Issue 61 / November 2015 - SIDE AA

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Issue 61 

November 2015 

Giorgio Moroder by Mike Isted 

Giorgio Moroder 

The Stairs 

Bill Ryder-Jones 

TVAM 

Music For 

Empty Spaces

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Bido Lito! November 2015 

44 

TOGETHER IN ELECTRIC DREAMS 

Editorial 

Every now and then you find yourself at the centre of some 

cosmic alignment when all of your plans just magically come 

together, and it can feel quite surreal. This past month has been 

a bit like that, and I’ve had to keep pinching myself in order to 

remember that it’s all real (or maybe I’ve just been reading too 

much of Rob Chapman’s book Psychedelia And Other Colours, 

and projecting the idea of mescaline trips on to all the mundane 

aspects of putting together a magazine). This issue is definitely 

our most ambitious one yet, and I think we even surprised 

ourselves at what we could achieve. 

For a start, you’ve probably noticed that this month’s issue 

looks a little different than usual: Bido Lito! 61 is in two halves, 

introduced by two lead features that each have their own 

fantastic cover artwork. Now, it’s up to you which way round 

you navigate the magazine, and we hope you enjoy what we’ve 

done with it: you could say that it’s a magazine with no ending! 

I’d like to say thanks to the artists who worked on both of these 

covers, and also to our designer Mark for making the daft idea 

work – don’t worry mate, it’s just a one-off! Well… 

It’s brilliant for us to be in a position to attempt this, and 

that’s largely due to the support we get from you, our readers, 

who seem genuinely interested in what we do. We endeavour to 

be as creative as possible with what we do with the magazine, 

just like any self-respecting publication with five years under 

its belt should. And if we, a modestly-sized regional print 

magazine, can push the boundaries, then surely others with 

greater means can too. This is part of the reason why I was so 

annoyed when I picked up the first few editions of the new, 

free NME magazine, and noticed a distinct and insulting lack 

of actual journalism in there (please, no more lists, tittle-tattle 

news items or Chris Moyles). Even amid the great fanfare and 

window-dressing of the grand relaunch, you can still clearly see 

where the publication’s loyalties lie, with far more actual content 

added to NME.com’s mammoth digital output each day than is 

created for their flagship print product. The reason I’m so arsed 

about this is because I believe that NME is still a great title, with 

the weight of not just its own history but its vast capabilities 

keeping it at the top of the tree; I just wish the current holders 

of the magazine’s reins would respect its vast and influential 

platform and do something that Charles Shaar Murray, Nick Kent 

and Tim Jonze would be proud of. And to the naysayers who 

think the NME farce points to the continuing downward spiral 

of print publishing, I say this: print won’t die so long as there are 

people with ideas and passion pouring their heart into creating 

something that other people want to read and want to be a part 

of. To nick a Del Boy phrase: he who dares, wins. 

Going back to one of this month’s cover features, we are 

absolutely delighted to be teaming up with Chibuku this month 

to present a show at Arts Club with the father of modern disco 

music, Giorgio Moroder. Born in the South Tyrol region of 

Northern Italy – close to the Austrian border – Giovanni Giorgio 

(or Hans-Jörg as he was called by his mother in his youth) is one 

of the most influential people in 20th-century music. Not only 

is the visionary producer/songwriter responsible for a swathe 

of dancefloor greats (Donna Summer’s Hot Stuff, I Feel Love and 

Love To Love You, Baby, Blondie’s Call Me) but he’s also had 

his hand in film soundtrack classics What A Feeling (by Irene 

Cara for Flashdance) and Take My Breath Away (by Berlin for 

Top Gun, the song Moroder said he’s most proud of) – and this 

is just the tip of the iceberg. As Austin Wilde points out in his 

fascinating interview with the 75-year-old synth maestro this 

month, Moroder has been a huge influence on Daft Punk and 

pretty much everyone who’s used a synthesiser post-1977 (the 

D-Day moment when I Feel Love was released). This is just part 

of the reason why Chibuku’s An Evening With Giorgio Moroder 

on 14th November is such an unmissable event, up there with 

the night they hosted John Peel in one of their landmark events. 

What. A. Feeling. 

I have to admit that I got a bit carried away getting into the 

Moroder mood this month, and I had some great headphone 

moments listening to the myriad works of pop magic that 

Giorgio Moroder has sprinkled his glittery disco dust on. But 

I also had some tender, lump-in-throat headphone moments 

too, courtesy of another artist featured this month, Bill Ryder- 

Jones. It’s often hard to see something so obvious when it’s 

right in front of your face, but I believe we’re living in a time of 

great cultural importance for our city, and artists like Bill are 

indicative of this. There is something to be said about building 

a legacy, but the here and now is the most important thing. We 

should remember to take the time to cherish it – and use the 

inspiration as a stepping stone towards the next phase of our 

cultural evolution, in whatever shape that will come. Thankfully, 

the present is in good hands. Keep it up, Bill. 

Christopher Torpey / @BidoLito 

Editor 

bidolito.co.uk

Words: Austin Wilde / awwilde.co.uk 

Front cover artwork: Mike Isted / deerstalker.tv 

It Started with a Bassline...


42 

WWhen King Richard III was discovered skulking around in a Pay 

And Display car park, the world went history bonkers. This time 

around there was to be a fittingly regal burial, at which Benedict 

Cumberbatch was to read a poem because – sharing 1/1,048,576 of his 

DNA – he was a distant relative of the crookback king. As the solemn 

poem rang out around Leicester Cathedral, I wondered if the organisers 

had confused the word distant with the word tenuous. As any genealogist 

worth their salt will tell you: we’re all related to Richard III – it’s just a 

matter of degree. 

GIORGIO MORODER, who DJs at a special An Evening With… night with 

Chibuku in November, is directly related to every exceptional house record 

ever made by the way of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love – a song so sensual it 

became both mother and father to a genre-in-the-mix. This is not a stretch 

of the imagination or of truth, it is a fact of disco life: Moroder is idolised 

by Daft Punk; his productions got a short-trousered Andrew Weatherall 

into music; the Drive soundtrack wouldn’t exist, and Todd Terje wouldn’t 

sound like Todd Terje without the influence of Moroder. 

When I Feel Love was first released in 1977, Brian Eno heard it and ran to 

David Bowie holding the 12” in his hand and proclaiming “This is the future 

of music!” That reaction, however, was far from the universal response. 

The label didn’t really like it. 

The press cocked their noses at it. 

The purists complained he’d removed the soul from (sing it) D i S c O. 

And it was this reaction to the futuristic, silver sound of the Moog 

synthesiser that polarised the audience. Let us not forget, the synthesiser 

arrived in the very decade that thought brown was the go-to colour. It’s 

very hard to overstate the drabness these machines obliterated, one 

note at a time. They were the vanguard of musical technology, extremely 

rare and practically impossible to operate; to the ear, they could be both 

icy and foreign. Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express was the instrument’s 

first exposure to popular culture, yet, for all the Teutonic fonk running 

through its rich melody lines, it was never designed to be an ode to human 

experience. I Feel Love was just that, unashamedly so. Donna Summer’s 

vocal sits atop the arpeggiated baseline like Agent Provocateur hosiery on 

Naomi Campbell’s pins. It is the sound of machines in the act of humanity, 

the record Mummy Robot puts on to get Daddy Robot in the mood to 

make Baby Robots. It changed the face of popular music forever. It only 

took two hours to make. 

