An Intimate Evening with Katie Jane Garside (Full Report)

A week ago on a Saturday evening (22nd Sept) I was priviledged to have tickets for the opening of Katie Jane Garside's Art Exhibition - the evening finalised by a performance of material from her new project, Ruby Throat. Aided by guitarist Chris Whittingham.

The exhibition was at the Woom Gallery in Birmingham and consisted of journal entries, video exhibits, models but mostly images of KJG doing various activities naked. Each image that I can recall had an alteration be it a mask or something more complex derived from various manipulations. The signature photo is one of Katie doing the ironing in a donkey facemask. Forced due to cirmstance to go alone, I'm sure you can appreciate my initial discomfort at viewing these images. Something your musical idol rarely does is willingly provide you with naked photos of themselves. However, I began to watch my discomfort and from this learning experience began to see how this art was affecting me on deeper levels than boring old prudishness.

I saw invulnerability of spirit in the vulnerabilty of the flesh. For someone from the public eye to be able to display their earthly shell to all & sundry brought home to me what I have liked about this entity since the early Daisy Chainsaw Days, and this is the absolute harnessing of the power of paradox. KJG has always offered light & dark in music and now this has expanded visually. I heard someone talking about an incident that happened some time ago at a Queen Adreena gig in London where Katie jumped into the crowd & they ripped off her clothes. According to him, how she dressed and acted - he was not suprised and seemed to find it incredulous that KJG was shocked at the event. I do love to listen to "matter of fact" people that have their absolute own take on the reality of this world, trying to whitewash all the walls on behalf of everyone else and this was no exception. Perhaps it is only those that see the true chaos of life that can find a centre to work from, to be an individual and unencumbered by the normal dross that we allow society to dress us up with. Despite any personal bias & projection I believe Katie Jane Garside to be one of these people and thus one of the few artists ever that have attained a similar level of respect from me.

The gig itself was held in the courtyard of the Woom Gallery with an open brazier fire to help with the temperature. The stage set up in the sealed alley that they probably normally take their bins out through. With only around 30 people watching this was the most intimate gig I have ever witnessed. It certainly was an artist in the living room experience.

It began before most noticed from behind the curtains that had been used for projections prior. With dreamy delayed & chorused guitar slowly washing out over the courtyard. The fact that this went unnoticed confirmed something that I have suspected for a while - that people are visually led, albeit possible unconsciously affected by music i.e. listeners may feel different without knowing why in a circumstance like this. When the curtains were pulled down a hushed awe flooded through the small crowd. The green lit area housed a seat each for Katie & Chris who both performed the first track seated. Until Katie required to utilise some of that astonishing volume that she has when of course she began to stand, to allow her to utilise her full body to eject every extra ounce of energy.

Although I have always worshipped her voice, I truly did not appreciate the full skill of KJG until this gig. Her microphone technique was impeccable. Further astonishing me with her skill and true power, when she began to use distance from the microphone and the pure sound of her voice to achieve a perfect mix between the sound from the PA and the pure sound from herself. To see this phenomena is to believe it as Katie is not of a resonant build which furthers my theory of an entity in tune with all of it's elements combined.

Chris Whittingham's guitar work as I have already intimated was also excellent and did nothing to detract from the musical experience and everything to compliment it. Using acoustic Guitar and Slide Mandolin on some tracks. Always always awash with delay, reverb & chorus in some blend. His music brought upon the entire dreamy quality of the music. With this and the vocal it had a very bluesgrass feel and boy oh boy is Miss Garside's voice complimentary to this style, or vice versa.

Finally I cannot end this report without admitting to bleary eyes on two occassions that evening. The proceedings gave me so much energy at one point, like a bolt of lightning down my spine - I was actually fearful of some tourettes or other momentary mental illness from taking me in its grasp to stand up and start shouting random things ! The sheer beauty of the music, the excellence of both artists and the ultimate priviledge of being allowed to witness this phenomena all lent power to this feeling no doubt. My only disappointment all evening was that Katie was stood at the door on the way out and said she had to shoot off somewhere quickly and then she was coming back. I was already flagging with a 3-4 hour drive back home left in front of me. Thus fear of death made me decide it was better to leave now and I was certainly blissfully happy with the experience up until then.

