The Man Whose Head Expanded

THE MONOCHROME SET - Birmingham Hare & Hounds

I have been waiting to see The Monochrome Set for some time, four years to be precise. I had always regarded their three albums from the early 1980s to be lost classics and in 2008 I had just begun checking out their later work when I heard that they were back together for a one-off show to mark the 30th anniversary of their label, Cherry Red. At the time I was attending gigs around the country with someone who was possibly the world's biggest Monochrome Set fan. Keen to impress her, I went to desperate lengths in my effort to acquire tickets. I contacted the venue and the label, and promised to review the show, perhaps slightly overstating the audience of this blog. However, I was told that it was a private party for label staff and there were no tickets.

All of that now seems an eternity away as four years on, a lot has changed. The lady in question is no longer part of my life and my health in particular has given cause for concern. However, my problems seem insignificant when compared to those of frontman Ganesh "Bid" Seshadri. In 2010 he suffered a near-fatal aneurysm, putting the future of the band in doubt. With another of my musical heroes, Tim Smith, in a similar position and unlikely to play again, I'm relieved that Bid is back stronger than ever.

Tonight Bid is joined by original members Lester Square and Andy Warren, plus a new drummer and violinist. The set opens in the only way imaginable, with their eponymous theme tune, its pounding tribal drums more prominent than ever - perhaps a nod towards their shared ancestry with Adam and the Ants?


Amongst old favourites such as "He's Frank", "The Jet Set Junta" and their almost-hit, "Jacob's Ladder", they showcase half of the songs from new album "Platinum Coils". This is their first release for 17 years and not surprisingly, the main focus of the lyrics is Bid's recent spell in hospital. In some respects the subject matter is similar to the last Spiritualized album. But while Jason Pierce appeared to be re-evaluating his life, Bid's songwriting is as quirky as ever and takes a much more light-hearted look at life and death. Album opener "Hip Kitten Spinning Chrome" is one of the catchiest tunes the band have written and could easily have come from their 1980 debut. In the lyrics Bid appears to be using the kitten to represent his illness; perhaps by thinking of it as something cute and friendly it will seem less frightening.


Although it seems morbid, maybe the aneurysm should be viewed in a positive light as it certainly appears to have strengthened Bid as a songwriter and frontman. This is best represented by the album cover, which features Bid's head with a collage of people, insects and vintage paraphernalia spilling out of it. The chaotic contents of his mind suggest that his imagination is limitless when compared with those fortunate individuals who have not had a brush with death. Bid has clearly accepted his illness as part of what he is and it's possible that without it, these new songs would be far less interesting or may not have been written at all. This makes me reflect on my own health. Although my neurological problems have been disturbing at times, perhaps if I hadn't had that serious illness as a child then I would have grown up to be a "normal" person with average tastes and I wouldn't be writing this now.

Alongside Bid, the rest of the band put in a flawless performance throughout. The strings add a nice touch to many of the old classics, and (ignoring the fact that he appears to be using some kind of sex toy as a guitar pick) Lester Square reminds us, not that we should have forgotten, what an amazing player he has always been. I have long considered him to be one of the finest guitarists of his generation and it's a great travesty that he is not mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Marr and Squire. Just listen to 1979 single "He's Frank" and tell me that this didn't inspire The Smiths.


With such a wealth of material in their back catalogue I would have been happy for them to play all night, but things finally draw to a close with another early single, "Eine Symphonie Des Grauens". I'm left feeling invigorated, more so than I have been by a live gig for a long time. Some of their songs had come to represent a particular period of my life and the bad memories associated with it. Those memories have now been erased as I realise that Bid's songs are so wide-ranging they can be applied to just about anything I care to think of. With any band, I usually recommend their earliest releases, but if you are not familiar with The Monochrome Set then you could do a lot worse than starting with "Platinum Coils", available now through the band's website.

A change of speed, a change of style

FAME - JON SAVAGE'S SECRET HISTORY OF POST-PUNK 78-81

It's been over a year since I last posted anything here. This is not because I've stopped listening to music, in fact just the opposite. I've been so busy buying records and going to gigs that I've not got around to writing about any of them. This excellent compilation has finally given me the incentive to get writing again.

