There are times when the only way to initially describe something is through the use of free association, as many a performing wine taster will probably testify.

Old Colours make the kind of music that could be seen as being of such a descriptive vintage, which can only be a good thing, because if they are creating feelings through association, as a by product of their creative output and craft, then they must surely be getting it a hundred percent right-shouldn't they? 

Thus, to put no finer point on it, Old Colours sound like the joy of chasing a rapidly deflating balloon, around a large room, when you're a kid; of smiling at old memories, as you run your fingers over dusty note books; they're a steaming hot, sugery cup of tea, drunk with a hearty slice of orange, apricot and brandy sponge, while it pelts it with rain outside, and you lounge in a big leather chair, engrossed in a good book; or opening  an ornate looking box, and being suddenly taken aghast by a plume of gently escaping butterflies.

At this moment in time, the company of Zoe Mead, Daniel June, Jamie Warren and Loic Wall, have been trading under the name of Old Colours since 2011, but have been making music together for many years, a factor most evident  in the quirky intricacies that can be heard in their songs, pointing towards a gang  who have not only individually honed their respective crafts, but have come to fully understand how each fellow musician works to bring their essence to the whole, rendering songs that sound like they came together intuitively, and organically, rather than through anything close to contrivance.

They are a band who assault the senses, in a very filmic way; with a nod towards that sort of driving folk music that is de rigeur, in certain circles, these days, and with an aural aesthetic  not too dissimilar to (recent 'Dead Oceans' signing) Night Beds. 

Notable song Giants is four minutes twenty nine seconds of profuse loveliness, backed by almost tribal sounding drums, sometimes chugging along in the background, like a steam train running over sleepers; occasionally dropping out to rhythmic drum rim taps, and markable floor tom interjections- or disappearing altogether-accompanied by floaty lullaby xylophone notes, all of which amble playfully around carefully poised guitar sketches, and non menacing, barely there shadowy 'vibes', which converse with one note keyboard reflections and minimal bass lilts; reminiscent of aspects of the work of Brian Eno, notably his collaboration with early nineties shoe gazing band 'Slowdive', but also like listening to the voices of nature, through an open window at night, while you're in that comfy place a stones throw from sleep. This heady cocktail lovingly underpins , and punctuates, a clear, sweet, but angsty,female vocal (curtesy of Mead), and is reminiscent of a female Nick Drake with light traces of Joanna Newsom. 

There's not a stick of bubble gum in sight, from this clan-though their sound could be described as being poppy, and also extremely radio friendly, though one could argue that, although positive for their career, it would be a shame to dilute the magic of their songs by over exposure. Everyone knows what that is like; fall head over heels for a tune, that is played on heavy rotation-and, after a while, the fairy dust can wear off. 

There are definite parallels to Stevie Nicks era Fleetwood Mac in The Morning After - a rolling, breezy little number, with a roly poly, 'pa pum pa pum pum' bass line (that could be on the whistling set list of milk men across the land), hatched abreast 'swing-your- hips' drums and guitar shapes that Zoe Mead's (wordy) vocals take pasture within.

Since their inception, Old Colours have been far from lazy, performing at a host of festivals, across the kingdom,  including  2000 Trees Festival, OneFest and Fieldview, as well as doing a number of gigs, supporting well known illuminates,including Turin Breaks, and being tipped by BBC Introducing as the band to watch for 2012! 

Snuggling in a warm blanket,with a hot drink, a pack of menthol cigarettes - and the wind blowing a tempest outside; one laments that there are a million and one places where the band could be, this time next year-both in terms of their music, and their career. 

After making a three track EP,  and working with notable producer, Jim Sclavunos ( Primal Scream, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Sonic Youth, The Horrors), what is next? Hopefully, a full blooded album-and soon! 

Review by Sam Slattery

More on Old Colours

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Slip into a rustic bottle of something Scottish, Russian or French: bejewel with ice if you pick the Scottish or Russian options-then pour over some 'Jag Harps'. 

Sit back and...well, the music says it all!

In a culture where everyone and everything, including your toaster, is telling you how you should live your life, who am I to order you to relax? 

Other serving suggestions: 

Consume in liberal quantities,when all the bars have closed. Listen to them on your head phones, as you're ambling home - not with the one you love, today-but dreaming of a warmer, brighter tomorrow! 