The vast majority of house records are like child stars: they age badly 

and often require a stint or two at the Betty Ford Clinic. At every single 

Promised Land there’s a queue of a million Guru Joshes waiting to walk dog 

doo-doo across the dancefloor. The question of timelessness sits at the 

heart of what makes some records age beautifully and others die an ugly 

death. The question of timelessness is essential in understanding what 

makes a classic. But – and here’s da but – the question of timelessness 

is very difficult to answer. Moroder’s take on the formula is as simple 

as it is humble: “The main ingredient is luck”. Which means, by proxy, 

the records never afforded classic status are simply ‘unlucky’ (well, it’s 

a lot nicer than calling them shit.) There are, for Moroder, examples of 

many situations where every single thing was in place for a monster hit: 

songwriter, melody, an artist at the top of their game and a salivating 

promo department itching to hit the Big Red Promotion Button – all things 

in place, except luck = no hit single, no evergreen song. 

Luck’s best friend, it would seem, is timing. And there’s no doubt that 

Germany between 1970 and 1979 was an explosively creative place to 

be. Between Munich (Moroder, Amon Düül II), Düsseldorf (Kraftwerk, 

Neu!), Berlin (Tangerine Dream, David Bowie and Brian Eno) and Cologne 

(Can), a slew of records were produced that acted, less as inspirations, 

but more as a set of instructions for subsequent musical generations 

to follow. Across the board, from Iggy Pop to Sonic Youth, The Horrors, 

Radiohead to Kasabian, all have taken clues from this time. Indeed, Afrika 

Bambaabtaa’s re-appropriation of this electro sound sits very close to the 

roots of hip hop and that is a glorious legacy for the generation of postwar 

German musicians who created it. This burning desire to break with 

the old, to push forward, symbolises the spirit of Germany’s disaffected 

youth at this time. Politically speaking, there was a feeling that the old 

guard still held the keys to the castle and protests against this regime 

were met with increasing brutality. Dissident groups took to direct action 

in order to be heard and force social change through violent protest, 

none more publically so than the Baader-Meinhof Gruppe. Now I’m not 

saying that Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk et al. produced protest songs, 

but the songs they produced did protest: they protested their right to 

be forward thinking, to be composed of the future. And what fascinates 

me, writing from today’s world of instant interconnectivity, is that all the 

musicians mentioned were hunkered down in the studio, making music 

independently of one another; there was no conscious interplay between 

cities, no feeding off the other’s creativity. Moroder didn’t meet Kraftwerk’s 

Ralf Hütter until years later. Nor did he ever meet Robert Moog, the 

inventor of the synthesizer whose sound he made famous, although 

he had a vague notion he’d spoken to him on the phone “sometime in 

the 1970s” – but, as they say, if you remember the 1970s, you weren’t 

really there. 

Whilst his music was conceived in a fractious Germany, Moroder’s 

productions found their natural home in a 1970s NYC discothèque, one 

that set the tone for the excesses of the 1980s: Studio 54. Studio (as it was 

known to the very “hand-picked” regulars) was a Molotov Milkshake of a 

nightclub where celebrity cavorted with itself, where sexual preference 

was of little consequence, where expensive narcotics were rife and 

promiscuity de rigueur. 

To repay Bido Lito! for the privilege of interviewing Mr Moroder, I 

wanted a journalistic scoop. Given that he’s won three Oscars and four 

Grammys and designed a very high-end sports car and has a fantastic 

moustache, I thought the question of opulence might lead towards one. 

You can imagine the delight that crept through my thought process when 

my question about the most opulent situation he’d found himself in led 

directly to the velvet rope of Studio 54. 

‘Tell me Giorgio,’ I thought to myself, ‘tell me all.’ 

“I’d heard stories about Studio 54, about what when on there and how 

impossible it was to get in. But I really wanted to hear Donna Summer’s 

Love To Love You, Baby in there – so that night I hired a blacked-out, stretch 

limo and drove through Manhattan towards 54th Street.” 

Whilst I listened to him down the line from Miami, I thought ‘Good on 

you for getting that limo, Giorgio’, because I knew he would’ve got in, 

by rights should have got in – and, as a result of you getting that limo, 

Giorgio, I know I’m going to get a scoop. And I’m thinking: ‘Tell me treasure, 

Giorgio; tell me all.’ 

“There was a massive line outside the club, hundreds of fashionable 

beautiful people queuing to get in,” – and I’m thinking tell me about Jackie 

O dancing with Truman Capote while Yves Saint Laurent watched: tell me 

all, Giorgio – “so I got the driver to speak with the doorman and tell them 

that the guy who produced Love To Love You, Baby is inside the limo and 

wants to come in.” – deliver me the gold, Giorgio – “The driver nods in my 

direction, comes over and opens the limo door.” 

THIS IS IT, he’s about to deliver me the treasure, a story of hedonistic 

significance, a story about a bevy of nymphets and starry-eyed young men 

dressed as golden pharaohs standing in coquettish poses while Jerry Hall, 

Liza Minnelli and Al Pacino watched Bianca Jagger’s white horse lose a 

cocaine-snorting race to Grace Jones – by a full fucking furlong. And then 

he says: “When I got in there, it was empty! It was only 11pm, I didn’t know 

it only got going at 2am.” 

I laughed as my journalistic ambitions went up in dry ice, but Moroder 

wasn’t quite finished there: “Of course, the real opulence I experienced 

never happened in nightclubs.” 

Giorgio Moroder, the tight-lipped undisputed King of Disco, plays 

Liverpool for the first time this month. Don’t get there too early, but don’t 

dare miss it. 

Chibuku and Bido Lito! present An Evening With Giorgio Moroder at Arts Club 

on 14th November. Tickets can be purchased from chibuku.com. 

giorgiomoroder.com 

bidolito.co.uk

41 


TVAM: to readers of a certain age and above, those four 

letters may summon nostalgia for mornings gone by, 

watching now-obscure celebrities in shoulder pads and 

permed hair talking up their latest project between weather 

forecasts and news reels. To anyone lucky enough to catch one 

of the Liverpool support slots TVAM has clocked up over the 

past year or so, those four letters will have taken on a different 

meaning entirely. 

You might peruse an independent music magazine expecting 

to read about bands, artists, venues, promoters – the usual 

suspects fall into their usual categories. This subject, however, 

eludes such easy classification. In simple terms, TVAM is 

essentially a bloke from Wigan with a guitar, a wheel-on telly 

and a brilliant idea. He writes music, makes videos to match, 

records these onto VHS, whacks his videotapes into his wheely 

telly, plugs the telly into the PA system and plays and sings over 

them live. And yet, brief introductions aside, that in-a-nutshell 

explanation doesn’t do justice to the complex nexus of ideas 

and influences, as well as the sense of purpose, that underscore 

everything TVAM is and does. 

When I speak to Joe Oxley – the Wigan man behind the enigma 

– over the phone, pure enthusiasm blares through the ether. It 

becomes apparent very quickly that it would be lazy to write 

TVAM off as gimmicky; if you scratch below the glitchy surface 

of his act, everything is intelligently and carefully considered. 

