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ULTIMA THULE / LOCAL
BANDS/ARTISTS
The Agonal Trace, Lee Allatson, Alto Stratus, Maureen Anderson, And Then We Danced, Approaching Infinity, Audible Light, Aurelie, Avant Garden, Biomechanoid, Black Carrot, Black Widow, Victoria Bourne, Cardboard, Roger Chapman, Continuum, Chris Conway, Courtyard Moth, Dark Spanner, Dead Cowboy Culture, Deep Freeze Mice, Shekhar Raj Dhain, Dragon Or Emperor, Earth Trumpet, Echolocation, Endgame, Eruption, Escape Route, Extremities, Family, Alan Freeman, Steve Freeman, Alan & Steve Freeman, Gypsy, Nigel Harris, Heliotrope, Her Name Is Calla, Kevin Hewick, David Hindmarch, Hopscotch Boulevard, Impromptu Electronic, The Inhabited Sky, Jeweller's Eye, Carol Leeming, The Marshmallow Maelstrom, Toffy McDougall & The Primal Soup Troubadours, Memory Wire, Misterlee, Aaron Moore, Nick Mott, Multimorph, The Newt Hounds, New World Chaos, Okoku Araya, Carl Peberdy, Pesky Gee, The Planet Scanners, Plexus, Polymorph, Proust Ét Tout l'Acousmatté, Roger Pugh & Earthly, Quadelectronic, The Rain Garden, Satsuma Nightmare, The Scanner Game, Shapeshifter, Songs Of Norway, Spring, Stench, Streetwalkers, Simon Styring, Ola Szmidt, Jim Tetlow, Thurston Lava Tube, Triax, Turtle Om, 2/3, The Varp, Volcano The Bear, Vrije, John Young, Zircon & The Burning Brains, The Zircon Game
I decided to do this page after someone said to me he'd never come across any good music from Leicester. I was quick to put him right on the matter - of course. But then I did some research and found that there was actually nowhere documenting prog or experimental music from Leicester. No actual resource where I could suggest that people look to find out more. So, the idea for what you are now looking at was born.
Leicester has a rich cultural diversity, which in part is the reason why so much music covering such a wide range of styles and cultures has come from here. Since the 1960s with the internationally well-known Family, Black Widow, and top pop acts like Showaddywaddy and the notorious Diesel Park West, and then there's Kasabian whose members were known to frequent the Ultima Thule shop. There was also apparently a big punk/indie scene here that passed me by, and today there's a growing thriving underground. Throwing the blanket a bit wider to cover all Leicestershire, this page covers all the local bands I know of that I'd class of interest. Inevitably there are bound to be loads of others. I welcome any corrections, omissions, additions, suggestions, etc. So, here we go with the list of interesting bands/artists from the Leicester area, in a rough chronology...
1960s/70s...
Family
The earliest and most well-known of Leicester rooted "prog"
bands. Family existed since 1967, mixing beat with psychedelic, classical, folk
and experimental musics. They were adept at both chart hits and being weird in
their early days. Fronted by the gruff gargly voice of Roger Chapman, the rest
of the band comprised: Charlie Whitney (guitar), Rick Grech (bass, violin), Jim
King (woodwinds), Rob Townsend (drums). Their debut album MUSIC IN A DOLLS
HOUSE (Reprise RSLP 6312) came out in 1968 and is an oddball mixture of pop
hits, prog and eccentric stuff, and went some way to hinting at their finest
1969's FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT (Reprise RSLP 6340) where they pulled out all the
creative stops and really went for it. Of course it wasn't until they pretty
much left Leicester for good that they became internationally famous, getting
into the charts with singles like: The Weavers Answer and Burlesque. The band
never existed long beyond 1973 though, with Chapman & Whitney forming
Streetwalkers, who later changed into Roger Chapman & The Shortlist. Rick
Grech is however the most prolific member being involved in the super group
Blind Faith, and a wealth of other bands.
See also: Wikipedia
Pesky Gee
Historic band formed circa 1968, from the Braunstone area if I remember
right. Their sole eponymous album (also known as "!" or
"Exclamation Mark") came out on Pye (NSPL 18293) in 1969. A single
was also culled from it: Where Is My Mind / Place Of Heartbreak, on Pye 7N
17708. The band comprised: Kay Garrett (vocals), Kip Trevor (vocals), Jim
Gannon (guitar), Bob Bond (bass), Jess Taylor (organ), Clive Jones (saxophone),
Clive Box (drums). Their album wasn't extraordinary, but certainly had a unique
charm, being mostly cover versions of hits given a prog touch, with classical
and jazzy edges, and good male and female vocals. Pesky Gee later became
Leicester's second best known prog act Black Widow. See also: MySpace
Black Widow
Out of the ashes of Pesky Gee, five members continued under this new
guise: Kip Trevor (vocals), Jim Gannon (guitar), Bob Bond (bass), Jess
"Zoot" Taylor (organ, piano), Clive Jones (saxophone, flute), joined
by Romeo Challenger (drums). Adopting a fantasy concept, involving mock rituals
and dramatics on stage they soon became notorious, and more than once had the
plug pulled on them when the venue owners thought they'd gone too far! Their
style was complex brass rock, which made them a natural choice for CBS records.
Their debut LP came out in early 1970, called SACRIFICE (CBS 63948) it's very
much of its time and a little dated now, though still a good one. After that
Bob Bond was replaced by one Geoff Griffiths. They got a little more serious
with their second, simply called BLACK WIDOW (CBS 64133) and then the more
laid-back mellow prog III (CBS 64562) in 1971. As far as I gather, after they
moved base to London and got on the international tour circuit pressures became
too much and the band folded soon after. Clive Jones we still see around
occasionally with his sax case, doing session work when needed, and he's been
into the UT shop a few times for a chat. As to the others, Romeo Challenger
joined Showaddywaddy, Jim Gannon went on to Fox, Yellow Dog, and other
projects. See also: peskygeeblackwidow.htm
Spring
From this part of Leicester, so I'm told the drummer lived at 3 Conduit Street
(long ago demolished), formerly known as Sissy, and they were regulars at the
El Rondo Club (all before my time!). They are famous for just the one much
touted and now sought after album SPRING (Neon NE6) dating from 1971, which
came out with a lavish 3-fold cover. Apparently Spring changed line-up a lot,
and during the recording of the LP the bassist changed. The line-up is
documented as: Pat Moran (vocals, Mellotron), Ray Martinez (guitar, Mellotron),
Kips Brown (piano, organ, Mellotron), Peter DeCindis (bass), Adrian Maloney
(bass), and Pick Withers (drums). Although 3 members are credited with
Mellotron, the band only had one! Partly in the spirit of early King Crimson,
with strong ballads and Mellotron, they had a melancholy akin to other bands of
the era like Cressida, Genesis or Barclay James Harvest. I don't think the
album quite merits its legendary status. Spring were very good, but not
brilliant, if you ask me. Others differ, like Magic Mixture who quoted it as
"One of the best progressive albums ever made and so rare." As far as
I know the band split circa 1972, with Pick Withers later turning up in Dire
Straits, and the much travelled Ray Martinez eventually ended up in
Showaddywaddy! Kipps Brown seems to be the only one that returned to Leicester
and kept active on the local scene. See also: alexgitlin.com and the band's
own Facebook page: Sissy-and-Spring
Gypsy
A band I forgot were from Leicester! Gypsy started as a flower power
psych outfit before becoming Leicester's "top and most popular" (to
quote their own words) heavy rock act. They made two LPs and issued a few
singles. The debut: GYPSY (United Artists UAS 29155) came out in 1971, line-up:
John Knapp (guitar, keyboards, vocals), David McCarthy (bass, vocals), Robin
Pizer (guitar, vocals), Rod Read (guitar, vocals), Moth Smith (drums). I knew
we'd heard Gypsy, and a search through old Ultima Thule mail-order catalogues
revealed: Gypsy - BRENDA & THE RATTLESNAKE (UA: IN) LP vg+/vg+ £7.50 -
Little known Leicester band, their 2nd album in Neutrons, Man, Help Yourself
vein. So there you go! After United Artists cancelled their contract in
1973 the band, in dismay, split up. Drummer Moth later turned up in Diesel Park
West.
Roger Chapman
Distinctive and influential singer, with a wide-ranging career. Mentioned
above in the Family write-up!