"Fame" is released by Caroline True Records, a Shrewsbury-based label who specialise in digging up Peel-approved obscurities while also releasing new material by bands such as Birmingham stalwarts The Nightingales. I first came across CTR a couple of years ago when I was contacted by label founder John Kertland, who had noticed the music I had been listening to on Last.fm and suggested I might like the compilation he had put together of long-lost Manchester act Manicured Noise. I usually ignore unsolicited emails but in this case I made an exception as I had always been curious to hear this band, who had until that point been just a name on the FAC1 poster. Needless to say, I bought the album; I was not disappointed and John is now a good friend.

Despite the huge amount of music in my collection, ranging from the mid-1950s to the present day, the era that most interests me is probably the late '70s/early '80s. If someone asks me which bands are most important to me I would mainly list acts from this period, such as Joy Division. But when asked what kind of music this is, I find it hard to give an accurate description, particularly when asked by work colleagues who are not big music listeners. I would typically use the term "post-punk", but then struggle to define it to someone not familiar with the bands. This could really mean any record from 1978 onwards. Although punk had a recognisable sound, post-punk had a more diverse style and seems to be a catch-all term for a wide variety of bands who had taken the DIY spirit of punk but dragged its sound, which many would admit was starting to become stale, into more experimental territories.

In an attempt to bring together some of the music that best represents post-punk, CTR have enlisted Jon Savage, one of the country's best journalists and the author of what is possibly the definitive text on the punk years. Savage has selected 23 acts (some well-known but most of them relatively obscure) and also written a compelling set of sleeve notes, clearly putting post-punk in a historical context.

It's clear that post-punk grew from the initial punk explosion. The bands most commonly classed as post-punk, such as Wire and Joy Division (both included here) had originally been punks. If I had to choose one album that could be called post-punk then it would be "Metal Box", a record made by the country's best-known punk. It's interesting that Savage has chosen not to include PiL on this compilation, but as he states on the sleeve, he has tried to avoid being too obvious.

While punk rejected everything that had come before, post-punk takes in a wide range of influences. Elements of psychedelia are evident on many of the tracks here, particularly on Chrome's contribution, "Chromosome Damage". This would have been rejected as "hippy music" by the early punks. Some of the bands included here seem to rebel against punk's insular approach in the same way. One of the more bizarre tracks is by Nigel Simpkins. This has to be the most un-rock 'n' roll name ever, but anyone who has read Julian Cope's autobiography will know that it is actually a pseudonym used by Cope's sometime manager, Cally Callomon. I suspect he chose this name as a reaction against those calling themselves Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious etc. His track "Times Encounter", consisting of a drum loop with treated guitars and chanting fading in and out, sounds like something from an early Faust album.

As well as embracing the past, bands began to look to the future and incorporate electronic elements. While punk was about youthful rebellion, post-punk generally had a bleaker outlook as the bands began to accept that the country was screwed and no amount of pogoing or safety pins would change that.

Two Sheffield bands, The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire, contribute instrumental tracks where they use technology that was groundbreaking at the time to paint a desolate picture of the future. With the Tories having recently come into power and the economy in decline, both bands create a foreboding atmosphere that suggests crumbling grey buildings, perhaps a depiction of the ruin of their hometown, a once-successful hub of industry. The Human League's "Dignity Of Labour", through both its title and 12" cover art, suggests a Soviet work ethic, possibly a statement on the unemployment that was starting to take hold of the nation. The League and CV went on to become successful in the fields of synthpop and techno respectively but even in their more commercial later works, their experimental roots are noticeable.

Many people say that punk was invented in England, and by the Pistols in particular, which is obviously incorrect. Similarly, post-punk is often thought of as a UK phenomenon. However, there are several US bands here, including Mars and DNA, who were both part of New York's No Wave movement and featured on Brian Eno's 1978 compilation. While the English post-punk acts were becoming more atmospheric, their US counterparts sound, on the whole, more abrasive. With scratchy guitars and lyrics that are sometimes surreal, sometimes indiscernible, it's apparent how this short-lived scene gave birth to longstanding bands such as Sonic Youth.