“I like bands that change some of your perceptions of what 

a gig should be or what a band is... You know, bands from ages 

ago like Suicide – those kind of acts where they understand what 

rock ‘n’ roll is in a pop culture sense, but they’re quite happy to 

totally pick at it and push the audience on what they expect it to 

be,” Oxley muses. “So you get this interesting idea of something 

being less of a rock ‘n’ roll show or a gig; why not do something 

that almost feels like a presentation cos of the stillness to it?” 

Not content with engaging on a straightforward solo act and 

having worked with videos before, it was a natural decision 

for Oxley, also a member of garage punks The Shook-Ups, 

to take this interest and use 

visuals to open up the idea of 

what a gig might be. The music 

– surfy-psychy dark garage 

rock – is written first before he 

loops together clips from old 

videotapes found abandoned in 

charity shops to create videos. 

These are not only used for the 

standard online promo, but are 

exported to his live TV-on-wheels 

act. But why go to all this trouble 

to dig up these lost VHS diamonds with the internet and its mine top right-hand corner, a gibbous moon or UFO-orb-like spectre. 

of video clips at his disposal? 

Between each track when performed live, instead of the usual 

“It becomes more interesting when you approach it like tuning of guitars and mumbling between band members, the 

an archivist almost,” he replies in no-less enthusiastic tones. audience are greeted with TVAM idents – an adoption of the logos 

“You’re finding this thing, this piece of crap, that no one really used by television companies that appear between programmes 

knows or has seen and it’s like ‘perhaps there’s a use for that, to remind viewers of their service provider. The visuals are not 

a way to fit that in with something else.’ The videos that I’ve an afterthought but are integral to his act. But does this blur 

made, some of them are meant to work more in keeping with a the boundaries between playing a gig and producing a piece of 

feel and then there are ones that are more direct. With the new performance art? For Oxley, it’s a matter of perception. 

single Porsche Majeure, it’s more focused.” 

“It’s difficult to say that you want something to be art because 

Porsche Majeure, released in limited edition, lathe-cut clear I just go about doing what I do and if someone sees it that way 

vinyl format on Static Caravan Records, is TVAM’s latest single. then, yeah, it’s art. I have to accept that it is like performance 

Driven by the guttural, metallic churning of guitars and heavy art in a way that there isn’t a straight forward rock ‘n’ roll desire 

synthesisers, a droning and dreamlike Gregorian chant-style to have a one-to-one interaction with an audience… the TV and 

vocal is matched by slow-motion, head-on collisions between the visuals process what I’m doing towards the audience, like 

cars, retro crash-test dummies, and distorted shots of purposely a distraction almost.” 

vulnerable yet sexy 20-somethings in a dystopian home. The Live, you experience that strange 20 th - into 21 st -century 

lyrics are slogans lifted from adverts and they tie in directly with phenomenon; how a transparent screen with a light behind 

the images, which, in turn, sync perfectly with the instrumental it can be so hypnotically mesmerising that it becomes almost 

breaks. The effect is both dizzying and disconcerting. 

impossible to avert your gaze, eyes glued to the glass. The 

The video, music and lyrics are so heavily symbolic and audience have to choose whether to focus on this or on the 

interrelated that the piece can be read in numerous ways: an artist performing, all while engulfed in a dreamy garage haze. 

exploration of advertising and branding; a critique of the suburbcentric 

American dream; the significance of the passenger acknowledges that, though it might not be to everyone’s tastes, 

The reception so far has been generally positive, but Oxley 

vehicle in identity formation. The idea behind the track is an the equal weight between music and visuals that defines his 

amalgamation of all three and more, drawing upon the work vision is best received in live performance. 

of novelist J.G. Ballard and his influence on artists working in “I think live is where it hopefully makes sense because you 

the late 1970s, namely The Normal, Gary Numan and John Foxx. have the visual and you have the sound there, you have the 

“It’s that whole idea straight from J.G. Ballard and it’s very song, and you have a way in which you put it out there that has 

Crash… that idea of the slow-motion car crash,” explains Oxley. its own character, that has its own feel, that brings its own kind 

“We can create machines that all of a sudden make you feel of atmosphere to whatever gig I’m playing. I suppose really, as 

that you can be anything you want to be. You can aspire to this with some other acts, you can only understand it when you’ve 

kind of lifestyle, but at the same time they’re just machines; the seen it. Whether you like or not, you have to see it to get it.” 

idea is that they’re breaking and dismantling. That’s where it’s I guess the same goes for any other piece of car-crash 

really interesting for me, in the 70s where these bands pick up television. 

on how important the idea of the car becomes, and all these 

kind of highways intersecting with and cutting through the Head to bidolito.co.uk to see an exclusive premiere of TVAM’s 

brutalist architecture that comes along at the same time. It’s new video for single We Like Fires, where you’ll also be able to 

just an interesting time. That’s why I’ve tried to put something enter a competition to win one of three copies of TVAM’s sold-out, 

together; its more for my own enjoyment. It’s quite addictive clear vinyl 7” single 

playing around with it, too – it’s like ‘Am I making an advert here? of Porsche Majeure, 

Is this what I’m doing?’ It’s interesting.” 

released on Static 

The use of VHS is a further reflection of a fascination with Caravan. 

this time; the format reflects both the fuzziness of the music t-v-a-m.uk 

and the era that informed the ideas behind the single. It is 

evident that every last detail – from influences to 

images to his enigmatic live show – is carefully 

thought through. Oxley has even crafted a world 

of branding around 

his music: in each of 

his videos you’ll find 

his logo, nebulous 

but discernible, 

emblazoned in the 

Words: Bethany Garrett / @_bethanygarrett 

Visuals: TVAM

Get There By Train

39 


AAn alarming number of properties in Liverpool are 

empty, unused, abandoned, discarded and unloved. 

Just take a walk around the city’s commercial district, 

centred on Old Hall Street, or wander through the back streets 

of the Baltic Quarter, and you’ll probably pass by hundreds 

upon hundreds of square metres of dead space hidden behind 

walls of former banks and warehouses. This phenomenon is 

not just restricted to the city centre: scores of vacant spaces 

and buildings throughout Merseyside have played an important 

role in shaping the story of the area, and all that’s left inside 

them now are memories of former glories and grand plans 

turned to dust. In an age where there’s a chronic lack of housing 

anywhere, how can we just let tens of thousands of square feet 

lie fallow? 

The MUSIC FOR EMPTY SPACES programme, run by Radio 

Merseyside’s Roger Hill, aims to draw attention to some of these 

spaces and make us re-think how we use them. “The region is 

full of empty spaces, many of them unnecessarily empty, some 

atmospherically so,” says Hill, who was involved in a project to 

bring events and community use to a city-centre office building 

on Water Street, and who is aware of the property situation and 

the large amount of neglected building space in the Liverpool 

area. At the same time, the development of other city spaces like 

Sefton Park Meadows and the Futurist Cinema on Lime Street 

have become major public issues. The Music For Empty Spaces 

project – which has been running for six months – is “a response 

to the important issue of how the city treats its buildings and 

public places,” clarifies Hill. 