Streetwalkers
Chapman & Whitney from Family, playing a
similar, if more straight ahead rock music,
1980s
Deep Freeze
Mice
Experimental new-wave, unclassifiable left-field outfit. The first
we came across them via the additional update on the Nurse With Wound list,
where they were included for the one side track on their MY GERANIUMS ARE
BULLETPROOF (Mole Embalming MOLE1) album, an uncharacteristically weird experimental
opus, featuring processed piano and collage. Mostly though, Deep Freeze Mice
were a side-step from indie-pop, with a wry tongue-in-cheek playfulness that
made them much more engaging than the average band of the era. Deep Freeze Mice
gave birth to a number of other projects, see Thurston
Lava Tube below.
Satsuma
Nightmare
Apparently this band, whose name is an obvious role reversal play on
Tangerine Dream, had been around since 1983. One early ex member told me that
Chris Conway was at one time involved. As far as I can tell, they debuted with
LIVE AT THE OLD COFFEE BAR CLUB in 1983, line-up: Alan Stocker (synths) and
Bill Henderson (guitar, synths), later joined by Jon Humphries (guitar, vocals)
and have issued at least 7 others since, including: ANOTHER FINE MESS and
UNIVERSAL FRUIT (both 1994) that we used to stock at UT. As time went on they
became the project of Alan Stocker, a trio of synths and guitar when we caught
them live at The Shed. The cassettes we had were not bad, but I don't think
they ever realised their potential. Alan Stocker has also issued two solos:
DREAMS OF HOME (1996/98) and A SET OF INTERLUDES (2008). See also: Discogs, soundclick
Alan Freeman
Born in the late 1950s, just slightly too late to catch a lot of the
music I love best first time round. My first ever record was a
"Thunderbirds Are Go" - Yes, I've been a sci-fi and fantasy fan since
a young age and always loved things weird. Though I was a T.Rex fan in my early
teens, I soon grew out of that! Things like UFO's "Flying", White
Noise and stuff I caught on The Old Grey Whistle Test and deejay Alan
"Fluff" Freeman's Saturday Rock Show soon changed all that. Prog and
weird stuff from anywhere became my obsession! I've long been fascinated with
electronics, and when unemployed in the 1980s I used to spend hours in the
mornings with the headphones on experimenting with electronic processing and
collage techniques. So aside from my work together with Steve (my brother) in
other projects like Vrije, Alto
Stratus, ZBB, I also issued a series of experimental
cassettes. As my confidence grew as a musician I also moved into doing synth
music, usually of the dark/cosmic type, not the normal melodic stuff. More
cassettes of such stuff followed. In the mid 1990s I joined Shapeshifter as, to quote Daevid Allen "the Tim
Blake of the band". This led to a resurgence of musical activity, new solo
experimentation, pulling Alto Stratus out of limbo and then the formation of Endgame. More recently I've issued a number of solo CDs,
synth, experimental, a guitar album and even a "new age" one. Of
course, in keeping with my ethic, none of this is your normal fare! I'm
involved with lots of other projects and am a Quadelectronic
regular. See also: UT pages
Steve Freeman
My brother Steve has not really excelled as a soloist. He prefers to
work in collaboration with others. Although, he's done a number of interesting
solos over the years. At first I think it was because I'd done one he had to
prove himself too. He's also done some pet projects, like the bleak concept
album CATACLYSM which I would never have thought of, and the more recent solo
CONUNDRUM which is unlike anything else you're likely to encounter. Steve has
been involved in all the other projects I have, like Vrije,
Alto Stratus, ZBB, except for
Shapeshifter, and is also a Quadelectronic
regular. See also: UT pages
Vrije
One of the early projects of our own. That's me Alan Freeman and my
brother Steve. Our first experiments (long lost) date from when we lived in
Loughborough in the late 1970s. Then in the spirit of Throbbing Gristle and
Nurse With wound we chose the anachronistic name Holy Atheist for our early
industrial noise outings. Unemployed and living in Leicester we started to
experiment further, discovered primitive forms of feedback electronics, and
gradually developed a way of working, multi-layering cassettes, and kept a
look-out for cheap synthesizers being sold in junk shops. Vrije (from the
Dutch, meaning "to be free") became our new working name, until we
realised it had other connotations, so we chose a name that fitted our ethic,
taking the "Al" from Alan and "St" from Steve, we came up
with Alto Stratus (high stratospheric clouds). As
Vrije we issued a dozen or so cassettes in the early 1980s, as well as other
releases under the names: (Q.S.O.), Region 5, Electric Junk and Adhara. See
also: Auricle Archive
Nigel Harris
I first met Nigel in Revolver Records, here in Leicester, after I
realised he was looking in all the same sections I was! I think it was the
third time I'd seen him when I plucked up the courage to have a chat. And, the
rest is history... as they say! Every opportunity, Nigel would come round our
place to listen to music, and then after hearing what we were up to with Holy
Atheist and then Vrije, Nigel also started to experiment. He joined Zircon & The Burning Brains (ZBB) and also recorded some
solo cassettes under the name Annonce Grotesque. Later on Nigel met a Japanese
girl (student in Leicester) fell in love and ended up in Japan. He's since
carried on musical exploration under the guise of Sukurappu Koujou Sumire Gumi,
and recently collaborated with us again in some new ZBB projects. See also: Naichan's Sublime Debris and Naichan Flickr
Zircon & The Burning
Brains
This was to be our live improvising band, the name derived from a
classic Zappa quote "Zircon encrusted tweezers" and the "Burning
Brain" scenario detail in the cover of Tangerine Dream's ELECTRONIC
MEDITATION. Zircon was the name we game our wrongly wired up feedback cassette
recorder, an old ITT machine that made the strangest electronic belching and
stuttering noises. The concept intrigued a friend of ours Nigel Harris, who
also discovered he could get similar sounds by cross-wiring an old cassette
deck, and then Zircon & The Burning Brains (ZBB) the trio were formed. We
always saw ZBB as an industrial band, and Nigel's fascination with
cross-culture against a hybrid of Throbbing Gristle, avant-garde and
Krautrock/NDW influences yielded a unique style developed over the course of
several cassette albums. Our finest outing CORTEX! later came out on CD
(Ultimate Transmissions UTCD 001) and is still available from Ultima Thule.
After Nigel moved to Japan ZBB died. ZBB was later resurrected as a mail
project in 2003 resulting in ZIRCOGNITION (Auricle AMCDR 057), and then when
Nigel came back to the UK we spontaneously made another album OCCIDENTAL
ENCOUNTER (Auricle AMCDR 061) proving that we hadn't lost the chemistry at all.
A hybrid ZBB/Endgame project was also recorded. See
also: UT pages
Alto Stratus
You can read about the roots of this project above under Vrije.
Alto Stratus is the duo of brothers Alan & Steve Freeman, and has existed
on and off ever since the early 1980s through to now, with a hiatus in the
early 1990s as we got the Ultima Thule Shop running. Alto Stratus can be seen
as an experimental electronic band, but conforming to no actual genre, part
synthesizer music, part industrial, featuring guitars, noise and pure experimentation.
Alto Stratus proper started in December 1983, and went on to issue a dozen or
so cassettes, as well as both of us recording a few solos, and sideline
projects like Biomechanoid. After reissuing TACHYON one of our most satisfying
cassette releases of the 80s on CD (Ultimate Transmissions UTCD 002) Alto
Stratus were brought out of hibernation and have since recorded a number of new
albums, reinventing the 80s spirit anew, and now with a much better session to
release success rate. On rare occasions you may even catch us live! See also: UT pages, MySpace, Discogs
Biomechanoid
Actually Alto Stratus incognito, with a
special project dedicated to the paintings of H.R. Giger. It goes to show how
important a concept can be, as the cassette ATMOSPHERES & MELODIES INSPIRED
BY THE PAINTINGS OF H.R. GIGER (AMC 013) issued in 1986 far outsold all of our
other releases for a while, even some of those by more well-known artists! In
fact, due to the deliberately musical aspect of this, few guessed it was really
a thinly disguised project of the Freeman brothers. To those doubters we proved
we could do more than just paint with sound, we could be musical in a sense,
although (excepting Alto Stratus' THE RITUAL) it would be well over a decade
later before we would prove that we could take all this a lot further! We reissued
the Biomechanoid album on CD in 2000 (with a bonus track) and it still
available. See also: UT pages
Alan & Steve Freeman
Biography by Rolf Semprebon
The Freeman brothers have been tireless in their championing music from
around the world that runs counter to popular culture, from the more
experimental and underground veins of progressive and Krautrock to avant-garde
electronic music and industrial. As publishers of Audion Magazine, as well as
one of the few reference guides on Krautrock, the brothers Freeman are a
valuable source for information on music that is ignored by the mainstream
media. Their own releases under many different guises have explored everything
from noise, cosmic synth, industrial, musique concrete, audio collage, and
improvised electronics.