When she came back apparently she had a jamming session in front of the 4 remaining people. Perhaps I could have had the chance to play guitar & sing with her. But I'll never know and still it was for the best as I only just made it home before my system gave up !

So Thank you Katie and stay special !

MP3's The Future or the Past ?

The struggling record labels have begun to see the relevance of the digital domain. With firms such as EMI offering up DRM (Digital Rights Management) free MP3's from their catalogues. Even so to me it seems that they are flogging a dead horse and as soon as the public catches on they will only suffer more than they already have. There are now far more music consumers than ever, except they all spend far less on music on a monthly basis than they did historically.

MP3's offer audio files that are massively smaller than the original audio files, I would say approximately 10 times (depending on the bitrate used). Which is great for the times when we were on dial up, had comparatively low levels of storage and little other choice. As an audio engineer with somewhat trained ears I can hear several things from MP3's - primarily a reduction in audio quality often in the mid to treble frequencies, usually best demonstrated by fizzing high hats or sounds almost disappearing that should be there. Secondary is that I feel a lack of emotional contact to the music, due to the missing data I assume. An MP3 reduces the size of a file by analysing the frequencies being churned out. The strongest frequencies in any band are kept with the weaker ones getting eliminated. This is why the treble increases - as Bass is generally a soup of sound anyway it is less noticeable at the low end that frequencies have gone. Even if you cannot hear the difference the physical & emotional effect of the music has changed as your body is no longer reverberating neither in the same way nor as the artist or inspiartional energy intended. Making this the fast food of music - all false taste & no goodness.

About a month ago I dug into the cupboard & got out some records. From the outset it was as though I could actually feel air moving in the room, which is an improvement even on CD's. Also the emotional attachment that I had to this huge piece of band paraphenalia with pictures that you can actually see in the dark without squinting was immediately apparent. So I see here already one reason for the rise in popularity of the DJ culture in recent decades.

CD's are of course a happy medium but the reason they became popular was profit and nothing else. The prime example here is that when records were sold a percentage of profit was taken from the artist under the breakages clause. Breakages were all but eliminated with the introduction of CD's yet the clause remains and the artist pays for breakages that simply do not occur. They were always cheaper to make, cheaper to ship and cheaper to store BUT twice the price initially.

Which bring me to my point about the sales of MP3's online. They cost NOTHING to make, NOTHING to ship and NOTHING to store. They are (to my ears) around a third of the audio quality. Yet how much are they to buy ? At 50p a track on iTunes there is little competition between them and a CD from the supermarket. The convenience factor is the only real selling point and our apathy is being capitalised upon.

Now I will not pay the same money for something that is a third of the quality of the original, simply because of convenience. The popular compression formats of FLAC & MonkeyAudio (.ape files) are lossles and still about a third of the size but these are not available AND not even playable in iTunes. I do purchase MP3 files still but I use the Russian sites such as AllOfMP3 & Iomoio, who offer albums for about a quid each to download. It is completely legal (classed as internet radio/streaming audio) and a donation is made to the artists each month from them. Artists that are important to me or that become important to me through this media get my financial support by me going to their live gigs and from the purchasing of the higher quality CD format for continued listening over the years. Even now I am beginning to look for vinyl versions where possible. Sure vinyl needs to be cared for but if you don't need to care for something surely it follows that you will stop caring for it, making the band one more convenience in a long line of conveniences that we happily gobble up.

The world of digital music has blown wide open the doors of the music that is available to us. We can experiment and find new music. We can research and listen to bands for free on many a website - myspace, pandora, last fm and so on. Yet the traps, it would seem, certainly equal the benefits.....

Liz Green - Glastonbury & Upwards

Liz Green did not appear on my radar until Glastonbury this year. She won the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition. From this she got to open on the Pyramid stage on the Saturday, with additional sets on the Acoustic & Radio 1 Stages. She did seem in awe of the fact that she was playing in these circumstances but her genuine personality appeared to carry her through any awkwardness in front of the early morning crowd. All good stuff but it makes me wonder why not run these competitions and give slots around the festival at different times and actually give the breaking act a massive chance to grow their fan base. It would be great if a headline slot was included even if it was on a smaller stage. And to be quite honest I think that she would have carried a headline slot with great aplomb.

