Held By Trees – Talk Talk’s Legacy lives on and is rooted in Dorset

You Need to see / hear this band https://www.wegottickets.com/event/593559#

26th April they play In Chelmsford

read about them in objective words here and Classic Pops ( love that mag ) amazing article on Held By Trees

https://open.spotify.com/embed/artist/1ymZF1ZIsHaqneEoqAi7lz?utm_source=generator

I’m not gonna rant and rave ( well maybe a bit …) but at the risk of sounding like a total loon I’ve had an epiphany / amazing tripple whammy concidence after a big life change

I started working at an amazing company ( warm) it was an amzing experience but also quite stressful for a number of reasons I wont go into the best thing about it was I got to know the amazing and talented Mickey Browne

we worked side by side me as a booking agent and handling multiple tasks/ spinning plates and he running the Re: warm label , getting to work with Mickey and hang out and talk music was / is one of the great pleausres of my life in all honesty.

he gave me loads of great opportunities / laughs and encouragement to ( usually too blue to publish )

I Joke but he is my ROCK and I’m living laughing and loving again xx (eeeee thanks doll face )

1 ) First eeerie coicidence / jungian synchronicty theory in action

Often I would get totally distracted by Mickeys work as he would be playing new / old songs that were going to be included on the various Warm compilations

He was playing the latest comp of the label and night Afficianado ( , DJs Jason Boardman and Moonboots more on them here

and the first track was by Held By Trees – and I had heard it before after good pal and friend of Kerry Robinson Chris Mears sent it to me after we had reconnected after many years and got talking about Talk Talk ( boom tish )

BOOOM sonic booom 

at the Time of hearing it I was blown away and I had forgotten that Chris had mentioned his involvement, months later I got in touch with mutual pal of Mearsey and Kerry  Chris Peddley musician , film maker , face and and bit of a legend as I wanted to get back to DJing and putting on live gigs after a short spurt with Tom Moon at the Poole Hill Brewery nights Desert Shore I mentioned In the Trees and wanting to get involved and maybe put them on and what did he know about them and that they are incredible and I knew a bit about the Talk Talk legacy but not that much but I was ravenous to know more and so is Mickey …

in short

Held By Trees’ debut album brings together eight alumni of the revered Talk Talk albums Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock, and Mark Hollis’ only solo album on new instrumental music.
Alongside the likes of Robbie McIntosh (guitar), Martin Ditcham (drums), Simon Edwards (bass) and Phill Brown (mix), the album also features…
Tim Renwick (Guitar – Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Eric Clapton)
Mike Smith (Saxophone – Blur, Gorillaz, Jamiroquai)
Gary Alesbrook (Trumpet – Super Furry Animals, Kasabian, Noel Gallagher)
Blues/roots legend Eric Bibb.

Boom – 2 number 2 coincidence / event

he said Im going to see / chat with David at my friends studio and do you want to come along meet and have a look – I immediately thought this is so odd / amazing / spoooky

thats a seperate entity in itself the studio – it is rediculous with its own reverb chamber made from a basement ( dig the cosmic hole ! ) – I’m hoping to send some cosmic messages between musicians I love and send them to this unearthly echo womb ( more on this studio at a later date )

I digress

Booooooom mind blow

So I went over and Met David and flipping out both as a fan and reverb nerd- this is a sepearate story in itself …

at the same time Mickey is having a conversation with David and we ( mickey and I ) were texting going wtf they are from Bournemouth ??!!

and now I’m really hoping to help them out / release their music / book them some shows , whatever I can do to spread the notes – the sparsity and beauty are the direct DNA of Mark – its so eeerie

when you think about Mark Hollis classic quote about the space between the music 

“Before you play two notes, learn how to play one note, y’know? And don’t play one note unless you’ve got a reason to play it.” ~ Mark Hollis

and his last leaving remark to a jornalist from the Wire “I think im done ” it had this eerie relevance to my life- ( working in an office with all the crap that goes with it ) and knowing when i’m done and needing and appreciating the space and beauty of the landscape around us and feeling restless ( Mickey and I constantly dreaming and talking hippy bollox about plateus of sound and being lost in nature and the strange pagan heritage and legends of dorset – see Gerald Gardner /