I am always searching for more music from this era and "Fame" has introduced me to several acts that I had not heard before. My favourite track is "Herpes Simplex" by Rosa Yemen, a project of NY-based French musician Lizzy Mercier Descloux. With its minimal yet at the same time melodic backing and plaintive female vocals, it brings to mind late-1980s bands such as A.C. Temple. Judy Nylon, another NY artist, treads similar ground but gives an altogether more relaxed delivery, thanks to the involvement of legendary dub producer Adrian Sherwood.

Another US band of note is Cleveland-based X_X, whose rant against unnecessary things in general, "No Nonsense", is reminiscent of their neighbours Pere Ubu. It seems that they only released two singles, which I imagine are hard to get hold of now. This is probably for the best as it would only cause confusion if I added them to a collection that already includes X, The xx and The Ex.

The most surprising song comes from Athens, Georgia's Method Actors, simply because it is catchy and has been stuck in my head since the album finished playing. "Do the Method" shows how post-punk can be more than minimal rhythm sections and cryptic lyrics. They released two albums and a number of EPs, brought together on the compilation "This Is Still It" in 2010, so I'm not sure why I haven't encountered them before.

After these unfamiliar artists, there is perhaps only one band worthy of bringing this album to a close; This Heat. One of the most perplexing acts in my collection, having owned the boxset of their complete works for many years I still have no idea how to categorise them. Although often described as post-punk, I hear more evidence of jazz, prog and... god knows what else. I enjoy them simply because I don't understand them, in much the same way that I read the writings of the Situationist International without being certain what they are talking about. This Heat's contribution, "A New Kind Of Water", voices environmental concerns that are common today but practically unheard of in songs of 30 years ago. They predict that consumer culture will ultimately be our downfall, just as Guy Debord had done in "The Society of the Spectacle" when he criticised our materialistic nature and craving for glossy objects. There is an obvious irony here, given my desire to own the physical copy of this album with its coloured vinyl and painstakingly designed gatefold sleeve.

After listening to "Fame" several times, I'm still not sure if I could accurately define post-punk. But now if someone asks about my favourite style of music, rather than trying to describe it I would simply point them towards this record.

The Noise Made By People

TRISH KEENAN 1968-2011

I was deeply shocked when I returned to work after lunch on Friday to discover that Trish Keenan, singer with Birmingham's electronic aces Broadcast, had died in hospital a few hours earlier. For me, and many of my friends, Trish will always be the one who best personifies the more imaginative side of our local music scene.

Broadcast arrived at just the right time for me. When they released their first few singles in the mid-1990s, the Britpop era was just coming to an end but Birmingham's live music scene was still mainly populated by Oasis wannabes. I had just quit my regular DJ slot due to the rubbish I was expected to play. Although there were people in Birmingham with more varied tastes, they rarely seemed to come together in the same place. When Broadcast started to play live, it was just the boost we needed and a small scene soon developed. I have fond memories of the next five or six years and what became known as the "We Brought Our Friends" scene. There were a handful of local bands (Magnetophone, Avrocar, Novak etc.) regularly playing at the Jug of Ale and the Flapper & Firkin, and I seemed to be in one or the other of these venues at least twice a week. As well as the music, there was a great social atmosphere and I got to know many of the bands. Despite having no musical skills of my own, I felt like I was part of something important.

Although most of these bands were not widely known outside of the small venues where they played and have since disappeared, Broadcast went on to greater success. After early releases on labels such as Wurlitzer Jukebox, they signed to Warp and became one of the best-known Birmingham acts. But despite the attention they received from the music press, they did not abandon their experimental leanings, and their releases over the last 15 years have never been anything less than fascinating. Their use of vintage synths combined with Trish's haunting vocals brings to mind the soundtrack of a 1930s film while at the same time hinting at '60s psychedelia and the works of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

I'm guessing that most people reading this won't need me to describe Broadcast's sound, and certainly won't require any encouragement to listen to their records. But in case there is anyone out there who has not heard Broadcast before, the best place to start is probably with "Work and Non Work", which compiles the early singles. This showcases the band's most relaxing pieces, and could almost be described as "lounge music". This is the best way to ease yourself into the mysterious world of Broadcast. In particular, it includes the beautiful "Message From Home". Like many other songs that I've reviewed here, this piece has a personal meaning to me and seems to describe a specific moment from my past.



