"All On Me" by Luna Kiss

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Today sees the release of the latest Luna Kiss single which has the title of "All On Me". Hot on the heels of last month's "Lust For Blood" and February's "Operate", this is the sound of a band in a hurry to make up time lost: and I mean that literally. The songs rush at you with an exuberance wholly in keeping with such an exciting live band.

Unlike its two predecessors, "All On Me" is less obviously surgical in theme (unless you count in the clinical precision of the playing) and the gore quotient is limited to the emotions.

In fact the over riding idea is that of compassion: of positivity and of communal support for each other. The mood is still very dynamic and hits you square on, but this song has a sense (at least in certain passages) of holding back to create strong contrasts within the track & enhances both the power & the discernibility of the lyrics.

One thing I think might be worth saying too about this trio of Luna Kiss singles is how well they reflect their live sound: the key USP which first attracted my attention & I imagine everyone else's too. It's hard enough to do this for any artist, but when your style is based so heavily on excitement (and how do you record that easily?) and powerful playing which comes across more readily at concert rather than headphone volume levels, it's a big ask but I feel the band seem to have cracked that particular challenge.

The last two singles also had eye catching videos to accompany them: in completely different styles too. I gather one is coming for "All On Me", so as they say, you' better watch this space.

You can hear "All On Me" too on the "Hot Music Live Presents" Spotify playlist via this link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5FjGYjhwzcZShIsnPOA7m9?si=edd9fc0eaacf4289

"Obvious" by Jake Rizzo featuring Hannah Woof

Photo: Emilié Cotterill

Double good news for the "Hot Music Live" community as not only does Jake Rizzo have a brand new single called "Obvious" out today, but it's a collaboration with Hannah Woof: indeed it was jointly written remotely during first lockdown

We often cover each artist individually: most recently Jake's "Glad To Say" in November and Hannah's "My Phone" last July and both is a featured "Hot Music Live Presents" artist : Jake with "Try" and Hannah with "Sweet Talk", both on Volume Two. However neither has yet been seen as duetting, so it's one of those firsts which are always good to chronicle.

However I must admit that, although I admire & respect both & I knew them to be good friends, I had never considered that they might work together in this way. This has nothing to do with their abilities as performers: their voices are so good separately that blending them was bound to work. It was more to do with the writing. Each has been developing a strong individual voice as a composer (much to their credit & duly applauded via past reviews) and they have (at least as far as their releases to date have indicated) viewed the world around them from what appears to be quite distinct perspectives. How could they combine their visions into one without compromising their values?

Well you can tell where this is going can't you? Clearly they gave this some thought & tackled the issue in such a way that they were satisfied & consequently listeners can be too.

It's revealing that although a writing & performing collaboration, this is presented as a Jake single with Hannah as featured artist (Hannah's frequent associate Jack Arnold produces, Matt Cotterill mixed, Riley Knapp mastered & Emilié Cotterill of Transluceo created the artwork). The overall theme is more veered towards classic Jake territory (the general sense of abstraction & universality of experience being gleaned from specifics) and the arrangement is closer to his previous work. What Hannah brings to the feast not only adheres to her personal strengths & values but also rather neatly complements Jake's parts: she in contrast favours the personal & intimate over the broader contexts & she brings that delightful cutting edge that her own work has to this record: bringing both together actually makes for a song of contrasts yet completeness: a very fulfilled track. If you want a slightly over-egged Beatles analogy, Hannah plays the John Lennon to Jake's Paul McCartney perhaps.

All of which should not take anything away from the actual sound of the song. The two voices do blend most effectively together, through melodic moments both lighter & darker & even if you don't listen to the words (which is a shame given the work that's gone into them), you'll enjoy the feel of the whole: a grown up sounding piece about grown up ideas.

I don't know if the whole idea was as conceptually challenging to them as it was to me (they probably have far more imagination, so I guess not), but even so, they deserve much credit for going for it & making it work so well that you wonder if this will become an ongoing relationship.

