Xylouris White - Interview Regarding Black Peak Album / World Tour [17th October 2016]

[2016.10.17] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.
 

Two years following their 2014 debut album, Goat, Xylouris White have recently completed a second set of songs under that title Black Peak, and are currently embarked upon an extensive international tour exploring these pieces. The UK leg of this tour starts with the duo landing in Brighton at the end of October.

 

This partnership is a wonderful permutation in the narrative of these special musicians. Both players arrived into this rich relationship as Xylouris White [a compound of their surnames] from acclaimed backgrounds: Jim White most notably for his work in the element evoking music of Dirty Three (that connection intertwining him with Warren Ellis of The Bad Seeds) and Giogos Xylouris, being born of the iconic Lyra player Psarantonis, and that proud Cretan heritage. Xylouris and White first came together in Melbourne, Australia. Xylouris remembers the initial times he joined White on some Dirty Three jams.

 

“I remember the first time we played together, it was in a very small bar in Fitzroy, Australia. It was the beginning time of Dirty Three. Later on, I played more and what I remember is during the show, the songs I played with them, two or three, it was the improvisations with Jim - drums and lute - and I really loved it and I could see that the way Jim was playing.” Xylouris is humble at the generosity he felt from the interaction with White at this time. “It was like he released my hands and feelings.”

 

Both musicians share an organic and in-the-present response to their music, reacting with changes to conditions and sounds in the moment. Xylouris recalled how primitive experiences with his father going through his “new metamorphosis way to express himself” helped shape his relationship with music as a live and vital expression. “It happened that I was next to him as a kid but on stage, on stage with my Dad and the other lute player Costas Lappas, so I had that experience to see somebody coming from inside out, like the snake shedding his skin, and how the people - and how the audience coped with that. I remember people leaving the room, and other people loving it and coming constantly to see my Dad. [He] was more and more himself every time we played. More and more improvisation on stage and doing new things. I could see my Dad continually doing what he was doing, and every day, over time, you could see more people drawn to it.”

 

The importance of audience interaction has also informed Xylouris White’s compositions more directly on the first set of songs, with some referencing traditional Greek dance forms (Sousta, Syrtos) in the titles. Xylouris has comprehensively observed this relationship between movement, and the active participation of people with this music. “I play the music that goes with the dance and singing together, and, of course, I take things back - and that gives me the movements, the characters of the dancers and inspires me the way I play.” The thoughts that conjure the present performances draw upon an ever expanding history, respected in the bones of this lutist. “I can see my grandpas and grandmas, and back… centuries dancing. [I] imagine how many people have danced the same dance, how many faces and women and man and kids in any kind of celebration, and back yard and front yard and square, and little venues here and there, around Crete, and around the world.”

 

Another attitude that has also been consistently present in their work, both prior to and through Xylouris White, is the ambition to explore the limits of their bespoke instruments. What is the full lexis possible that can be used in the musical dialogue? Where are the sonic boundaries of the rooms that they play within? Listening to their lute and drums interact, exploring in this way, you cannot help imagine a physical space; like seeing the shape of an invisible object appear for having its capacity filled with an observable, tangible substance. Xylouris explains this behaviour has an intrinsic mechanism which works to this outward behaviour.“All this is connected together. Further - the notes and the harmonics of the drum and the lute makes a vision - the vision is each sound following the other sounds and all together makes a universe of stars fly away like the fireflies.”

 

The exemplary track, Forging, from the latest album, shows an increased agitation and a more ferocious energy than Goat may have accustomed a listener to. It seems that Xylouris White’s touring schedule may have informed this compositional progression. “Often shows with Jim are very short, maybe only 45 min, when opening for other bands to a big crowd. It made our shows a little more intense” It would seem that routine has promoted a more bounding spirit within their new music. As for the capture of these songs, the album once more represents a moment whilst the creations are “still fresh.”

