Bear & The Woods – Sink or Swim EP

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

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Bear & the Woods - Sink or Swim EP

Bear & the Woods – Sink or Swim EP

Bear & The Woods released their debut EP last week entitled Sink or Swim, for me it was a first chance to cop a listen of a band whose name is weaving its way around the Reading music ether. It’s odd how a name can conjure up an idea in the mind as to how a band will sound and in some respects I was somewhere near and in others I wasn’t. Rather obviously maybe I was expecting this to growl which it does in a youthful bear cub way but musically it is slightly more folk with a touch of a rougher irreverent edge.

It’s fair to say that Folk, Americana and Country are on the up in the UK of late with the chart friendly Mumford and Sons seemingly on anything and everything I tune into on the radio or TV. The upside of this though is the positive effect it’s having on this genre of music as a whole and, for bands like Bear & The Woods, that can only be a good thing. Their sound manages to do that tricky thing of straddling both US and UK sounds with a very English rough and ready folk vocal style, slightly aggressive but in not scary way, and although the singer professes in opening track Buoyancy Aids that “My lyrics are shit”, I think he may be fishing for compliments because I’m liking his lyrical style. There’s story telling here a plenty.

For me the opening track is the most instantly captivating with its seesaw arrangement scattergun drum beat and rattling guitars and mandolin riff, the more I hear it the more I’m liking it, which is always a good sign, I can imagine this being a great song live too. Wolf is a lovely, lilting song with some great harmonies which you can’t help but sing along with “I’m just a lamb dressed as a wolf, carry me home, carry me South”. Jonah has more pop sensibilities than the other three songs and is quite catchy but for me is the weakest of the four songs. They finally tick all the boxes by stripping it right down for the lament Down Down, a heartfelt song of sadness if ever there was one. The arrangements throughout the EP are very well thought out and considered with very nice earthy production, it sounds like real music by real musicians. All in all I think I’ll always enjoy Buoyancy Aids but Down Down is a song that I think I’ll be listening to in years to come.

This is definitely a band I’ll be seeking out to go and see, I’d suggest you do the same too. Check out Buoyancy Aids below and then ignore all the signs go feed those Bears, buy their EP…

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Kicking Television at BBC Introducing

18 Friday Jan 2013

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Kicking Television

Kicking Television at BBC Introducing

So having hardly been to BBC Introducing I find myself going two weeks in a row. This week I made my way down in a bitterly cold wind to watch Kicking Television, a band formed in 2012 from the dying embers of Johnny Arrow and the Cheap Day Returns, rising like a Phoenix as it were. They released the excellent big twanging riff of a pop song ’41 Miles Due West’ in May, replete with noisy guitars and the sort of catchy hook that snags in your ear.

Tonight they kick off with that very same track and it strikes me immediately what good musicians they all are, it’s easy when you play noisy pop to fall into the trap of not worrying to much about musicianship, but there’s none if that here. The guitar chimes, the bass and drums thump and the vocals tie it all together in a joyously riffing tune, I even find myself singing along with the ooohhh oh oh ooohhh oh oh chorus line. Lead vocalist and guitarist Jonathan Amphlett has a quintessentially English pop voice and a style that harks back to the sixties but also puts me in mind of a lot of bands from the end of the eighties and early 90’s such as the Revolver or Anna and even US bands Goo Goo Dolls and The Posies.

After a blistering start the tunes keep rolling, with Alex Bowen fiercely glued to his bass beating out bass lines of intensity and Simon Amphlett on drums playing with a look of effortless ease, we’ve soon passed through Old Vince, Concerts for King and Very Trying before you know it. All the bands songs are beautifully constructed and they manage that rare thing with a 3 piece to have a full on sound, dropping in and out in just he right places, I keep trying to think what they could add to there sound and I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t just be added for the sake of it.

As we head toward the end of the set they play a song close to their hearts and the inspiration for their band name Kicking Television by Wilco a rip roaring shambolic song, noisey greatness if ever there was. Finally they round off the set with Confluence during which they pull off a great false ending which includes frozen mannequin poses held just long enough for you to think maybe the wind has changed direction and they are stuck there…. bang they’re back and the set is over to great applause.

If you want to hear more then go get this tune ‘41 Miles Due West’ you won’t be disappointed.

More info on the band here

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Location:Oakford Social in Reading 16 Jan 2013

Luke Paulo

17 Thursday Jan 2013

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Luke Paulo

Luke Paulo and Maija Päivikki

I really haven’t been to enough of these nights, in truth this is only the second time, but to be honest nothing had previously tempted me enough to get me away from any one of the other nights that run on a Wednesday in Reading Town.

But tonight is different, tonight BBC Introducing seems to have moved on from the usual ‘indie pop sets’, I rightly or wrongly associate with their night, and have invited Luke Paulo to play, a surprise move, but a good one I have to say.

Luke has emerged on the Berkshire music scene over the last year in particular with a distinctive soft baritone voice conveyed on slices of Eastern European inspired folkness. He writes and delivers lyrics that are heartfelt, steeped in the imagery of slightly dark tails, and is one of a number of growing artists in the area who’s song writing is lyrically led. Tonight, on stage Luke is joined by Maija Päivikki, adding her prodigious piano talents to beautifully compliment his acoustic meanderings, also adding a light counterpoint to his deep tones with a sensitive sprinkling of backing vocals.

There’s a good crowd in the house tonight, although the main band on is a rock band in the vein of Foo Fighters, which seems an incongruous mix, the audience though are very appreciative as the set gets underway with the poignantly sad ‘Beads on the floor’ one of my favourites, with the great line “As she scatters loves beads upon the floor”. This is music for dark smokey bars with shady characters hidden in booths drinking deep red wine and demands a hushed reverence. Other regulars Crazy Like You and Clear Water make an appearance in the set along with several new numbers, unfortunately tonight Luke isn’t in a very talkative mood and there are no introductions to the songs.

The 30 minute set is shorter than I’d have liked but it was packed full of the best songs and the audience is certainly responding well as the set finishes off with another new one… Next time I’ll remember to grab a set list.

If you’d like to hear more by Luke Paulo then head on over to his ReverbNation page where he has three of the tracks up

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Location:BBC Introducing at the Oakford Social 9 Jan 2013

Come on in

17 Thursday Jan 2013

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Hello and welcome to this little corner of Berkshire sitting between the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames river as it meanders down to London town. Beer, Biscuits and Bricks is here to spread a few engaging and hopefully insightful words on the music that is raised and nurtured in this Royal County. So if you hail from this way or are just dropping by, let us know and we’ll post something up or come along and review your gig or maybe just share a pint and a biscuit. Check out the about us page for contact info.