You can hear "Obvious" too on the "Hot Music Live Presents" Spotify playlist via this link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5FjGYjhwzcZShIsnPOA7m9?si=edd9fc0eaacf4289

A catch up with Paul McLoone of The Undertones

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As reported earlier in this month, one of the world's favourite bands, The Undertones, are playing at the HMV Empire in Coventry on Saturday June 4^th, supported by Hugh Cornwell who had hits with his band The Stranglers as they too were hitting the big time in the same era.

It was therefore a great pleasure today to catch up with lead singer Paul McLoone ahead of the gig. Part of the pleasure was listening to someone so articulate & enthusiastic for what he & the band was doing: we spoke for over an hour & I only wish I could share with you the full transcript but that would make an article of pretty daunting length.

My initial question was what is pretty standard for 2022: how have the band come through COVID19?

Paul's response set the tone for what followed: something of an outpouring of enthusiasm for getting back out playing which surely in itself reflects the frustrations of not being able to do so: and indeed his admission that there were times when they questioned "is this it? Are we done?". He feels that getting back out playing has "reignited" their love of what they do , made them even more appreciative of how lucky they are, how much they enjoy it  & focused their attention more on the band against the background of all the other things they are involved in.  They are also very aware of and grateful to the audiences coming to see them, especially given the background of the continuing aspects of the pandemic. He says he is conscious of having a smile on his face & that they must never take playing for granted. They are certainly looking forwards to playing the home of Two Tone: he feels that although very different in sound, what The Undertones do & what Two Tone did come from similar places: they have played recently with the Neville Staple Band and the audiences appreciated both bands.

I wanted to know specifically, how drummer Billy Doherty is now as he was taken ill during a recent short UK tour? The good news is that he's absolutely fine: over the heart scare which happened just before going on stage in Newcastle & resulted in a trip to hospital & back to full fitness. Paul reports that he's "100%... firing on all cylinders… loving being out there… really really glad to be playing"* He also paid tribute to Kevin Sharkey who deputised for Billy at short notice for the gigs immediately afterwards.

I couldn't get very far into a conversation with a Derry musician without asking about "Derry Girls" (in which the band's "Teenage Kicks" quite rightly makes an appearance, albeit a version Paul considers "heavy metal" and reminiscent of how the group might have played it before they recorded it). Paul finds watching it "..slightly surreal.. Derry is itself very much a character.." and beyond the great humour & poignancy he sees in it, feels it is important to allude to "..some of the tragic episodes which were unfolding in the North.." during the period in which the show is set and is particularly pleased how it covers the signing of the Good Friday Agreement with its high level of public support in the context of present day events which are unfolding so he finds it "..all very timely that we should reflect upon the Good Friday Agreement…"  Though he did wish more of the accents were actually from the city. If you look closely, you can apparently spot Paul's son in a scene outside the shop, but sadly no band members appear.

In fact "Teenage Kicks" has very much evolved a life of its own (it figures in many "greatest song" lists & was famously John Peel's own favourite) and in March 700 Derry school children recorded a version for the "Walled City Passion" Festival. Paul reports the "huge impression" it had on the band. We had a long chat about the "resonance of that song which just reverberates… so it can be reinterpreted forty five years later in such a radically different way.. it's transcended its origins.. you can't have a critical view of it any more. It just IS " a song which John O'Neill wrote in an afternoon, which wasn't their biggest hit, wasn't on the first album (originally) and nearly didn't make it onto their debut EP.

How did they come to have Hugh Cornwell as a support: his style is so different from theirs? Equally over the years the band have played with other bands such as Joy Division with much darker songs to their own. Paul is "looking forwards to seeing him again" and as a "..huge Joy Division fan has always been impressed that the band played with them". He feels the "punk/post-punk /New Wave, whatever you want to call it" is a "very broad church… very diverse… a lot from that era tends to be a lot darker than what we normally do.. our dark moments are kind of disguised .. they are there in the songs but you've got to dig a little deeper" and that fans of The Undertones & The Stranglers respected both bands and that likewise there was "a lot of affinity between the Two Tone kids (and Undertone fans).. it's not hard to work out the connection.. disaffection & a government which was completely ignorant of the concerns of that generation….. The punk fans appreciated The Undertones because they felt there was an authenticity: it's not affected…Having legends like that play with us is just a great honour. …Musically we're not the same at all but audience wise there's a big crossover".