Local musicians were invited to take part in the project by 

creating music with empty spaces in mind, and the best of that 

music will be broadcast on Hill’s legendary alternative music 

programme Pure Musical Sensations on Sunday 1 st November. 

The musicians were invited to choose any space that is: empty 

but accessible, e.g. a beach; inaccessible, e.g. closed buildings; 

busy but can be imagined empty; private; abandoned and 

forgotten. “Some of the artists have used their commission 

to address these issues,” says Hill, “but others are celebrating 

places in which they have a personal interest. This is both a 

showcase of the creativity of Liverpool musicians and a chance 

to bring to public attention a set of issues which are important 

to all of us.” 

Christopher Torpey and Bethany Garrett spoke to four of the 

musicians taking part to find out a little bit more about the 

hidden spaces that are being given a voice. 

JONATHAN RAISIN 

Space chosen: The Futurist Cinema, Lime Street 

Track: Wreck ‘em For The Futur(ist) 

Bido Lito!: Why did you choose The Futurist as your inspiration 

for this project? 

Jonathan Raisin: I began thinking about a few different spaces, 

or even the idea of the whole city centre as an empty space. But 

as I was working on the piece, the Futurist Cinema became the 

key. I was walking around that area and was reminded both of 

what a brilliant building it is in itself, and what a tragedy – what 

a scandal – it is that it will be demolished. It is an absolutely 

iconic building and representative of a whole load of contested 

spaces in Liverpool that are being challenged by all the current 

redevelopment. 

BL!: What was it about the Music For Empty Spaces project that 

made you want to get involved? 

JR: I’ve been thinking and writing about the city, about Liverpool, 

for a few years now. I’m particularly drawn to the buildings and 

spaces that linger in some sort of limbo: deserted and decaying 

but still escaping demolition or redevelopment. I actually like 

these places and mostly wish they could be left as they are. I’m 

interested in the idea of the fabric of the city as a repository 

of memory. So, when Roger mentioned this project it seemed 

like a great thing to get involved in. It’s actually given me a 

bit of focus for making 

more sound pieces 

exploring 

spaces. 

other 

Photography: Nata Moraru / facebook.com/NataMoraruPhoto


38 11 

The Music For Empty Spaces programme airs on BBC Radio 

Merseyside on 1st November, on Roger Hill’s PMS show. To find 

out more about the programme and to listen to the various 

tracks, head to pmsradio.co.uk. 

GERMANAGER 

Space chosen: Queensway Tunnel exit, The Strand 

Track: About Town 

BL!: Where exactly is the space you chose as your inspiration 

for this project? 

Germanager: You know where the tunnel comes out opposite 

the Liver Building? Well, just above the tunnel there’s a sort of 

patch of grass, it’s like the roof of the tunnel as it exits. It looks 

like you could sit on it and watch the cars go by or have a picnic 

on it or something, but you can’t get to it because it’s got a big 

fence there. 

BL!: Why did that particular space appeal to you? 

G: It’s just the idea that there are all sorts of places which are 

inaccessible, but they’re still real places. It’s strange how they 

come to be sort of bypassed and you walk past them all the time 

and just don’t notice they’re there. 

BL!: How did you go about getting across the idea of emptiness 

in the piece that you made? 

G: Well it’s not a particularly empty-sounding piece; if anything 

it’s kind of the opposite, which is what I was sort of trying to do. 

There’s a notion in filmmaking that comes from this 1920s Soviet 

filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, that suggests music or sound on 

films should be a counter to what happens on screen. That’s 

something that I quite like, this idea 

of a counterpoint. So the music I’ve 

made kind of represents the frenetic 

noise and urban madness of the city. 

It has lots going on in it, it’s a bit 

headlong, but the idea is that the 

music would be so frenetic that it 

would jar with the actual space. 

DAN WILSON 

Track: Only The City 

Bido Lito!: What space did you choose for your selection and 

why did you choose it? 

Dan Wilson: It’s a little more convoluted, unfortunately. The song 

itself is a kind of lament about the manufacturing base and 

what’s been lost, so it’s kind of based in the Cultural Quarter or 

what I generally call ‘The Beard District’. A lot of the buildings 

and factories there have been turned into creative spaces. I was 

writing a poem about something similar to some of the remits 

and Roger asked me to get involved. So it wasn’t about a specific 

space, but more that district or whole area. There’s a love-song 

element posed through the idea of these spaces, and so the 

idea is conveyed through the medium of the traditional kind of 

ballad or love song. 

BL!: Do you think that, in a way, that space is kind of inaccessible 

for certain people in the city – not physically, but in the sense 

that it might be intimidating or expensive? 

DW: Yeah I suppose it is. Now, cities try to keep up with each 

other and evolve and they don’t try to remember the past, they’re 

forging a new kind of future. So even when there are a lot of 

these buildings that have architectural nods to the past but they 

now house creative industries, there’s something slightly, err, 

hollow in there, I think. That’s like a general thing about lots of 

cities really, that’s what cities have to try to do now to 

keep up or to be forward-looking, but there’s a kind 

of emptiness therein. 

RONGORONGO 

Space chosen: The North Liverpool Extension Line (‘the Ralla’) 

Track: The Ralla 

BL!: Tell us about your chosen space and why you chose it for 

this project. 

Jonny Davis Le Brun: The space was chosen by [Rongorongo 

guitarist] Our Keith and it’s called the Ralla: it was the North 

Liverpool Extension Line, which was closed in the 70s, and it’s 

a popular cycle route today. Our Keith has fond memories of it 

as a place for youthful mischief. It was nice to throw a positive 

spin on the Music For Empty Space theme. Rather than look at 

abandonment and often faceless redevelopment, the Ralla is a 

story of locals embracing a space for the good of a community. 

It now forms part of the coast-to-coast Trans Pennine Trail – 

it seems this stretch of land just can’t shake its suitability for 

transport. 

BL!: How did you go about getting across the idea of emptiness 

in your piece? 

JDLB: Our piece very quickly took on a kinetic energy informed by 

the theme of travel, which is so intrinsically woven into the Ralla. 

Whether consciously or otherwise, the direction we all took with 

it was emphatically forwards: the propulsion of industry, the 

pace of change, the ticking of time through generations, Our 

Keith’s energetic youthful exploits, the vast growth of weeds 

through the disused tracks. 

bidolito.co.uk

37 


Reviews 

The Polyphonic Spree (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk) 

THE POLYPHONIC SPREE 

No Monster Club 

EVOL @ Arts Club 

The queue outside the venue looks like a 

paltry little thing when I arrive early, and I 

can’t help but be sceptical. Until, that is, I spot 

a group of hardcore fans sporting Spree merch, 

tambourines and robes, alleviating my doubts 

that, 15 years after their debut, THE POLYPHONIC 

SPREE have a following. 

First on is NO MONSTER CLUB, a four-piece 

hailing mostly from Dublin who’ve been playing 

fiddle to The Polyphonic Spree for their last few 

gigs. Thematically these lads are a perfect fit, 

with their brand of warm and fuzzy indie pop 

paving a shiny yellow brick road all the way to 

The Polyphonic Spree. These guys are clearly 

fans of their headliner, dropping a cover of 

One Through Four by Tim DeLaughter’s old 

band Tripping Daisy, and later spotted among 

the crowd loudly singing along with the Spree. 

