Review: Jesse Booth "Moving in Under Cover"

Every-so-often, there are periods in music that deem to lose themselves in times gone passed. During this decade alone, there have been throwbacks to the New York punk scene (The Strokes), the post-punk scene (far too many bands to mention) - even the Kooks are a lighthearted version of the La's.
More recently 1980's- esque electro-pop has been rediscovered with a vengeance as the likes of Calvin Harris, Hot Chip and MGMT make the "retro" sound their very own. Although those artists might be doing relatively OK at the moment, the future prospects look grim once the genre drive takes another turn.

It is in the latter bracket that Jesse Booth's solo debut Moving in Under Cover slots fairly neatly into. Covering a swift ten tracks, the relationship between the moving synths and Booth's half-static/half-fluid voice is at times perfect and at times balanced poorly, but when it does work (on the opener "Church of Lenders") it is excellent.

There are moments though that the vocals almost seem lost in the mix; however rather than just being too low, it is more a case of too many things going on. Musically a number of the tracks feel overcrowded - almost as if a keyboard turned up to a party uninvited - something that is most prevalent on "In China" and "You're So Special".
However, if I were to have a real issue with the album, it would be the occasional synth stabs get very annoying after a while. So much so that they ruin "Everybody Needs a Robot" and "Trevor Reginald" - two tracks that are otherwise rather accomplished.

Moving in Under Cover finishes on a high note with the rather more subtle "New Times" - it feels as if after a number of attempts, a perfect balance between voice and synth has been found. All in all, it's a good album, but hardly an artifact that will still be listened to in months or years to come. Like all media driven genre pick ups, the shelf life is normally short, leaving many recording destined for a life on a dusty shelf. I could not help but catch a line from the chorus of the closer, where Booth proclaims that he "...want(s) to live in the new times..."
How apt to make a bold statement on a piece that sounds drafted from another time?

mySpace.com/jessebooth; Buy the album here
Rating: 3 out of 5

Leigh

Greg Moore: 10 Years On

One of the drawbacks of motor-racing is, quite obviously, it is a very dangerous sport to partake in - even at the very pinnacle, accidents can happen - whether they be through driver error or mechanical fault. Some crashes are large, some are minor; but thanks to many developments in car and circuit safety since the mid-90's, drivers generally walk away fairly unscathed.

The days of at least one or more fatalities or serious injuries are (for the most part) long gone - ironically enough, this year would seem to be the exception to that rule (see Henry Surtees and Felipe Massa).

However, every so often, there is an accident that is so devastatingly huge that it can leave a chill down your spine. Examples that stand out would be Alex Zanardi (CART, Lausitzring, 2001), Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna (F1, Imola, 1994) and Jeff Krosnoff (CART, Toronto, 1996); but no accident has turned my stomach quite like the one suffered by Canadian CART driver Greg Moore at Fontana Motor Speedway on October 31st, 1999.

It seems so difficult to believe that it is ten years since Moore's death. There had been an exciting lead-up to the race as it was the Championship decider between Juan-Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti. Earlier that day, Mika Hakkinen had just won his second Formula 1 World Championship and I was desperately excited to see the climax of what had been a great year of racing. The US500 would be the final top-tier race of the year and what better setting than California?
For those that have seen Moore's accident, it can be rather difficult to explain (and not nice to visualise). To put it simply, Moore over-steered off of turn 2 and fell into a fast slide; his car was flipped up into the air by high level grass and the top of the machine smashed against the inner concrete barriers. Following a number of barrel-rolls there was nothing left of the car and no life in the cockpit. Ironically enough, Moore had a separate crash the previous day - only this one was in the paddock on a motor-scooter. Although he had broken a finger, he was administered with painkillers and cleared to race the following day.
Whatever one says about his crash, it is difficult to describe the exact feeling when you witness something so horrific and brutal. I vaguely recall a deep emptiness at the bottom of my stomach - I really wanted to be sick and from the severity of the incident, it was fairly clear that no good was going to come of this.

Moore had something of a meteoric rise through the junior ranks of USAC and IndyLights and eventually reached the CART World Series with the Forsythe Racing team at the tender age of 20 and it was not long before he was making his mark on the series by picking up a number of podiums during his debut year. He didn't have to wait too long for his first victory though as Moore triumphed at the Milwaukee Mile in 1997 just ahead of Michael Andretti and followed that up with - admittedly - a lucky win at Detroit a week later when the PacWest duo of Mauricio Gugelmin and Mark Blundell ran out of fuel on the final lap.

