the London trendies Does It Offend You, Yeah? party. Electro-heavy new wavers We Smoke Fags MADINA LAKE + ENVY ON THE COAST (not inside the venue these days, you don’t) + HALIFAX + MY AMERICAN HEART: crunch up various parts of Bis, Jilted John and The Oxford Academy – Anthemic grungy Cabaret Voltaire into a primitive but appealing punk-pop from Chicago’s Madina Lake, racket. fronted by twins Nathan and Matthew Leone, RIP THE JOINT: The Port Mahon – Nine- back headlining at the Academy after support piece slide-led blues, rock and boogie band. slots with Paramore and Gym Class Heroes. th MONDAY 24 LUKE SMITH + FINNISTON + HELEN AIR TRAFFIC: The Oxford Academy – LAWSON: The Port Mahon – Swiss There is a place where Stereophonics and Concrete again provide a night of understated Coldpay somehow meet. It is place you quality, headed by wry jazz-pop singer and SKA CUBANA + THE NINE-TON and Cherwell college. Bands playing PEANUT SMUGGLERS: The Zodiac – include The Epstain, Keyoard Choir, Ska Cubano make a welcome return to Borderville, Headcount, The Joff Winks town to show those who missed out last band, King Furnace, Eduard time just how to party. Thing is, everyone Soundingblock, Stornoway and Half who went last time will doubtless snap up Rabbits. A full programme is out in due the tickets straight away, so don’t leave it course. too late. As their name suggests, Ska OXFORD FOLK CLUB: The Port Cubano mix up Cuban mambo with upbeat Mahon ska, calypso and rocksteady, the band LIGHTBOX + MARTIN’S GHOST + brought together from Santiago de Cuba by TAMARIND SUN: The Jericho Tavern way of east London and Kingston by Top BACKROOM BOOGIE: The Cats band leader Natty Bo. Natty leads Bullingdon – Funky, soul and disco with proceeding from the front, along with Aidan Larkin. Beny Billy, the pair of them masters at ROB TOGNONI: Fat Lil’s, Witney – whipping a crowd into a frenzy. It’s like Live blues. the musical history of the entire Caribbean th condensed into one two-hour pressure SATURDAY 29 cooker show. If you can have more fun iLIKETRAINS + HER NAME IS with your clothes on anywhere else, you CALLA + THE WINCHELL RIOTS: can probably have your money back. DJ The Zodiac – Leeds’ gothsters bring their th Derek continues the party into the wee tales of 18 Century Prime Ministers and small hours with his regular Skylarkin’ set railways to town again – see main preview. of classic ska, reggae and soul. THE QUARTER FINALS + BIG BAD LITTLE FISH + SUBTERRANEANS + CITY: The Bullingdon – Heavyweight HANGMAN CHARLIE + new wave rocking from The Quarterfinals, SIDEWINDERS: The X, Cowley – plus funk-rock support from Big Bad City. Selectasound night with fast-rising local Followed by Moneyspinners club night. garage blues rock duo Little Fish THE INFLATABLES: The X, Cowley – headlining. Plymouth’s reggae and blues- Classic ska, reggae and soul covers. Oxford-Based Band seeks tinged rockers Subterraneans support. COO COO CLUB with NINE STONE ELECTROLYTES + NOT MY DAY + COWBOY: The Jericho Tavern – Mark Drummer LOCAL FUNDRAISER: The Jericho Cope and crew launch their new single, & Bass Guitarist ‘Jesus Doesn’t Like Me’, nestling, in Rock band getting organised: covers and Tavern – Shoegazey dreampop from local developing original material. Needs singer-songwriter and current Mary Chain caustically lachrymose fashion, additional drummer and bass guitarist to somewhere between Teenage Fanclub and deputise, or become main players. guitarist Mark Crozer and drummer Loz Should be experienced musicians who Colbert’s new project Electrolytes, drifting Guided By Voices. Top drinking music. enjoy playing live: rock, blues, pop, elegantly in somewhere between Spacemen THE MESSENGERS: Chester Arms – funk, classics and requests. Bvs an Alt.country from debutantes The advantage, but ability to busk, jam and 3 and the Mary Chain themselves, plus enjoy are essential. Mostly paid, but bluesy rock from Not My Day. Messengers. if it’s good we’ll do it. Own 1k and 7k THE AROUSERS + THE FOLLEYS + sound systems. DJ MARKY: The Coven – Brazilian Interested? drum&bass pioneer Marky plays a two- THE MINUTES: Stocks Bar, Abingdon Please email outline to: [email protected] hour DJ set plus sets