 

I implore you all to remember, remember the 5th November, for that is when Xylouris White will spread a truly reformative fire through The Cluny, Newcastle. Support will be provided by the natural choice - hometown hero Richard Dawson, whose acoustic guitar, with coins in its belly, has twangs, rattles, and a spirit that will move perfectly alongside the music made by the travelling guests. The differences and shared qualities between these two acts both speak to extremity, and will undoubtedly test hearts.

Saul Williams - Interview Regarding MartyrLoserKing Album / UK Tour [18th June 2016]

[2016.06.18] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.

Saul Williams is an artist who cannot be truly known to world from an isolated timbre or notion. His expressions are masterful in the way they blend and mix inspirations and references, and it is in his capacity to melt or fix ideas with one another that his spirit can be seen. It is his resolve to continue to put energy into this alchemy that keeps his music and art as vivid today in his latest release, MartyrLoserKing, as from when his first album album landed just after the millennium. Across the twelve new tracks our ears are dipped in an international state-of-mind: from European classical piano motifs, to spoken word, from the beat-tradition, to Middle-Eastern chanting and singing. His aim is far, and his palette broad. Arriving five years on from his previous record, MLK truly feels like the warrior in training, unleashed; fierce but controlled.

In-between these two albums, Williams has been performing on Broadway, in the lead role of Holler If Ya Hear Me - the musical created around the music of Tupac Shakur. It was inspired casting to pair Williams with the late icons work, both invested in activism and social consciousness. Unfortunately, the musical’s run finished earlier than expected. Considering that recent endeavour, Williams remained optimistic about the potential of the medium. “I grew up in the theatre, where political ideologies have often, if not always, been explored & questioned. The plays that came out of the Black Arts movement in the United States & the apartheid regime in South Africa had there place in New York & global theatre, just as the work of Brecht, Wilde, Sarah Kane, all the way back to Shakespeare, not to mention the theatre movements in Brazil, Argentina & across the world.”     The manipulation and re-appropriation of language has always played a crucial part in Williams’ work, originally gaining popularity for his poetry via coverage in films such as SlamNation. As with his deliciously titled 2007 album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust! this recent album evokes a popular figure, and immediately challenges our preconceptions of that person, simultaneously providing a seat for our imagination to ponder what the album might offer, but also rocking at the legs of that chair. “I feel very free in my relationship to language, English in particular, and how it exacts culture. The moulding & remoulding of words in relation to ideas is one of the simplest forms of hacking and declassifying meaning and possibilities of meaning hidden within or behind an idea. In fact, the goal is to get in front of the idea.”

MartyrLoserKing is packed with such technique, with several songs using phrase repetition to realign meaning to the words. In The Bear/Coltan As Cotton with ‘Hack into…’ crashing the listener through wall-upon-wall of new ideas/images, and in Roach Eggs he continues with the idea of hacking by evoking that form of action in social media, and in an economy. Many colours on the record (the droning sounds, the repeated rhythms and phrases, the political and technological focus) seemed reminiscent of M.I.A.’s work, and in particular, her third record Maya. Williams recognises the universality of his political and musical pilgrimages and is optimistic for the future. “We will continue to enlist more and more as people/artists are awakened to the times and the major questions at hand."

On MLK, Williams focusses on the effect of the internet and our relationship with it in his songs. When asked about his own developing relationship with this technology, he acknowledged the benefits it has had on his creative process. “On one hand we have the internet and our capacity to share information, and on the other there is the technology surrounding the writing process: the type writer, the word processor, the personal computer, the hand-held device, the smart-pen... So now I can use my moleskin smart-pen & transfer my handwriting direct into my device, like scanning the pages of a notebook... It's an interesting option for a tumblr-head.” Having always lived with activism in his belly, Williams has been inspired by various applications and their ability to unite voices. “Our relationship to these tools are useful, particularly in regards to our ability to follow what's going on in another space/place which holds even greater potential if we can connect what's happening "there" with what's happening in our world (connecting the dots.) In a sense we have the same capabilities as global intelligence to track happenings, communicate and make sense of them and broaden our network with the possibility of aligning a global network for social action and resistance. The difference is the global powers are organised, so the power of our resistance often lies in our ability to disrupt or cog the system - but we also have to work against media while working through it. We have all surrendered to the machine, yet we also power it.”