Steve Freeman was born in England in
November of 1956, and his brother Alan in May of 1959. Steve's interest in
producing music was launched after listening to Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music
all the way through (a feat in itself) and thinking that he could do something
similar. He began to make sounds with an incorrectly wired tape recorder,
radio, and pocket calculator. By July 1977, he and Alan, who had played drums
in high-school pop and jazz bands, decided to pursue their similar musical
interests further, and they started an industrial noise project, Holy Atheist,
in Loughborough, England. By the very early '80s, they had moved to Leicester,
and decided to move in a more "musical" direction with their next
group, Vrije. In the fall of 1981, they began to collaborate with Nigel Harris
in another music project called Zircon & the Burning Brains. By 1983, Vrije
had morphed into Alto Stratos, and both Freeman brothers had solo projects
going as well, Alan under the name Xylem, and Steve as SF1 and then Scorpio.
Throughout these years, they had
numerous cassettes releases, recorded and mixed from their home studio, under
all these names and others like Biomechanoid and Electric Junk as well. In
1986, they had formed the label, Auricle, to put out their own work and
material by like-minded artists. That same year, the Freemans, with their
enthusiasm for experimental progressive music, launched Audion; originally a
fanzine, it has since grown to become a respected resource for information on
this music. The next step was to open a record shop and mail-order business,
Ultima Thule.
By the early '90s, the Freemans music
output had slowed as more time was consumed by these other endeavors, as well
as work on their comprehensive encyclopedia of Krautrock and other German
experimental progressive music, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, which was
published in 1996. Near the end of that year, Alan Freeman finally found the
courage to join the group Shapeshifter after repeated invitations from
Shapeshifter's leader, Maureen Anderson. Whereas the Freemans own projects were
mostly studio-oriented, Shapeshifter gigged regularly, and Alan sometimes
opened with a solo performance under his old name, Xylem. In July 1999, Alan and
Jim Tetlow, also from Shapeshifter, along with Steve, formed a new group,
Endgame. Both Freeman brothers have also contributed to various albums by
Volcano the Bear. Members of Volcano the Bear and Shapeshifter have returned
the favor by appearing on the Freemans project, the Newt Hounds.
[from: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alan-steve-freeman-mn0001303390]
The Rain Garden
The duo of Chris Conway (guitar, keyboards,
bombarde, whistle, etc.) and Carl Peberdy (sitar,
percussion, etc.) playing a unique brand of cross-culture musics. They were a
huge surprise, with their debut cassette IN ANOTHER SPHERE (TRG Music 001)
appearing in 1989, they soon went from strength to strength playing regularly
at various local pub music venues. Always excellent, developing a unique
rapport and further quality releases like BACK OF BEYOND (TRG Music 002) and
then into the 90s with PRACTICAL CANDLE MAGIC (TRG Music 006) and others. The
band grew to a quartet, and they played further afield, through to the late
1990s, although albums became fewer per year and some of the original daring
was subdued and glossed-over. Both Chris and Carl have been prolific in
numerous other projects since, and much of that you can read about in the 1990s
section below.
See also: www.chrisconway.org
If there was anyone else making interesting music in Leicester in the 1980s we never encountered it. This was largely due to us being unemployed and we rarely went out except on record buying trips to London. We did know of Steve Hill's band The Marmite Sisters. We first met him when he worked at World Records, and he always insisted that "they were not our sort of thing" and more recently I learned he was right. I also understand that Chris Conway was also doing something then on the local live scene. I first met him in the jazz record department, upstairs at Blackthorn Books on the High Street, when we got talking about Terje Rypdal and other things. I think that was 1988, and the start of a long friendship.
1990s
Courtyard Moth
A rarity of the 1990s Courtyard Moth were authentic 1970s prog and heavy
rock, but with their own fresh new twist. The two brothers in the band had been
indulging in a diet of SBB, Garybaldi, and other obscure rock and fusion
innovators, at the UT shop, broadening their outlook beyond the realms of
Focus, Deep Purple or Soft Machine. The band comprised: Adam Banaszkiewicz
(guitar, bass), Robert Banaszkiewicz (guitar, bass), Carl Fernandes (drums),
and Mark Rag (vocals), basically a Jimi Hendrix type power trio fronted by an
excellent singer. We attended dozens of gigs circa 1993 to '94 and were never
disappointed. We even issued a cassette documenting choice gig recordings:
ALIVE 'N' GIGGING + (Auricle AMC 045) which got rave review by Eurock
Magazine's Archie Patterson. After that, with new drummer "Flash"
they never quite got it together again, although they did gone on to improvise
more and do some even more out-there gigs. The plans for a proper album came to
nothing. A shame really, as Courtyard Moth were one of Leicester's best. After
their demise Adam later joined Funkafari with ex Heliotrope musicians. Flash
more recently turned up again in Kevin Hewick's new
trio. I occasionally still meet Robert and Mark, but they're both now family
men I believe and not active in music any more. See also: UT pages
Heliotrope
Originally from Loughborough, Heliotrope started life as a reggae band,
but had moved on considerably by the time I first encountered them. The band
comprised: Paul Gee (guitar, vocals), Alan Shaw (bass), Andy Radburn (synths,
sampler), Stu (didjeridoo, percussion), Will Dickinson (drums), and others.
They'd been getting into Gong, playing at free festivals, and really got into
the left-field hippy type thing. Heliotrope gigs didn't always satisfy, but
they played many memorable gigs, and were best when they could wig-it-out. Some
of this was down to touring with the likes of Dr. Brown, a similarly unfocused
but nonetheless interesting band that played many gigs at the Pump & Tap on
Braunstone Gate here in the early 1990s. As I write this we still have a few
copies of the cassette release ROLLING OVER ALBION (TROPE 4) in the UT shop,
which offers a good cross-section of their music. Heliotrope also featured as
the core of an early incarnation of Shapeshifter (see below) and transmuted
into other projects after disbanding, like Paul Gee's New Band and Funkafari.
Jim Tetlow adds: Stuart "Stu" Smith now works with pure
electronics via circuit bending etc. (occasionally conducting
no-previous-experience-required circuit bending workshops), works solo under
the guise of ASMO (Anti Social Music Order), is one half of the experimental
electronica duo Threep and is otherwise involved in the Stench project. Three
members of much later played in Dubbal - a psychedelic rock & dub band,
with Kev Ellis (ex Dr. Brown). See their Facebook page: Dubbalband
Chris Conway
A man of many talents and many guises, Chris Conway makes his living
largely by playing piano in bars, but that's not his passion. He's also a
singer songwriter for which he's widely esteemed. But that's not the Chris
Conway we know best. We know him as a gifted improvisational talent, be it in
electronic music, cross-culture, or with his jazz trio. The gigs we caught in
the early 1990s by the Chris Conway Trio at the Magazine pub introduced us to
John Runcie, a nimble adept and intuitive drummer, and a new twist on the ECM
type fusion sound, with which Chris added his unique "isms" and
invention. Chris has had many other jazz projects over the years, some of which
I've encountered (i.e. Leaf Storm, Jazz Orient, etc.) and lots that I haven't.
Chris is also well-known now as Leicster's master of the Theremin, and made the
58 minuute opus SCANNING PLANET 3 (Auricle AMCDR 029) in 2003, followed by
CONTACT LIGHT (Auricle AMCDR 045) both albums with the Theremin at the core,
embellished by synths and his usual entourage of ethnic instruments. More
recently Chris formed The Planet Scanners, and
then got together again with John Runcie in the improv space fusion project Continuum. See also: UT pages,
www.chrisconway.org
Carl Peberdy
Primarily a sitar player, an ethnomusicologist and wide-ranging
multi-instrumental talent. Carl first came to our attention in The Rain Garden.
He then became a prolific fixture on the live scene working with a wide variety
of bands, from Roger Pugh's Earthly to Shapeshifter. He also recorded a solo
cassette. We still see Carl occasionally since he left Leicester. I think he
now tends to work as a teacher.
Proust Ét Tout
l'Acousmatté
The electroacoustic experiments of Yvonne "Eve" Thacker,
as documented on a series of cassettes issued in 1991. For a while Eve was an
enthusiastic visitor at the UT shop, but her health increasingly held her back.
She also worked with The Rain Garden as Avant Garden (see below). But no one
has heard from her for years.