from Johnny Bravo, – Skittle Alley club night with garage Gomez and Mars. rockers The Arousers headlining. OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon THE KING EARLE BOOGIE BAND: SKYLARKIN: The Brickworks Fat Lil’s, Witney th FRIDAY 28th SUNDAY 30 REUBEN + KILL KENADA: The THE DEPARTURE: The Zodiac – Back Oxford Academy – Surrey’s post-grunge in action having seemingly disappeared rockers Reuben – former Next Big Things from view after racing out of the traps on the UK underground scene – return to back in 2004 when they supported The town to plug new album ‘In Nothing We Killers on tour, Northampton’s Departure Trust’, with support from Bognor’s fiery carry on where they left off, pillaging Fugazi and At The Drive In-inspired early-80s alternative rock and synth-pop, noisemakers Kill Kenada. nicking ideas from Duran Duran and The REPUBLICA featuring ANDY WHITBY Cure as well as more current influences + KUTSKI: The Zodiac – Hard house like Interpol and The Faint. and trance club night. COO COO CLUB with PRINZHORN OXFORD ARTS FESTIVAL: Various DANCE SCHOOL: The Jericho Tavern Venues - No definitive line-up – Atonal, arrhythmic, jerky and nervy VENUE PHONE NUMBERS information as we went to press bu the drone/sludge-rock from Brighton duo recently signed to James Murphy’s DFA Oxford Academy: 01865 420042 second OAF takes place across seven local The Bullingdon: 01865 244516 venues over the weekend, featuring local label and coming on like a cross between bands, artists, photographers and more. very early Fall and The Nightingales at their The Wheatsheaf: 01865 721156 Events take place at the Cellar, Jam most antagonistic. A perverse pleasure then, The X: 01865 776431 Factory, Border, Old Fire Station, Port but a pleasure nonetheless. The Cellar: 01865 244761 Mahon, Wheatsheaf, the X and Oxford ELECTRIC JAM: The X, Cowley The New Theatre: 0870 606 3500 The Port Mahon: 01865 202067 Nightshift listings are free. Deadline for inclusion in the gig guide is the 20th of each Point Promotions: 07711 628021 month - no exceptions. Call 01865 372255 (10am-6pm) or email listings to Jericho Tavern: 01865 311775 [email protected]. All listings are copyright of Nightshift and may not be Brookes: 01865 484750 reproduced without permission LIVE Dead Meadow photo by RiPH Images

DEAD MEADOW / YOUTHMOVIES The Cellar Keeping up with Youthmovies has never been easy, even if they have at least shortened their name to a more manageable moniker. Their fingers have to move swiftly simply to keep up with their restless imaginations. So even before you’ve had time to scribble King Crimson into your notepad, they’re dashing your comparisons on the rocks of some sweetly pleading indie pop soul. In an age when intelligence in any art form is treated with suspicion by the marketing execs, Youthmovies’ carefree abandonment of rules and regulations remains refreshing, forever tumbling into something new, like an academic prodigy with attention deficit disorder. Tonight’s set features almost all new material, from their new album due for release early next year on Drowned In Sound. The mathsy, angular blasts remain but now share sound space with brass-led prog, reminiscent of Van Der Graaf Generator or even early-70s jazz-metallers Black Widow, dappled psychedelia and even incongruous moments of almost emo-ish angst rock, which perhaps show up the band’s weakest point - the vocals. Tonight’s highlight is penultimate number ‘Something For The Ghosts’, a wigged-out psychedelic space-rock electro-pulse that turns on a sixpence and goes off to play at being XTC halfway through. Occasionally frustrating, more often spectacular, Youthmovies are rarely anything other than intruiging. By stark contrast, Washington DC’s Dead Meadow like to find a groove and mine it until they hit magma, never straying from the one truth path of stoned-out riffage. Like Youthmovies there’s a heavy late-60s/early- 70s thing going on but here it’s the bluesy rocking of Cream or proto- metal chugging of early UFO over more esoteric prog. Wah-wah invades everything, driving the narcotic blizzard that rages unabated for nearly an hour and half, tripped-out snatches of Spacemen 3 counter-pointing the old-fashioned, gas-pumping southern-fried feel of the lighter numbers. In the end it’s all a bit too single-minded – a sprinkling of Youthmovies’ restlessness wouldn’t go amiss – but, like thick fog, sometimes it’s comforting to lose yourself in the blinding endlessness of it. Dale Kattack