After that, there was a gap of three years before their first full-length album finally appeared, but they had spent the time painstakingly developing their sound, which they seemed to do to a certain extent with each subsequent release. The lyrics in particular get more surreal as their career progresses, and for many songs I believe they employed André Breton's technique of "automatic writing".

I strongly feel that everyone should listen to all of Broadcast's releases, but if I had to choose one album then it would be 2005's "Tender Buttons". I personally consider this to be one of the finest psychedelic records ever made. However, it may come as something of a shock after the lush textures of "Work and Non Work", so if you have time it may be better to build up to it by working through the intervening albums in sequence. By this stage, the band had been reduced to a duo of Trish and James Cargill so in many ways the sound was stripped down, whilst at the same time taking in some new influences. The real beauty of this record is the way it manages to combine sounds from a number of different eras into a cohesive whole and still not sound like anything that came before it. If I didn't know Broadcast and listened to this album blind, I doubt I would be able to make an accurate guess at the decade in which it was made.

This record reminds me of different aspects of Birmingham, but mainly in a psychogeographic way. As some of you may know, I have a nostalgic fascination with the old architecture of Birmingham, particularly from the late-1980s/early-1990s when I first lived here, and centred around the old Bull Ring, of which I have recently built up a large collection of photographs. "Tender Buttons" is the perfect soundtrack when browsing through these pictures. The harsh rhythms of the title track and "I Found The F" remind me of the maze of subways and the bleak grey stone landscape, the way many people who have never actually been here imagine the entire city to look.









The album also includes the moving "Tears In The Typing Pool", which acts as a wonderful contrast to the abrasiveness of the previous tracks.



"Tender Buttons" requires many plays before it reveals all of its hidden depths, but ultimately it's the Broadcast album that I keep returning to.

As I have already said in a separate online discussion this weekend with one of my regular readers, at times like this I am reminded that I am lucky to live in a city with so much innovative musical talent. The last month or so has been particularly tragic, as we have already lost Mick Karn, Captain Beefheart and Peter Christopherson. Let's hope that 2011 does not continue in the same way.

Expressway To Yr Skull

SONIC YOUTH / THE POP GROUP – Manchester Academy

And so for my final gig of the year, I’ve decided to head north and catch one of just two UK shows that Sonic Youth are playing. I’m starting to get concerned that the recent snow will prevent the New York noise merchants and their vast collection of guitars from getting here, but I needn’t have worried as they are clearly made of stronger stuff than us Brits. Even with NYC suffering its worst blizzard in 60 years, they manage to turn up on time with seemingly more equipment than ever. Certain UK public transport providers could learn a thing or two from these guys.

The show opens with recently reformed Bristol post-punks The Pop Group. 30 years ago, their abrasive punk with jazz tinges left them as true outsiders and I suspect this is the largest venue they’ve ever played. They have always been one of the least accessible bands in my collection, one that I’m always wary of lending to friends for fear of what it will do to their eardrums. Tonight, with their greying hair and smart white shirts, they look more like respectable middle-aged men or possibly professional jazz musicians than anarchist punks. A couple of the songs definitely feature virtuoso flourishes that might not have gone down too well in the seedy bars where they originally played. However, Mark Stewart is still a compelling frontman and behind the well-dressed exterior, they have retained all of the anger that made the band famous in their short-lived first incarnation.

When I first discovered The Pop Group, in my student days, I thought I was being rebellious just by listening to something so obviously unconventional. It was really just the sound that attracted me; I paid little attention to the lyrics or the philosophy behind them. It’s easy to say now that the band were very much of their time. They formed in an era when a Conservative government had just been elected and race riots were common in many of our big cities… so, not much different from today, really. With stories of corruption in government and big business never out of the news, songs such as “Forces of Oppression” and “We Are All Prostitutes” seem more relevant now than ever.