Alternately, save for the wee small hours of the morning, following a big night out, when your vision is blurred through tiredness and intoxication, and you're lounging around talking random rubbish with mates. 

Or when you've scaled the assault course of a long, hard day at work and your mind and body feel like they've been shunted between rock and hard place. 

Sit back, close your eyes, and let this soul food for the ears, embrace your brain like a comfort blanket, and transport you to a place where your thoughts can feast, rather than vegging out in front of the variety of reality TV dross that we pay our license fees for these days. 

Recently, I put on some of their music, when I was at my desk at work. I had listened to 'Jag Harps' before, sparingly, but at that moment, I had an epiphany! 

It was one of those mornings when returning to bed would have been lovely. I felt cold, ill, uninspired-and sick of heart. Within seconds of putting it on, the first track I listened to gave me a warm hug, like an old friend, or lover, and I started to feel a little better inside. 

'Jag Harps' currently specialise in instrumental music that could be described, most notably, as jazz inspired with gentle hints of dance, electronica and light splashes of glitch techno. Many of their tracks are fecund with flourishes of flamenco guitar, and squiggles of restrained electric axe noodling, burly, smooth bass, and a gentle teasing of horns (mainly trumpet and sax), which would probably have some jazz traditionalists and purists quivering, angrily, with the sheer nerve of it! 

But not being a purist, by any stretch of the imagination - or too much of a fascist from this quarter, I don't care. I love stuff like this! 

I suppose one direct comparison could be Ninja tune's 'The Cinematic Orchestra', a band I was obsessed with a few years back, but with a vibe that is a lot sunnier and clear headed. There are also hints of 'Amon Tobin' and 'Vertigo'/ 'Goodbye Country-Hello Nightclub'-era 'Groove Armada', in the sound. 

Conceived initially as a bedroom project, when producer Graham Rutherford (production, guitars, bass and synths), an experienced live musician, started fiddling about with some musical ideas at home, 'Jag Harps' began to take shape as a band when Rutherford joined forces with drummer Garry Kroll, and the pair spent a number of months jamming, and coming up with new ideas-as well as building upon those that Rutherford had been beavering away at. 

These eventually resulted in recordings being made, over a three day period in a studio in Bristol, with session musicians from Bristol and London joining the party (including Frederico Parodi on keys, Daniel Hillman on sax, Simon Dobson on trumpet-and Portishead live bassist Jim Barr) which Graham then took home to tinker with, infusing with extra electronic bells and whistles, before committing to 'wax'.

(Since the recording, there have been slight changes in line up, with the following musicians filling roles: Nguyen Green taking over on keys, Graham Dalzell playing double bass, and Adam Campbell triggering samples from Ableton Live ). 

Each track, on their 'Theta Waves EP' (which they released in November 2011) is, for want of a better word, delicious; a delight to behold with the ears and the mind, and a lovely panacea for when you're feeling a bit wrong. So imagine what the effect is when you're feeling a bit right, or a bit normal! 

Jumping up and down, and flexing your unmentionables on the dance floor is a lot of fun, I know - but this isn't an arena that you would find 'Jag Harps' frequenting. 

They're really more suited, I would argue, to an intimate venue, because this is a band who deserve your full attention, maybe with the aid of a few civilised drinks and in the company of good friends, rather than as a soundtrack to your drunken wild side. 

After all, I honestly don't think that 'Jag Harps', in their current incarnation would ever stir up a mosh pit! But then again, why would they want to? 

Watch this space for more from 'Jag Harps' who, as well as having an EP and a few live shows under their belt, are set to take 2013 by storm, with more gigging, another EP and possibly an album in the pipeline!

Review by Sam Slattery

Jag Harps!

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'The Bluebeat Arkestra' are certainly a positive force to be reckoned with, unleashing a sound that never ceases to surprise! Just when you think you know what they're about, you come across another track from their repertoire, which changes that perception a little bit more and makes it wonderfully difficult to musically pin them down-which is no bad thing. It almost guarantees that the next song you'll hear by them isn’t going to be like the last!

It is more than crystal clear that this is a band with real passion for their craft, a vibe I picked up from the first time I heard them and one that I challenge even the most hardened musical cynic not to appreciate in some way. 