BEELZEBOZO/EDUARD ZATORGUS / RAGGASSAURUS / NEIL SOUNDING BLOCK NAYER / MARIANA MAGNAVITA The X The X It didn’t take them long. Suitable Case For Treatment’s beautifully-named “When you play a gig, dress as if you are going to see your bank manager,” guitar tag team of Pete Bastard and Jimmy Evil have come back with a was once good advice. Now your bank manager might live in the Seychelles twelve-legged behemoth of a band. Cramming in everything from Pelican or Azores. Looking at the acts at The X tonight one feels an unfamiliar and Fantomas to a couple of passages that sound for all the world like landscape is passing but with some clear landmarks. Mariana Magnavita Youthmovies if they’d grown up listening to Carcass, they’re truly opens proceedings with `London London’, a song of exile from Brazil, monstrous. Special mention, too, to the keyboards, which lift and augment followed by originals like `Cancer Moon’ and `Gypsy Girl’. A work in the guitar pyrotechnics with choppy, angular chords. Sure, there are signs progress is `Smuggler’s Land’, which, with sapphire eyes and turquoise that it’s only their third show: some of the changes can sound forced, and seas, evokes the samba world of Baden Powell. Neil Nayer carries on this sometimes the vocals add little to the overall effect, but there’s every sign theme of changing landscapes with several songs about his journey to they’ll easily eclipse the memory of their former outfit (some achievement Africa, including `Street Children’, but ends with a comment of the strange in its own right). In the future, there will be B-movies along the lines of juxtapositions of modern times through Kenny Rogers’ `The Gambler’. Godzilla vs. Eduard Sounding Block. I know who my money’s on. Raggasaurus and Zatorgus then show how the landscape has shifted in Beelzebozo are just about able to follow that by relying on some inventive terms of the transition from rhythm and blues to beats. In Raggasaurus’ guitar work, which at its best chugs along like ‘Meantime’-era Helmet, and case a young English band behind Tunisian vocalist Khaled show great when their vocalist really lets fly, there’s something pleasingly redolent of rhythmic versatility in a set which includes sounds and beats that defy the Kyuss about the whole affair. Alas, the set begins to plod by the mid- scale of band in delivery. Neat brass riffs, poly-rhythmic drums, accented section, with little dynamism and few sparks of genuine inventiveness to solos and driving vocals create a tour de force. By contrast Zatorgus riff by suggest they’re doing more than aping their idols. Just as we’re starting to understatement, with is a blend of psychedelic sounds with featured guitar feel bad for decrying the lack of originality in a straightforward old-school and vocals in an oblique King Crimson-meets-Radiohead style. rock band (after all, not every band needs to reinvent the power chord), Overall the landscape is a blend of nylon-acoustic lounge and electric dance Beelzebozo launch into a couple of charmless covers, lending them the air in the world music vein across the divide of rhythm and blues to beats. of a novelty band formed by some off-duty bouncers. It’s a shame, as What it shows is the paradox that unusual juxtapositions can manifest they’ve got it in them to dig out some of the outré and downright daring what the DNA of business plans cannot: the coded fusion of music across inspiration of, well, Eduard Sounding Block, to pluck a name at random. cultures has now created a new milieux where the world is local-global. Stuart Fowkes Peter Galpin KRS-ONE FLIES ARE SPIES FROM HELL / The Coven P.Y.E / HREDA Rising South London hip hop stars Oxford Union. This stance has led Lowkey and Logic kick things off to numerous beefs with other The Cellar nicely tonight, sparring off each rappers, though most acknowledge Is it just me, or doesn’t it seem spent two