Cate Le Bon at Exeter Phoenix

We were both knackered on Friday night and were in two minds about whether to go and see Cate Le Bon at Exeter Phoenix - However, we're glad that we did.

The support act was Tender Prey (Laura Bryon, below) - all power chords and shouty vocals. On another day we might have appreciated it more - But it was ok, and she did manage to command the attention of the good-sized audience who had come to see Le Bon.

I'd heard several people praising Cate le Bon and the reviews were intriguing: A folkie who sings in Welsh and English and who numbers amongst her influences the Velvet Underground. In fact, she was a revelation. Dressed in a Hawkwind-style long silver dress she played some cool psychedelic guitar riffs while delivering vocals which were often more pure sounds than a vehicle for her lyrics.

She has the stage presence and style of a Nico-like chanteuse and between the songs her accent actually sounds more Scandinavian than Welsh. The band seemed a bit younger but played together with Le Bon in a very tight unit: The drumming was crisp and the bass punchy. The second guitarist really came into his own when playing keyboards. He  managed to coax the sounds of a mellotron, a farfisa, - whatever was needed - to produce appropriately psychedelic and discordant chord shapes which brilliantly complemented the guitar work by Le Bon.

The audience loved it - A number were obviously longtime fans. At the end, contrary to what is often the case, we all genuinely wanted to hear more. I'll definitely be checking out her latest CD, Mug Museum.

Le Bon and her band were going on to perform at Glastonbury the next day. Below is a taster - a clip of her performing 'Sisters':

And here is a link to the set in full (for a while, anyway).

Acoustica Festival at Exeter Phoenix & other venues 13-15 September

Last night was the first of this year's Acoustica Festival - the Exeter festival of alt-folk and Americana - although as ever this definition seems to have been stretched pretty widely. The event is that odd thing - an indoor festival that extends over a number of venues.

We managed to get along to the Phoenix venues for the start of the Festival from 6 to 9.30 on Friday but had to leave just as the number of visitors was starting to swell. In the early part of the evening there were a number of mainly young performers on at the garden stage and the cafe.

After that, we saw a bit of Ben Goddard (above) in the main auditorium and then Carnivala (below) in the Voodoo Lounge. They were true to their name, playing music with a good time vibe, and attracted quite a crowd.

 

The stars of the evening (or at least the part that we saw) were Saturday Sun and Aidan Simpson.

Saturday Sun are a duo from Dorset who combine wailing and picked guitar with mesmeric vocals. They transfixed the audience and filled the auditorium with soaring sound.

Aidan Simpson, also from Dorset, is a Dylanesque 'protest singer' but is in a class of his own. His songs are well crafted, his guitar technique perfectly matched and his vocals are uniquely flexible. It was a shame that he was on stage so early and had only a small audience - but his future looks good.

We bought a copy of his 10 inch EP recorded on Blanket Records with John Parish.

The Acoustica Festival continues tonight and tomorrow (14 & 15 September) at the Phoenix and other Exeter venues.

Mike Heron & the Trembling Bells at Exeter Phoenix

A week ago we ventured out reluctantly (given the temperatures) to see Mike Heron and the Trembling Bells at Exeter Phoenix. It had been billed as a standing gig, so we were relieved to find that the venue had actually been laid out with tables & chairs and that the evening was not going to be a repeat of the Johnny Marr sweat-bath a week or so earlier. I must admit that I wasn't familiar with the Trembling Bells and that my knowledge of Mike Heron really dated from Changing Horses - an album recorded after Heron and Williamson had given up drugs and converted to scientology which, unsurprisingly, was not regarded as one of the Incredible String Band's best.

However, from the moment that they took the stage we could see that we were in for a good night. Although most of the Mike Heron songs predated my String Band days, his unique delivery was unmistakeable and the arrangement of the songs by the drummer, Alex Neilson, was appropriately hippyish, with plenty of percussive and other folky effects. As luck would have it we found ourselves sitting next to Deb and Jez Winship. Jez has done a brilliant review of the gig on his blog Sparks in Electrical Jelly which traces the origins of many of the songs to relevant String Band albums and also fills in with information about the Trembling Bells material. So rather than try to top that (as if I could) I have just posted below a selection of photographs from the evening:

I've just looked back at my blog and it was April 2012  when we saw John Renbourn & Robin Williamson at the Phoenix. That gig was a bit disappointing (although Renbourn's guitar playing was masterful) and as a result I never posted any photos - but I may get around to doing that soon. Suffice it to say that Mike Heron and the Trembling Bells provided a far more satisfying evening and I will be looking out some of those older String Band albums that Jez mentions in his review, as well as investigating the recorded output of the Bells. To finish up, here is a taste of Mike Heron and the Trembling Bells doing Log Cabin Home in the Sky at the Hyde Park Picture House:

Johnny Marr at Exeter Phoenix

Johnny Marr played Exeter last Friday. The Phoenix was packed and it was a hot evening. Marr played a set from his solo album, The Messenger, stuff from the Smiths repertoire, and one from his time with Electronic.