Saul Williams is shortly embarking on a UK tour, and is keen to be playing small venues, such as his Newcastle date at Think Tank? on Saturday 2nd July 2016. Joining him on this leg of the tour will be Thavius Beck. Williams also notes that “the virtual presence of Miseal Leon is also extremely helpful. I like intimate occasions to share and make meaningful impressions. A healthy balance between venues and audience sizes keeps me on my toes.”

Chris Watson - Interview Regarding The Town Moor: A Portrait In Sound [2nd May 2016]

[2016.05.02] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.

Chris Watson generously agreed to talk with me in the daytime following a 3am morning walk and recording event in Exhibition Park, as part of, and in preparation for, his up-and-coming sound performance. Though his face was softly weathered from the early rise, the appreciation on his tongue from having just witnessed The Dawn Chorus was palpable.

“[It] starts with The Dawn Solo. We listened to this Blackbird really close; we got a really great perspective on the sound of this bird singing. Then we moved-off around the lake and heard The Dawn Chorus develop. One of the great things about the Town Moor is it’s got this great mosaic of habitats. The next thing we’d do is go right to the edge of the grassland part of the Town Moor. There, we heard some Skylarks singing.”

Watson has developed his life intertwined with recording sound, a passion inspired in his teenage years by the pioneering practices of Pierre Schaeffer. From work with Cabaret Voltaire, throughout numerous ambitious projects with the likes of the BBC, capturing sound has been at the essence of his practice. Recently he has been inspired by a trend in ‘dark’ cinema.

“Like lots of good inventions, it’s happened in cities, certainly around Europe, almost simultaneously. I was in Copenhagen a couple of years ago, and they were doing it there. It’s like experiencing a film, but without any images. There’s a cliche in the BBC about sound - that radio is better than television because the pictures are better.”

Marrying with the enthusiasm of Murphy Cobbing (BBC Newcastle) to create an aural tribute to the history of The Town Moor, Watson recently presented and contributed to a resulting four-part radio series, which featured anecdotal description, as well as recorded environments. Having captured his contributions for this programme in ambisonic sound, Watson and Cobbing were keen to present his commission in an environment which could relay the material in its fullest capacity - a truly surround-sound experience.

“I met Elisabetta [Chloe Barker] at The Tyneside and we looked in The Gallery, and it seemed a very appropriate space for an ambisonic system.”

Utilising 16-channels, Watson’s journey of a year in the life of the Town Moor will immerse the audience, placing them where the Sound Field microphone caught the audio pictures. The terrain will be intricately remapped in sounds that come from above and below, side-to-side.

“Everybody will have different images upon hearing the sounds. The Town Moor lends itself… it’s like a real piece of theatre - everything that happens there.”

The piece starts in June, where The Hoppings descend upon the lawn, and ends the following May, with his freshly captured Dawn Chorus.

“I think listening, actively engaging with your environment, is quite a creative function - and we enjoy it! In most urban environments we’re excluded from it by noise. That’s one of the things I am looking forward to - take away visual distractions in The Gallery and just be surrounded by this environment… To just sit back, and tune into it. Take your imagination up to the Town Moor, throughout the seasons.”

Chris Watson’s ‘The Town Moor - A Portrait In Sound’ will be showing, for free, in The Gallery of the Tyneside Cinema from 20th June - 24th July 2016.

Lyn Hagan - Interview Regarding The Mexican Mafia and Me [18th January 2016]

[2016.01.18] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.

Unveiled last October, Lyn Hagan’s latest work, The Mexican Mafia and Me, has been on display at The Laing Gallery since then. Around the time of the exhibitions opening, I was fortunate to discuss this audacious mixed-media presentation with her. Though the final piece of work involves pencil drawings, slow-motion film, interview footage, magazine articles, and a deeply haunting embroidered bridal dress, the scope of this exhibition grew dramatically from Hagan’s initial want to satisfy a more straightforward desire.