years away, you can’t other with precision and style. Also his status. like not another week goes by help but think that they should known as New World Order (‘better His simple approach extends to when a new post rock band have just continued gigging – it run for the border’) their DJ Snips his music, and the backing tracks emerges in this town? In any case, may have spurred them to outdo rocks hard and their take on are always understated to the point Oxford’s most recent birthing, the raft of more superior bands international politics is as sharp as it of being disappointing, but no- Hreda, can rest easy, as they that have formed in their wake. is sobering. one’s complaining tonight. Running quickly ascend to near the top of One of which is Flies Are Spies For the initiated, finding KRS-One through material from the whole the pile. Eschewing bass From Hell, who give it 100% at The Coven is akin to Metallica breadth of his career, from 1987’s completely, the twin guitars tonight in an effort to make the playing the Port Mahon. Bounding ‘Criminal Minded’ to the recent entwine brilliantly to create a dwindling crowd realise that the onstage to a hero’s welcome from ‘Hip Hop Lives’, he exudes sound not too dissimilar from departees have made one huge the (interestingly 95% white) passion and honesty, a refreshing those old punk stalwarts At The mistake. Cascading keyboard audience he radiates energy and true counterpoint to some of today’s Drive-In, albeit without the motifs are spewed forth at professionalism. He’s so-called stars. Yet there’s always caterwauling and gesticulation. Rachmaninoff levels of breakneck unquestionably one of the key been something of a contradiction Precise and dynamic, their pace, while set closer ‘You Are figures of hip hop, a position held in his stance: he founded the Stop awesomeness only serves to Making Me Nervous; You’ve Got since the mid-80s days of Boogie the Violence movement in 1988, emphasise their embryonic status. To Stop This’ climaxes in a Down Productions, his duo with the but has defended his later comment Spectacular. tornado of hair and dagger-like late Scott La Rock, the coolest that “we cheered when 9/11 Ah, reunion gigs: officially the stabbing guitar. Lacking the crowd- social worker ever to walk the earth. happened”, and some of his lyrics New Black. Aping the recent spate pulling ability of reminiscence, Since then he has remained prolific would get him kicked out of a of reformations, P.Y.E embody the they are nevertheless the better and influential, though never sharing Quaker meeting. One thing he’s old adage that the magic is still band. And above all, you get the the limelight or success of more never been is boring, and you could there, if only a tad diluted. Cliché impression that these guys are recent artists. This is partly cut the excitement in The Coven aside, the now absolutely rammed having an incredible amount of fun deliberate, as a guardian of what he with a knife, a club too often venue laps it up and even this with this post rock lark, at a time calls ‘real hip hop’ he rejects all the ignored but perfect for a show like gentle soul recognises a few of the when seriousness is the order of trappings of wealth and commercial this. KRS-One; Knowledge Reigns older (and far better) gems. But the day. All we need now is that success in favour of consciousness- Supreme Over Nearly Everyone. I that could just be the nostalgia ATD-I reformation and we’re raising and education; in fact he was wouldn’t argue with that. talking. When reality hits, we sorted. last in town speaking at the Art Lagun realise that although P.Y.E have Matt Bayliss thethe portport mmahonahon Live Music in September 1st Quickfix presents Toy #1 100 Bullets Back / The / Desert Storm / Missing Sweeny plus very special Leg Compartment mystery guest: The Bosh 2nd Swiss Concrete presents 9th Toad Monkey Swallows The 13th Hangman’s Joe / The Universe / Pocket Books / Dying Animals / Racidiant It Hugs Back Jack 3rd Ratface + Rus Substance 14th Oxford Folk Club 4th Permanent Vacation 16th Permanant Vacation presents The Serfs / Smear presents Community Noise Campaign / Lex, lee, David All-Dayer & Toby 18th My Analog 5th Lamborghini Crystal / 20th The Jones Radio Patel Prevel / Divine Coils 21st Oxford Folk Club 7th Oxford Folk Club 22nd Zatorgus / Super Deadly 8th End Of The Summer II - Ninja Bees / Neil Nayer Harry Angel, The Quarter 23rd Rip the Joint Finals / Ivy’s Itch / The 26th Swiss Concrete Black Hats / King Furnace / presents Luke Smith / Baby Gravy / The Dirty Finnistun / Helen Lawson Royals / Brother Franscisco 28th Oxford Folk Club / The Last Army / Tristan 29th Oxford Arts Festival and the Troubadours / 30th Oxford Arts Festival