Sad news that has just in: Yvonne
Valerie Thacker passed away peacefully on 27th January 2013 aged 66 years. A
bit more background from her husband Vince: After, or possibly concurrently
with, her ventures with the Rain Garden, Eve worked with Kevin Busby at
Birmingham University, who ran, or still runs, the Earthrid label. Eve
collaborated with Kevin to produce a CD called "Audio Space
Research", and later produced another CD entitled "Bisonogram". In these, she
continued to explore multiple sound beds and environmental sounds. Sadly, this
all became too difficult for her to sustain, and she became less and less
mobile and prone to dementia. This was a great loss long before she died.
Avant Garden
Even back in the early 1990s, Chris had the idea to experiment with
electronics. The Avant Garden was an impromptu one-off, with The Rain Garden:
Chris Conway (keyboards, guitar, flute, etc.), Carl Peberdy (sitar, tabla,
percussion, etc.), joined by Eve Thacker (synthesizer, effects, electronics).
Eve had a home studio full of old electronic instruments, a VCS3 and other such
things. She also dabbled with sound collage and electroacoustics. The resulting
LIVING IN THE HERE & THERE (TRG 009) featured two huge experimental
excursions "Those Moondrops Are So Hard To Find" and "Dorian
Morian's Flying Carpet", followed by the light relief coda "Flying
Home". It was quite remarkable really, and is still pretty fresh today.
Toffy McDougall
& The Primal Soup Troubadours
If I recall correctly, Toffy McDougall was a busker, often heard on
the city centre streets of Leicester, a hippy folky whose legacy would have
been lost if it weren't for Chris Conway. The cassette TROUBADOURS OF THE LAST
FRONTIER (TRG 010) featured six additional musicians, including Chris &
Carl of The Rain Garden, and it amounted to a hybrid of all sorts of things, a
less electric Quintessence possibly, and uncannily feels close to the
Kraut-folk trippiness of Amon Düül's PARA DIESWÄRTS DÜÜL, an album that I doubt
any of the musicians had ever heard!
The
Marshmallow Maelstrom
A short-lived project that we caught just the once. These comprised Carl
Peberdy from The Rain Garden and David Hindmarch, a blind musician of
considerable talent. The gig at the Magazine pub was very on-the-edge
improvisation full of excitement, twists and turns galore in fact. There was
talk of them recording an album, but that never happened, and instead they both
ended up joining Shapeshifter!
Jeweller's Eye
Celtic folk outfit featuring Noel Sheehan (from Sheehan's Music
Services, shop next door to the UT shop for many years), and quite interesting,
if a little light for my tastes. I caught them twice in the mid 1990s, and had
a CD by them. Not sure if they're still going. The latest documentation I could
find dates from 2006, with the release of a new CD called: ROCKS OF FRANCE and
the line-up of: Steve McRobb, Noel Sheehan, Graham Summers, Jenny Carter,
Jeremy Rider. See also: www.jewellers-eye.co.uk
New World Chaos
From Shepshed (near Loughborough) New World Chaos were regulars at pub
gigs in Leicester in the early 1990s. They were very unusual too, playing a
hybrid of industrial music, melodic and atonal styles, with some "kind
of" songs, and even some crazed punk off-the-wall attitude. Their 1995 CD
release VICTIM OF LIES (Headstone CDSTONE1) was nowhere near as exciting as
they were live. I remember well the gig at the Abbey Park festival where they created
such a cacophonous din that the engineer pulled the plug on them!
Cardboard
One of Leicester's "best kept secrets" of the mid-1990s,
Cardboard were the most authentically psychedelic, trippy and eccentric of
bands around. They took over the mantle from Courtyard Moth really, with dozens
of memorable gigs over an 18 month period. They are only documented by the one
cassette: CONCENTRATE (on Sycophant) when the line-up comprised: Matt Formica
(vocals, guitars), Pete Chipboard (bass), Mr. X (percussion, vocals), Steve
Pinepanel (drums), Mr. Y (keyboards), Adam 'Ski' Hardwood (samples) - you
guessed they were not really a serious troupe, one part Syd Barret era Pink
Floyd, the other Bonzo's with an experimental prog edge. For a while Matt
bought almost everything I compared them to: Nine Day's wonder, Cornucopia,
Gnidrolog, etc., and regularly frequented the UT shop. At one time they were
doing really well and a record deal was in the pipeline. Then line-up problems
caused them to refocus, with a friend of ours Malcolm joining as the new
drummer, when they would psychedelic freak-outs spinning their outrageous take
on the Pink Panther Them to its limits, and some. Eventually though they
fizzled out, with Matt attempting reinvent them under the guise of Psydeboard,
and later with the name Electric Orange, but the magic was now lost. A shame,
as they were amongst Leicester's finest.
Shapeshifter
Maureen Anderson's often ad hoc and ever developing project. A fixture of
the Leicester live scene for almost two decades. Maureen's a white South
African who ended up in Leicester in the 1980s and decided to stay, liking the
city's cultural diversity and friendly people. An inspired poet, lovely (dare I
say it) eccentric lady who's always into trying out something new, she's
continued to develop her musical talents too, although she's never quite got
the idea of singing in tune. We have to forgive her for that, in being the hub
of inspiration for lots of Leicester's most exciting musicians. Chris Conway
was the first to take her "seriously" issuing the Shapeshifter
cassette GODSEYE (Oblong 23) in 1995. The band then comprised of: Maureen
(vocals, flute), Danny (didgeridoo, vocals), Stu (keyboards, effects), with Chris
(guitar, zither, penny whistle, keyboards, vocals) filling-in on everything
else that was needed. In fact Chris was a part-time member throughout much of
the bands life. He and Carl (of The Rain Garden) were present when I joined the
band in December 1996 for the sessions of UNWRAPPING THE FAMILIAR (Ultima Thule
UTSS CD1) at which time the band was: Maureen Anderson (vocals, flute), Alan
Freeman (synthesizers), Dave Greene (percussion), Dave Johnson (guitar), Carl
Peberdy (sitar, whistles, vocals, percussion), Lucy Slocombe (bass). The
development of Shapeshifter had always been a rocky road, not least in the
number of bassists that came and went, and in 1998 the band had grown to a 9
piece (sometimes we had even more on stage). One of the best ever gigs can be
found on the 2CD set TIME CAPSULE (Ultima Thule UTSS CD 2/3), which also
includes a disc of cosmic session jams called "Easier To Feel". After
this, and several line-up changes later, Maureen was convinced unwisely to take
the band in a more commercial direction, after which I left and then did Jim
Tetlow (two months later we formed Endgame), then Dave Johnson departed, The
whole band gradually changed, people fell-out, and then gradually the core of
the mid 1990s band came back together, now with a more hippy rock feel. I would
occasionally play with them when needed as would Chris Conway, and the whole
thing developed to a live show with dancers, theatrics and psychedelic light
shows. Shapeshifter came to end on the day of Dave Johnson's funeral (he'd been
battling with cancer and lost) in March 2009, when we did a memorial gig in his
memory. See Polymorph and Multimorph below for more. See also: UT pages
Roger Pugh
& Earthly
The Leicester based (Welsh born I think) folk singer Roger Pugh has been
a fixture on the Leicester live scene as long as I can remember. I've seen him
play support dozens of times, and his original instrumental dexterity puts him
heads and shoulders above most folk soloists. His best work, at least where my
own taste is concerned, was with the group Earthly which featured a good few ex
Shapeshifter people, Chris Conway, Carl Peberdy, Mick Oxtoby and others. Some
Earthly gigs would get quite mystical, drawing in Celtic musics, Oriental and
other influences.
See also: www.roger-pugh.co.uk
Turtle Om
A rarity in Leicester, a symphonic progressive rock band. They were one
of the early bands of guitarist Simon Styring who had a passion for early 1970s
Genesis, and it showed! They issued at least a couple of self produced CDR's of
which THE FESTIVAL OF FISH (Oblong) was the best, blending all manner of
influences: Camel/Yes/Hackett bits and jazzy/spacey edges. As a studio only
band Turtle Om seemed to run themselves down a blind alley, never realising the
ambitious prog opus Simon told me they working on. I don't know what the other
members did since (one I occasionally see around) but Simon has diversified a
lot, proving to be a most talented "Frippertronic" type soundscape
guitarist, and has also worked in a number of Chris Conway related projects.
Volcano The
Bear
Arguably the most extraordinary and groundbreaking of all Leicester
bands ever. Born in the mid 1990s, they went through a number of changes before
settling down as the pretty constant four piece of: Nick Mott (guitar, violin,
etc.), Aaron Moore (drums, vocals, etc.), Laurence Coleman (loops, electronics,
etc.), Daniel Padden (clarinet, vocals, etc.) although there was nothing
constant about the instrumentation! Rooted in new-wave and free-jazz, with
influences from almost everyone of interest you could imagine, they were
Krautrock, RIO, folk, Dada, noise, surreal comedy, pure avant-garde and more,
managing to concoct a style that may have sounded like the bastard son of This
Heat, but was even more daring and adventurous. You rarely knew what to expect
at a VtB gig, no two were at all alike, and when their debut album YAK FOLKS Y'
ARE (Pickled Egg EGG 7) came out in 1999 it was inevitable that they were going
to become world famous. If only they could keep it up. They did, and some!
