Today’s Friday Five tip Something Personal have released a free 3 song EP to download via their website. Click here to have a listen and download the songs. The Welsh band take their inspiration from the likes of Ac/Dc, Nirvana, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and have been described by John Robb as “Oasis’ish with a psych edge!”
Catch the band on tour throughout the summer.
Photo by Marc Griggs
City Surrender are a rather nice new band from London. They’re bringing nothing new to the party but they’re attending it and making it a better place. The “Light and Shadows EP” is three tracks of good fun grunge rock. They list their influences as “Pixies, Nirvana, The Beatles and Pink Floyd”. Opening track “Doberman” can also add King Adora to that mix. It has more than a hint of their glam-punk stomp. “Fall Like Lovers” borrows from the You Me at Six songbook and “Honey, I’m tired of laughing about it”, the final track on the EP demonstrates just what they do best, managing to sound like Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers and Biffy Clyro. All in the same song. It’s a lovely. A nice start. One to watch.
The “Light and Shadows EP” is released on 10th April, catch them on tour in April and May
Born in Nottingham and now residing in Portland, Emma Niblett adopted the moniker Scout after Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, the protagonist from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. Releasing under Scout Niblett, The Calcination of Scout Niblett is her 5th studio album. One thing that’s evident, having listened to her previous efforts, is that she doesn’t hold with musical evolution; not one to push the envelope with new layers and sounds, textures and structures of musical brilliance. Not Scouty, no. Everybody loves a big new idea but you know what, sometimes it’s just nice to have something brilliant, regardless. Tried and tested? So what. Brilliant’s brilliant, no?
The Scout Niblett trademark sound is a variation of quiet/loud guitar and drums, not necessarily concerned with hitting the right notes every time – a bit scratchy, if you will. Very much verse/chorus/verse and very openly Kurt Cobain-esque. Over the top she layers her PJ Harvey-esque vocals. It’s a tempting sound. I’ve covered the fact that “The Calcination of Scout Niblett” is more of the same formula. The fact is, it’s better. I imagine she looks at people expecting her to push the envelope in the same way that Toyota would look at somebody who expected them to make a toasted cheese sandwich maker; with one eyebrow raised and a big dollop of suspicion.
Sticking to the one sound has allowed Niblett, over the course of the last decade and with the help of producer Steve Albini, to hone and fine-tune her sound to the absolute basics and absolute best. A decade of playing incredible live shows but not ever quite capturing the live sound well on record, “The Calcination . . .” is Niblett at her most driven and intense and the sound comes over like In Utero-era Nirvana with the lyrical drive of Catpower’s Moonpix.
The record begins with”Just Do It!” a song with cuts from moments of buzzing feedback before cutting back to the sparsity of just a single string. The girl deals in beautiful contrasts and wants you to know it early on. “Cheeky Cherry Bomb” spends 3 minutes building between quiet/loud before launching into a menacing crunching, powerful doom-rock sound.
Ultimately nothing new. Just better at it. More honed and refined. Better guitars, better drums, better vocals than previous records. The album ends on the 9 minute wonder that is “Meet and Greet” – a song which uses every shade on the palette to sketch out the sound, just to remind us all what she’s capable of. Blood and guts, heart and soul come in spades though. Basically, it’s all you need.
There’s been a break from the baby diary after a long holiday with no internet, and when I got home I continued to abstain for a while. But like all pleasurable things it was difficult to give it up for long.
Baby Swimming
The latest event for the baby is swimming lessons. He’s
been twice now and each time cried and been quite upset. We’re puzzled because
he enjoys his bath times, and he kicks in the bath, smiles, even laughs but swimming
is not a hit. Maybe it’s because he gets dunked in the pool by the teacher, or because there are a lot of other babies crying, and it’s all a bit confusing. But apparently babies like swimming underwater.
Speaking of which (I’m reliably informed) the baby on the cover of Nirvana’s
Nevermind album is 20 years old now and was only paid $25 dollars. On the plus
side he’ll never be embarrassed by his parents getting out the family album.
Weaning
We’ve not tried many different foods yet, so far it’s
been purees of carrot & potato, apple & banana, Farley’s rusks and baby
rice. Dillon still prefers milk, formula or breastmilk. I’d like to get him off
‘the boob’ as night-times can be pretty tiring. But I’ll miss it when
breastfeeding stops. Not sure when but definitely before he can say “ham
sandwich”.
Eczema
Dillon gets a really bad rash on the back of his legs when he sits in his Bumbo chair – so he may have an allergy to latex. Or it may just be a baby thing. I’ve tried Sudocrem, then Diprobase, now hydrocortisone, which seems to be working. Lots of baby have rashes and sensitive skin in general as they gradually get used to all the different things in the environment. Hopefully it will clear up by he’s 12, in time for teenage acne.
NCT
I’m a member of the National Childbirth Trust which provides antenatal classes for new parents-to-be, and is probably the best way to get to know people who are having children at the same time as you. We take it in turns to host monthly coffee mornings – or afternoons! It’s invaluable to
have other people going through something the same time you are and to share
your feelings of confusion, guilt, joy, and fatigue. The dads haven’t seen each
other since the mums were pregnant but I’m sure they’ll meet again.
NCT classes really push breastfeeding and there is a lot to say on the subject – I wrote an article about the pros and cons vs formula here http://www.femalearts.com/node/49 – I think it is
difficult to breastfeed exclusively and take my hat off to anyone who’s managed
it.
Highchair
Was assembled today and Dillon sat proudly in his new
throne, played with his toy and ate his puree. It’s a Cosatto Noodle Zuton if
that means anything to anyone. It’s got different heights and vertical
settings, a big tray with different shape compartments, is big enough to
prevent the baby from knocking stuff off the table which he was doing before whenever
we had dinner. I’ve purchased a load of plastic glasses for me and hubbie, in
an attempt to avoid glass breakages. I’m sure things will get worse the more mobile the baby gets and the house will slowly disintegrate (at the same time as my hair going grey and my husband’s
hair falling out). No one tells you how glamorous parenting is.
© Wendy Thomson 2011
Wendy Thomson is the editor of www.femalearts.com an online publication
which promotes women in the arts and in business.