Wins didn't come easily though for the Forsythe team over the next couple of yeas as Moore only picked up three more wins during the 1998 and '99 seasons, but his speed and enthusiasm could not be questioned and it was these factors that brought him to the attention of US Racing giant, Roger Penske. Just prior to his fatal accident, Moore had announced that he had signed to Penske Racing from 2000 onwards - a move that would surely have made him as a top-level driver. Penske has had a habit of taking fast, but inconsistent drivers and turning them into very quick, consistent runners; the kind of stability that Moore lacked on occasion.
He was also just one of an exciting generation of drivers that burst through to CART in the mid to late-90's that are still successful in the IRL series today - namely Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan; others from that group that are not active right now include Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani, Orial Servia and Patrick Carpentier.

One of things that I always admired about Greg Moore was his demeanor. He projected a character that was calm, charming and genuinely likable and lacked the arrogance and aloofness that is often associated with top-level athletes. Often I have thought it pointless and silly to predict the outcome past events had circumstances been different (but I do it all the time anyway); however I am one of many that feel Moore had the potential to be Indy 500 winner as well as CART / IRL Champion at some stage.
Moore was only 24-years-old at the time of his death and is still sorely missed by all - he surely would now still be at the top of his game and could well have been one of the greats.
(Greg Moore, 1975 - 1999)

Current listening:
BBC Radio 5Live "Nighttime with Richard Bacon"


Leigh

Hoyt Ming & His Pep Steppers "Indian war Whoop"

I came across this evening and thought it was worth posting. This is "Indian War Whoop" by Hoyt Ming & His Pep-Steppers - a Mississippi fiddler who led his three-piece band of guitars and mandolins during the 1920's.
This folk group recorded a number of cuts for Victor (later RCA) and this particular track is taken from one of their 1928 sessions and is quite frankly stunning.
They stayed active until the 1950's, while Hoyt also worked as a potato farmer in his home state, but the band was reformed in the 60's when they had a track featured on the Anthology of American Folk Music, before finally ceasing during the 1970's.

Leigh

Congratulations to Sebastien Loeb

*I was actually meant to post this on Monday, but things have been busy, busy, busy...

It has a number of years since I last followed the World Rally Championship properly - it is around the turn of the decade that I lost touch with the series. This had nothing to do with not liking the events and series, but more to do with the local network losing coverage; rallying simply fell off the radar. The same happened for CART and MotoGP too - once I left home, it became impossible to follow and eventually interest naturally waned.
To a degree, the WRC is always something that was going on in the background. It was impossible to have at least not heard of the exploits Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Marcus Gronholm and Petter Solberg, but I never followed it too closely until this season.

There are a large number of people that claim the Michael Schumacher/Ferrari era of dominance in Formula 1 was one of the worst in the sport's history due to the sheer scale of his dominance over the field, but I have never agreed with that stance - if anything, there was a feeling of excitement as sheer excellence triumphed at the pinnacle of motorsports.
For this reason, I am somewhat saddened to have missed out on the last few years of the WRC, because Sebastien Loeb has been busy "doing a Schumacher" and destroying everything in his wake and on Sunday just gone, Loeb with his co-driver Daniel Elena, claimed his 54th Rally victory (from 125 starts) at the Rally of Britain and his sixth consecutive WRC title. One must also bare in mind that the Citroen driver could have made that seven straight titles, but lost out to Petter Solberg in 2003 by a single point.

Although made have had it easier in years gone by (2004 is a good example), this season he was really pushed by Finnish driver Mikko Hirvonen. Although the Ford driver first entered the WRC in 2002, it is only since the 2007 season that he has strung together consistently good performances and victories - 12 in all now - but this was the first year where Hirvonen looked really close to Loeb.
The Finn led the championship coming into the final Rally in Britain, but lost out to a superb drive by his rival, giving the title to the Frenchman. One thing is for certain though; Hirvonen's time will come - at only 27, he's still young, but he will be eager to claim at least one WRC before Loeb retires and with the Citroen man now on the wrong side of 35, that may only be a couple of seasons away.