Getting onto Nurse With Wound's United dairies label was one coup and big
stepping stone, with THE INHAZER DECLINE (United Dairies UD055CD) further
perplexing the world with its diverse and so creative, eccentric mixture of
twisted folk, electronics, mutated jazz and the likes. For the next six years
they were on a roll, that was until life commitments got in the way, and the
band ended up as just the duo of Aaron and Nick playing a more fragmented
music. Still good live, the album CATONAPOTATO was nothing compared to the
dozen or so albums and live discs before it. After that the quartet got back
together again and went on a hard slog of recording so much material that
albums keep appearing years after. Although they've kept going in some form
since (despite Aaron now living in the US, Daniel in Scotland, Nick in
Cornwall) their gig at The Phoenix in June 2006 was a brilliant farewell to
Leicester, and the end of a wonderful decade of music. See also: bandcamp
Songs Of Norway
These were really a "not quite Volcano The Bear" i.e. Nick
Mott and Aaron Moore, with Stewart Brackley (later with Black Carrot) on bass,
doing a more avant-improv music with a jazzy edge. They were much more
interesting than Aaron's earlier River project, whose brand of "fee
jazz" was far too Albert Ayler for my taste! I saw a couple of interesting
gigs by them, and they released a curious LP called DESPITE THE CLOAK
(Beta-Lactam Ring mt058a).
See also: Brainwashed
Endgame
Formed in July 1999, when Alan Freeman and then Jim Tetlow left
Shapeshifter, not willing to go with their then more "commercial"
direction. Jim liked a lot of Alan and Steve's work as Alto Stratus, also Alan
and Jim had gained quite a good working rapport in Shapeshifter. It was
inevitable that when Alan's (my) attempts to stimulate an improv project with
ex Shapeshifter musicians and others came to nothing. Steve had also wanted to
work with Jim, so Endgame was born. The chemistry was almost instantly magical,
and weekly sessions yielded lots of material, but it wasn't until 2000 with the
advent of cheaper digital technology that we started to really blossom. The
debut cassette STRETCHED ACROSS THE SEA (Auricle AMC 046) was pretty much in
the spirit of German cosmic electronics of the early 1970s, whereas the debut
on CD the double opus CATALYST (Ultimate Transmissions UTCD 004/5) took the
Endgame style to a whole new level. Alongside a plethora of releases Endgame
also started to play live in 2001, and then went on to explore ever more
experimental realms, with an expanding changing instrumentation. Even with a
number of pauses (when Jim went off to Australia) Endgame has continued to
develop, change and become ever more professional, whilst keeping to the ethic
of everything being purely improvised. With some 50 odd album releases (some of
them doubles), a series of 11 live discs, and various other releases and
related projects, Endgame show no signs of running out of steam or new ideas.
In fact the album MEMENTO (Auricle AMCDR 135) recorded in early 2008 documents
us in an almost "classical" avant-garde frame of mind, so I gave it a
mock Deutsche Grammophon cover! Endgame also exist in other guises, in
collaboration with others, and whilst Jim was "on walkabout" we
proliferated with our other project Triax. Endgame are still active live as
well, we played in London in December 2008, are regulars at Quadelectronic
sessions, and also feature in Maureen Anderson's new Multimorph project. All
this is just a brief round-up of Endgame, as there's tons more to be told! See
also: UT pages, Discogs
Eruption
A special one-off session project of Endgame
joined by "El Monte" Nick Mott from Volcano
The Bear on violin, recorded on 15 September 1999. The band name was a
dedication to the Berlin Krautrock avant-garde underground project of the same
name circa 1970. Pitting Nick's violin against the semi-melodic and abstract
electroacoustic textures of Endgame worked really well, and resulted in the CDR
album LAVA (Auricle AMCDR 019) issued in 2002. There was every intention of
doing it again, but then Volcano The Bear became famous, were on the road and
way too busy. Thus it's an island unto itself.
2000+
Jim Tetlow
From Elmsthorpe, a few miles west of Leicester, Jim first met me (as
a lot of people have) when visiting the Ultima Thule shop. As I tend to, I got
to know his taste and helped him expand his horizons. I first got to know that
he was a musician when seeing him playing in a band called Bluish (who I'd
previously seen before under a different name) and learned that he also played
in some local jamming percussion groups. Thus, when I knew Shapeshifter needed
a new percussionist I suggested him as a replacement. Having seen some
Shapeshifter gigs he jumped at the opportunity. In Shapeshifter he revealed
that his talents were much wider ranging, and for a while Shapeshifter was
transformed into the trippiest of bands. Wanting to keep that spirit going, Jim
joined up with Steve and myself forming Endgame (see below). Jim has also
recorded a number of solos, mostly in the vein of atmospheric synth, although
with a weird character that's all his own, and let's not forget that he's an
excellent surreal artist too. Over the years Jim has had numerous other
projects, first the Hemamorphite trio with long-time friend Steve Bell, then
with Nigel Harris as "2/3" and then after a few sojurns in Australia,
he's since seemed to try and work with every like-minded local talent he can
do, like Julian Broadhurst (from Derby) and Dave Dhonau (of Aurelie)
to name but two. Concrete results are yet to surface however. Jim's also a regular
at Quadelectronic, and has become the project's
archivist. See also art pages at: flickr
The Newt Hounds
Another incognito project of the Freeman brothers, aka Alto Stratus,
a purely studio concept that we billed in a Zappa-esque fashion "Could
this be an irreverent homage to Nurse With Wound? ...or is it a Dadaist/surreal
musical vision of the world of B. Kliban?" involving lots of sonic
construction, collage, and things in the manner of Nurse With Wound. B. Kliban
is a surreal cartoonist by the way. Not a tribute or copy in any way, we took
more of a sideways glance, and played around with ideas, coming up with the CD
album THE POIGNANT DEVICE (Ultimate Transmissions UTCD 008) in 2000, and later
the unique 99 tracks in 78 minutes opus: LOOSE NUTS (Auricle AMCDR 090) a
whirlwind plethora of ditties, sketches and sound jokes/fragments playable in
any order! See also: UT pages
Polymorph
A project that was inevitable, in spite of quitting Shapeshifter we all remained friends, and Maureen
needed some different creative release to the more rock angle Shapeshifter were
going in. So, Endgame + Maureen = what? Watching "Red Dwarf" gave the
answer: Polymorph! The album SHAMAN (Auricle AMCDR 023) comprised most of one
totally improvised session (26 February, 2001), and was a pretty weird beast
quite unlike any Endgame really. We also did a couple of gigs in 2001, and more
recently. Polymorph also gave birth to Multimorph, a
big hybrid live band debuting in spring 2009. See also: UT
pages
Earth Trumpet
The project of Laurence Coleman from Volcano The Bear, using a mixture
of live instruments, collage and multi-tracking. The debut EARTH TRUMPET
(Cenotaph Audio CT-004) originally came out as a self produced CDR, then as a
proper CD on Cenotaph later. Like a hybrid of Faust, The Residents and all
sorts of ethnic musics, pub piano, crazy collage, musical and not. A side-step
from VtB, and really out-there. A year on the mini album ROMAN (private) took
it all a step further, whereas the third DYNAMIC WOMAN (private) was way too
eccentric for its own good. Seems that Laurence then gave up, concentrating on
VtB instead.
Extremities
A regular UT customer since the mid/late 1990s, Dave Powell (from
Redditch in the West Midlands) had also become quite an Endgame fan attending
gigs at The Victory in 2001. He told me of his hurdy-gurdy, and thought that it
would work really well as a drone instrument along with Endgame, if only he
could work out how to amplify it and make it more "electric". So, I
suggested that he invests in a contact microphone and a guitar effects unit. He
did, and it worked. So he then joined in on a couple of Endgame gigs, and then
a few sessions, and thus Extremities was born. Culled from four sessions the
double CDR debut VIELLE A CRU (AMACDR 034/35) was part Endgame, and a step to
something totally new. An air of Faust, notably due to Dave's fried sonics and
drones, meeting the free spirit of the Third Ear Band, whilst increasing the
use of live digital electronics, processing, sampling, percussion, etc.,
becoming a definitive entity with QUANTUM MECHANICS (Auricle AMCDR 059) and
TURBULENCE (Auricle AMCDR 069) in 2005, and further albums once a year since.