I can imagine how The Pop Group might have been an influence on Sonic Youth, who clearly have a lot of respect for them. They’ve been given an hour to play (quite a long time for a support act) but perhaps more surprisingly, they get an encore. They return to play “She Is Beyond Good And Evil”, possibly the one song that everyone has been waiting for. I’m not certain how long this reunion is intended to continue or if they have any plans for a new album, but I for one would be interested in some new songs as it would be good to hear their thoughts on the current state of the world.



I’ve seen Sonic Youth countless times over the last 20 years and, if I’m honest, I might not have headed all this way tonight if I hadn’t been curious to see The Pop Group. I know a few people who have said they can no longer be bothered with Sonic Youth shows, because they’ve seen them enough times already, and it can sometimes be a self-indulgent mess.

Tonight, I’m worried that this could turn into another of those shambolic nights, as it takes them a couple of songs to get into the swing. But by the time they get to “Tom Violence” (the third or fourth song, I’ve lost count by now) they are fully focussed and deliver one of the best sets I’ve seen them do in years. They play for almost two hours, completely ignoring the venue’s 11pm curfew, and never seem to slow down. This intensity, sometimes lacking in their live shows, is due in part to the presence of Pavement’s Mark Ibold, who has been added for the last couple of tours as a second bassist. This frees up Kim Gordon to handle vocals on more of the songs and also gives the band a fuller sound as Kim occasionally plays an extra guitar.

The band’s name seems more appropriate tonight than ever. It’s hard to believe we’re watching a group of people in their fifties. Kim in particular still looks amazing and displays a ridiculous amount of energy for someone who is 57. I will be grateful if I can jump around half as much when I am her age.

Steve Shelley is the youngest member, only by a couple of years, and his intense drumming for the whole of the set should be held up as an example to anyone wanting to learn the drums today. Lee Ranaldo is perhaps the only one who looks his age, coming across as quite dignified with his grey hair. But he is probably the least conventional in terms of music, providing many short bursts of improvised noise throughout the set.

I’m not really sure what I can say about Thurston Moore. I know I have often been accused of looking (and dressing) much younger than I am, but here we have a 52-year-old who could still pass as a 20-year-old student. He does not seem to have aged (or bought any new clothes!) since I first saw him live when I was a student. I would like to know what his secret is, as I am now determined to continue looking youthful until I’m at least as old as he is now. I guess that most people regard Thurston as the band’s figurehead, and he also offers a fair amount of improvised guitar abuse tonight, but from where I’m standing at least, it seems to be Lee who takes the lead in this.

The set, as is often the case with Sonic Youth shows, is centred around the latest album - by the end of the night, we’ve had ten of the twelve songs from “The Eternal”. I bought the vinyl version of this, with its bonus MP3s for early purchasers, but that was months ago and I’ve forgotten half of the tracks already. I needn’t have worried, as it all comes back to me as soon as each song starts up and I notice, for the first time in many cases, that there are actually a few potential SY classics on this album. “What We Know” sounds amazing, and could easily have been a dancefloor favourite if this record had been out when I was still DJing regularly. Dedicating “Antenna” (with its refrain of “radios play nothing when she's far away…”) to Ari Up is particularly touching, and will forever change what this song means to me.

Although this is largely about my re-acquaintance with “The Eternal”, it’s also satisfying to hear a few older songs. As well as the aforementioned “Tom Violence”, the main set features two songs (“Catholic Block” and “Stereo Sanctity”) from 1987’s “Sister”. This was the album that brought the band to my attention, and is still probably my favourite SY album today. It came out at a time when I couldn’t afford to buy records at the rate I do now and I mainly discovered new music via illicit tapes passed to me by a friend at school. “Sister”, along with JAMC’s “Psychocandy”, introduced me to the idea that noise and melody could be combined in the same song, and my tastes have never been the same since.

I imagine that many of the crowd (which mainly seems to consist of 30-something males) would probably choose “Daydream Nation” rather than “Sister” as their favourite album, if the constant shouts for “Teen Age Riot” and “Silver Rocket” are anything to go on. The band would perhaps not play anything that obvious, but they do meet us halfway by giving us “The Sprawl” and “’Cross The Breeze” for the first encore. This is the only time I’ve seen the audience erupt into anything resembling the front few rows of a traditional rock concert. Until this point, the band have been far more energetic than the crowd.