“I didn’t begin this as an artwork. It was simply just an exchange of letters. I had pen-pals since I was seven years old, and I’ve always been against the Death Penalty, so at some point those two things combined and I decided I would write to someone who was on Death Row.” That someone became Anthony Hernandez - a man on Death Row, for murder, at San Quentin prison. “I felt safe because this guy was in America… and he’s not going to get out.”

From these written exchanges grew a unique relationship which inspired Hagan, accompanied by her boyfriend, to travel out to California twice; to meet Tony in visitations, as well as his family. Tony was on Death Row because he shot someone on behalf of the Mexican Mafia. In an attempt to further her understanding of a culture where something like this could happen, Hagan went to a range in California to experience shooting a gun for herself. "It's in a country where it's legal, it's their culture, I'm a tourist in that culture, and I'm trying to explore this guy's personality, and he killed someone, so gun's are a really big part of his personality." A film of this session, with a target customised by Hagan, has been included in the exhibition.

"What we were doing was quite risky, because it was a flammable dress, we're shooting bullets at it, so we had to do it really quickly. We asked the guy who ran the shooting gallery if we're okay to do this, and he said ‘Be really quick before my boss comes back!’ It's a thill. I was quite nervous though. You can see in slow motion my hands are going like this [wobbling her hands] - I'm so nervous. And the guns are so heavy." For Hagan the capture of the shoot “represents what it is like for a body to be shot, without it being this cliched, Hollywood thing."

Though “initially the fascination was with the women” who wrote to Tony, Hagan was keen for this exhibition to focus more on him, what surrounds and surrounded his life. “ [Tony] was private school educated, he’d had a really good start in life and he got to about 15… he’s half-Mexican and half-White, … so he’d start to identify … up until then [the people she interviewed would] describe him as this average white suburban kid, into Eminem and skateboarding, and then he identified with what he perceived to be his Mexican side, and that was actually, in that area, a lot of drug-dealing and a lot of violence. So he went to prison when he was 17 for a really minor offence. He robbed an ice-cream truck! So he got sent to this Level 4 prison… I don’t know why he got sent to this high-level security prison but he did. He was a 17 year old boy and, for survival, comes under the protection of the gang in there, which is the Mexican Mafia. So from that part on, they’d got him by the balls.”

Whilst abroad visiting people involved with Tony and case, Hagan filmed more, not knowing quite where it would lead. Though various interviews, including one with The District Attorney for Tony’s case, went on to inspire the libretto for a mini-Opera Hagan collaborated on a few years back, with this recent exhibition she chose to present the original footage intercut across large screens. She uses this material to show the difference between America and the UK, and why they have the Death Penalty and we don’t. “The level of violence is at this peak and [the US] have this technology readily available. What linked Tony to the murder victim was DNA.”

One thing that was revealed in their written exchanges was Tony’s interest in art and drawing. This lead to Hagan supplying him with materials, and he created pencil drawings. These surreal portrayals of himself are also eatured in this exposé.

Hagan admires documentary filmmakers such as Nick Broomfield and Louis Theroux. The influence of the latter’s playful side comes through in perhaps the exhibitions most humourous inclusion: a Pick-Me-Up magazine article convinced of Hagan’s passionate love-affair with the prisoner she was writing with.

“[Tony] gave me the letters of lots of women who would write to him and what I did when I first came back was… on a whim, because lots of people were asking me ‘Are you one of these women?' all the time, …I kinda sent a picture of me and him, and a false story through the news release Wire, and it got picked up by Pick-Me-Up magazine, you know - those women's mags, and they published a story. They came and did a photoshoot. I basically role-played … I gave an interview as if I was one of these women. 'Our first kiss was in a cage,' that kind of thing. They wrote the story themselves. It was very much dramatised. I gave them the smallest bits of information and they wrote this huge, kind of Jeremy Kyle-style story, it was great, I loved it.”