Sybil Leek /

Harry Paye and having moving experiences in this landscape – this is what Held By Trees is all about and it turns out David is from our beloved Dorset and this music was born out of a moment when the world stopped ( COV19)

In short I have a a bewildering urge to make this band heard by whatever means necessary.. It feels so odd to meet David but good odd …I wish I had dug deeper into them and reached out to learn a bit more about them.but TIme is just time right …Its opening up a world of Music to me that ive never had time to dive into Swans / Bark Pyschosis for example and David has a lot of plans and exciting projects coming up

to get a bit personal ive been Struggling with mental health and depression and Talk Talk have meant so much to me and I feel really and blessed to have met David and learnt about his mission to continue the legacy – I’m struggling to convey this but In short if you like Mark Hollis / Rustin man / Ambient / Pink Floyd or just in short MUSIC . please devour and buy everything Held By Tress have made .. enough of my waffle !

PS I had to run to a job interview and what Lennon said “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”

but I hope David you read this and we work together. Whatever happens, signed Robin Fan for life and I hope Mickey becomes your dear friend and colaborator too xxxx

Desert Shore w/ Rose Io

the very talented and eerie Rose graces the stage at Cellar bar Bournemouth 25th may

her Project Rokurokubi. is an eerie spooky blast of cold air

I’ll be playing dark disco and cold waves with Lil Mishap TBC !!

happy to be in the cellar bar its a unique venue and full of strangeness

maybe bournemouth’s most beautiful venue

here’s a new mix with some Levon Vincent new gear

[bandcamp width=350 height=470 album=2195440702 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false

Room Radio See Safari show / Luke Una / Levon Vincent / Warm new Job / Warm Comps

Been struggling to find time to put these shows mixes together and for good reason as I have just recently started working for https://warmagency.com/. which is a dream come true as they represent some of my fave DJS inc Luke Una – his compilation E Soul Cultura is a must you can get it here through Warms record shop for the fair price & have included some tracks from the comp on this here mix head over to warm and cop some of their amazing compilations including the
Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Volume One comp

and now just recently Levon Vincvent has signed to Warm Levon Vincent (dubby / muddy pure jacking material trax – here’s a wee blurb about his new Album

Levon Vincent returns with his fifth studio album, titled Work In Progress, the follow up to 2022’s Silent Cities cassette release. Progress sees the dub techno and NY house auteur throw away any overarching concept, apart from the idea that it must move you.

Work In Progress is a collection of club ready jams that form the latest productions from Levon’s incredibly prolific run of 12”s he’s pressed on his own label Novel Sounds, directly for the next weekend’s sets. His run over the last 20 years of 12” numbers almost 50 releases. Rather than his previous albums presenting a finished story, his fifth presents a diarist’s work in progress, his latest club constructions, many raising the BPM to 140 to reflect the faster pace of his latest DJ sets.

“The previous albums I have made are all meant to be heard from start to finish, where it takes the listener on a voyage” explains Levon. “I modelled the narrative idea after those LPs after greats like Stevie Wonder, who made albums that contained an arc that would unfold from start to finish. You were meant to listen to them from beginning to end.”

“With Work in Progress, I set out to break the pattern of writing albums with an arc. I wanted to make something that more closely reflects my DJing. This is an album for DJs. I thought, ‘why separate my LP and 12” approaches? My only rule for this album was ‘you have to be able to play each track in your own sets’. My DJ sets are varied and go through different styles. I would play every track on this LP at some point in a club night or at a festival. I named it Work In Progress, because I am a work in progress. And I am frequently in a situation where I must improve. So it references self-improvement, the concept and the action of.”