Paul has been lead singer now for something like 23 years, far longer than his predecessor, yet it is Fergal Sharkey who so often is first thought of (for example the press went to him for a quote on the "Walled City Passion" event despite his not having written "Teenage Kicks" nor having not been an Undertone for forty years): is that a burden?

Paul was most gracious on this point, accepting that the hits which put the band into public consciousness & were commercially most successful were recorded with Fergal and of course acknowledging his distinctive voice which was a significant factor in their initial appeal. He is totally comfortable singing in his own style and is used to brushing off less informed comments: often from people unaware that the band reformed in 1999 with a new singer.

I personally think the two albums recorded with Paul (‘Get What You Need' and ‘Dig Yourself Deep') are superb & as great as those with Fergal (there is also a new compilation of the two out called ‘Dig What You Need') (indeed if you heard me interviewed by Doug Armstrong on his "Music From Big Pink" show on Welcombe Radio last month, you'll have heard me make this point & I selected "Here Comes The Rain" as one of my five songs  to prove this: a song Paul referred to as their "Jesus & Mary Chain song").  Paul was initially a little sceptical of the point of the compilation ("it was very much Damian's baby") but now is very pleased with it: Damian has "refreshed" the songs with subtle new mixes and the response has been excellent: there has been more press than with the original releases & sales have been good. The reviews too have been great & he's delighted that the songs are now getting appreciated.

We talked about plans for the band & Paul expressed a hope that they'd get new material out or maybe a live album, as they've never done that. They are looking forwards to playing Glastonbury 2022 for the first time in quite a number of years (though mysteriously on the Acoustic Stage: "I hope they're not expecting us to turn up with a couple of acoustic guitars & bongos because that won't be happening").

I must say that find the Paul McLoone Show's (which ran for 22 years on Today FM) Spotify playlist to be one of my favourites , so with that sort of oversight, I thought I'd pick his brain and ask if he's got any artists for our readers to listen out for? He enthused about the number of current great Irish artists emerging over the last five years particularly. He namechecked Fontaines DC, Just Mustard, MELTS, (he recommends their current ‘Maelstrom' album), Denise Chaila ("going to be a big thing very, very soon"), CMAT, For Those I Love ("so lyrical & poetic… quite remarkable") and Kojaque. What I especially appreciated was how Paul enthused about the current Irish music scene, with artists being unafraid to be themselves, not copy each other and being part of a collegiate wider community "without all having the same kind of haircut" unlike in his earlier days in the music business: a description uncannily like the one I keep on emphasising about the current Coventry & Warwickshire musical community: which suggests the tendency is thankfully widespread.

However in this respect, his longest response took the form of a tribute to the late Cathal Coughlan of Microdisney and Fatima Mansions fame who died very unexpectedly last week (Paul said that spookily he had been playing his music when he got the call) in which he waxed very enthusiastically about his recent work including as part of the duo Telefís (their album is ‘A hAon') and his recent solo ‘Song of Co-Aklan' ("simply tremendous") plus various work "which hasn't yet seen the light of day" including a collaboration with Jah Wobble. "A huge, huge loss… such a talent and a fierce uncompromising artist that we've lost… artists would do well in emulate him"

So there you have it: some of the many highlights of a long & fascinating conversation.

*Did you spot Paul's presumably subconscious Billy Doherty reference in that sentence?

The Undertones (John O'Neill, Damian O'Neill, Billy Doherty, Michael Bradley and Paul McLoone) are playing at the HMV Empire in Coventry (supported by Hugh Cornwell) on Saturday June 4^th. Tickets can be purchased from here:  https://www.eventim.co.uk/event/the-undertones-hmv-empire-14930110/

‘Dig What You Need' is available from all the usual sources.