With a sound alchemically honed from a bottomless melting pot of eclectic musical backgrounds, styles and influences including, but not exclusive of, twists of funk, reggae, soul, hip hop, disco, dance, indie rock, and much much more. Each tune you lend your ears too oozes an aura that convinces the listener that every member of this band is one hundred and fifty per cent on the pulse!

Singer Hayley T's visceral, honey coated voice does, on occasion, remind me of Louise Wener from 90s band 'sleeper', notably on the song 'Waves', which is a choppy number amply spread with rockish guitars and reminiscent of 'The Cranberries' in their more rowdy moments.

On the track 'Move On' (which I confess to being a bit addicted to at the moment) - a soulful disco inflected little ditty, her vocals possess echoes of Dusty Springfield and Joni Mitchell, in their timbre (expressing clever, hooky lyrics over a keen mixture of funky bass, horns, guitars and drums ) and, when played directly before or after - 'Waves', highlight what a multi-talented, versatile vocalist ' The Bluebeat Archestra' have in Miss T and one who is more than capable of delicately wrapping her pipes around the diverse platter that the rest of the team cook up.

Another element which both adds and complements the sound, is the rap styling of keji Adedeji, who, of the internet clips I have seen of the collective performing, comes into her own live. Spitting energetic bars which work harmoniously, not only in unison with Hayley T’s vocals (on the tracks which they feature on together), but with the musings of the rest of the band as a whole; not taking over, like a lot of rap has a habit of doing in such circumstances - which is a refreshing rarity to find and, particularly on the recordings, often remaining subtle and understated though by no means becoming whimsical! 

Straight out of Birmingham, 'The Bluebeat Arkestra' are a seven piece unit who don't suffer fools gladly, and believe in bypassing the fickle world of large record companies, yes-no men, and uppity cool club scenesters, in order to bring you their own special, unique brand of music.

Already making waves beyond the boundaries of Brum, not only with the launch of their own ‘Hustle!’ record label earlier this year and the release of their Brewbox EP - but also with recent forays onto the festival circuit, both at home and in Europe (including a nation-wide tour for Oxjam). They have also supported notable acts such as 'Little Dragon' and hope to release a full album this coming year - so keep your ears peeled for that one!

All I can hope for, in the meantime, is that they play near me, soon - as I'm at a geographical disadvantage when it comes to seeing this band, or attending the club nights that they’re fond of holding quite regularly on their home turf. (From watching internet clips of the battalion playing live, notably their version of 'KernKraft 400’s dance hit 'Zombie Nation', I get the impression that a 'Bluebeat Archestra' gig is a lot of fun to be part of.)

I conclude, then, with a little (somewhat superficial) admission, and confess that before I had even played any of their music, it was the name that first attracted me to this band; an individual, original, quirky moniker which, I must say, accurately portrays the musical tour de force beyond. 

So roll their name around in your mouth, for a beat or two...

'The Bluebeat Arkestra'

Fall for the name...

'The Bluebeat Arkestra' 

Then be captivated by the band......and seduced by the music!

Review by Sam Slattery

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Low Signal

Amazed was I-and slightly aghast- that ‘Low Signal’ (at the time of writing) appear to be but one lone ranger; a Matthew Gasparic, from London, according to the info on their Sound Cloud page. I was also mightily impressed, considering the full racket that ‘Low Signal’ makes!

When I first wrapped my listening gear around ‘Low Signal’s’ tracks on Sound Cloud, I closed my eyes and could almost visualise the band; how each member looked, acted, played their instrument, jammed with the rest of the gang, on stage; I could smell the chemistry between them, down to the sweaty towel wrapped around the drummers shoulders- everything! A whole rock and roll circus flashed into my mind, rather than the image of a sole musician, huddled in front of his computer with a small arsenal of instruments close at hand.

Hearing the two compositions on Sound Cloud, ’I wanna rock you’  and ’ Inner senses’, it is clear that ‘Low Signal’ make good, solid, no nonsense, well-constructed indie rock .No (apparent) sampling of cement mixers, or experimental twists on the dub step genre, make up the portfolio then-at least, not on the two tracks here.

What shines through, though, is that this is clearly a sound that comes from someone who is not only very talented, but loves music- probably to beyond the point of obsession.

Another element, that captivates me slightly more than anything else about the music, though, is Gasparic’s voice; the sound and manner of which isn’t too dissimilar to that of ‘Primal Scream’s’ Bobby Gillespie.