DJs and home listening fans of Levon will find a lot to love in the new collection. From the hi-nrg 80s proto-disco through a gray scale gauze of Regarding Love, with an emotional mood continued through Longing, the skipping NY House drum programming of Strut Beats filtered through a submarine Berliner filter. Even a track which promises such an uncomplicated confection as The Funk is complicated by Levon’s gritty vision, made tougher and more metallic. Sunday Mornings echo’s the most feel good of 90s piano, but with a shifting modal centre, as befits a musician who has taught himself to play with and use nonstandard harmonic intervals. Again, Levon is exploring and composing in real time, pursuing his muse across an industrial grid of his own construction.

see safari free music

making a few beds / trying out some different sounds in Ableton free or name your price, keen to hear any feedback or just send a message and if you have some music you want to share here happy to share it x

Sentics – finally on Bandcamp !

yay hurrah, my good friend Markus has finally uploaded his music as Sentics and its full of nice Peter Hook baselines and ethereal synths, I’ve come back to it to give it a proper listen as it was released back in late Feb

His far away, woozy hypnotic voice has the duality of being somewhat soothing then snarling . Lofi production that is “distant” if you like Young Marble Giants you’re gonna like Sentics. There’s something jarring and slightly robotic and I like that about them. iIs it lazy journalism to say Teutonic ? After all they are from Austria, they are informed by a lot of great post punk but Sentics stand out from the crowd of fey Indie poppers by being somewhat dark in tone – spacey Metronomic rhythms and I can see Markus doing a David Byrne like dance to the music in a vessel floating in space

The Wound is the Place Where the Light Enters You and How To Self Heal Mix

Sumatran Black, there really arent many muscians I know personally who can create the right melancholy chords quite like he does.But thanks to some tips

through Ron Like Hell – Wrecked NYCs who listed some great DJS and Producers to check, Ill list some more of them here in coming weeks, definetly anti business techno underground DJs who make radio shows and actively promote the culture and positive NRG, I looked into their productions and one really struck me Ivy Barkakati

Ivy Barkakati, https://ivybarkakati.bandcamp.com/music
Originally from Maryland, Ivy Barkakati has lived in Barcelona since 2012 a. A DJ, producer, and vocalist these two tracks showcase her amazing ambient works, together with Phran phran.bandcamp.com. they are DJ duo IVAN

bang this hot mix of theirs

fitting in with MSYLMA’s Fanaa Ghada from the amazing LP https://boomkat.com/products/dhil-un-taht-shajarat-al-zaqum
which goes into Sumatran Black- The Wound is the Place Where the Light Enters You
https://sumatranblack.bandcamp.com/track/the-wound-is-the-place-where-the-light-enters-you

Taxonomy Of Grief is Pete’s latest Sumatran Black LP part of a dark trilogy

I tried to make a Northern Soul and Disco mix on the weekend which features Gil Scott Heron, Grace Jones and Jago ( frankie knuckles mix of im going to go ) as an upbeat start but I got drawn into melancholy sounds and ended up putting a 40 minute ambient section at the end which features Ivy’s two ambient tracks that grabbed me the most

and then rounds out to Petes work and Cruel Diagonals a recent discovery mostly as shes funny on twitter but primarily shes a sound / noise /voice ambient artist making incredible music from LA, I put here Modular epic in another mix but here I’ve let it play in its 15 minute form and drift in and out around the other tracks

Cruel Diagonals is Los Angeles-based vocalist & field recordist, Megan Mitchell. Go and check them all out !

