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Every ten years or so, Okinawan music seems to come up with an album that sets a benchmark for the following decade. Simple, instinctive, and where the musical formula just seems, indefinably, right. This album could well be another one of those.
Available from
www.farsidemusic.com
Japanese koto player Mieko Miyazaki met Chinese erhu player in France, where they both live. They come from fairly rigid traditional backgrounds, but in France have become skilled innovators and collaborators. Miyazaki with the wonderful Vietnamese singer Huong Thanh among others, and Guo with mostly jazz and classical musicians.
From Miyazaki’s original tunes, to Guo adaptations of traditional Chinese classics and joint arrangements of Debussy composi- tions, this album creates a wide range of moods and textures, all beautifully played and recorded.
The koto itself is derived from the Chi- nese guzheng, so it’s not surprising the two instruments are a perfect complement for each other. However, the skill and attitude of the performers puts this album in the top tier of collaborations.
www.labeldaqui.com Sebastian Spiller
THE URBAN FOLK QUARTET Off Beaten Tracks SAECD9
They stand on the cover, separated and seemingly unconnect- ed, silhouetted against a vast blue
horizon. A classic shot reflecting loneliness, they gaze down as if weary, perplexed.
Yet the cover lies, intended I assume to be a reflection of just how far off the beaten track they have strayed physically and musi- cally. Actually it’s shot on Vancouver Island and the Pacific rolls before them. Off Beaten Tracks will provide one of 2012’s signature sounds; it is a defining release. Of what?
Well, there’s a spirited intention here which sees UFQ blatantly ignoring genres, hoovering in anything and everything, tool- ing square pegs to fit round holes and even casting their own mutants. The point is well made that they have done a deal of growing in a very short time, most of it while they were touring and rushing from one location to another – and no I don’t mean around the UK, I mean the world. God knows what they would have created if they’d had the time to stand still! But then maybe that’s the point, thinking on their feet suits them.
It was recorded in one swift block at a Birmingham studio, overseen by both Joe and Ben Broughton with engineer Mark Tucker doing a superb job of mixing. While the whole album hangs together it’s also a free- flowing creation which skips naturally between the melodies and motivations that make up UFQ’s constantly shifting creations. Don’t expect these renditions to be the definitive versions either. Knowing this band, these tracks will morph and change further as they’re played in live. While their debut hint- ed at their potential, it was their perfor- mance last year at Cropredy where the audi- ence was held spellbound by a set of such mastery that proved their true worth; Joe Broughton directing 20,000-plus in precise audience participation and clearly loving every minute of it. Happily pillaging from, jazz, rock, reggae, blues, Celtic, pan-Euro- pean and now Turkish sources, Off Beaten Tracks is liberal proof that, unlike some bands, UFQ aren’t doing this to be fashion- able – they actively want to pioneer.
And boy, can they! Dink’s Song/One River Reel is a masterful blend of drop beat and
blues, the oud of Frank Moon lifting the groove feather-light. All But The Hours is a jazz mélange of symphonic proportions into which they all pour heart and soul. Jaleo Bus/Up In The Air celebrates bonkers Balearic rituals in chunky rhythmic fashion. Elsewhere they prove their jigging chops with slow build to dervish-like whirling. Miss Crawford/Anne Lacey’s has Tom Chapman’s percussion both fluid and rock solid. Zephyr sounds like it was conjured from the high hills of Crete and indeed Kiz Kulesi all winding and twisting was inspired by folk tales out of Turkey. Yer man Broughton and Paloma Trigas storm through Polca De Areeiras welding Galicia to er – maybe – Glasgow in one stroke, and just when you’d expect them to close out with a rousing set of improvised dance tunes, what do they do? Throw in a curve ball bringing down the curtain with Dandelion, as fluffy a piece of pysch folk as was ever conjured in a flowery vale. Unpredictable or what?
Sorry to have gone on, but I love this album. Given a chance so will you. Music for open ears and open minds. Welcome to a British roots band going global, it’s invigorat- ing.
www.theufq.com
Simon Jones
JENNY M THOMAS AND THE SYSTEM Bush Gothic Fydle FY003
For the few of us who have been lucky enough to see Aus- tralian fiddle-singer, spoons player and
pianist Jenny M Thomas live, it will be a delight to learn she is planning to tour the UK in Octo- ber with ‘the System’, aka double-bassist Dan Witton and drummer Chris Lewis. She is also working on getting UK distribution for this fine album, which I have a feeling might establish her as a significant figure in the folk scene (it is available now as a download or on CD from her website if you can’t wait).
Bush Gothic boldly tackles ten folksongs about travelling to Australia and imprison- ment, with fresh and inventive arrangements. Memorable piano riffs, sweeping strings, multi- layered and measured (sometimes funereal!) tempos define the sound, and in terms of com- parisons, it reminds me of Jim Moray’s debut, P J Harvey’s White Chalk and, in Jenny’s voice, Regina Spektor. It’s true that the first half of the CD in particular can get dangerously dirgey in places, but it has a certain mesmerising qual- ity that draws me in more and more.
Urban Folk Quartet
Henry’s Downfall is a highlight, the ten- sion ratcheting up as the narrative progresses over thumping drums and repetitive piano. My other favourites are the two upbeat num- bers – the quietly jaunty Ten Thousand Miles Away in which Jenny’s singing captures the protagonist’s bubbling excitement at seeing his love again, and the perky closing take on Maggie May (the traditional song, rather than the Rod Stewart / Martin Quittenton number).
If you opt for the CD you get an attrac- tive and arty digipak, although I wouldn’t have minded lyrics and some information about the project or the songs themselves. The album also, like most classics, comes in at an accessible 45 minutes.
www.jennymthomasandthesystem.com Christopher Conder
THE CHIEFTAINS Voice of Ages Blackrock 088807233473
Whatever the level of cynicism – and in Paddy Moloney’s case it is usually plenty – you have to doff your cap to the enterprise and deter- mination of a man (who almost coincidental- ly remains a fine piper) who’s turned the Chieftains into an international institution and, give or take the odd gimmick and celebrity shoulder-rubbing, mostly main- tained respect and credibility within the Irish music community in the process.
They may not have been entirely altruis- tic in stretching the collaborative limits of their music to breaking point in the desire to stay ahead of the game and prove its wider relevance and appeal, but in doing so they have clattered away many of its perceived boundaries and opened many ears to many different styles of music, right up to last year’s San Patricio, one of their best albums, superbly exploring the links between Ireland and Mexico in a compelling true war story. Unaccountably San Patricio seemed to have relatively little impact and here they return to a more reliable profile-boosting formula, linking up with some of the cooler, younger names on the block and the man with the Midas touch, T Bone Burnett at the controls to re-enact an approach that gave them their biggest-seller with Long Black Veil 17 years ago, when they enticed the likes of the Rolling Stones, Sting and Mark Knopfler into bed with them.
Voice Of Ages doesn’t wield anything like the same dramatic presence, not merely because the likes of The Decemberists, Paolo Nutini, Civil Wars, Bon Iver and The Low Anthem don’t carry the same sort of clout, but
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