Not Going Quietly: The UEA School of Music

(Image courtesy of @SaveUEAMusic)

Music and protests have a long-standing history of going hand in hand. An understatement, I know, but this week students and staff at the University of East Anglia have been making good use of this knowledge following news that the uni’s musicdepartment is under threat of closure in the next few years, a move that suggests worrying things about current attitudes to arts and humanities degrees.

The Save UEA Music campaign has very quickly emerged, supported by current and former music students and staff as well as the student union. So far their actions have included organising today's campus busk-in –like a sit in, but more melodic –and racking up over 1000 signatures to the petition they have created, which can be found here. Their campaign slogan, referencing John Lennon and the power of musical rallying, asks you to ‘Imagine there’s no music...’

To help you to do this and to take in the levels of creativity and talent that has been brought into and nourished by the department, here is just a small sample of the projects and collaborations created by UEA music students:

Snakes with Wings by collidertheband


String Quartet No. 2, 'Prelude' (in one movement) by EasternScores


Easy Come Easy Go [Says Simon Ft. Sarah Bowles] by Says Simon


He Was Despised by Paul-Ethan Bright


Whether you’re at university or not, it would be great if you could show your support for both education and the arts by following this campaign via Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook –and most importantly by signing the petition. Thanks in advance!

Nostalgia Files: ‘She’ by Green Day

(That awkward moment when you realise your bedroom walls haven’t changed since around 2005...)

Yesterday I decided to revisit some of the old Green Day albums I’d once inherited from my older brother (who’d once had a pop-punk phase similar to my own before crossing over to the dark side, i.e. death metal) including 1994’s ‘Dookie’, their first major-label album.

Overall ‘Dookie’ stood out by a mile as a record from the nineties that, despite having inevitably dated, is still probably the most listenable of their entire back-catalogue. It marks the time just before frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s lyrics were peppered with his trademark snark and heavily political subject matter –instead, ‘Dookie’ is full of simply, sometimes painfully, honest accounts of life as an early-twentysomething.

"All her doubts were someone else's point of view"

The restrained opening bass line of ‘She’ is a something of a pace-changer, stripping things back a bit after the pogo-fest that is ‘Basket Case’. The lyrics in the verses are given room to make a real impact on the listener in a way that stands out from the rest of the record –a technique that my later favourite bands like Alkaline Trio and Hot Water Music would repeatedly take advantage of a few years down the line.

‘She’ is at its heart a song about control, a theme that many young women will know only too well whether through a lack of freedom, pressure to fit in or the endless demands and constraints of gender expectations: “Are you feeling like a social tool without a use?” Instead of trying to offer some kind of cover-all solution or judgement, all Armstrong can offer to do is listen, “until [his] ears bleed”. Nice. Still, the sentiment is appreciated.

Fifteen for the Fifteenth -October 2011

Here's the first of what is going to be a monthly fixture: a 15-song playlist for the 15^th day of the month! Here's October:

And the Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/user/katemonster89/playlist/47GqN92WZNrPZFnO8fOvSM

In the future I'm probably going to try some different themes but this month's list is made up of new (and not so new) songs I've been listening to recently, including:

'How Come You Never Go There' by Feist & 'i' by Nicola Roberts

What I like most about 'How Come...' from Feist's new album 'Metals' (look out for a performance of some of it on Jools Holland next Tuesday) is the balance of low-key instrumentation with the focus on her voice -pretty much the opposite of 'i', which is all about co-writer Joe "Metronomy" Mount's trademark wonky synths and packs more of a punch than most of Roberts' debut, 'Cinderella's eyes'. Naturally Mount's own band had to be stuck on this playlist with 'The Bay'.

'White Knuckles (Boys Like Us Mix)' by OK Go

For a while now, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend has been creating these effortlessly cool remixes of songs, keeping the original's general spirit and at the same time putting his own stamp all over it. Here he takes on OK Go's single, known to non-fans as The One With The Video With All The Dogs. 

'Waltz #2' by Elliott Smith

This gloomy indie waltz was playing at the end of episode one of Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat, a show which has had a consistently great soundtrack. Luckily if you're on Twitter, Matt Biffa (@mrmattbiffa) who works on the show's music has been tweeting Spotify playlists for each one so far, so now you too can imagine what life would be like as a house-share comedy with Jack Whitehall (probably pretty funny, I'm guessing).

Watch out for another 15 in a month's time, and feel free to suggest future songs/themes in the comments!