For the second encore, there is another “Sister” track (“White Cross”) before the thrilling chaos of “Death Valley ‘69” reminds us of their No Wave roots. This climaxes in a tremendous wall of noise, with Lee attacking his guitar strings using god-knows-what. By the end, his instrument is almost certainly in an unusable state so I don’t think anybody will be expecting another encore.

This was actually one of my favourite types of set, although I may not have admitted it before the show, where rather than playing the songs I want, they play a set I never would have chosen (such as the whole of the latest record) but it leads me to discover hidden joys in those songs. Often the best way to appreciate or rediscover a neglected album is to hear it played live. I had “The Eternal” on my iPod all the way back from Manchester and wondered why I didn’t listen to it more when it came out. OK, I expect you all know the answer to that – probably because of the huge number of other records I would have bought in the same week.

The main thing I have realised from this show is just how important Sonic Youth are but also how much I take them for granted. They have always been there, never really changing, and many of their albums were soundtracks to important moments in my life, bringing back memories if I play them now. Yet they would probably not be one of the first bands that spring to mind if asked to compile a list of my favourite acts. If I make one new year’s resolution, it should perhaps be that even while I continue to investigate new music, I should not neglect the old friends who helped to develop my tastes. I hope I can watch Sonic Youth play another set like this in another ten or twenty years.

When everything's dark, keeps us from the stark reality

THE DARK RETREAT - Home recordings

The Dark Retreat are a duo consisting of Kaytee DeWolfe and Wayne Page, who were two-fifths of the now-defunct Birmingham act Bi-Polar Baby. They are currently unsigned and have nothing that you can buy, but they have created their own page on the Bandcamp website with ten songs available to listen to - only streaming, I'm afraid, and not downloadable. Kaytee and Wayne recorded these songs in their mini-studio at home, but the quality is better than a lot of music that's recorded in a professional environment. The number of songs may well have increased by the time you check the website; their recent work rate has been quite impressive, particularly when you consider that they've just had their first child in between recording all these songs.

Perhaps the best way to describe the band is to use their own preferred term of "rock noir". Although The Dark Retreat don't exactly sound like these acts, I'm sure their music will appeal to fans of P.J. Harvey, Nick Cave and the like. A couple of the tracks feature intricate guitar lines that sound, to me at least, like they could have come from a classic goth hit from around 1983. I also picked up a very subtle undercurrent of Depeche Mode, but it's nowhere near as prominent as I would have expected given that Kaytee has the DM logo tattooed on her arm. The Dark Retreat have been influenced not so much by Depeche Mode's sound as their attitude to songwriting. Listening to all ten tracks on offer, you will notice that the style changes from one song to the next in the same way that a DM gig easily switches from an all-out rocker to a Martin Gore ballad.

The songs themselves feature some very moving lyrics, which are thankfully displayed on the website. Most of them are sung by Kaytee and at times she hits such high notes that I need the printed copy to work out every word she sings. Perhaps the strangest in terms of subject matter is "Angel of Soho", a tribute of sorts to the recently-deceased artist Sebastian Horsley. You may recall that I saw him at a Current 93 gig earlier this year, not long before his untimely death, so I was surprised to find that anyone else had even heard of him, let alone written a song about him.

My favourite two tracks deal with more personal subject matter. "Infatuation", in particular, refers to a topic that will be familiar to many of us, and reading the lyrics, we will probably all try to tell ourselves that we're now too old and wise to get ourselves into that kind of mess. As Kaytee so accurately puts it at the end of the song, "The hardest thing's the walking away", which leads us nicely into the next track, "The Silence". I see this as the sequel to "Infatuation", as it deals with the unfortunate situation that arises when you do manage to walk away. This one is sung by Wayne, proving that he's more that just a great instrumentalist. The atmosphere created here reminds me of the Richard Hawley album I reviewed last year. It's something to be listened to alone, late at night, as you reflect on your past mistakes. As with some of Richard Hawley's songs, "The Silence" can be a difficult listen because it comes a little too close to a real-life experience of my own.