Each song comes with a shoutout to some 

pretty varied people, including actor Jason 

Isaacs and hardcore fans the Cooper family, 

who have clearly been following Polyphonic 

Spree gigs for a while. They close with I’ve 

bidolito.co.uk 

Retired from their latest album, bowing out in 

eager anticipation of the final act. 

An oddly-garbed fella strides on stage 

announcing that the town crier recently 

suffered a heart attack, but thankfully he’s 

here to take his place with bell in hand. After 

a quick tutorial on town criery, we all summon 

The Polyphonic Spree onstage to the ringing 

of that bell. The 13 Spree members flow out to 

their instruments, draped in their robes: so far, 

I’m happily confused by this stage show. The 

venue is suddenly bustling, and I have to peer 

around heads to see Tim DeLaughter explain he 

won’t be talking again for a good half hour as 

the Spree begin to power through their debut 

album The Beginning Stages Of…, which the 

entire room is here to celebrate. Even for a yearround-Scrooge 

like myself, it’s hard not to be 

swept up in the pure wave of joy that washes 

over the crowd. DeLaughter conducts us like an 

orchestra and we love every second of it. We’re 

led through their big songs like It’s The Sun and 

Have A Day/Celebratory, but the crowd really 

begins to heave as they close out with Soldier 

Girl. I’m briefly disappointed as the band heads 

backstage, only to realise this was simply the 

first half: a quick drink and costume change 

later, they stride out with their hippy dashikis. 

The Polyphonic Spree (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)

NOVEMBER 2015 NILS LOFGREN 

RUMOURS OF FLEETWOOD MAC 

ROY WOOD RICKY ROSS 

THE BLOCKHEADS THE BLUES BAND 

RALPH MCTELL THE IMPOSSIBLE GENTLEMEN 

MARTIN TAYLOR & ULF WAKENIUS THE RICK VITO BAND 

GARY MURPHY THE HAMISH STUART BAND 

TONY REMY & THE STOLEN CLONES THEO TRAVIS - DOUBLE TALK 

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NASHER MODJANGO JOHN GOLDIE 

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+ PRESHOW & AFTERSHOW GIGS 

For details of performances contact our box office on 

0151 666 0000 or visit our website bestguitarfest.com

35 

Bido Lito! November 2015 Reviews 

The second half entails tunes from the rest 

of their catalogue; more of the same in the 

best way possible. The Polyphonic Spree’s 

own-brand psychedelic pop hasn’t changed 

over the years, due, I’d imagine, to how much 

they love to play it live. They are a truly great 

experience live and take over the stage, filling 

the space horizontally and vertically from 

atop the speakers. My personal highlight is 

the cover of Nirvana’s Lithium, which loses its 

ironic tone. DeLaughter steps into the crowd for 

the duration of the song, getting everyone to 

crouch down for the verse and spring up into 

action for the chorus, with his pink hair bobbing 

in and out of view. I started the show feeling 

on the outside of the Polyphonic Spree cult, 

unsure whether they still had it 15 years in. After 

spending a few hours with them, however, I’m 

speaking in tongues and drinking their Kool- 

Aid. 

Kieran Donnachie 

ONEIROGEN 

Dawn Ray’d – Moon Zero 

Titanium Exposition @ The Kazimier 

Sound booms and reverberates off the walls, 

covering the audience in an aural cloak. 

Welcome to The Kazimier, where each of 

tonight’s artists fills the space perfectly. As 

MOON ZERO, producer and composer Tim 

Garratt creates sonic textures that float in 

ambient haze. Opening here, he creates 

a deep, rumbling, entropic resonance of 

bowed cymbals and searing white noise. This 

morphs into Mariana-trench ambience with 

the haunting refrain of synth-clad fog horns, 

whale song and crashing sine waves over a 

spectral ocean. His set closes to the wrenching 

and tearing of metallic sounds. Moon Zero 

finds beauty in the industrial sounds of inner 

space and channels them into a dense and 

dreamlike drone. There is fragility to the sounds 

as they rumble and swirl as if emanating from 

the earth’s core. It is enchanting and utterly 

beguiling. 

Formerly We Came Out Like Tigers, DAWN 

RAY’D, up next, offer something all the more 

fierce and intense. Their set begins with such 

ferocity that distortion and feedback ricochet 

off the walls. This is sound channelled through 

shredded metal. As a three-piece they make an 

almighty noise. The crowd nod to the shattering 

onslaught. Chainsaw guitars, frenetic drums 

and Simon Barr’s wrought vocals spear song 

after song, often accompanied by Barr’s own 

warped electric violin. For the closer, Barr 

delivers an impassioned condemnation of 

the handling of the refugee crisis throughout 

Europe, flaming the authorities. It is met with 

applause before the band launches into one 

final audio assault. 

Headliner Mario Diaz de Leon, aka 

ONEIRONGEN, layers sounds that dissolve 

into blistering infrasonic structures of 

swirling synths and cavernous bass. Opener 

Mortisomnia, from his 2013 album Kiasma, is 

a kaleidoscope of sub-bass, decaying white 

noise and harmonic synths. This builds, layerupon-layer 

as sounds intertwine and blend, 

creating a tapestry of noise and shouted vocals. 

Tracks from his latest EP Plenitude follow; 

Oxygen bleeds into Collapsing, matching 

its visceral intensity and stabbing industrial 

basslines. Diaz de Leon screams over the heat 

of noise, voice breaking and straining. It is 

felt, full-force, emotive ferocity. Vessel follows 

with beats and droning percussive bursts of 

bass and screaming feedback as he moves 

into title track Plenitude, with dark demonic 

voices swirling around the murkier corners of 

The Kazimier. 

Aside from the odd issue with the mics, the 

set speeds to its conclusion, closing out with 

the as yet unreleased Bloodlord. Dark, demonic 

and hypnotic, it weaves extreme industrial 

noise into harmonic strands so dense they feel 

physically heavy. 

Diaz de Leon creates noise and shapes in the 

surrounding space that can be felt as much as 

heard. Rippling booms of bass rip through us as 

higher frequencies spin out, causing phantom 

harmonies to coalesce in the burning hiss of 

static. There are melodies to be found in the 

sonic waterfalls and Mario seems to find them 

in the dark matter that exists all around us, 

extracting them and channelling them into a 

cohesive whole. 

Sometimes you have to see an artist live to 

fully appreciate the full majesty of what they 

produce. Oneirogen is one such musician; live 

he is an immense, hypnotic and immersive 

experience. 

Mike Stanton / @DepartmentEss 

ETCHES 

Mother – Venus De Milo 

Arts Club 

Releasing – or, calling your release – an EP is 

more of a statement of intent than a reference 

to its format these days. As a phrase, “extended 

player” hardly fits in the modern mouth. Say it 

out loud and you barely mimic the cut-glass 

diction of the BBC as was. EPs are reminiscent 

of the single-heavy 60s or punk circuits, and 

when Mac DeMarco’s last full-length release 

stops short of the 24-minute mark (not a 

complaint), it’s arguable whether the EP still 

has room to exist independently between 

singles and albums. 

On the other hand, we’re in the great 

interregnum, and music industry totems have 

been rotting where they fall for years now. 