Book your band into play at Oxford’s best small music venue! 82 St Clements, Oxford. Tel: 01865 202067 are musically. From the sucker-punch of the opener, with its three drummers and frenetic energy, A Silent Film announce themselves as very much a finished product. They manage to be both visceral cavalry charge and subtle-textured, with guitars cutting serrated edges into lush piano

Photo: RPH Images parts. At times poppy – almost lightweight – at times plumbing murkier depths, they never lose sight of themselves. One of the more understated numbers – a lovely, lost-at-sea song, all dreamy-drunk and quavery shimmer – particularly stands out tonight, a personal touch in their general expansive range. As all band members flick-flack from instrument to instrument, Rob’s reverb- drenched vocals layer up on top of each other. Whilst this makes the lyrics difficult to decipher, it also allows them to become part of an aural collage that chimes with the visual effects, and these elements are never far divorced from each other. There are times when the band’s tendency to see themselves as a composition misfires – Rob’s posing between two giant mug shots of himself is striking, yes, A SILENT FILM but also seems somewhat megalomaniac. But then, cinema is all about spectacle. Ultimate Picture Palace Assured, complex and intelligent, this is a band If there was ever a band whose EP had to be audience-intimacy that you’re never going to get that seems poised on the brink of greatness. launched in a cinema, then it’s A Silent Film. at your bog-standard pub venue. It also Damn, they’ve already got a Glastonbury slot Quite aside from the name, they’re an act whose provides a fitting canvas for the band’s arthouse under their belts. There’s a famous George Jean music is wedded to visual spectacle. And so it’s screen-shows. Backed by projected images from Nathan quote that claims wishing for movies to the Ultimate Picture Palace, be-rigged in a flipped-through scrapbook – an assemblage of be articulate is about as sensible as wishing for fairylights and exuding shabby charm, that sees musical scores, photos, lyrics, anatomy theatre, drama to be silent. Offering articulate drama, A the launch of ‘The Lamplight’. It’s a wonderful, nostalgia – and surrounded by synchronised TV Silent Film prove that it needn’t be an either/or. unusual setting that allows for the kind of sets, they are as exciting visually as they Emily Gray that fill so many support slots of late. Bristol lad Robin Allender may have a tender JONQUIL + GREAT With not that much room for them in this voice in the vein of Gary Lightbody and Joe ESKIMO HOAX + review, and with many already written in this Pernice, but it really is only accompaniment to magazine under their belt, let’s just say Jonquil the real show stealer here – his ability with an MEPHISTO GRANDE are performing the best they ever have. A set electric guitar. Mellow, soothing and technically replete in glorious new numbers with a line-up dazzling, Robin wows a packed audience, The Cellar that seems to have stuck wonderfully. whose deathly silence gives due credit to the You’ve got to love duos. With the Oxford ‘Summer Sun’, which featured on Wire sets wonderful ambience. scene lacking somewhat in that department, Magazine’s ‘Tapper’ CD last month, is the Next up another cult hero: Gregory Webster, it’s always great to see Mephisto Grande gig’s highlight. An epiphany for Hugo and his former frontman of Razorcuts and later conveying the jocular fun of the minimal set- cohorts, a euphoric experience of the crowd, Sportique and Carousel. Although I’m up. Ex-Suitable Case For Treatment members from the look