July 2008 Radio Blog: Part 3: Evangelista

Evangelista

Because we sometimes don't have time to think of other things, sometimes we like to look at things I've bought recently, so they're not necessarily the most up-to-date, nor am I telling you about something no one's mentioned before, but they're just things I've bought that I like that I think other people might like.

So this month's is Evangelista Hello, Voyager which is the first album to be released by Carla Bozulich's new band. It was recorded in Montreal by Efrim Menuck and with the assistance of various other A Silver Mt Zion band members. Carla Bozulich was the lead singer of The Geraldine Fibbers, an alt-country band founded in 1994 which received critical acclaim but not much commercial success.

Hello, Voyager is a stylistically diverse batch of songs. I think it's very 'gothic' in mood, not in a Sisters of Mercy/Mission kind of way, more in a Southern Gothic, Nick Cave, David Lynch tradition. But there are also some playful songs/lyrics thrown in. She describes it herself as 'gospel noise' which kind of sums it up. We played the track The Truth is Dark Like Outer Space, which you can download from the myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/evangelistasounds

Anne describes it as 'dark rock opera'. I wanted to put up a video that was recorded about two years ago and was one of the first viewings of the new band and is a live recording of the title track. 

July 2008 Radio Blog: Part Two: Johana

Part Two:

Our local choice was Johana who we didn't know anything about before we recorded the show - see if we were organised we'd have had a chance to get in touch with her beforehand and could have got some the information which we now have. So apparently she used to be in a band and has been recording solo for about 6 months with what sounds like a really organic way of making music with whatever's at hand. 

We found her through Don Tatum who used to work in an office next door to Anne's in Chapter Arts Centre http://www.chapter.org - making violins he also records his own stuff - http://www.myspace.com/sorvan  and has what is reputed to be the best acoustic recording studio in Cardiff. But I think you have to be a friend or someone he likes to record there!

He's made a Pellegrina viola which was designed to help viola players who were suffering carpal tunnel syndrome because the viola is so big, so he made this Pellegrina Viola which has a distorted shape to allow for the same surface area and therefore the same sound as a traditional viola. 

So the track we chose is again available on Johana's myspace and is a lovely tune, all lolloping loops and sounds and just a great feeling of bouncing: 'bouncy bouncy'

http://www.myspace.com/joh4n4

She's an artist who lives in Grangetown in Cardiff and she sent us a link where you can see some of her films:

http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=8387

July 2008 Radio Blog: Part One: Wet Dog

So, here we go. We decided to start a blog as a way of recording our monthly 'blog' slots on Adam Walton's Radio Wales shows, because it seemed stupid not to 'mark' the occasion in some way. It's not really to start a dialogue (although that would be nice) but more of a way of recording our adventures. Plus we always seem to be panicking the day before we have to record the blog and worrying about what to say, so it seemed to make sense to have a resource of all our ramblings and rantings to look back on and decide what to talk about.

So to begin:

July 2008 Radio Wales Blog:

Gigs we have seen this month: include Das Wanderlust, Halflight and, most importantly Girls Aloud (for the second time) who were frighteningly good - the sound in the CIA actually sounded good, the seats were removed so the crowd was just up and dancing and it was a fantastic sight.

But we wanted to start by continuing a theme we've mentioned a number of times previously in our blogs which is ladyfests. And this loosely connects to our first band - who are Wet Dog - who i'd read about and heard of and liked the sound of but never had a chance to see. We'd decided to go to Ladyfest Madrid in October 2005?, mainly because friends of ours, (hooker) were playing, but also because Wet Dog were playing. Anyhow we went and saw them and they were as good as I was hoping they would be. But the interesting thing about them was that they got into the whole music/performance/art made by women and how much it empowered and affected them when they hadn't been expecting it at all. We kept bumping into them at all the talks and discussions that were going on.

So there's a new ladyfest this year which is in Manchester on the 7th, 8th and 9th of November at the Zion Arts Centre in Hulme. As with all Ladyfests its organised by an independent group of volunteers, with aim of celebrating the work of women in the creative and cultural arts. As well as music there will be workshops on a range of topics, dance and cabaret, comedy, art exhibitions and club nights.

To raise funds they've put together a Ladyfest Manchester Compilation 2008, featuring 16 bands who've donated songs - so for a fiver you get tracks from Bearsuit, Das Wanderlust, Shrag, The Bobby McGee's, The Lovely Eggs, Vile Vile Creatures etc. And its available from: http://www.cherryademusic.co.uk 

There's no line-up announced yet but there's a range of fundraising stuff going on in Manchester over the summer - if you're around Manchester have a look at the ladyfest website, which gives information about everything!: http://www.myspace.com/ladyfestmanchester

So back to our band, who are hopefully going to be playing on 30 August, but I'm not holding my breath at the moment, they're not very organised and we're having no luck with gigs having had our last two gigs cancelled - perhaps someone's trying to tell us something.

Wet Dog: 3 girls, drums, bass, guitar. I read a review that likened them to early Scritti Politti, they've been likened to the usual suspects: Lilliput; Young Marble Giants; Life Without Buildings etc. I think they sound quite Fall-y too - I think it's the weight and depth of the drums. They recorded a session for XFM in February which you can link to from their myspace site and have supported Ari Up from the Slits - there's a youtube video of that too. So the song we chose was White Kid Leather which I love because it makes me bang things. 

Take a listen to other tracks: http://www.myspace.com/wetdogthebest

More in part two!!