Whether they’re actually issuing music on vinyl 

(with physical space at a premium), or a spray 

of demos on SoundCloud, perhaps now, more 

than any time in the last few decades, can a 

Oneirogen (Marty Saleh) 

band release an EP without it being just oldfashioned 

pomposity. ETCHES are launching 

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Reviews 


32 

their EP Wall Of Sleep tonight, and they clearly 

have feet in camps both ancient and modern. 

First support comes from VENUS DE MILO, 

who play well, coping with adversity in the 

form of a broken bass string, followed by 

Mancunian five-piece MOTHER. With one 

bandmate pulling sounds from what can only 

be described as a box of tricks, frontwoman 

Allie Bell performs with all the energy of a 

certain other pre-Raphaelite festival headliner, 

albeit to a sparsely-populated room, not that 

Mother seem fazed. 

More than once, Etches’ singer Ross 

Nicholson apologises for the sound of his 

lurgy-stricken throat. If he’s this good with a 

cold, his voice must be incredible at the top 

of his game. At its lowest, it is a rich bass with 

the best of Johnny Cash in its rumblings, but 

equally capable of an incarcerated yowl or 

a sawdust croak within a single song. Such 

vocals are the riches in this band’s vault. 

The other side of Etches’ coin shows 

a tendency to revel in some explicit 70s 

posturing, such as falsetto harmonies and 

unironically funk basslines. More power to 

them, but the odd patch of Supergrass is not 

quite enough to support the weaker older 

songs, though The Charm Offensive is a notable 

non-EP cut. 

Though it’s unclear if Wall Of Sleep is played 

in full tonight (release isn’t until 6 th November, 

and there’s no tracklisting online), new cuts 

such as Do Nothing and The Great Void stand 

out as melodic, purposeful songs with no 

unnecessary frills – the occasional skewed 

drum fill or burst of synth out of leftfield just 

keep the listener on their toes. 

There’s a passing resemblance to Outfit 

in their sound, but without the detached, 

Renaissance aesthetic of Slowness and 

Performance. That might work in Etches’ 

Etches (Adrian Wharton) 

favour, and if they continue the audible trends 

on their new release – strong songwriting with 

diverting moments of sonic oddness – then 

their extended play is well-deserved. 

Stuart Miles O’Hara / @ohasm1 

XIU XIU 

James Binary 

The Kazimier 

Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. 

Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just let it 

happen. Tonight, it’s a ticket to XIU XIU Plays 

the Music of Twin Peaks at the Kazimier. 

Originally composed by Angelo Badalamenti 

and series director David Lynch, the Twin Peaks 

soundtrack is one that manages to capture all 

the dynamic emotions of the show with blissful 

simplicity, from quaint-town jingles of cherry 

pie and coffee, into murky forests of anger and 

bereavement, to the white-capped mountains 

of hope and enlightenment. 

Local producer James Binary does a damn 

good job of setting the atmosphere. Waves of 

sweeping synthesised bass have The Kazimier 

quaking. Whilst it may not be the whole crowd’s 

thing, it sets an undeniable tension and 

curiosity that is classic Twin Peaks. Sam Wiehl’s 

visuals, an explosion of shape and colour, are 

Xiu Xiu (Nata Moraru) 

both violent and strangely harrowing. If, as 

Lynch says, the music has to marry up with the 

bidolito.co.uk

31 


picture, then it’s been skilfully achieved with 

this short but foreboding set. 

The iconic shot of the Palmer household stairs 

appears in the background. There’s a steady 

pulse beating out around the room. Xiu Xiu 

enter the stage to cheers. It starts promisingly 

well, the sinister keys of Laura Palmer’s Theme 

taking to the air. Close your eyes: you’re in the 

woods, the wind howling through the sycamore 

branches that lash at your snow-cold skin as 

you run from a shadow you’re not even sure 

exists. Then the mood changes, the keys 

seguing into the piece’s dreamy zenith. 

Disappointingly, moments like this are few 

and far between. Gone is the playful, seductive 

jazz of Audrey’s Waltz, 'reinterpreted' with a 

fuzzy mess of too-quiet bass and too-loud 

guitar that thaws into indistinct slush. In place 

of Julee Cruise’s ethereal melodies are Jamie 

Stewart’s whimpers, so strained they make 

James Hurley’s home recordings sound like Tom 

Waits. He even manages to slaughter the theme 

tune, Falling (while a nearby doe-eyed fan looks 

on in horror at the butchery of what she calls 

her favourite-ever song). 

There’s a decent version of The Pink Room 

thrown in for the true Lynchians, but then 

Stewart breaks into a dance that I can only 

assume is an homage to the Dream Man’s 

backwards jive. Instead, it turns out as the 

awkward spasms of a kid who’s just dropped 

Xiu Xiu (Nata Moraru)

their first pill. A highlight comes right at the end, 

as Shayna Dunkelman recites an extract of Laura 

Palmer’s diary in the character’s sickly-sweet 

voice. A single brooding chord holds steady in 

the background, flashes of cymbal here and 

there. Then, hysterically, and true to the show’s 

ability to mix the macabre with black comedy, 

Stewart bursts into a rendition of Mairzy Doats 

that would make Leland Palmer proud. The band 

leave to the same pulse that brought them in. 

Many of the crowd seem satisfied, but there’s 

a definite sense that some are underwhelmed. 

Xiu Xiu are a band in their own right and it 

would be therefore harsh to judge them by 

the same criteria as like-for-like cover bands 

such as Brit Floyd. With the source material 

available, this could have been so much more. 

Unfortunately, it ends with the conclusion that 

an average band have smothered a classic 

score with fuzz and feedback – poor imitation 

masquerading as interpretation. 

Christopher Hughes / @chrisHwrites 

THE BIG MOON 

Vant - Inheaven 

DIY Presents The Neu Tour @ The Magnet 

The Neu Tour: taking the very concept of DIY, 

warping it, and breathing on it with a last 

mutilated breath. The tour prides itself on 

showcasing the finest breakthrough acts and 

inhabits an environment for development: 

compiled and curated by the prestigious DIY 

Magazine, it’s a respectable opportunity for 

the chosen few to tour and explore the best 

venues throughout our fine country. Liverpool 

is the backdrop on this stereotypically wet 

and windy evening, and the setting couldn’t 

be more fitting. The ever-expanding DIY music 

scene takes shelter in the darkest, deepest 

dungeons of Hardman Street: the Magnet, buzz 

bands, beer and brooding, unbridled energy. Let 

the games commence. 

The joint headlining show is blown into 

the stratosphere by INHEAVEN, a band that 

have rather impressively been name-dropped 

by Julian Casablancas. Their grunge-like 

tangled guitar swells entombed the audience, 

distorting the intimate venue. The guitarist’s 

Pixies influence resonates almost immediately, 

re-enlightening early memories of picking up 

a six-string. Inheaven are quite clearly onto 

something. Their standout track Bitter Town 

features on the band’s new release, psychedelic 

vocals blended with Interpol-esque rhythmic 

intricacies. Inheaven are undisputedly the full 

package. The works. Their music is mysterious, 

yet the songwriting structure reflects their love 

for popular music. Keep your eyes and ears 

peeled for this exciting, dynamic four-piece.