2007's FRACTURE (Auricle AMCDR 112) is probably my favourite to date. Along side
all this, Extremities without Jim Tetlow continued as the more avant-garde and
industrial trio Triax (see below).
See also: UT pages
Triax
Born out of Extremities (see above) in January 2003 as the trio of: Alan
Freeman, Steve Freeman and Dave Powell, the very first Triax recording "3
Bows & 23 Strings" set the mode of our live performance openers,
drone/tone ethnic/industrial ooze - one could call it. The debut MUSIK ZU
ARCANA (Auricle AMCDR 027) was pretty primordial and spontaneous, riding on the
edge of chaos and breaking new ground. I think that with each new release we've
pushed on and developed. We've also done some unusual concept too, like
MOEBIUSSTRIP (Auricle AMCDR 075/6) a 2CDR release comprising of just one 121
minute work, and the later similarly conceived CYCLE (Auricle AMCDR 118)
comprising the disc long, and infinitely repeatable "Ouroboros".
Since early 2006 Dave began to expand his instrumental scope, adding violin and
percussion on the groundbreaking ALIEN FOLK (Auricle AMCDR 082) and flute on
EMBRYO (Auricle AMCDR 085). Triax can be anything from sonic sludge through to
monstrous rollicking Krautrock, loads of places in between and places that no
one else has ever been! THREADS (Auricle AMCDR 136/7) recorded in August 2008
was album number 20, and as I update this in August 2018 album 42 is imminent!
See also: UT pages, Discogs
Nick Mott
Originating from Barwell (near Leicester, if I recall correctly) Nick
moved to Leicester, and lived down the road from me in Highfields in the early
1990s. As far as I recall, the first time I saw him live was with a kind of
trip-rock dub band. Nick did have dreadlocks at the time. He then apparently
went through a whole plethora of punk, experimental and jazz outfits before
becoming a key member of Volcano The Bear. A talented guitarist, violinist, all
round experimentalist, he later also took up the saxophone, like a duck to
water! He also played with us on the Eruption LAVA album. But it took him until
2003 to do an album with his name on the front cover, be it his nom-de-plume
"El Monte". That was recorded with Nurse With wound friend, the Irish
violinist/multi-instrumentalist Aranos. ALLIED COOKING BUT NOT AS YOU'D KNOW
IT! (Pieros 003 CD) was a mixed bag of a release though, and would have been
better without the Aronos song parts. Nick now lives in Cornwall, and has
resign from Volcano The Bear, preferring to paint (he's an excellent surreal
artist too) and work on his first real solo album. See also: an email from Nick
The Planet
Scanners
Wanting to explore improvisation more and give a prominent role to his
new favourite instrument the Theremin, Chris Conway established the Planet
Scanners, named after his Theremin based solo album SCANNING PLANET 3 (Auricle
AMCDR 029) issued in 2003. From the early days of our "Impromptu
Electronic" gigs LIVE AND SCANNING (Auricle AMCDR 054) saw the trio of
Chris Conway (keyboards, Theremin, flutes, etc.), Mick Oxtoby (violin, guitar)
and Andy Fitzsimons (percussion) exploring new avenues, a hybrid of ethnic/folk
and out-there trippiness. Instantly cohesive, having worked together in various
projects before, they were great to see live. Two further albums followed, but
the project came to a halt when Mick moved away to the West Country.
See also: UT pages, www.chrisconway.org
The Scanner Game
Long before the birth of Quadelectronic we tried the idea of fusing The Planet Scanners and Endgame,
doing totally unrehearsed live jams at three concerts at The Musician in
2004/5. The results were two CDR releases: MUSICI (Auricle AMCDR 053) and
COURTEOUS (Auricle AMCDR 068) which blended a wide range of styles into
something totally new. The chemistry was vital and fresh, and we continued with
various different formats with gigs at Bambu, resulting in the projects: Impromptu Electronic and Escape Route. See
also: UT pages
The Zircon Game
After we'd called the hybrid The Planet Scanners and Endgame "The
Scanner Game" what would we call a one-off hybrid of Zircon
& The Burning Brains and Endgame? The Zircon
Game - naturally! Totally unplanned, this just happened! Magic was obviously in
the air, and it was as if we'd always played together. On the edge, daring,
outrageous, the CDR release FIRE LANE (Auricle AMCDR 055) is a totally unique
beast! See also: UT pages
2/3
Virtual duo (i.e. recorded and constructed via the web) of Nigel Harris & Jim Tetlow after
The Zircon Game session, with as diverse and creative a music as one would
expect. The name comes from Nigel being a third of ZBB, and Jim being a third
of Endgame. See also: Two Thirds at
bandcamp
Simon Styring
Simon's musical history goes back a long way. In the 90s he was with
the prog band Turtle Om, he also filled-in for Steve
Cartwright on fretless bass with Shapeshifter a
couple of times in the late 1990s, notably appearing on the TIME CAPSULE live
disc. "Simon Strange Guitar" as Chris tends to list him. He debuted
with his solo "Frippian" ethereal space-trance music at a Scanner
Game night at the Musician. He's documented on a few releases, notably his 13
minute "Infinite Guitar" track on the Impromptu Electronic 2CD set
LIVE @ BAMBU (Auricle AMCDR 115/6). He's working on a solo album and has also
been collaborating with Jim Tetlow recently. But nothing has appeared yet. And
people are waiting, to quote Peter Smith in his Escape Route feature in Audion
magazine #54 "...if Simon isn’t in a studio working on a solo album right
now as I type these words then he better have a pretty good excuse." Will
he ever complete it? We wonder. Simon is dogged by ill-health these days.
Anyway, his musical interests are diverse, and he also sings in a choir!
David Hindmarch
I mentioned David before with The
Marshmallow Maelstrom, and he also played with Shapeshifter
for a while. Dave is an enthusiastic and talented guy, but with one
disadvantage - he's blind. But that hasn't stopped him forging ahead as an
electroacoustic composer, with studies at BEAST in Birmingham. He's released
two extremely good albums as well: THE DEVIL'S WAVE (private) very Bayle,
Smalley, Wishart inspired, and THE LONG TRICK (private) exploring voice collage
and sonic mutation, with aplomb!
Thurston Lava
Tube
Alan Jenkins has been a key musician of the left-field indie scene in
Leicester since the early 1980s. Some may remember him from the Deep Freeze Mice, Ruth's Refrigerator, etc. His
Thurston Lava Tube are an instrumental "surf music" band who
"transported us back to the early-1960s as though Frank Zappa's ghost was
playing with The Shadows!" according to my review of their gig at The
Charlotte in 2006. See also: MySpace
Black Carrot
A Market Harborough band (interconnected with many a Leicester act)
Black Carrot first came to our attention in autumn 2004. Possibly the worst of
all venues I've ever been to, The Attic was hosting some sort of rave party
upstairs, Black Carrot still managed to kick up enough of a raucous sound to
drown much of it out, and really made an impression. Black Carrot then
consisted of the Betts brothers: Oliver "Olly" (bass recorder, sax,
keyboards, guitar, vocals, etc.) and Tom (drums, percussion), along with
Stewart Brackley (basses, vocals). Stewart we'd known a long while, yet his
vocal talents came as a big surprise. Unclassifiable and impossible to
pigeonhole, they've pretty much taken over the mantle from Volcano The Bear as
the most exciting "avant rock" band around. One part new-wave meets
RIO jazz-folk, one part punk jazz psychedelia, fused into their very own
innovation. A distinctive factor in the Black Carrot sound is Stewart's vocals.
The popular quote is David Thomas from Pere Ubu, yet that's only a clue, as Stu
is far more outrageous and eccentric. Their debut album CLUK (Moon City Music
MCITYM02) came out in 2005 and surprising from beginning to end. Nothing can
really prepare you for it! There are many facets to Black Carrot, and for a while
there was the collaborative project with improvising voice actor Nick Parkin
and a number of concept releases based around the works of Edgar Allen Poe,
Kafka and others. Over the years since the band has expanded to a quintet,
first with the addition of Euan Rodger (drums, percussion, live electronics)
and then Oliie Warren (guitar) fleshing out the sound even more. DRINK THE
BLACK FOREST (Tin Angel Records TAR009) came out in 2008 from the 4 piece
version of the band, with material that we'd heard at many gigs by the quintet
version, amounting to a more cohesive yet just as innovative collection as the
debut. On Sunday 12th April 2009 Black Carrot proved that in no way were they
getting into a rut, astounding the audience at The Musician with one of the
most outrageously eccentric and entertaining gigs I've seen in years!