Liz's voice is very unique and sends me into lazy daydream worlds. A feeling reminiscent of personal experiences with Billie Holliday's music. The music behind the lyrics fits so well I cannot discern where one begins & the other ends. The guitar chords all fingerplucked & slid about on Blue Note and that sheer lack of attack to the music just seems to compliment the lyric which fades in & out like a dream while you keep nodding off sat up & rudely awakening from as your head falls. I find Liz's tunes addictive and simply cannot wait for a full length album or an EP of her work.

So look out, go see. She is touring plenty much. Just nowhere near me soon :-(

Liz Green Myspace

Leeds Carling Weekend - SUNDAY

By Sunday I was dead on my feet. Falling asleep on the grass up the hill from the main stage for most of the day. Yet I still managed to see a good selection of bands. Nothing to report until Angles & Airwaves came on. All the crowd around me were screaming "go home you homo" and an array of similar sentiments. With Tom Delonge (ex Blink 182 ex Box Car Racer) as the lead singer their offering really was all wishy-washy poor music and quite adequately did the title of Homo sit that day ! I enjoyed Panic!At the Disco and they were the first band that I gave any real ear time to. All the time I was listening I couldn't help but hear a definite Sparks influence. And I have them to thank for making me think this as I have re-discovered said band as a result.

Following was Bloc Party who I must confess do not like BUT did an excellent live set. Now don't quote me on this but I am pretty certain that I saw singer Kele Okereke smile. During Arcade Fire I was force fed some food, which kinda went with the set for me. Exceptional musicianship and such a variety of instruments played but they just did not excite me in the slightest.

So apart from Panic! At The Disco I had not really been having a good day. Then again my state of health plausibly had much to do with that particular factor. I must admit to a somewhat cynical state of mind that day. However, after the food I summoned the energy to go exploring. I saw several bands whose names I will never know at the Unsigned stage and the alternative stage. And ended up at the dance tent for the end of Data Rocks set. Which set me off on an upward tangent from where I sat at rock bottom. I wasn't expecting something quite this melodic in a dance tent. Sure they're no pop geniuses but I'm sure you know what I mean. Following these was Digitalism, who were closer to what I was expecting to get from the dance tent. The crowd certainly emulated my sentiment as I watched the tent come alive. With shades of Underworld and some great (albeit standard) beats & fills going on, I was entranced. Those lazy feetses even began to shift weight a bit for the first time that day. Next up were !!! (pronounced - Chk Chk Chk) who absolutely blew me into cinders. They were fantastic and quite frankly my band of the weekend. Between these guys, Nine Inch Nails, Middleman & Brand New I felt justified in the price of my ticket alone.

Needless to say !!! blew the cement off my feet and launched me into a full on jig. Another first time band for me to see and THE most welcome suprise of the weekend. You will have to excuse my ignorance at lack of knowledge about this band but they had a short black guy singing for them (that does not appear on their website) who was phenomenal. Kinda like a boogying Stevie Wonder with plutonium shoved up his arse. These guys KNOW how to put on a live gig, the stage is non stop movement, noise & fun. I cannot recommend highly enough how much it is worth seeing this band live. Sadly they next play in England on 7 November in London. Which appears to be their only UK date at present.

Following !!! came UNKLE. I had been waiting for these guys all weekend and they did not disappoint. A bit heavy on the strobe for their kind of music I thought, certainly the guitar driven tracks but I'm only an observer, what do I know ? Strobes probably send the crowd nuts but I couldn't see the crowd for the starburst in my eyes. They had on several guest singer spots but unfortunately non of the big names that they have worked with. Just imagine that the guest list had been : Ian Brown, Thom Yorke, Ian Astbury & Josh Homme - wa waaa woww, Hi Fiive !!!

All in all a fantastic weekend. Felt so much better than Glasters did but then again was that the sun ? Actually no. Glasters had 50,000 extra people - no extra toilets and it told. It told in festering bogs and it told in getting around but most of all it told in the 4 way crowd crush after Bjork finished. Leeds gets the crown from me this year - Top Drawer.