Pepe Deluxe hit their third album haemorrhaging sonic inventiveness and heavy, heavy funk. The Finnish band, led by Beatmag regular contributor James Spectrum (AKA Jari Salo) and JA-Jazz (AKA Tomi Paajaanen) have mutated from a sampladelic big beat frolic into a proper band with a sound rooted in the ‘60s and ‘70s, notably paying tribute to the spirit of prog. (more…)
In a place like Brighton, UK, one must choose words carefully lest they offend those with sensitive ears and a petty nature. Call a macho hetero ringmaster in this town and he’ll likely become a snarling knuckle dragger quicker than you can say nut-job. Not many emcees within the hip hop circle will allow such a transgression either, but to be fair not many of them write about morphing into owls, offer the sale of ice creams “with an animal in” or dress up in a top hat, a red shiny coat with a cane to accessorise. (more…)
Not shit, but rather DISCO. The four-piece from the Highlands have a very political statement to make, and are more than happy to shout about it. A band occasionally pigeon-holed as ‘new rave’, they contain elements as disparate as Donna Summer, The Prodigy and Talking Heads. As they played the Brighton date of their recent tour their energy onstage was intoxicating. (more…)
Slade were one of the biggest bands in British history and Dave Hill was their guitarist. He still is. (more…)
Anyone who has come across Accretions Records may have been mystified by their extremely challenging sounds. The San Diego label never compromises and has released some of the most difficult to digest albums ever made, one after another, relentlessly. After some years of coming across them we became mystified as to who they were, why they did it, how they kept going, who bought the records, etc. (more…)
Graham Gouldman began his pop career as a successful 1960s songwriter for the likes of The Yardbirds, Hermans Hermits and The Hollies. Working at Strawberry Studios near Stockport he came together with a line-up of musicians – Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème – and recorded bubblegum hits under a multiplicity of different pseudonyms. By 1972 the outfit signed to Jonathan King’s UK Records as 10cc and went onto have a string of global hits, including the gigantic ‘I’m Not In Love’. (more…)
If The Human League didn’t exist, it would be essential to invent them, such is their influence on British electronic music. Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were computer operators in the mid-1970s and started an experimental electronics band – The Future – with Adi Newton in Sheffield during the economically depressed 1970s. When Newton left, the pair searched for a new vocalist so that they could remain behind their keyboards. Somewhat ironically, their first choice was Glen Gregory (more on him in a moment), but he was already in another band in London, so they auditioned Martyn’s old school friend Phil Oakey. (more…)
Along with Mina Agossi’s latest, Jhelisa’s ‘A Primitive Guide To Being There’ was one of 2007’s jazz highlights. Beatmag is not a jazz publication so it’s only albums that have raw crossover appeal or blatant genre-smashing originality which strike home with us. Jhelisa’s album has both, pitched midway between jazz, world music, percussion workshop and, unbelievably, prog rock, all laced with politics and philosophical ponderings. (more…)
One of the unsung albums of 2007 was Amy Millan’s quietly sensational ‘Honey From The Tombs’ (Arts & Crafts). Where there’s currently an avalanche of identikit female singer-songwriters following a sub-Joni Mitchell folky template, Millan headed out to the prairies for a sound imbued with the aching melancholy of country, laced with the guitars of her ‘day job’ as a member of Canadian indie sensations Stars. Thomas H Green caught up with her just before a gig at London’s Borderline… (more…)
Now primarily a producer and techno-shaman, guitarist Steve Hillage first came to attention with hippy-collective Gong, playing an important role in their rise to prominence. Hillage made especially notable contributions on Gong’s ‘Gnome Invisible Trilogy’ albums and toured extensively, before setting out on a solo career in 1975. After releasing such hippy fare as ‘Fish Rising’, ‘L’ and ‘Green’, as well as the ambient classic ‘Rainbow Dome Musick’, he retired from playing live, to produce other artists. A chance meeting with Alex Patterson of the Orb, however, led to the creation of techno-trancers System 7, who continue to be active today. Guy Oddy puts questions to him from our readers and contributors… (more…)
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