If one were to look at the season as a whole, Loeb probably deserved it with his seven Rally victories to Hirvonen's four; however it was Mikko's consistency that really stood out this year. When he wasn't winning, he was often in 2nd place and a drop-off in form mid-season by Loeb let Hirvonen back into the title.
Confusing matters though was an awful lot of talk of Loeb switching to Formula 1 to drive for Toro Rosso - in fact it was only four days before the Rally of Britain that he was denied his superlicence. Many in the Rally paddock spoke of the Citroen man suddenly becoming distracted from matters at hand and not quite focusing on the job, thereby letting Hirvonen creep up in the points standings.
We may now never know how competitive Loeb would have been in an F1 car; he has since conceeded that the Toro Rosso opportunity was his last chance and now signed on again for the French manufacturer for another season. One thing is for certain though, Loeb may well be in for a fight next yeat; not only with Hirvonen, but it would seem his young team-mate, Dani Sordo, has finally found his feet and may fancy a challenge.


Leigh

The Collectable Few / Bear Arms (The Enterprise, London)

There are times when, admittedly, I think that I am being far too harsh or cynical towards a band or an artist who is just getting out there and doing their thing. Having spent years trundling around doing bullshit gigs LPX and throwing myself completely into something, I am well aware of how difficult it is to play shows to people that have preconceived ideas of what one should sound like (yes, that happens a lot). With this in mind, I have adopted a brand-spanking-new mind set - nothing is shit until I have seen it. Let's see how this works, shall we?

The first night of this new theory was actually last night at the Enterprise in Chalk Farm to catch a few bands and see what the score is. Come 9.30pm, I popped my head in the door just as Bear Arms were starting and seemed to do fairly well for themselves; although the reaction to their particular grasp of indie-rock was hardly ecstatic, the audience that was there appeared to show some appreciation for the West London quartet. There were moments where they were something of a ramshackle in places, but solid enough to get their message across.
Admittedly Bear Arms are not the most inspiring band in the world, but when locked the intellectual dead-end that is London, creativity doesn't come easily. Not bad, but not great either.

...which brings me to the next band, The Collectable Few. When watching this four-piece, I could not help but think "I've seen this band a thousand times before" and once again, they same old story reared its head. They are a rather decent band - they are very tight and together, seem at ease with other and the audience; unfortunately they are utterly predictable in every other sense.
It is something that grates, but every facet of them screams style over substance while their material was a series of rich pickings swiped from every indie band that has emerged in the last few years. For a band as obviously talented and as tight as they are, it is a shame they are so programmed. From every jump, pose, even vocalist, Tarek Al-Shamma enthusiastic yelps of "oh-oh-oh" (ala We Are Scientists) felt surplus.
They are not a bad band by any stretch, but The Collectable Few just sound like one-of-many and need to work of some new material, otherwise they will remembered as just another fourth-generation indie band doing the rounds in LDN [sic] town.

All in all, it was a fairly decent show with a nice audience and the sound in the Enterprise - which can be ropey at the best of times - was pretty good too and £1.50 for an orange juice is not bad at all.
Christ, I'm a bastard.
*I missed Savants and The Moonshakers.

Currently reading:
Autosport "October 22nd, 2009 Issue"


Leigh

Barry Letts (R.I.P.)

Former Doctor Who producer, Barry Letts, has sadly passed away last Friday at the age of 84. Letts had been actively involved in the show from 1967 through to 1981, but was the show's main producer during the Jon Pertwee years.

During his tenure, he oversaw the creation of the Master Autons and the Silurians / Sea Devils. Most importantly in 1974 he was the man that brought Tom Baker to the show as the Doctor to follow Pertwee.
Following this, Letts took a step back from the series while Philip Hinchcliff and Greame Williams took over the producer role, however when John Nathan-Turner, Letts returned to the show as an executive producer.

A person of multiple talents, not only was Letts a successful producer, but he was also a highly rate actor, writer and director. His career began following his tour with the army in the 1940's with many theatre performances before he moved onto live teleplays, such as The Avengers and Scott of the Antarctic. Once he had completed his directing course, he left acting to work on Z-Cars and The Newcomers, after which he switched to Doctor Who.