29 


The Big Moon (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto) 

VANT are a high-intensity, post-punk group 

stirring waves for all the right reasons. The 

band have joined allegiance with Parlophone 

Records to release their new album Parking 

Lot, a record that has been building momentum 

and collecting considerable acclaim since its 

announcement. Fun, energetic, fuzz-punk 

wizardry washes over the Magnet, as blurring 

guitars and an extremely well-fashioned 

rhythm section draw the crowd closer. 

Rambling on about house parties, boozing and 

rooftop sessions while touring on the road, this 

is a band in their absolute element. Their fuzzy, 

high-octane material seems controlled and 

after the experiences of the road, could succeed 

indefinitely. 

London’s sonic equivalent of the autumnal 

equinox, THE BIG MOON, close the evening. 

A band that have been threatening to break 

through for quite some time, The Big Moon 

have been knocking on the door and gaining 

supporting slots for the likes of Mac DeMarco 

and Of Monsters And Men over the past couple 

of months: these successes have sparked 

belief in The Big Moon camp, equipping this 

youthful dream pop four-piece with plenty of 

ammunition to succeed. 

A deep meditative state encompasses 

spectators as the quartet’s infectious pop 

melodies provide an insight into what they’re 

all about. Sweet innocent ballads wash over us 

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Reviews Bido Lito! November 2015 

28 

as hints of Alabama Shakes shine through. The 

tracks of dissonant reverberation show promise, 

once infused with hard-hitting garage rock 

sections they are flawless. Two standout tracks 

– The Road and Nothing Without You – turn the 

entire evening up a gear, as the reverberated 

ballads draw this wonderful evening to a close. 

Sam Banks 

THE BOHICAS 

Sugarmen – Sankofa 

EVOL @ Arts Club 

Vant (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto) 

If there’s a common thread in tonight’s offerings 

it’s the promise of a host of blues-inspired rock 

with razor-sharp riffs, rough vocals and driving 

drum beats. Perhaps the greatest example of 

this is SANKOFA: the Liverpool lads channel 

the spirit of Leadbelly on acid with their 

psychedelic blues rock. Stephen Wall’s vocals 

have a honey-over-hot-gravel feel to them as 

he laments soulfully into the mic, backed by 

Joel Whitehead’s wailing guitar, which howls 

beautifully through the tracks, with an eclectic 

mix of influences from the blues right through 

to shoegaze and distortion-filled fuzz. The 

psychedelic Scousers provide a trippy blues 

explosion despite having to cut their set short 

due to technical difficulties. 

bidolito.co.uk

Having got the audience suitably pumped, 

Sankofa make way for SUGARMEN. Another 

local band, Sugarmen have become 

somewhat of a buzz name on the scene. 

Embarking on their first UK tour, the prodigal 

sons of Liverpool indie set off with style, well 

and truly smashing the bottle against the 

ship with their catchy ditties. With obvious 

influence from the producer of their debut 

single, Mick Jones, they play raucous punkinspired 

tunes with sing-along choruses and 

ringing guitar solos. Dirt resonates through 

the room with elements taken from everyone 

from The Cure to The Courteeners, and will 

surely become utilised as an anthem for them 

as they get bigger and bigger. Despite Pete 

Doherty getting fat and Alex Turner adopting 

an American accent, Sugarmen prove indie 

still has something to give. 

THE BOHICAS first graced the streets of 

Liverpool back in 2013, playing on the NME 

Radar Tour alongside punks Cerebral Ballzy 

and The Amazing Snakeheads. The lads have 

come a long way since then, proving to be 

more than just a band that would merely come 

and go. Two years on and having just released 

their first album, the four-piece are back to 

show what they have to offer. Clad in leather 

jackets, skinny jeans and fitted shirts, Domino 

Records’ new sweethearts arrive on stage to 

applause from the extremely diverse crowd, 

an eclectic mixture of middle-aged rockers 

and indie kids. The crowd reflects the Essex 

boys’ style, playing indie that genuflects to 

the giants of classic rock. With tight basslines 

and rapid guitar solos, these Southerners play 

no nonsense, good ol’ fashioned music. When 

the band erupts into the hedonistic To Die 

For, the crowd goes wild: a sea of heads bop 

furiously amongst the notes flying towards 

them. No one can deny the sheer pleasure 

gained from the tune, and this is followed 

up with their other hits, including Where 

You At, The Making Of and Only You. There 

isn’t anything deep or meaningful about the 

songs that pour out of the mouth of frontman 

Dominic McGuiness but, when it sounds this 

good, who cares? 

NARVIK 

The Playhouse Studio 

Matt Hogg 

In a slight departure from Bido’s usual fare, 

we venture into the Playhouse Studio to 

experience NARVIK, in writer Lizzie Nunnery’s 

words, “a play with music”. 

The small, intimate and some might say 

claustrophobic space of the Studio is ideal for 

this play which, although it roams land and 

sea, is narrowly focused on the memories 

of central character Jim, as he lies alone and 

helpless on his cellar floor. The flotsam and 

jetsam surrounding the tiny space – boat 

fenders, suitcases, washtub, bunkbeds, piano, 

etc. – represent aspects of his past, and some 

are used as musical instruments (and not just 

the obvious ones). For much of the time, the 

musicians themselves (Nunnery, Martin Heslop 

and Vidar Norheim) are also crouched at the 

edge of the action, ready to rise and add their 

Greek chorus-like explanatory songs and to 

participate as minor characters in the drama. 

In the Afterwords to tonight’s performance, 

Nunnery explains how parts of the play are 

drawn from her grandad’s life, including the 

cellar fall and ensuing helplessness, which 

makes an excellent, extremely gut-wrenching 

and upsetting framing device. Joe Shipman’s 

portrayal is note-perfect, transforming himself 

from a virile young man to a vulnerable, elderly 

one by the adoption of quivering hands and 

shaking voice alone. We feel for Jim, as he lies 

in his cellar, struggling to get up, railing at 

his uncooperative body, and asking why lost 

Norwegian love Else (Nina Yndis) has come 

into his mind, a woman he knew 70 years ago, 

rather than his wife. 

It becomes clear that unfinished business is 

queuing up to torment Jim, in the shape of the 

woman he loved before and during WWII, and 

Kenny (Lucas Smith), the man with whom he 

served. We see two love stories developing: the 

one between Jim and Else and the (unrequited) 

one between Jim and Kenny – camaraderie 

tinged with Kenny’s sudden lunge at Jim on 

deck one night. 

The songs, when they come, either add to the 

narrative or – in the case of the scene following 

the most distressing monologue of the play 

– rip us out of the horror and into a whirling 

Russian night of alcohol and dancing, where 

we realise that the war is over, and where Jim 

and Kenny fight – extremely realistically – and 

their friendship seems lost. 

Back to that scene: Jim’s harrowing 

description of the ship coming under direct 

attack, the sounds, the water rising as the 

ship sinks, the command to close the hatches 

– even though there are men still below decks, 

the sounds of those men – tapping, banging, 

scratching for salvation as they drown – 

accompanied by the harsh, percussive slaps 

of the cast’s palms on the floor is physically 

draining. A moment to sit quietly and let the 

emotion seep away, to process the horror, 

would be welcome, but we are dragged back 

into exhilarating, annihilating life. More trauma 

follows, as Else is reintroduced and her fate 

acted out in echo of another episode from 

history (Nunnery has done her research, and it 

shows) – the persecution and death of women 

seen as Nazi ‘collaborators’. 