of their faces. All together now: unfamiliar with Greg’s previous incarnations Liam Ings-Reeves and Pete Ward carry across “And all the towns we build..!” I’m surprised by his singing: the image before much of their previous band’s metal heaviness Pascal Ansell me and the voice I hear just don’t seem to and perverted folk inflections into a refreshing marry. I can imagine with a full band his fey mix of ambience, twisted brooding Casio keys singing would be perfectly balanced, and many and blues hollering. As ever, Liam’s voice is here who are fans of his past work are happy deathly and fantastically guttural, and his trim ROSE MELBERG / indeed, but it isn’t until Rose Melberg joins him suede shoes furiously pacing a sweaty venue GREGORY WEBSTER / for the last few numbers that I become floor is always a brilliant sight to behold. enamoured of it all: then it’s lovely stuff. Next we have a case of a band’s idea to tune ROBIN ALLENDER / Rose, of course, is the reason why so many ratio going tediously out of balance. people are here tonight. Now resident in Birmingham trio Great Eskimo Hoax are ANTON BARBEAU Canada, but originally from Sacramento, obviously brimming full of catchy riff schemes California, she’s come a long way from her early and keyboard hooks, but laid down and strung The Port Mahon crunchy guitar punk days with Tiger Trap and in the most coherent way they are not. Their Californian singer-songwriter and honorary then later The Softies. One thing remains, innocuous math-y mélange resembles a Oxfordian Anton Barbeau is as mad as his hair, though – Rose’s honest, velvet-smooth voice. pleasant enough, chilled-out Foals, and isn’t and thank heavens for that. He shares the stage Transparent and almost childlike, similar in bad per se. For a trio, there are too many at this Swiss Concrete club night with his guitar many ways to The Cardigans’ Nina Persson or superfluous instruments knocking around, too and the equally charismatic Su Jordan on Katherine Williams, every word is light and airy many fleeting ideas that don’t cement backing vocals. Anton is the consummate cult as the breeze outside, but hits heavily where it themselves in the ear. However appealing parts figure as the pair rip through catchy counts. Alongside her backing singer, Rose of their songs may be, GEH will have to try psychedelic pop songs, including set highlight guides us through a heart-warming set that harder to stand away from the many ‘You Can Move A Mountain’’ with its Beatles- leaves the audience wanting much, much more. homogenous math/post rock influenced bands y chorus. Katy Jerome

Corner Cowley / Marsh Road 01865 776431 September

Every Monday - Jenna’s Quiz Night. Teams of two. 8.30pm £1 entry. Come and win a drink on the house and more! All welcome. Every Tuesday – Shush Open Mic – Come Sing / Play / Listen. 8pm FREE; All Welcome

Sat 1st Exposure at The X presents The Heartwear Process / support 8:30pm £4 Sun 2nd Electric Jam - Come jam with The X Men play/sing/listen. All welcome. 8pm FREE Thu 6th Grinning Spider Acoustic presents Dan Austin / Chris Thompson / supports 8.30pm £4 Fri 7th Script / Agents of Jane 8.30pm £3 Sat 8th Wittstock Fund Raiser. Acts TBC 8.30pm £4 Wed 12th Jazz At The X Presents Alison Bentley Quartet with Ewan Baird on Sax 8.30pm £5 Thu 13th Tamarind Sun / Sons of Albion 8.30pm £4 Fri 14th Gammy Leg presents Tandara Mandara / Anton Barbeau / Foxes! 8.30 £4 Sun 16th Electric Jam. 8pm FREE Wed 19th Gappy Tooth Industries present Beelzebozo / support 8.30pm Thu 20th Caine / support 8.30pm £4 Fri 21st Grinning Spider presents Space Heroes of The People / Easy Tiger / Dead Letter Society 8.30pm £4 Sat 22nd DJ Cool Mr. Cee & DJ Sid G playing the best in old skool soul, disco, reggae and r’n’b. 8.30pm £3 Wed 26th Jazz At The X Presents A Jazz Jam. Come and jam with the house band, lead by Paul Jefferies 8.30pm FREE Thu 27th SelectaSound presents Little Fish / The Subterraneans / Hangman Charlie / The Sidewinders 8.30 £4 Fri 28th Live At The X presents TBA 8.30pm £4 Sat 29th The Inflatables 8.30pm £4 Sun 30th Electric Jam 8pm FREE DEMOSDEMOSDEMOS Please read the conditions below before submitting a demo,or we won’t review it.