Letts directed the 1967 serial Enemy of the World and eventually became the show's producer in 1969 taking effective reign at the end of the Patrick Troughton's final serial, The War Games. Over the next decade, Letts directed several Who stories as well as contributing a number of scripts.
When the show was effectively canceled in 1989, Letts revived Doctor Who, not as a television show but a radio production with Jon Pertwee reviving his role as the Time Lord for two stories - The Paradise of Death and the Ghosts of N-Space.

In recent years, Letts has also contributed to many documentaries on Doctor Who DVD's and has supplied a number of commentaries for the Jon Pertwee serials, while still writing a number of "missing adventures" novels for the range.
Ironically his recently completed autobiography, Who and Me, is due out at the start of November.
(Barry Letts, 1925 - 2009)


Leigh

DEAF 2009

I got a mail the other day from Karen Walshe of Dublin Electronic Arts Festival (DEAF) regarding their 2009 line-up. The festival, now in its 8th year, showcases some the most innovative and intriguing electronic artists from Ireland as well as the wider reaches of the world.

While there are some shows that are hosted by the DEAF folk themselves, other parts of the festivals are held by independent outside promoters, such as u:Mack, Kaboogie, Alphabet Set as well as a number of others. There will also be a number of independent films being shown at this year's event, which sees the festival expanding into more multi-media streams. To mark his appearance at the festival, Surgeon has contributed an exclusive mix for DEAF; which can be found right here.

All info regarding what is on and where can be found at http://deafireland.com/2009/.

Current listening:
Throbbing Gristle "Exotic Violence Della Morte"


Leigh

Video: Talulah Does the Hula "Bad Boyfriend"

The first official video from Irish indie-pop band, Talulah Does the Hula, for their song Bad Boyfriend, which can be picked up from downloadmusic.ie right now.

Bad Boyfriend - Talulah Does The Hula from jessie ward on Vimeo.

Leigh

Review: Frankmusik "Complete Me"

Well, this has been a long time coming. There are times when I have wondered to myself "what album could possibly earn a minus rating?" Well kids, I think I have finally found it!!

Complete Me by Frankmusik is quite simply one of the worst album in the history of recorded sound... (with the exception of Eoghan Quigg's self-titled debut). That people have been sucked into the Frankmusik sphere is even more incredible; however it is nice to see that the mind control devices employed by the good people at Universal Music Group are in full working order.
I have joked in the past about artist's that have seemingly built by the social networking circus and none is more true to form than Frankmusik; for none of this is "real" - I'm sorry to say, but at any other time this guy would be written off as a reject from the boyband Blue.

Even his advert on Spotify is wank and it contains one of the most cringe-inducing lines I have ever heard, which goes something like:

"...not content with sorting my own tour, my label have me recording my own adverts on Spotify...";

suck it up you shithead and while you're at it, stick it to the man. Problem is, Frankmusik was bought and sold and long time ago and you may find that his every move and word is orchestrated as it would be had he been in an actual boy-band.

There is a scene in my head whereby Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem are ditching their crap material, while amateur grave diggers like Frankmusik hang around outside like wolves, desperate for some sonic bones to chew on; yet on closer inspection, these bones have no teeth marks. As soon as soon as he has finished collecting his second and third-hand pickings, you sense the owner calling and patting him on the head whilst no doubt muttering "good boy..."
This particular dog's faithful owner is Stuart Price (see also Jacques Lu Cont, the Killers, No Doubt, Madonna). I can appreciate smart production and while there is something fresh about some of Price's earlier work, a lot of his produce now sounds tired and overly familiar - in other words, when you hear a Price recording, you know pretty quickly that it's a Price recording (see and apply to Mark Ronson and others).
Memories also abound and all of a sudden thoughts of the View, the Twang and the Enemy slink into my mind - the three bands that hammered the final nail into NME's landfill-indie coffin. Frankmusik falls into the category of artists (as do Little Boots, Mika, Sneaky Sound System, et al) that are quickly hammering the nails of finality into modern electropop. The material of the album quickly melds together like weak soup and soon it becomes increasingly difficult to tell each song apart.

Buy this right now if fashion really is more important than content, because it more certainly has absolutely no substance whatsoever and it is with that in mind that I really feel sorry for those who "get this". This is truly awful stuff, destined only to be forgotten by those with an attention span so short that they raise a curious eyebrow when the name "Datarock" is mentioned.
How long will it be before synthpop becomes a swear word again..?
myspace.com/frankmusik
Rating: -1 out of 5