Hagan’s exhibition, The Mexican Mafia and Me, will be concluding its run at The Laing Gallery on Sunday 7th February 2016. With this peculiar work speaking to a range of fascinations as discussed, I would recommend you go and see this collection for yourself, and piece together the complicated world surrounding Anthony Hernandez.

Ditte Elly - Interview Regarding ‘You Find It Easy’ Single [4th November 2015]

[2015.11.04] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.

Ditte Elly has been modestly resting her music in the nooks of the necks of North-East music lovers (and others) over the last few years, and it has been fitting rather snugly.

Moving up to Sunderland from Oxford, Elly was welcomed to her new home with the help of good friend Matt Stalker, who not only invited her into his own band, singing and playing keys, but also supported her solo music; finding the right venues for these sensitive songs. This wisdom to carefully choose places that compliment her work, (intimate spaces like the The Old Cinema Launderette, resonant rooms such as the Sunderland Minster,) Elly can, to this day, make the incredible claim that she has “never had a bad gig.”

Music had been in Elly’s life for a long time, but it was when she attended the Catweazle Club in Oxford in 2011 that she felt the attraction to songwriting and performing. This local hotspot offered a place for musicians to perform one song (two, if the host was impressed) to an enthusiastic crowd. Feeling the buzz in her bones from this interaction, Elly set forth, striding into this awakened passion, returning to play with new songs in tow.

Some of these songs culminated in her first EP in 2012, We’ll Meet Again. It was with this endeavour that Elly formed a recording relationship with Newcastle-local, sound-engineer Liam Gaughan. Elly explained that completing an album following the debut took time due to balancing studying Fine Art at University alongside its writing. Finally completing the set this year, the songs were rehearsed over two months with fellow musicians, before the group travelled up to a Farmhouse in Jedburgh, with Gaughan and his portable studio, to reside in each others pockets for a week; living the recording of Elly’s new album. “It was an idyllic setting away from civilisation that allowed you to switch off and concentrate on the music.”

Gaughan’s nature brought the best out of this singer-songwriter. “Liam has incredible patience, and a way to make you feel completely comfortable in front of the ominous red recording light. He doesn't normally work with quiet, folky stuff, he's in a funk band and he does lots of crazy loud rock stuff, but the point is he has this amazing ability to just get the absolute best of songs. He has a great sense of the essence of music, I think.”

Welcoming these new melodies to the world, ahead of the long-play, is You Find It Easy, a sorrowful reflection that highlights Elly’s textured vocal tones, and the sound of her nylon-string guitar playing.

You Find It Easy will be released on 5th December. The full album will follow in the new year, due to be released in the springtime. Live performances allow a special glimpse into Elly’s relationship with her songs. It is her concern for them that is so palpable and gripping to watch. You can next see Ditte Elly play at the Scrumpy Willow Cafe, Newcastle on 20th January.

Kate Edwards - Interview Regarding 'Every Key' Single [2nd November 2015]

[2015.11.02] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.

For playing music live in Newcastle for the best part of a decade, you will most likely recognise Kate Edwards; either from her singing and keyboard melodies in local pride, Brilliant Mind, or from her own writing and performing (often with other musicians) under the moniker Agerskow. Over the last year of so, Edwards has relaxed her performance schedule to allow natural changes in her relationship with her music to take place, and to hone this new centre from which to work from. Now, she is ready to come out from the chrysalis.

Highlighting this change, Every Key is Edwards’ first release in her own name. Entering a whirlwind of culture surrounding music in the heart of Newcastle at a young age, Edwards has stood strong in that weather, with her sustained passion to play music, rolling with the blessings and the challenges alike. She has melted these experiences into the foundation of her strength, which has now, at last, brought her the confidence to release music as herself, undisguised. Edwards explains how this latest song mirrors some of her own feelings about the searching she has done with her music. “That feeling…” she ponders. “You start somewhere, and you go around the houses, and just experiment; doing this, that… discovering everything, and trying out everything, and then, eventually, you realise, you kind of had it before anyway. It was always there.”