I'm aware that on these pages I have a tendency to write about music that is (a) made by my friends and (b) difficult to get hold of. I find it heartening that some of the best music I've found recently is written by people I know, who are doing it for their own enjoyment rather than for profit. I have already nagged the band about these songs being available in some format other than just streaming. I realise that I'm rapidly becoming a minority with my love of physical products, but perhaps if I can get a few more people interested then it will convince Kaytee and Wayne at least to make the songs downloadable. I'm assuming that the Bandcamp site provides some form of listening statistics to the people who uploaded the songs, so please get yourselves over there now and play a few of these tracks, so we can prove to The Dark Retreat that they have a bigger audience than they thought.

Black-Eyed Susan

PANDA SU - Sticks and Bricks EP
For me, the most enjoyable sets at the Moseley Folk Festival tend to be not the headline acts, who can at times be embarrassing, but the smaller artists who play earlier in the day. The best bands can often be found away from the main stage, in Ben Calvert's Bohemian Jukebox tent. Ben always invites a number of local songwriters, many of whom I know personally, so it's a pleasant place to relax in the middle of the day. He also manages to find one or two performers from further afield, and on the final day of this year's festival, Ben's excellent judgement introduced me to what has become my favourite new artist of 2010.
Panda Su is the project of Su Shaw, a young lady from Fife who started her musical career playing drums in a death metal band, if the biography in the folk festival programme is to be believed. There is no evidence of her satanic leanings in the delicate melodies that she served up at Moseley and also on this EP. She has been compared to freak folk acts such as CocoRosie and Diane Cluck, but I am particularly reminded of Cat Power. Many of you will be aware that I have pretty much abandoned Cat Power in recent years, as I find her more soulful, full band sound hard to relate to. Panda Su manages to capture the sparse sound of Cat Power's much-ignored earlier albums.

Su seems to have something of a panda fixation, and for her live show she often uses black and white make-up to transform herself into one of the giant bears. Older rock fans amongst you might also suggest that she looks like a member of the classic line-up of Kiss, but I don't think that's intentional. Listening closely to the four songs on offer here, I can see the relevance of the panda. Many people consider a panda to be cute and fluffy, but it actually has sharp teeth and would rip you to shreds if you tried to stroke it. Su's fragile tunes seem similarly pretty at first, but dig beneath the surface and there is a constant dark theme of self-doubt and dwelling on past events. Su seems particularly concerned with former friends and lovers, and I think it's likely that if she ever runs into one of these people who mistreated her then she will also rip them apart with her panda-like teeth.

Although very different in sound, I can't help thinking of the Richard Hawley record that I reviewed about a year ago. Just as with Hawley's lyrics, Su has a knack of writing about real life with amazing honesty but also manages to be just vague enough that any listener could apply it to their own experiences. One of the most poignant lines comes on "Moviegoer", where Su mourns that "the problem with myself is that I long to be someone else". This sums up many people's problems and perhaps explains why we all bury ourselves in music to escape from the stressful things in life. It also makes it clear that Su, and everyone else, has just the same problems as me, so there's really not much point in dwelling on recent events, wishing things had turned out differently or longing to be someone else. I think anyone listening to the EP will be able to relate to that general point while also applying some of the other lyrics to very specific aspects of their own lives.

This is one of those rare releases where I can't pick a favourite song because I love all of them equally. Here are several of the tracks from the EP performed live - you'll need to turn the sound up, for the second one in particular, as these are quiet recordings:





This EP is quite hard to track down, but you can get it from Su directly via her MySpace page. There were several songs in her live set that are not included on the EP, so I hope it won't be long before her next release. Until then, I'm going to keep playing these four tracks until my neighbours are sick of hearing them.

It's hard to be engaging when the things you love keep changing

THE WEDDING PRESENT - Holmfirth Picturedrome

It may be a coincidence, but The Wedding Present are playing in Holmfirth in the same week that the final episode of "Last Of The Summer Wine" (which is filmed here) is being broadcast. I can't imagine many Wedding Present followers, or David Gedge himself, being fans of the show, but it is possible to draw comparisons between the band and your grandma's favourite sitcom. Both have been around for an impressive length of time with roughly the same fanbase for their entire existence, both have lost nearly all of their original members and even hardcore fans would probably admit that neither are as good as they used to be.