Sumatran Black – This Loving presence

Of course i’m going to write about Peter as I know him, to know him is to love him,

let me count the ways

The soft pads, the subtle beats, the use of samples from tv and Film ( his Rohmer influenced side project Camomile Dawn is a lofi 120 house techno melancholic project that demands you process now and add to your mixes )

This new Sumatran Black Album was written in the hours of darkness and in the wee small hours with abnormal sleep patterns, and at these hours the best work is often made, and what work it is

Deep sensations and images flood the mind. Nighthawks who work with zoom all day and barely see anyone. These are the strange days and emotions are fraught and we are RAW. Permit me to dream but I think we will see a huge return to clubs and live music and a third summer of Love. (this has been talked about a lot in the excellent faith fanzine, which as you know is the continuation of the BOYS OWN fanzine a HOUSE magazine Hopefully an end to business techno TM and with a real grassroots movement of collective conscientious party promoters with a sense of History regarding club culture and redressing that the origins are black, gay, inclusive and respectful of cultures. Peter is well aware of the origins of club culture as a fanatic and lover of all types of music he’s part of the second wave of acid house babies that were raised in the 80s and 90s we were both lucky to come from inclusive backgrounds and were lucky to experience mass gatherings and concerts, I’m going off on a tangent here but this album is about dislocation and drifting away from the self. I worry for the youth of today who are missing out on essential identity building and memory making experiences. I feel as though sometimes the only thing that keeps me going now is nostalgia and I feel that there will be a generation who feel lost. Amongst manifold loss

Loss of self and loss of Life, as Louis Theroux recently put it in his excellent podcast with FKA twigs we are in a mental Health crisis Peter is dealing with emotions like we all are in Lockdown, in some ways we are both lucky in that we are both not burdened by children but at the same time we feel apart from society in that we are not convential breeders, if you will,

I read something really scary /interesting about a group called the voluntary human extinction movement..and another friend Angelo pointed out to me that if we as a species were not so reliant on Flesh none of this shit would be happening, Our lust to devour and have whatever we want and unsafe practices have brought us slaughter, I’m not going to use Morrissey here but I will because he has made intellignet points (though he has shown to be on the brink of madness as well.. re facism) well… Meat Is Murder

to conclude … Your Loving Presence is needed, however it is, be it a digital reproduction ( JOI Blade runner 2 ) zoom love story telling and reaching out to your family ( both Pete and I are away from our close families )

please buy his music it is from the heart and heartwrenching as I have said before his melodies are heart renderingly beautiful.

The Ghosts Of Seoul And London

 

Its been a long time coming, with many changes but the core idea of cities as playgrounds for the rich and untouchable is at its core

the main image is of Battersea power station the iconic building  that has come to repersent the failure and financial meddling that has come to demonstrate Londons lack of soul and as a city that is no longer accesible for normal people

I visited the powerstation in 2007 with my good friend Emily and we walked around the site, at the time it was being proposed there would be a huge housing development and shopping centre built within the shell of the iconic building, the parent company was chinese, chinese investment coming into the city of London is nothing new of course and I hold no issue with development from foreign companies.

But when you have a serious lack of housing that is affordable and in the case of the Grenfell tradgedy housing made with inferior and dangerous materials and a city that feels fake, anoydne, untenable  and no longer vital that is something to be remarked upon.

 

Seoul on the other hand seems to be the new place where talent is shining, but underneath any shining new surface lies a darkness, as the oscar winning film Parasite demonstrated, this film struck a chord with me personally from my time working as a teacher in south korea and as a tutor I rely on rich or well off families to tutour their offspring,This parasitic existence is remarked upon in the film , the divides in society theis trope really resonate. I am now a tutor as a day job ( post covid 19 I dont work in a regular school )  my girlfriend as well we teach alot of Russians and Saudi Arabians and the irony is not lost on the fact that I rely on them and in my private life and creative life I am critical of the political policies and movements

 

you can buy the music here at bandcamp of course

https://camomiledawn.bandcamp.com/album/the-ghosts-of-seoul-london

 

 

Fevered Fiction – Inside the PARADOX Southampton / October 1998

Inside the Paradox

 