super unleaded. FFFF also have a drummer DEMO OF called Max Camp, which we like to think is a button Pet Shop Boys might have on their THE MONTH mixing desk. 50ft PANDA HEROIN ANGEL It’s all about the riffs, say 50ft Panda, and Abingdon’s Heroin Angel include their they’re not wrong. We counted seventy MySpace address on their demo but when twelve hundred and eleventeen big old we take a look, it’s some heavy-duty bastard riffs during the course of this demo, American hip hop and some pictures of a some of which had been stolen from the stripper. Which isn’t quite what we were back of Led Zeppelin’s tour van back in expecting. But then we weren’t quite 1972 and one of which Tony Iommi expecting the malevolent electro hardcore dropped down the back of the sofa when contained on this CD. After some moody very, very stoned one afternoon. The rest atmospherics we’re grabbed by the hair and are simply riffs 50ft Panda thought might screamed at to keep up as Heroin Angel be handy for banging nails into concrete utilise giant chugging guitar riffs to bludgeon walls or pinning the neighbours to the floor a six-minute path of destruction through the of a Saturday night. Frenetic but not Nightshift office, pausing once in a while for frantic, intricate but not overly precious, some oddly cheesy female pop vocals. It’s heavy but not messily so, drummer Chris all a bit OTT and epic but hard not to get Hutchinson and guitarist Tom Waters are a carried away by, especially since you whole heap of simple, bulldozing fun. always feel the guttural chap up front will There may be talk of bands like Lightning probably bite your facial features off if you Bolt, Melvins and Kyuss in their even think about looking away. They lose it accompanying letter, but really this is a bit on ‘Twilight’, coming on like a bunch vintage hard rock from a land before time. of overly-serious hippies trying to copy the Stick Robert Plant or Ozzy in front of this intro to ‘Stairway To Heaven’ but the dark racket and the likes of Mojo would go mad and doomy ‘She’, with its nasty, almost for it. Not that they need a vocalist; the subliminal vocal whispers, steers them back guitar does the talking and it speaks loud on course. Goths, eh, you just gotta love enough for ten. Or should that be eleven? ‘em. THE BLITZ CARTEL FEE FI FO FUM More tonsil torture, this time from Blitz Wobbly, skewiff instrumental jazz-core Cartel, a band whose grasp of tunes and guitar noodling and mangling from a timing, in fact any kind of musicality, is so Thame-based duo whose primary loose that they might as well simply be a influences would appear to be Hella and recording of a closing time punch-up. Not Oxes but whose opening track, ‘Logan’s that that’s such a terrible thing when Run’, actually sounds a lot more like 80s they’re bulldozing through the rudimentary weirdoes Stump, albeit without lyrics thrash of ‘I’m Feeling Fine’ like a bunch of about fat Americans and chips. Oh, and yobs who just got dumped off the bill of a then there’s the middle bit of ‘A Donkey Conflict gig for lacking finesse, but when Punch Fallacy’ that is nothing more and they try and do anything a bit different (for nothing less than Status Quo’s rockaboogie which read slowing things down a bit) the with a knowing lo-fi twinkle in its eye. Fee cracks open up, showing why the vocalist Fi Fo Fum explain that there are a good few really should stick to shouting and mistakes left uncorrected on the demo, but screaming and why the drummer might they didn’t want to be “perfectionist consider a career in… well, anything other wankers” by re-doing them. We reckon than percussion. ‘Jojo’ sounds like it’s they secretly are perfectionists, a bit like trying to be something that perhaps once Les Dawson when he used to play duff resembled funk, or maybe reggae, but is notes on the piano when really he was a now just a tattered bundle of rags on a virtuoso. Whatever, we didn’t notice squat floor, but by the end they’ve relented anything amiss, though given the lurching, and gone back to shouting and hitting chugging nature of the music, we just everything very fast, which again bares assumed it was all part of the plan to make only a passing resemblance to what you music that could soundtrack a might call music, but at least sounds like malfunctioning android trying to walk it’s enjoying itself. More snakebite, home from the pub after eight pints of anyone? urgently funky heavy rock that are barely DEADBEAT distinguishable from each other. The letter CAVALIER claims none of the tracks has a title yet and they’re still looking for a vocalist and it This is a bit more like it in the punk stakes – shows. While they’ve left their old ska- a twelve-song demo from Deadbeat Cavalier funk-metal leanings mostly behind them and clocking in at a mere 27 minutes, each three- started to embrace more angular math-rock chords-and-the-truth protest anthem tendencies, this demo does sound like