He was styled as an ageing mod - a younger Paul Weller (but still too old for the look). He soon shed his velvet jacket due to the heat. The audience included some middle-aged blokes intent upon reliving their pogoing youth, and students who seemed surprised by the antics of the older contingent.

Marr played his trademark jingle-jangle guitar. The solo stuff went down ok with the audience but often lacked musical hooks and relied upon thrash and strum. Nevertheless, he was astute enough to throw in some old favourites: Big mouth strikes again; I fought the law; There is a light that never goes out; and, memorably, Getting away with it, and How soon is now? Marr is no Morrissey vocally but he was good enough for the enthusiastic crowd.

At the end of the night the punters all had a good time and Marr & his band left them sweaty but happy. I didn't take any video but here is a clip of Johnny and band doing How Soon Is Now? on the Jimmy Fallon show:

Katy Dove at Spacex, Exeter

On Saturday 9th March Katy Dove's Thought Becomes Action opens at Spacex. On Wednesday evening the Spacex gallery assistants got to meet Katy and to see how the exhibition is taking shape.

Katy is a former psychology student and her work reflects this, exploring ideas relating to inner and outer mental space. At the same time her animation work is often both abstract and quirky.

The installation shows aspects of Katy's work from 2004 onwards including films, animation, music, sounds, photography, drawing and painting. The Spacex promotional video gives a taste of what can be seen:



At the opening on Saturday (9th March), from 4pm onwards, she will be in conversation with artist and curator Andrew Bick. The exhibition is on until the 4th of May.

The exhibition was only partially in place when the above was written. For a detailed review that describes Katy's show at Spacex and its influences see Jez Winship's blog Sparks in Electrical Jelly.

Later the same evening we saw the excellent and surreal Robyn Hitchcock at Exeter Phoenix. I'll post more pics and video shortly.

Neoreplicants at Exeter Phoenix + Iain Matthews

Currently showing at the Exeter Phoenix is Neoreplicants where South West artists explore 3D printing - the process where a laser is used to 'print' models by welding successive layers of nylon powder material into a 3D polygonal representation of an object (the process of laser sintering). This is technology which is on the verge of becoming more widely available - What was once science fiction will soon become reality.

The exhibition shows the work that SW artists have produced in partnership with Exeter University's Centre for Additive Layer Manufacturing (CALM). The results are impressive and varied. They are an indication of new avenues that will open up for artists as this technology becomes more widely available. The contrasting ways in which the various artists have made use of the laser process is also fascinating - for some the laser technology is simply an extension of their current digitally based work, while others have harnessed the process to their more traditional work.

This is an exciting exhibition - particularly if you love gadgets or perhaps have just been wondering whatever happened to the promised brave new worlds of hovercars, robots etc that we were promised in the 1950s and 1960s. It's a glimpse of the future.

 

 

The exhibition is on until 19th January. The explanations of the pieces are equally interesting and the artists include Nicci Wonnacott and Gabrielle Hoad. Unless you go along you'll have to guess who contributed which piece and you'll miss out on the future ...

Matthews Southern Comfort

Last Sunday Matthews Southern Comfort appeared at the Phoenix. They played a mixture of old stuff (mainly from their second album) and newer material. I wasn't familiar with any of their material apart from their sole hit, the Joni Mitchell song: Woodstock. Unfortunately they chose to perform this in a Dylanesque style - ie perversely different to the original. The band's personnel are all new apart from Iain Matthews himself. Two of the band, Bart Jan Baartmans and Bart de Win, are highly accomplished instrumentalists in a jazz-based style. However, many of the numbers - both old and new - seemed dated and the gig did not have the nostalgic charm of the final Plainsong outings earlier in the year, when Iain reprised a style akin to his early work with Fairport Convention.

There was a very small audience for the Matthews Band due to the bad weather, and the support act, Drew Nelson, attracted an even smaller number. This was a shame as he did a great show, supported by Jack Leaver on guitar. Drew has a vocal style somewhere between Tom Waits and Springsteen and I liked it so much that I bought his CD: Tilt-a-whirl. I video'd parts of both the Drew Nelson and Matthews Southern Comfort sets but don't have the time to download these to YouTube just now. Will catch up and post stuff from Sunday gig and the Plainsong gig in a couple of weeks, though.

Off to see Madness at Plymouth Pavilions on Tuesday ... And Laura White has an exhibition, We Can Have It All, starting at Exeter Spacex from December 8th - Looking forward to that.