The Paul McLoone Show Spotify playlist is here:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0PJUMQv1yk9zIy4vPGBsCA

'Wine Glass Filter' by Chessi O'Dowd

Way back in March 2020 I had just enjoyed the launch of the latest Izzie Derry EP and was looking forwards to the one for the Chessi O'Dowd ‘Wine Glass Filter' EP. It never happened & goes down in my personal history as the very first commitment to be crossed out due to lockdown. Which is a pity as I was very much enthused as to the prospect of the evening and the music. Meanwhile, over in Australia, Chessi was with family, anticipating the same event & preparing for it when the metaphorical axe fell. It must have been worse for her.....

So here we are more than two years later: though ready to roll out so long ago, ‘Wine Glass Filter' has never appeared, to my chagrin & that of others.

But now at last our wait is over, though not necessarily as we had imagined it. Chessi is releasing a full album of that name on Friday May 27^th , but it is emphatically not the EP as originally prepared nor even that record augmented by additional tracks.

You might well understand why an artist, thwarted in their original intentions, might take either option. However Chessi makes it very clear that she is not only a perfectionist when it comes to her music but someone also whose values are vitally important to her: which explains many of her lyrics but also why we are getting the record we are getting.

Thus additional songs have indeed been added to the March 2020 conception (and these are ones she feels better encapsulate the Chessi of 2022 compared with the 2020 version) but just as importantly, the album is more collaborative & sonically richer than ‘Wine Glass Filter #1' would have been.

The first version was a simpler affair, recorded "almost live". Now, instead we have the far from inconsiderable input of both Dan Sealey & Jack Blackman added to the mixture: both performing & Dan on the production & mixing side too.

By all accounts, the initial collaborations were tricky, carried out as they were in separate studios while physical proximity was not possible but Chessi being Chessi, she persevered in pursuit of the best possible setting for her songs & I understand latter parts of the process involved them being able to come together in the studio.

Of the eleven tracks now on ‘Wine Glass Filter', some such as "Forget It All", "Snowflake" and "The Pines" will be familiar to listeners from previous releases: though not necessarily in the versions on the album.  In addition, you'll hear "Stuck", "Falls To Me", "New Beginnings", "The Road", "Blue & Yellow", "Shoe Laces", "Midnight Caller" and "Counting Down".

"Snowflake" of course provides the album with its title and was in many respects the epitome of the tragedy of March 2020. Released as a single from the EP once it was clear that the parent record was on hold, it sent the clearest possible signals not only of her talent but where she stood. Whether she meant it as a signature tune, it immediately gained that status & proclaimed her qualities to the world, attracting plenty of radio play & critical acclaim.  What you lucky people get on the album is a version with a fuller arrangement: less stark & raw than the original but with none of its power nor integrity diminished. In fact, having heard the single version for over two years (you can also hear it on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Three'), this new one is a bonus treat for Chessi's fans, complementing what they already know so well & offering a slightly different angle. Equally 2019 single as "Forget It All" re-appears in another slightly lusher guise: though again it's about textures & nuances rather than major reworkings. It's great to revisit an already fine artefact but no need to remove its essential qualities. To me the version of last September's "The Pines" sounds to be the same recording, though whether it's been slightly remixed or that's just my imagination, I'll leave to other ears. At any rate, I stand by my previous review of that fine song.

The other eight songs are crackers & while I still regret the events of March 2020, you can easily hold the opinion that they allowed some of them to exist & that overall is a blessing.

The three musicians involved have the highest standards & this shows in what you get. I've frequently in these pages raised the issue that more & more people are favouring EPs over full albums for reasons discussed elsewhere in the magazine, but one beneficial effect has definitely been to completely eradicate the concept of the dangers of "filler" tracks. That in turn has rather raised the bar on the matter & it's interesting how the relatively few albums I've written about lately have been filler-free: most recently this one. Not only have the performances & production been sweated over, but the writing & selections of tracks to use: a pretty rubbish couple of years musically for Chessi maybe, considering the feedback she was getting for "Snowflake" but it was time she has spent well in preparing this set & on consideration, it's hard not to say the wait is worth it for what she has offered us. (Not least "Blue & Yellow" which although written a few years ago about a friend, has in recent months gained extra resonance for unconnected reasons).