I’m a big fan of rave recollections and short stories, I’m currently reading and will be reviewing State Of Bass by Martin James

https://velocitypress.uk/product/state-of-bass/. buy direct from the publisher

Its an excellent tome on the developement of Hardcore To Jungle and Drum and Bass and all of the nodes and stems that shoot off from the greatest british export

 

Ive also been inspired by Joe Europe whos writing some feverish tales here

 

 

so heres some fever dream stream of conciousness fluff from the back of my mind and an attempt at thinking in the flow of Det, Skibba, Stevie Hyper D or IC3  ( def not moose or shabba , lol bone man ) If those names mean nothing to you,  you’re dead , fam, you probably wore Dunlops, d e a d .

In 2 deep, the speckled dove is not having the effect I want , feeling wavy but my breath is escaping me, not fusing with me, Brockie is spinning ,Ic3 is chatting , his bark louder hey Hey Hey, hur, hur,hur Muhahahaha ,

I’m feeling not so steady, steady are you ready, what’s going on , that’s the PARa para , para paradox , something is changing in me my stomach flips I want to puke but it fades … then …feeling good, feeling great but soon you know that its going to fade , but then it starts to all fit , the waves calm a little, I’m over the hill and far away, the feet feel lighter and now im stepping, steppin, DJ Die Autumn cuts in ,98 2 99  and we feel FINE ,

 

 

 

yeah yeah what’s this new old sound, hey you coming thru with the new sound , it’s a stepper, it’s a roller it’s a Bristol rockers 2 rockers , sound of the Autumn streets , light dappling thru trees, still a warm breeze , and I’m turning through the pages of my life , I’m after new Kreps, addict for sneakers used to have a beeper ,   not a care about a council tax bill, steady on this grade pill , mersh nah … we will see , never put pen to paper on the dotted line , pay in cash or get on tick , flip a brick a week , the plug come deliver, up southern corridor and m4 / m25 , one above, lieutenant before county lines burners were not even a thing then , nokia Erickson, don’t be bait , don’t talk bait on the phone , you got that ting yeah…… , more dub rush come save me , just 4 u ,   soon about to come crushing down like it always does someone chat bare rubbish , 1 year later the prick in a lowered escort he’ll turn witness, informer, end up in fuengirola cleaning swimming pools ,greased down curtains and Lizzie Duke sovvies n chain , (bonkerz not ruffneck n chain) but he’s alright jack , he wont catch more than 2 years inside whilst trouble trouble trouble you bring , TROUBLE ON VINYL

 

 

 

cos away goes trouble…..Scorpio……. rising ….. ….. DOWN THE DRAIN …..

 

 

 

Im doing rates, ticks , half an oz vaccum pack for 100 , 10 for £50, g of peng rerock for 50 , they say its look like fishscale , but its repress , but not as stepped on as u might find , the scouse plug is legit , people lap it up , half the bar snorting my Charlie …unggggg , covered like a portion of chips , ungggh ,

 

…. now they say bits , doing bits, of this and that bits of what ? fucking fart gak selling off fucking snap chat , but back to my chat , don’t watch that , mates are on my watch, we control camellia , yeah yeah camellia house ground floor you know you get more for your score we do the henry at 4s not 3.5 , we are generous to a fault , we are independent , but back to the front to the front to the back wall to wall all the creatures great and small yeah Sharkey BONKERSZZZ was he a bone man ? The SPLIT BETWEEN HaRDCORE and Jungle that old chesnut   THOSE THAT Wanted to feel like they were in a fucking toytown and with one colour rocking to the bass , get pasty faced and sucking on a fucking dummy …that lyric though sharkey .. gold, wall to wll all the creatures great and small , we’re martians from Mars comin g to kick your arse ………So whats coming through now as we get thru til 2 …its another war head about to blow up

 

 