Gig Times: Inlay at The Garden House, Norwich 7.10.11

On Monday I got back from a 5-day stay at my boyfriend’s student house in good old Naarch, and on the Friday we went with his housemates to see folkies Inlay play an acoustic set at the Garden House, one of the city’s many, many, many pubs (but definitely one of the good ones if your criteria, like ours, includes good food, weirdly-named ales, a huge selection of board games and at least one cat). As far as I know the gig had been planned at the last minute (the Facebook event page hastily added ‘Free’ to the title, always a clue) so it was a surprise to see that the place was heaving. And it clearly wasn’t just people coming in from the rain –in the absence of chairs, whole groups of people were sitting on the floor, primary-school-style.

Usually a stripped-down set means a couple of acoustic guitars (Cajon optional), and a generally subdued atmosphere, but this time around all four of the band’s members were present, regularly swapping instruments from accordion to Bodhran drum (I think?), banjo to slide guitar, violin to lead vocals, and making a lot of noise. Despite having no microphones in a loud, crowded pub, all four members not only managed to command the room's attention and keep impeccable timing via tiny gestures and eye contact but also sang in perfect three (sometimes four)-part harmonies, giving the impression they've been doing this for years.

In fact, Inlay do seem a bit like a band from another time, playing a mixture of traditional and original folk songs in a packed-out pub on a rainy night in Norfolk (a lot of their original songs were also written in/based on different parts of the county). Overall the gig felt natural, was heaps of fun and led more than one audience member we talked to that night to comment that they should become the Garden House’s resident band. Watch this space, Naarch-dwellers.


To listen to Inlay's self-titled EP and hear a little taster of their forthcoming album, visit http://www.inlaymusic.co.uk 

A Link: A Little Nothing on FFS New Bands Panel

I've been New Bands Panelling it again for For Folk's Sake, this time reviewing A Little Nothing who at first reminded me a lot of The XX (but are still very nice in their own, understated way). Read it here:

http://www.forfolkssake.com/new-bands-panel/7114/ffs-new-bands-panel-a-little-nothing

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Autumn Catch-up which shall be gracing this blog very soon!

Autumn Catch-up Part #1: A House Show

I have a couple of stories to share of my music-based experiences from the last couple of months. True, these are definitely after the fact at this point, but it would be a shame not to -think of it as one of those 'What I Did In My Summer Holidays' excercises you had to do in primary school. Only with more gigs, worse weather and a slightly better grasp of the english language.

So, without further ado:

#1: A House Show, September 29th 2010

Flicking through the Nov 20^th issue of NME (yeah, I know) I came across a picture that looked oddly familiar. Not because I recognised any of the people or the setting, but simply because it depicted about 30-odd people crammed into someone’s living room. It accompanied a piece on a collective of musicians in Oxford known as Blessing Force, and instantly took me back to a gig I went to at a friend’s house in Norwich at the end of September. I enjoy house gigs a lot, mainly because of (at the risk of sounding like your town mayor) the real sense of community spirit, and the complete lack of both physical and metaphorical barriers. Oh, and the rowdiness, I suppose (see the youtube clip below).

Now, whilst I should make it clear that Blessing Force and the group of artists, musicians and friends assembled at the Norwich gig are from totally different scenes and make very different types of music in two very different cities, the two had a couple of downright spooky things in common judging by these quotes from the article:

“One of the biggest punks I know plays the banjo...”

“...build a human pyramid” ...!!! (-to be fair to Blessing Force, they probably only meant this in a figurative sense. Social networks etc etc)

Indeed, banjo (and mandolin! Hooray!) playing punks were a feature of the night, as was the proverbial human pyramid (in a very, very literal sense). But really, few words blogged here could sum up the evening as well as this clip from the night, courtesy of Neil Morris, an out-of-towner and folk musician from the West Midlands.




Neil was not only an awesome addition to the line-up, but he also wrote his own account of the show at his own blog where he is keeping a tour diary, a really engaging and fun read. And I can really only echo what he's already said about the show: it was a great night filled with crazy talented (and, okay, crazy in general) people and an amazing atmophere. And all for free! What more could you ask for, really?

A Link: Lauren & Tokyo on FFS New Bands Panel

It has been a while, I know. But I have lots of music bloggery to share with you, so look out for a big update shortly after this!

First, though, I contributed to another For Folk's Sake New Bands Panel, this time on the brilliant Lauren & Tokyo. Read it here:

 http://www.forfolkssake.com/new-bands-panel/7158/ffs-new-bands-panel-lauren-tokyo