Of course it's not been a whole void between "Snowflake" and "The Pines": last May saw the very popular cover of "Pensacola" (originally by Joan Osbourne) by Chessi & Jack which appears not just to have kept her name & artistry in the public domain but opened her up to the possibilities of adding the voices & instruments of others to her music in ways which enhance the songs without removing from the essential Chessiness of ownership.

And that more or less is what ‘Wine Glass Filter' is: less a full band album but a sort of "Chessi Plus" affair: her songs, her voice, her thoughts, but realised to a slightly deeper degree as new elements add emphasis & varying dynamics.

The dominant voice is beyond doubt: as is her lead instrumental playing. Dan's respectful & deeply restrained production sees to that. If you hear anyone but her on a song, they are aiding it, not taking it over.

It's important that you hear what she is saying as the album is pretty polemic in an accessible & non-preachy way. The light & popular approach to melody may initially deceive you & indeed Chessi loves metaphors & allusions to make her point, but make her point she does. Whether it's gender identity & rights, defending liberalism, ecology, calling governments to account, war, relationships or abusive behaviour or indeed any of the things she deplores, she is ready to call them out. Sometimes reproachful, sometimes "more sad than angry" and sometimes more angry than anything, Chessi also avoids the trap of seeming self righteous by various expressions of self deprecation, humour (and I never trust a record without that) and a few tracks which tackle the smaller issues of life: including several regrets over the passage of time & opportunities missed.

The richer palette of instruments (including keyboards, electric guitar, drums & I'm pretty sure I heard a banjo in there at one point) means that although melodically different (and Chessi also subtly varies her singing style too), yet more diversity is generated as the tracks sound so different from each other.

This is not the first album I've said this about recently, (check out ‘All of the Fallen Stars' by Kenzie Webley) but one aspect of removing filler means that every track has the immediacy of a potential single. I wonder which one she'll choose next? Something like the apocalyptic "Counting Down" would reflect the side of Chessi we might expect from "Snowflake" while "Shoelaces" is a more intimate tale.

 Seen from our perspective, ‘Wine Glass Filter' seems to offer a little something to a wide range of people (though probably not bigots nor the narrow minded). More importantly, from her internal one, it allows Chessi to articulate multiple thoughts, aspects of her personality & emotions in effective & discrete ways.

Her name & talent has been known among the cognoscenti for three or four years now. The COVID19 hiatus, the relative paucity of her released music so far & the fact that she's not been as active on the live circuit as some of her contemporaries account for that relative restriction. With ‘Wine Glass Filter' though, at long last she can pick up the "Snowflake" momentum again, build upon it & attract the size of audience proportionate to her artistry.

Clemency live at The Muse

Photo: Andy Holdcroft

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Sadly it's been a couple of years since I was last able to post an article on the splendid Clemency (it was their February 2020 gig at Leamington's Town House), so it was great to catch up with them last evening at The Muse (also in Leamington).

It may have been a relatively fallow musical period for Nina & Ben (this was their return to performance) but they have not been idle during that time: the highlight without doubt being the birth of Runa on 17^th November 2021 (sadly not quite ready yet to join the family band though I understand she has been working very hard on her vocals). They also have been recording at 14 Records (some of the songs involved appeared in the set) and looking further ahead to the release of the new Ellie Gowers album ‘Dwelling By The Weir' in September, one of Nina's paintings graces the cover.

Sadly The Muse is going into some form of hiatus as a venue (though I understand continuing as a project in other guise) so the event was something of a celebration & farewell for founder Tracie Farren. (Clemency also opened the venue some four years ago).

An intimate performance space (people spilled outside into the warm evening sun in Regent Grove), the sheer & varying numbers in the audience impacted on the sound: set high to have effect when the room was packed, in the moments when the crowd ebbed, the power of Clemency, not necessarily one of the qualities one normally goes for first in describing them, was quite breath taking: Clemency can rock (not for nothing to they do an AC/DC cover).