 

fuck 2…. these raves close so early.  2 am …. its a joke ,  Soton is missing the whole UKAY is missing on those relaxed laws .. whats that sonar beam calling thru yeah it’s the Ed Rush and Optical those crazy bald heads its Funktion the remix , is it gonna get pulled up , yep yep dj brooooocccckieeeeee inside , so we get to hear that intro again I look around me as we are sent onto the cold face of uncharted planets and its just us all the stepper in the place no one fighting noone bogging each other out , but that feeling grows and grows the 2 , the number, the regulation , I’m a stepper not a sleeper, I don’t want to stop stepping, change up rearrange my brain , don’t think i’ll feel the same , every weekend do the same , fuck a narrow lane , this feelin cant contain or complain, for that matter , deal with the matter , deal with it proper !   Skibba and IC3 ,HEY HEY , hosting and sending , sending us through , I see Anil the promoter screwing at the venue manager , who’s trying to shut SHIT DOWN, fuck your license, there’s still 600 people here no officers can take us but Anil aint no pussy claart , he’s  waving his hand across the night , across the floor the rAvers are still gagging for more ,he wants his customers going home happy talking about this ONE for years …. AND they will , we do , we cant forget it or get close to all those dreams

 

and we will we do we keep harking back to those days , those tape packs now fly through the air , youtube comments, fat bad cunts on fart gak in basements, medium size halls trying to relive the dream , sad ? No , AWOL  A way of life  that lives on , I was there , I bought the tape pack,and the panels rattled  , planet v becomes the sound of the new era , we get lighter , the pads soothe as the tents get bigger the lazers strafe the air the smoke gets thicker and bam those stabs get through and that riff hits you every time HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY , WHA U GONNA DO, , WHA U GONNA DO, , WHA U GONNA DO are you down with Lemon D , have you heard the champion sound and have you still got nasty habits ? did you party at the Startford rex , bone men , maybe you made a helter skelter of your life maybe serotonin got all burnt out , you didn’t know about 5htp , running down the corridors of your life , every Tuesday Wednesday feeling like hollow hollow man , chasing some fucking SKET who ordered vodka lemon but only liked garage … and didn’t like to ping …different tastes were coming … things never stay the same … it gets moodier … you don’t feel like a junglist soldier , junglists are you reeeeeeeaaddyyy ? Yes certainly they are… here to report to the floor for duty we are now ready for take off…

 

 

 

, but you are apart , girl gets to you says why you always with your crew they don’t support you , smoking too much , sniffin Charlie , all the people in the party getting edgy , someone wants to cook up , in your kitchen things are getting too sketchy too bait ,  and u get para ,think you want to change it up , breakbeats still come and things turn to the Marine Parade , that’s ll good but something is missing … you fall in and out with Bad Company …..

 

 

 

 

Bad Company, the crazy bald head scene, less girls, more man dem but skinnier and more prone to start,  you start to feel itchy, Plaistow 1999 … the rain hits hard on the ‘crete , you walk through Saturday hammers crowds and make trips to paddington via Hayes TOX is everywhere hes out to B O M B,  now is the time of drawing back , now is the time of Iceberg and Mosch, Wookie and Sundayz, cartoon characters on shady lanes, phone keeps ringing,  things aint been the same since …..has it come 2 this,  Original Pirate Materials kool Fm  and  something else turns your head… the twisiting and turning through the canals and the serotonin levels are burnt out….battle over

 

HUMAN LEATHER LAZY KARAOKE

https://soundcloud.com/cerclesocialrecords/sets/human-leather-lazy-karaoke

WOW WOW SO CRISP

MUCH EARLY DEPECHE MODE / VINCE CLARKE SAD SYNTH AND

( ok no more caps ) alot of lovely guitar work and instantly catchy

100% pure bliss pop   a little bit Wild Beasts as well with the falsetto / wavery voice

 

maybe a bit jorge socarras ? that rich voice is giving me chills

 

best thing ive heard in ages !!! they should be supported depeche mode in a just world !

go buy here