After that Black Carrot split-up for a few years with members going onto other
projects like: Fangtrouser, Dark Spanner, Jesus Car
Fish, etc., and eventually reformed in 2017 with a different drummer.
See also: MySpace, www.blackcarrot.net
Dragon Or
Emperor
Apparently, despite having known each other since they were children
Stewart Brackley's vocal talents in Black Carrot
were as much a surprise to Volcano The Bear's
Aaron Moore as the rest of us. Thus, during a hiatus in Volcano The Bear
activities, Stewart and Aaron formed the avant-punk/jazz power duo Dragon Or
Emperor. To see them live was quite extraordinary, Aaron was always the
craziest of performers! A Vaudeville version of Ruins perhaps? Crazed and
furious. They issued a CD on Pickled Egg, which never really grabbed me, and
then when Aaron went to the USA his replacement Euan Rodger (although an
excellent drummer) couldn't really fill the role. You would need at least three
people to assimilate the talent, dexterity and personality of Aaron Moore! See
also: MySpace
Aaron Moore
The drummer from Volcano The Bear, he also made a curious solo THE ACCIDENTAL
(Elsie & Jack 017) on which he deliberately avoided being a drummer, going
for sonics, tones and texture instead. A very odd release, surprisingly
restrained and with some very unusual textures.
Plexus
Experimental improv group from Loughborough (?), who we saw with
Damo Suzuki at Quad in 2007. To quote their own site "(plexus) is a
loose-knit collective of musical experimenters and improvisers based in the
midlands(uk)." Plexus comprise: Rod Warner (guitar, bass, laptop), Murray
Ward (keyboards, electronics, etc.), and have featured David Teledu (bass,
guitars, etc.). Not sure if they're still around, as the last update on their
site was March 28th, 2007. See also: MySpace
Continuum
Another imrov project from Chris Conway and
friends, Continuum also features: Simon Styring (electric guitar, effects) and
John Runcie (drums, percussion) playing a music that sits somewhere between the
electric fusion of ECM Records (i.e. Terje Rypdal, David Torn, Steve Tibbets)
and more out-there space music, i.e. think Robert Fripp, Ozric Tentacles sans
the rock. Well, kind of, maybe, but not really. No the mix as heard on NEPTUNE
(AMCDR 096) and BEST KEPT SECRET (AMCDR 105) is never easy to classify. See
also: UT pages, www.chrisconway.org
Impromptu
Electronic
Culled from various ad-hoc incarnations of musicians from Continuum and Endgame, the 2CD set
LIVE @ BAMBU (Auricle AMCDR 115/6) is a unique microcosm of the last days at
Bambu, before the birth of Escape Route. The
musicians were, in order of appearance Chris Conway (Theremin, synthesizers),
Alan Freeman (spring-board, acoustic CD, bells, guitar, guitar-synth), Simon
Styring (guitar, guitar-synth), Steve Freeman (prepared sounds, loops, acoustic
CD), Jim Tetlow (computer, acoustic CD, djembe), with special guest Julian
Broadhurst (djembe), a variety of solos and duos plus proto Escape Route, etc.
on disc 1, and then the quintet of: Alan, Simon, Steve, Jim, Julian with the
mammoth almost 80 minute "Trip" taking up disc 2. This still amazes
me! See also: UT pages
Escape Route
Born out of the Impromptu Electronic
series of gigs at Bambu, Escape Route comprise: Chris Conway (Theremin,
synthesizers, etc.), Alan Freeman (spring-board, acoustic CD, guitar,
guitar-synth), Steve Freeman (prepared sounds, loops, acoustic CD) and Simon
Styring (guitar, guitar-synth). There's a full page feature on the band in
issue #55 of Audion Magazine, where Peter Smith opens the review thus "The
Escape Route, On paper it looks pretty straight forward, an improv collective
made up of two thirds of Endgame and likewise two thirds of Continuum. The
usual suspects have been quoted in other reviews and (sadly) occasional press
snippet.. "Take a dash of ECM, mix in some other worldly theremin sounds
season with a smattering of cosmic excursion and shove the whole thing through
the notorious Freeman Blender (Patent pending folks!) and there you have it,
The Escape Route!" And this was pretty much what I expected. But seconds
in to opening the box and I realised that there was more, or to be more
precise, I realised that there was so much more." See also: UT pages
The Varp
A duo of Oliver Betts (from Black Carrot) and
one Dr. Richard "Tate" Taylor, The Varp are exactly the eclectic and
creative outfit I expected them to be. HYMNS FROM INSIDE A SNAIL (Moon City
Musik MCITYMV01) is an overflowing cornucopia of new ideas. Each track explores
a different field, fusing everything from Henry Cow to Krauty stuff, some very
Volcano The Bear isms too. It seems though that The Varp are purely a studio
outfit, as the amount of multi-tracking involved couldn't really be done live!
See also: www.blackcarrot.net
Quadelectronic
Not a band. Quadelectronic is an impromptu session event initiated by
Chris Conway, with regulars Alan Freeman, Steve Freeman, Jim Tetlow, involving
a random cast of other local musicians, and people from further afield, who get
together once a month at Quad Studios. For more about this, check-out the Quadelectronic page!
A few Quadelectronic performers (not elsewhere on this page) worth a
mention...
Victoria Bourne - female jazz/experimental vocalist/flautist: MySpace, www.victoriabourne.com
Shekhar Raj Dhain - technician, synthesist: soundcloud
Carol Leeming - female jazz/experimental vocalist/percussionist: MySpace
Ola Szmidt - female experimental vocalist/flautist.
Not listed? Tell us what you do, bring us some of your music to listen to!
Stench
Not a band. Stench is billed as "an artist led forum for innovative
and experimental performance in Leicester and the surrounding area" and
something to do with previous projects led by John Young and the DeMontfort
University. They've organised 3 major events to date, of which Quadelectronic
played at the Phoenix Arts do in March 2009. Performances range from sonic art
through to techno, thus some of it is fascinating and some not at all my sort
of thing.
See also: Stenchival'10
report - only remaining active link
Kevin Hewick
I first recall seeing Kevin Hewick back in the early 1990s at The
Charlotte on a Monday night, singing and playing acoustic guitar. Not at all my
kettle of fish, I never expected him to do anything within my taste range. But,
it's always nice when a musician proves me wrong. Kevin's recent trio may play
all cover versions, but they do it well. Much of the material is Jimi Hendrix
and Cream, yet they add a lot of their own original touches. The drummer at
recent gigs turned out to be Flash who we knew long ago from Courtyard Moth.
Kevin is a sporadic performer at Quadelectronic sessions and has worked with
Shapeshifter and Multimorph. See also: MySpace
Echolocation
A staple for a while at gigs organised by Maureen Anderson. Echolocation
are an unusual outfit, one part beat poetry set to music, kind of new-wave
(nods to Joy Division, Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd) with a dash of
Krautrocky psychedelia. Some of their songs are a mite dodgy, not least so the
song about male period pains! But they can really storm along when they try.
For a while they were getting better and better. The last gig I saw (21 March
at The Musician) was rather disappointing though. See also: MySpace
Dead Cowboy
Culture
First encountered as support to Black Carrot in Summer 2008, although
we'd known members of the band in other projects over the years. Dead Cowboy
Culture are a totally odd band, part Captain Beefheart, part indie pop, part
experimental. Based on the few times I've seen them to date they don't change
their set much, but they're occasionally brilliant, and well worth catching.
See also: MySpace
The Agonal Trace
Another band that Maureen brought to our attention, I only rated a
couple of numbers when I saw them live the first time. After that they the
seemed to get better with each gig. The Agonal Trace seem to have stepped out
of early 1980s indie rock and can be a mite too pop/punk for me, but they can
whip-up-a-storm when they put violin to the front and start veering towards
Godspeed You Black Emperor. See also: MySpace
Aurelie
An ambient experimental outfit we've only caught live once to date,
supporting Black Carrot. They are listed as comprising: Francis O'Donnell
Smith, Glenn Boulter, David Dhonau and Euan Rodger. When we caught them they
were a trio, and it was interesting to Euan in yet another band. Basically
Aurelie are usually an avant-ambient outfit, and they debuted back in 2003 with
DESDE QUE NACI (Swim WM25) which I recall having at one time. The gig (25
October 2008) at The Leicester Gateway was certainly a different beast however
and pretty much a side-step from early instrumental This Heat. We've also
recently encountered AURELIE + BLACK CARROT - LIVE IMPROVISATION a hybrid
project of the two bands in pure freeform mode. We've also since worked with David Dhonau at Quadelectronic
sessions. He also has an offbeat songs group under the guise of Maximum Danger
Project.