In fact one of the keys to the appeal of the band is that in addition to the high quality of both voices & instrumental playing (while Ben's guitar work obviously attracts attention, don't underestimate Nina's subtle & often powerful percussion), it's the interplay of the elements which elevate the performances from great to superb. They clearly spend a lot of time working on the details of arrangements & so you get the lot: solo vocals, harmonies, alternating lead vocals, guitar, cajon plus that final and often overlooked element: space, with all or some of the factors dropping in & out. What you don't get is a homogenous mix through the set or even individual songs.

The set itself naturally showcased too their writing: there were the covers from AC/DC, John Martyn & Cameo which Clemency fans will recognise, longer term favourites like "Man At The Station", "Fly" or "Pillar To Post" plus brand new tracks: one, which I believe is called "Key 2 Shape" particularly delighted my ear & is I understand one of those recorded. (Considering recent tragic events at 14 Records, unfortunately any release date is as yet not scheduled).

Given that they have more dates pencilled in for the summer (watch this space, but Songs by The Lake in Culworth on 4th June, Napton Festival on 9^th July and Purbeck Valley Folk Festival in Dorset on August 21^st are ones for your diaries), Clemency will without doubt be back to what they do so well & did last night: delighting audiences & winning more & more admirers.

"Watching You" by Liam Vincent & The Odd Foxes

When I reviewed Rebecca Mileham's excellent ‘Underground' EP last month, I made reference to her roles as violin player & vocalist in Liam Vincent & The Odd Foxes.

Now, with the upcoming release of their new single "Watching You" on 30^th May, (the follow up to their debut ‘Pierson V. Post' EP from last year which they created during lockdown) I have also the opportunity to write about that band for you.

Comprising Liam Stuchbury  on guitar and lead vocals, newcomer  Gregg Cave ( who you may know  as part of folk rock supergroup TRADarrr) on guitar & vocals, Matt Berry  (who produced ‘Underground') on bass and vocals plus Paul Disley on drums in addition to the aforementioned roles Rebecca plays, the band , as Liam tells me, "..don't take ourselves too seriously….. but I'd say the philosophy of the band has a lot to do with believing in humanity and kindness but not turning a blind eye to injustice. Fighting for what you believe in knowing that you're probably going to lose" which is just fine by me.

In fact "Watching You" is a pretty intense song delivered with a considerable level of passion & certainly inclining to that part of their mission statement concerned with fighting for values & against injustice.

Very much from that area where folk got invigorated with the energy & social comment of punk & whence bands such as The Pogues, The Men They Couldn't Hang or The Levellers sprung, "Watching You" takes aim at many malaises of the modern world: the erosion of the right to protest & speak freely, corporate greed, Establishment sleaze & hypocrisy and above all the surveillance state & roars with righteous, if melodic anger.

For, as Liam also told me: "..for us, the music and melody is as important as the message. So if someone walks away humming the tune as well as having something to think about then we'll take that as a win but if people want to come to a gig to just dance and singalong but not pay attention to the meaning behind the songs, that's fine too…"

Well you can surely dance along to this single (though it's a fast furious one so you'd be left knowing you'd had a dance and draws heavily on Liam's Irish musical heritage & upbringing as well as his time in punk bands)) though you'd really have to be very inobservant not to grasp its meaning: the lyrics & their articulation don't fall into any category of ambiguity.

I have to confess that on a personal level this appealed to me greatly: it excited me & frankly I agree with the sentiments. That it reminded me of several bands I mentioned above whom I really like hardly hurt either.

Leaving aside (as a disciplined reviewer ought) my personal prejudices, I am sure that the band & the single have considerable merits seen & heard objectively.  They are superb players and their talents, experience & tightness as a band enable them to be free to create a compelling & furious jig which then uses its melody to draw you into its actually quite complicated and important message, which it puts across without getting overly didactic nor polemic yet also without compromise nor equivocation. I'd certainly greatly like to catch them live on this evidence.