This is the first time I've visited Holmfirth and you may be surprised to hear that despite the sleepy image depicted on TV, it has a decent-sized music venue with a variety of punk and indie bands playing every week. The Picturedrome, as the name suggests, is a beautiful old cinema. As it was designed for showing films, the view of the stage is good wherever you stand in the venue. However, perhaps the best aspect of the Picturedrome is the unlimited supply of meat pies given away free at the bar.

Before The Wedding Present take to the stage, we are treated to the support band, which is none other than… Cinerama, David Gedge's other project. I'm not certain of the regular line-up of Cinerama, but for tonight at least, it contains exactly the same people as The Wedding Present, although a couple of them swap positions between the support and headline slots. This suggests that Gedge was either trying to save money by not paying a second act, or it got to the day of the gig and he realised he'd forgotten to book a support band at all. I've not really listened to Cinerama beyond their first album, but I suppose what they play tonight could be classed as "Wedding Present lite". It's pleasant enough to get us in the mood for the main act, without any of the songs sticking in my head after they've finished.

The Wedding Present are here to mark the 20th anniversary of their "Bizarro" album by playing it in its entirety, just as they did with "George Best" three years ago. "Bizarro" was the band's major label debut, but despite this, contained some of their noisiest moments, and there has always been a close battle between this and "George Best" to qualify as the fans' favourite.

As with the "George Best" tour, the featured album is left until the end of the show, with a handful of (slightly) newer numbers first. The set opens with "Corduroy" and "Dare", both from the following album "Seamonsters". The next two or three songs make little impression on me. One of them, I'm fairly certain, was the mid-1990s song "Go Man Go" and I'm guessing the others were either new or from the last two albums, which I have but never listen to.

The contrast between new and old Wedding Present is apparent as soon as they kick into "Brassneck", the opening number from "Bizarro". The band were always known for Gedge's trademark 100mph guitar thrashing, but there has been little scope for that on the last three or four albums. Tonight, he shows he still has it in him and at times, he seems to be playing even faster than on the original record. The highlights for me are the songs that are perhaps my favourites from that album anyway; "Brassneck", "Take Me", where his guitar playing makes up about 90% of the song, and "Bewitched", where he shows that he can play a slow song and make it interesting.



The set ends, as expected, with "Be Honest" and then Gedge informs those who didn't know already that "we don't do encores." I have no problem with this; I prefer it if the band get to the point and then go, rather than keeping us hanging around wondering if they're coming back for the third time. I also feel tonight that any other songs played after the "Bizarro" material would be a bit of an anti-climax.

So instead, I'm left to reflect on The Wedding Present's role in my life. While the last 40 minutes of tonight's show were excellent, I've also been reminded how I don't really need any Wedding Present material from the past 10 years or so. While I would obviously not expect Gedge to have remained in the same place since 1990, the problem from my point of view is that he has mellowed just a bit too much. This is apparent in both his writing and his delivery. The early Wedding Present releases were filled with anger and bitterness, and provided the soundtrack to every failed relationship I've had. It seemed that Gedge wrote most of these songs about his own experiences. Now that he's older and happily married with a house in California, it's probably not reasonable to expect him to continue writing about betrayal and teenage angst. Unfortunately, many of his newer songs don't seem to be about much at all. It's as if he has picked words that sound nice together without worrying about how the listener will relate to them. Thankfully there are not many of those songs tonight, but I'm reminded that I have three Wedding Present albums too many at home.

This is always something of a dilemma for me: just what should I expect from long-running bands? As always, I'd welcome any readers' thoughts on this. Would you prefer your favourite band to make one or two classic albums then disappear and leave you with the memories? Or to continue turning out a constant stream of releases that never come up to the standard of the first few? Perhaps some of the people in Holmfirth tonight have matured with Gedge and are at a similar place in their lives, so they can relate to his newer songs more easily than I can. I'm aware that I have a tendency to cling on to an artist's early material, which I guess they're not especially keen for me to do or they wouldn't bother writing the new songs. As Gedge says himself in "Brassneck", "it was different then and that's all in the past."

If they keep to their recent touring pattern, I expect The Wedding Present to be back in 2011 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Seamonsters". That may well be the last time I ever see them live.