See also: YouTube, Aurelie's old blog page
Misterlee
It was a surprise to learn that Misterlee, until recently, had featured
Mick Oxtoby (from Shapeshifter, Earthly, The Planet Scanners and numerous other
bands). Our first encounter with them was as a duo: 11 March 2009 supporting
Damo Suzuki. In Al's Blog I say: intriguing, "an avant-garde David
Bowie" one person commented, more "John Cale meets John Cage with a
bit of The Damned" I thought, though maybe not. Looking back at it now, it
was pretty original stuff and quite experimental too. Since then we worked with
"Misterlee" himself Lee Allatson when Quadelectronic were guests at
The Phoenix Arts' "Stench 3" event, which was great fun. We also
recently caught a solo set by him, where he proved beyond doubt what an
eccentric and original talent he is. See also: MySpace
Okoku Araya
Experimental electronics solist, nom-de-plume of Amit Patel. His
background is in techno, but he's moving on elsewhere these days. His
performance at Phoenix Arts "Stench 3" event with Sam Dodson was
excellent, powerful and restrained ooze/sludge/sonic like the best abstract
Zoviet France or Markus Schmickler. Their demo CD is not bad as well. Look
forward to hearing what they come up with next! See also: YouTube
Hopscotch
Boulevard
Apparently ex Dirty Backbeats (videos on YouTube!) Hopscotch Boulevard
were billed as in the vein of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, and they were! An
instrumental trio of organ, guitar and drums, I could also see copious amounts
of early Bo Hansson. As though we had been magically transported back to 1969!
The two blues harmonica numbers they inserted (obviously to break up the set)
were a mite too much at odds with the rest of what they doing. See also: MySpace
Keyboard player Lee Spreadbury has had a number of bands over the years, and
also attended a few Quadelectronic events. His current (2018) band GU-RU also
feature Malcolm D'Sa on drums (last seen with Cardboard in the 90s) playing a
mixture of psychedelic jams and more trendy groove tripadelic stuff. See also: Bandcamp
Multimorph
Originally a hybrid semi-improv project born out of Shapeshifter,
Polymorph and Endgame, comprising Maureen Anderson (vocals, flute, etc.), Rizz
James (bass), Kevin Hewick (guitar), Alan Freeman (electronics), Steve Freeman
(effects), Jim Tetlow (cajon), after the death of guitarist Dave Johnson. Early
sessions and gigs moved on from Shapeshifter to more freaky "head
music". When it became apparent that the band wasn't going in the
direction as conceived the Freeman brothers left, and Multimorph have continued
as what is essentially Shapeshifter under another name with a lot of other
musicians coming and going over the years.
And Then We Danced
Short-lived project of Victoria
Bourne and partner Chris, with Jim Tetlow & Dave Dhonau in eerie serene
mode, reminds me of Dead Can Dance, mellow Miranda Sex Garden, music for David
Lynch films, etc.
Her Name Is Calla
If they dropped the ballads these could be one of the best local bands
around. Kind of Godspeed You Black Emperor, with Ennio Morricone touches and
Amon Duul 2 freakouts, and a closing anthem at shows that really blitzes! See
also: MySpace, Bandcamp
Memory Wire
Improvising duo of Chris Conway and Jim
Tetlow established in 2010 at Quadelectronic. See also: home page
Audible Light
Improvising quartet that started as an expanded version of Memory Wire in 2014.
Andy Atyeo (guitar, laptop), Chris Conway (keyboards, theremin, etc.), Les
Hayden (bass), Jim Tetlow (electronics, cajon). See also: home page
The Inhabited Sky
Project involving female voice (poetry/narration) and an improv duo of Steve
Escott and Les Hayden, later expanded to a quartet, with: Steve Carroll and Jim
Tetlow. See also: Bandcamp
Dark Spanner
Excellent offbeat project by three members of Black Carrot from 2017. See also:
Discogs
Approaching Infinity
Fee improvising electronic space music duo of Alan Freeman and Jim Teltow. See
also: Approaching Infinity, Bandcamp
More recent bands...
Muted Fnord, Bridge, Symbiotica, Memory Wire, Audible Light, Windfall Light, etc.
There is indeed a thriving underground music scene here!
2022 update: I'm planning on doing an
article on current Leicester bands of interest in an issue of Audion magazine.
Here are some of the bands/artists that may feature...
Billion O'clock
Citizen Bxtr
The Cupio Dissolvi Project
Early Remains
Frenzy
Christopher Hobbs
Intermission To Saturn
Jaipur School Orchestra
Fuji Speedway
Patryk Jaworski
Ka Safar
Leonie
Niwid
Kemadrin
Pale Blue Dot
People With Manners
Sauvez-Moi
Serocell
Harvey Sharman-Dunn
Shoots
Skeletor
South Leicestershire Improvisor's Ensemble
Yodest
Zver
Also...
Jim Tetlow suggests...
Accortumn: kinda reflective pseudo-classical acoustic trio of
Dave Dhonau (cello), Ola Szmidt (flute) and Mike Sole (piano). See myspace, and there's an
eccentric video of them at The City Rooms on YouTube (think Ola
must've been watching the Ministry of Silly Walks sketch!)
Fiefdom Of Yore: On another end of the musical scale, Dave is also one
half of an eccentric bass/drums duo called Fiefdom Of Yore - he's played me a
few tracks but don't think anything has been released and can't find anything
on Google.
Non-Leicestershire acts based here...
Gavin Bryars: From Yorkshire, avant-garde composer. He was
professor of music at Leicester Polytechnic 1986-1994.
A Hawk And A Hacksaw: the project of American Jeremy Barnes (from Bablicon)
based in Leicester circa 1998-200?. This started as a one-man band,
mutli-percussion, accordion, etc., with some amazing shows, growing into a band
featuring other local talent (Olly Betts later of Black Carrot, Carl Peberdy
and others), later returning to the USA and becoming Jeremy & spouse with a
more folky rootsy music.
Daniel Padden: best-known with Volcano The Bear, and here for around a
decade. In spite of his nickname "Paddy" he came from & now again
resides in Scotland. He's issued solos and has The One Ensemble who've released
at least two excellent albums and more to date.
John Young: An academic electroacoustic composer,
born 1962 in Christchurch, New Zealand, he was resident at DeMontfort
University's MTI electronic studios in Leicester. His LA LIMITE DU BRUIT
(emprientes DIGITALes IMED 0261) CD release I summed up as "fascinatingly
bizarre music for small sounds, fragmented granulations, electroacoustic
collage". He was also involved in the Stench project. See also: Wikipedia
Also born here...
Dave Arbus (East Of Eden), Brian Davison (The Nice), John Lord
(Deep Purple), ...
Other Leicestershire acts of peripheral
interest...
Crazyhead, The Devotees, Djembelei, Evil Dick & The Banned
Members, Funkafari, Indianhead, Jody & The Creams, John, John Sim, The
Marmite Sisters, Maximum Danger Project, Prolapse, River, Ruth's Refrigerator,
Soft Touch, The Splitters, etc.
Other Midlands bands/artists of note...
A Band: avant-rock, jazz, noise, improv, with Richard Youngs,
Jim Plaistow, etc: Wikipedia.org
Nottingham
Julian Broadhurst: percussionist, ambient electroacoustics composer,
artist. Derbyshire
Concept Devices: Martyn Greenwood, bassist, electronics dabbler. Bandcamp Rugeley
Ensemble 8: avant-garde, art, experimental performance: AllMusic
Matlock, Derbyshire
Experimental Audio Research: electronics avant/improv project of Sonic
Boom: MySpace.com Rugby
Interstellar Cement Mixers: long-running experimental synth
outfit, with many excellent releases: Auricle releases Nottingham
Left Hand Right Hand: percussion based arts outfit: Nottingham
Modulator-ESP: synth music project of Jez Creek (also a Quadelectronic
regular). Website Nottingham
Neverland: interesting folk-punk-psych band, regularly in Leicester in
the early 1990s: Derbyshire
Dave Powell: hurdy-gurdy player, multi-instrumentalist, with
Extremities, Triax, Tartovisti and solo (also
Quadelectronic performer) Redditch
Walt Shaw: table-top sonics, percussion: MySpace.com
Derbyshire
Spacemen 3: experimental pop/psych/rock, feat. Pete Kember (aka
Sonic Boom) MySpace.com Rugby
Ten Years After: Famous blues & heavy rock pioneers, formed
in 1967, with Alvin Lee: Wikipedia.org Nottingham
& who else? Peterborough? Northampton?
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