If you too would like that, you can see Liam Vincent & The Odd Foxes on:

22^nd May at Foodies Festival, Bristol (1500)

5^th June at Northampton County Beer Festival , Northampton (1330)

18^th June at Foodies Festival, Chelmsford  (1730)

26^th June at Foodies Festival, Maidstone (1600)

10^th July at Foodies Festival, Tatton Park  (1530)

29^th August at Foodies Festival, Oxford (1500)

11^th September at Foodies Festival, Norwich (1700)

17^th September at Foodies Festival, Exeter (1900)

Look out too for the video (available from 23^rd May) as it becomes public a week before the single is available so you can check out what I've just been telling you about.

"Fake What Your Mama Gave Ya" by YNES

The advent of any new YNES track is something of an event: one of the least conventional writers you can imagine, you simply don't know what you might be getting in terms of subject matter, though you can bet whatever you like on it being intense, full on & in your face. Like a pyrotechnic, you know you are going to be startled (and looking forwards to it) though there may be trepidation before the explosion & a wondering if you are standing a bit too close…..

Today's release of her new single "Fake What Your Mama Gave Ya" fits the bill comfortably (if anything this barbed & caustic writer produces can be described as comfortable) and appropriately enough is a direct, no holds barred assault on what she sees as her impressive career grows & leads her more and more into the often artificial, stereotypical & integrity-lite world of the music business. In this case it's less of a critique of the industry (an easy enough target to be honest), but performers whose performances she sees as taking over their external appearances & behaviours and creating a false narrative which appals her & clearly she has set her own principles against: channelling her "..lived experience of seeing the ‘rock n roll' lad lifestyle up close and realising the personality is often a facade. People using it as an excuse to be obnoxious and brash to everyone they meet - knowing it's all just a laugh to them anyway. It's so prevalent both in music history and from my own experience and it's so unnecessary when you see it up close haha. And it's more often than not the entitled middle class kids who are looking for a way to rebel against their lifestyle."

Put into this context, my delight in learning that Billy Bragg had personally contacted her to ask her to play his Leftfield zone of the Glastonbury Festival this year, makes perfect sense. While he was never going to invite someone whose music he didn't rate, even more so the question of her attitude & values would have come into it: and he wouldn't even have heard "Fake What Your Mama Gave Ya" at that point…..

Crafted at Woodbine Studios with John Rivers as usual, the song bears all his hallmarks of recognising true creative individuality & shaping it to each track's best advantage without filing off any of the rougher edges which give personality, authenticity & impact: just as he has been doing since punk first broke. It's a pretty perfect combination in fact and you can well imagine corporate producers stripping YNES' music of its passion & fire.

An acerbic list of factors & characteristics which outline the point of view just described, what I like about this is that although every barb is true & hits home equally truly, at the same time they are described with wit: this naturally helps the song remain memorable but draw us back to it again & again: it's already an earworm this end (though much could be said of all her work). For me "punk died" (first time round anyway) when the humour was removed from it. YNES proves that singing as if your tongue is in your cheek does not necessarily indicate that you don't mean what you are saying: you are just ensuring that the critique is meant in a humane way. If you hear "Fake What Your Mama Gave Ya" and think it applies to you, YNES is giving you a chance to set your house in order.

YNES just goes from strength to strength & I love the utter confidence in her writing & performance. I'd very much hope that appearing at Glastonbury will give her impetus to the next level, but this munition of a song may well do that even before then.

"Tunnel Vision" by Jonny Olley

Out  today  is "Tunnel Vision", the  third single by Jonny Olley, following his debut  "Slow" (and which was featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Five') and its follow up "Change".

Pitched somewhere between the two in terms of mood & sound, what is especially noticeable about "Tunnel Vision" is his increasing confidence in writing & this is his most ambitious structure & arrangement to date: it's illuminating that he himself feels that it's his best work so far.

It's also his most rock like composition with moody, ominous riffing added to his repertoire and consequently the fullest arrangement to date.

If the music is towards the rock end of the spectrum, then the lyrics mirror this riffage being a series of repeated mantras which in turn help reinforce the notion within the song's message: this is about a very focused desire, oblivious perhaps to things outside that narrowness of vision & consequently bordering on the obsessional. Which he evokes effectively by these means: ho only wants the object of his desire & beyond that, little else matters. A clear message & in its intensity, one he presumably hopes will not just make his point but help him achieve his end.