Of the tracks I have heard, there is something wonderfully uncomfortable about how the elegantly wasted sounding vocals snake their way across rhythmic guitar lines, and between (guitar) solo wig outs, which all saunter above tight rolling bass and drums, (but mainly in the last third of the songs, with regards to the wig outs, that bring each composition to an almost anthemic close).

The lyrics themselves are, to me, slightly offbeat, slightly catchy, slightly poppy- and slightly throw away. Far more random than directly literal, they seem to have been crafted to fit abreast the music, rather than the other way round-and, coupled with the vocal deliverance, work well with the tuneful whole, to do what, in my mind, good music does best-which is to ignite the cerebral cortex with atmospheric imagery and feeling, as your ear holes hoover up the whole sonic plethora!

Ultimately, listening to this band makes me wanna skive off work for a couple of days, meet up with me mates, get exceedingly drunk, smoke fags and stand around in a hip pair of shades aiming to look like I'm drop dead cool - trying to impress girls, and getting kicked out of indie clubs for dancing like The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from ‘Ghostbusters’, convinced that I’m guitar music’s answer to John Travolta.

Surprisingly, this project currently seems like a really low key affair. At the moment, ‘Low Signal’ have less than a handful of followers on Sound Cloud- and, unless I’m mistaken, scant exposure anywhere else!

This is all a bit of a travesty, really, and begs for a few hungry questions to be readily answered. Is there an EP? Is there an album? Has Mr Gasparic constructed an exciting live band-or is he going to get one together to play live with? If so, are they gigging-and where?

In short, ‘Low Signal’- I want to hear more!-and in spades, now that I’ve heartily consumed a fill of the two tantalising scoops currently on offer!

Review by Sam Slattery

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Who-and what-are ‘Nothing But Aces’?

This was a question that I pondered, after spending a little while listening to their music. I had a flick through the internet, and found out that they were evidentially a band, convened by a producer type in his late twenties. I could find little more than that, which only served to heighten my interest in their music.

Don’t approach their oeuvre thinking that you’re going to be able to lay back on your sofa, close your eyes, and be embraced by gentle grooves and whale noises. Instead, imagine that your room is full of seven year olds, blitzed on Panda Pops, and you have more of an idea what you’re dealing with! The music is energetic, fast, takes no prisoners-and is constantly demanding your attention!

Essentially, ‘Nothing But Aces’ make epic, no nonsense, electro dance music, with a definite nod towards industrial, heavy rock elements, and with a sound that suggests a band who appear to have an unconditional love and appreciation of 90s dance music. Indeed, I think when first hearing the songs posted on SoundCloud, Nothing But Aces reminded me of Manchester band ‘Jesus Jones’, mixed with rave-era act ‘Altern8’, and with echoes of ‘The Prodigy’. (Some of the selection of tunes I heard featured the luscious vocals of Shabin Bader, probably most notable for her vocals on Prodigy’s 1997 smash ‘Slap My Bitch Up’).

Each track is underpinned by a rock steady saddle of sturdy bass and beats, above which ride all manner of sonic delights, including heavy guitars, which are sometimes tampered with to within an inch of their lives, keyboard signatures and samples, and often really interesting additional percussive elements, notably in the instrumental ‘Nothing But Aces’ where, approximately one minute sixteen seconds into the composition, what appears to be a sweet tabla sound is dropped into the mix -disappears after a time- and returns again a minute and a half later, bringing a welcome little pick me up to the whole exciting elixir, and another sonic excuse to swing yer pants!

The titles and lyrics, of some of the songs, suggest a socio-political lilt- and one that serves to add extra drama to the whole cacophony.

Thus, it maybe seems like a flippant thing to say but, for me, this is music that would find most appreciation with people tanked up in the dance tent of a festival, or a sweaty club; or any other arena where the clientele are looking for excitement beyond the piss poor R’n’B, hip-pop infused rubbish that appears to pollute the airwaves of many a provincial dance floor, these days.

Wiping the sweat from my brow, after bopping about my house with ‘Nothing But Aces’ blasting through my head phones-and with a smile on my face that The Cheshire Cat would be jealous of, I ponder what is going to happen next? Are ‘Nothing But Aces’ gigging? If so, where can I source some tickets? 

Review by Sam Slattery

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