it’s segueing neatly, if noisily, into the next to waiting around for Anthony Kiedis or the point that tracks become almost Robert Plant to phone their vocal lines in. indistinguishable from one another. Not that To their credit the band are tight and know such trivialities matter since it’s the band’s how to keep things compact, but what you mission to shout at you until you take to really want to do is sit them down and make the streets and overthrow the fascist them listen to Sunn0))) for 24 hours solid dictatorship we currently live under. With until their little ears bleed and brain matter song titles like ‘Controlled Apathy’, seeps out of their noses. ‘Evolution or Revolution’ and ‘Toffshop’, THE COURTYARD STUDIO Deadbeat Cavalier know which side of the PROTOOLS HD2, MTA 980 CONSOLE 32/24/ class war their bread is buttered and are here TREV WILLIAMS 24, OTARI MTR90 MK2 24 TRACK TAPE to rally an army of angry street urchins with More lachrymose acoustic balladeering from MACHINE, 2 TRACKING ROOMS, SUPERB some simple, rabble-rousing protest punk Faringdon’s prolific songsmith, still showing CONTROL ROOM WITH GOOD SELECTION that tends to make Sham 69 sound like no sign of morphing into Iggy Pop any time OF MICS & OUTBOARD GEAR, + MIDI Emerson Lake and Palmer. But we like it. soon. Here Trev just about keeps the lid on FACILITIES (INC LOGIC AUDIO, AKAI Because it reminds us that once upon a time the self-pity over three tracks, the first of S1000, OLD SKOOL ROLAND ETC.) music really did try to change the world and which, ‘Don’t You Know Me’, might be his wasn’t just there to sell cars and coffee most accomplished vocal showing yet, for Residential facilities included. (something the band tackle with yobbish all the song’s basic old-fashioned nature. www.courtyardrecordingstudio.com charm on ‘Artists Against The Music Less successful is ‘Hide & Seek’ where Trev PHONE PIPPA FOR DETAILS Industry’). The fact that Deadbeat Cavalier goes all timorous and sounds like a shaky ON 01235 845800 sound like they belong to an era when there old man about to expire, even as he tells us was a Socialist Worker paper seller on every to fight the (possibly metaphorical) bomb. street corner and Maggie was there to be lynched just makes us think that maybe we need bands like this more than ever. THE DEMO MY OWN DUMPER CONSPIRACY Perhaps we could employ Deadbeat TAGBAE Cavalier to shout at this lot for a few days Ah yes, the sweet, soporific sound of and maybe kick a bit of rock and roll life into slowly decomposing self pity in a them (as if Deadbeat cavalier would ever do cellophane bag. Add a brick and watch it anything as conformist as be employed…). drown. It’s the only fun you’ll get with My Own Conspiracy describe themselves Tagbae, a name which in itself sounds like a as “Old skool influences… modern sound”, tramp coughing up a bit of dead lung tissue. and in a manner they do reflect modern Humdrum is far too exciting a word to society’s resigned collapse into a pizza- describe this whining heap of distilled addled torpor: chugging, single-gear heavy musical puke. Listening to these four songs rock that really needs to match its huff and is like dying slowly inside as they send you puff with just a dash of invention, subtlety into a depression-induced coma and or anything reflecting life. Thud, thud, thud, suddenly you know how a lobster must feel shout, shout, shout they go, trying to match as the water in the pan gradually reaches Metallica’s thrash pomp in the same way a boiling point. And like lobsters on a hob, we 30-stone man might try to catch up with a start to scream. In an ocean of troughs, the bus as it pulls away from the stop. “If you low point comes with ‘Soak Up The want peace, you must be prepared for war”, Positives’ (the only positive we could soak they declare on `Bitter End’. And by the up being that the demo does eventually same token, if you want to send demos like come to an end) wherein singer Andrew this for review, you must be prepared to be Douglas asks, amid a chorus of ‘Woah woah kicked from pillar to post. Come on, fifty woahs” (or should that be “Woe woe squat thrusts now! Make a fucking effort! woes”?) “Where is my family at?”. Andy, mate, they left home while you were upstairs having another cry. They said they DR SLAGGLEBERRY couldn’t stand the relentless misery. It was Not sure why Dr Slaggleberry sent this CD bringing them all down. Even the budgie in for review since it’s obviously a work in They’ve asked that you don’t try and progress. Four instrumental tracks of contact them. Or write any more songs.

Send demos for review to: Nightshift, PO Box 312, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1ZU. IMPORTANT: no review without a contact address and phone number (no email or mobile- only). No more than four tracks on a demo. If you can’t handle criticism, please don’t send us your demo. Nightshift accepts no responsibility for deflated egos.