The ending is ambiguous – salvation or 

death? It is left to the audience to decide. Our 

decision? We’ll sit through this play with music 

again – anytime, anywhere. 

Debra Williams

SOUND MATTERS 

In this monthly column our friends at DAWSONS give expert tips and advice on how to achieve a great sound 

in the studio or in the live environment. Armed with the knowledge to solve any common (or unusual) musical 

problem, the techy aficionados share their ‘sound’ experience with Bido Lito! readers. 

Here, sound specialist Harry Brown guides us through the complex worlds of pianos and synths. Whether 

you want to recreate the sounds of the 80s or need a machine that does it all, Harry has the knowledge. 

Keyboard instruments take a vast array of shapes the Sub Phatty synth. Unlike the original wave of 

and sizes, but broadly fall into three categories: synthesisers on which this product is based, this has 

electric piano, controller and synthesiser keyboards. presets. This means you can store 16 of your favourite 

But, as is increasingly common nowadays, a sounds, accessible at the touch of a button (or two). It 

combination of the three types can make for the also has a pitch wheel capable of altering the pitch of 

most flexible instrument, providing you with a wider the note you play by two octaves in either direction. 

array of sounds but also possibly a more portable The new Multidrive features give you the ability to 

instrument. 

add distortion to your synth sounds, which was only 

One of the most faithful representations of an previously possible through the use of guitar drive 

electric piano, in both looks and sound, is Roland's pedals or guitar amplifiers. 

new LX17. This is an electric piano equipped In the middle is the all-terrain unit, the all-in-one 

specifically with only piano or organ-style sounds, gigging musician's keyboard. It has to be lightweight, 

designed to faithfully emulate the experience of with plenty of both piano-style and synthesiser 

playing a world-class acoustic upright piano. This sounds. A Nord Stage 2 EX Compact has a semiweighted 

key bed, meaning it is a lighter stage 

is not a portable instrument, as it is designed for 

permanent installation in a venue or home, not to be piano but still feels very responsive to play. It has an 

moved around often. A more portable representation internal library of sampled piano-style sounds plus a 

of this kind of product is Kawai’s ES100 Stage Piano, synthesis engine, which you can assign to different 

which features a range of specifically sampled octaves of the keyboard. This gives you a huge range 

keyboard sounds, plus a responsive hammer-style of sounds, without even changing patches. 

action at a very reasonable price. 

Controller keyboards are a great alternative to 

At the far end, the polar opposite to pure-design having an actual electric piano, if you only need it 

electric pianos is the synthesiser. These will come to play into a computer for production purposes. A 

with varying numbers of oscillators, LFOs, envelopes controller keyboard isn’t really an instrument at all 

and maybe even effects units. The older-style – it’s a keyboard-shaped control unit that produces a 

synths are usually more ‘modular’ than newer stream of information about the notes you play and 

ones, perhaps even needing one section wiring to how you play them. This stream of information takes 

another! Korg's M20 is one such unit. It is a reissue a format widely known as MIDI, and most keyboards 

of a classic, modular analogue synth Korg made in now feature a set of MIDI in and out sockets for 

1978, which facilitated the sound of a number of transmitting this information. But a controller 

popular 80s records. 

keyboard specifically only usually transmits this MIDI 

Reissuing older instrument designs is becoming a information, which can then be used to play sounds 

popular move for many synthesiser manufacturers, from a separate sound module or even another 

with the demand for more retro sounds on the keyboard/electric piano with MIDI capability. 

increase. Bands taking inspiration from records Some of the keyboard products we sell are now 

created in the 1980s need more flexible, functional so comprehensive that they even incorporate a 

products that create roughly the same sounds. production platform or recording facility – these 

Yamaha’s DX FM synth, as part of their new Reface broadly come under the label Workstation. 

range, is a reincarnation of their ubiquitous Yamaha’s Tyros 5 is a total in-the-box solution with 

DX7 keyboard, widely used in the 1980s. It has a microphone input for recording live audio, not 

several modern attributes including iPhone/iPad just the keyboard performances. This means that 

connectivity and compatibility with Yamaha’s keyboard players don’t need to splash out on a range 

Soundmondo online community. 

of recording studio-style equipment to be able to 

Another well-known synth manufacturer, Moog, create their own demos. 

specialises in particularly analogue synthesis – more You can find Dawsons at their new home at 14-16 

prominently seen in the 1960/70s, before the digital Williamson Square. 

boom. A vintage-style synthesiser in this format is dawsons.co.uk 

DIGGING A LITTLE DEEPER 

with Bernie Connor’s Fresh Garbage 

We’re always interested to hear what waxy gems are lurking in the depths of the record bags 

of the city’s DJs, or the kind of music they’re indulging in away from the dancefloor. This month 

we got in touch with one of our favourite selectors, Bernie Connor, and asked him to give us an 

introduction to his new FRESH GARBAGE event by picking out four pieces that define it. 

The weekly Sunday afternoon residency and webcast at the newly-opened Buyers Club replaces 

Connor’s longstanding (and mind-expanding) Sound Of Music podcast, and will be broadcast live 

via Ustream each week. FRESH GARBAGE SAY: “The greatest music ever made plus pictures and 

special effects. Audience participation is vital, your attendance and contribution are welcome: a 

splendid time is guaranteed for all.” 

SPIRIT 

Fresh Garbage 

I played this LP in Manchester the other week, and while it was playing 

I hatched my plan for the future. The record’s exotic, sometimes jazz, 

sometimes psychedelic sound opened the doors of perception to those 

with a yearning for progressive music. The single of Fresh-Garbage was 

also sampled by Pink in one of her hits. Apparently. 

THE GRATEFUL DEAD 

Viola Lee Blues (Live At The Shrine Auditorium) 

I love THE GRATEFUL DEAD, one of the most misunderstood bands in 

history. I played this at Liverpool Psych Fest and the maddening horde 

went madder. Live, loud, inspirational and improvised, a band on the move, 

shot like a diamond through your mind. Taken from 30 Trips Around The 

Sun, a new live retrospective covering their 30-year history. 

KING TUBBY/THE REVOLUTIONARIES 

Girl A Love You 

This one was an inadvertent gift from the great Roger Eagle. I spent years 

trying to find this absolute sonic masterpiece, mixed by The Almighty 

from a Horace Andy 45, and originally recorded at Channel One Studios 

in Kingston. One of the most pioneering and leftfield pieces of music I’ve 

ever heard. Those guitars! 

FOUR TET 

Morning/Evening 

Is it an LP? Is it a 12”? Four Tet’s eighth album, Morning/Evening consists 

of two mighty long tracks (both at around 20 minutes) of found sound 

made on Kieran Hebden’s laptop, covering myriad styles and flavours. 

Absolutely, totally doggone outta sight, possibly the best ‘new’ record 

of this year. Essential for children of all ages. 

Fresh Garbage takes place each Sunday at Buyers Club between 5pm and 7pm, and is streamed live 

via Ustream. Hosted by Bernie Connor and featuring guests and friends on the decks and for further 

discussion.

Issue 61 / November 2015 - SIDE AA

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