This restoration of self-belief is tangible in the flow of this track. Every Key starts measured and careful, with sparse piano chords, and Edwards’ lilting and crisp voice laying forth the central dilemma, but as it travels, bass guitar and Tom-Tom percussion add a determined heartbeat to the texture and become a thrusting march for our singer. As sustained backing vocals and glissando chiming join the orchestration, the spirit is risen to the finish. Every Key came from a progression Edwards recorded onto her phone and “just sort of forgot about” but when returning to her voice-memo’s she kept stumbling upon it, and realised “that’s really catchy, I’m going to have to develop that more.”

Accompanying this release, is Sticky Strawberry Blood, a wonderful peculiarity which takes full pleasure in suspending its melodies over shimmering guitar patterns, with playful pizzicato violin and percussion tempting the melodies to the tonic at the refrains.

These tracks were recorded by The Mistakable Sound Of - a portable studio, run by Marc Bird, and mastered by Edwards’ brother Alex. In this latest phase of creativity, Edwards’ energy has catalysed the capture of more recorded music already. She has set aside these songs, which explore different moods, for a release next year.

Every Key will be available to download from 4th December, but Edwards will be having an intimate launch for the single at The Ouseburn Farm on Sunday 6th December. Support will come from local troubadour Trev Gibb, and Patrick Lawrence, who is commonly known for playing violin in many bands around Newcastle, but here you will get to hear him in focus.

Ilser - Interview Regarding ‘Breaks’ Single Launch [11th July 2015]

[2015.07.11] Tom Hollingworth, for NARC Magazine.

Jakko Jackson and Rachael Whittle have known each other since college, but it is only since Whittle returned to the North-East, following studying Music Production at University in Southampton, that the old friends finally joined forces to make a band. Scott Jeffery was playing drums in a “stoner metal crossed with black metal” band with Jackson previously, called Mother Krussia. Sharing knowing looks across this Cluny table, Jeffery and Jackson agree - that band was a lot more chaotic - “Ilser was a saviour from that!” In Whittle they have someone to keep the focus - “an organised person!”

Though a quartet originally, the now-trio persevere for their passion, often rehearsing late into the night at their Off-Quay practice room, fighting for time amongst each of their supporting job’s shift-patterns. They are positive about this though, claiming to be “creatures of the night” and most awake in the thick of the evening. The music Ilser makes marries these darker hours perfectly, with its often brooding and sinister melodies and cathartic wrestle-away-the-day riffs.

The band are launching their new single, Breaks, on the 1st August at The Head Of Steam. The choice of this next single came from their fans. Jackson explained, “We’ve had a lot of positive feedback when we’ve played live about that song. Mostly about that  song.” Originally Whittle used to bring songs she had written at University for the band to work on, but now she explains, “we’re trying to write more together.” This up-and-coming single Jeffery sites as “the first song” they all wrote as a band.

Breaks builds from a driving bassline, rolling into an atypically Pixie-esque refrain before proceedings rejoin their heavier roots. The track premieres Jeffery’s wild and distressed caged-dog vocals taking on a more prominent role, ruling the verses of this track, with Whittle’s distinct bending and sorrowful voice then taking over to drive the choruses. The song builds in intensity over the six-plus minutes and finally rides out with a wild electric guitar. Compared with some of the more melancholy atmospheres of their previous tracks such as Led By Silence and Forgotten Youth, this recent offering is more euphoric. It has often proved a good finale for Ilser’s setlists. At a lively and sweaty ‘secret’ practice room gig recently, as Breaks entered its final act, fans were set free, moshing and swinging into one another, with Whittle jumping into the crowd to join in.

Jeffery admits that the band has “no plan” and simply as and when they can get the money together, they take a track to Newcastle’s Blank Studios and record it with Chris McManus. Utilising Whittle’s production skills too, they hope to work on longer plays in the future.

Ilser are deeply affectionate for DIY methodology and other local groups, and are keen to organise gigs with these bands they admire. As well as this being so with the single launch, another such occasion will take place at Brew Dog in Newcastle on 23rd August, where they will play with favourites of theirs, Shades.