Slotface @ The Cellar Bar, Oxford, 23rd November 2017

Norwegian indie-rock act Slotface are part roaring Nirvana-style grunge guitars, part careful string-picking, melodic indie pop - and it works a treat.

Haley's vocals are rasping, growling at times, but give way to gentler, more thoughtful moments. Scandinavian indie-pop has been known to be incredibly marvellous over recent decades, but it's mainly been led by Sweden, what with the gigantic splendour of Labrador Records leading the charge with the Radio Dept., The Shout Out Louds, Sambassadeur, and more. The rockier, heavier end of things has probably been best represented by the part-Danish Raveonettes, but I'm open to hearing about more bands I've missed along the way.

It's welcoming, refreshing to hear some new, young upstarts from Norway, I'd say. Plenty of highs in tonight's basement bar gig. The Cellar Bar is a trove of a venue and has just recovered from threats to its future, so tonight feels like a celebration and we're celebrating in other ways with a special occasion around this date being the reason for our trip to Oxford city, and this very gig. Note that, please, Oxford City Council - small music venues bring in tourism too !

One highlight had to be seeing all the young fans at the end of the night, crowding round singer Haley at the merch stall, telling her how brilliant the band's performance was. Towards the end of something like a 50-date tour, those must've been warm and wonderful words. I also liked being reminded of the years I spent approaching bands like that, nervous, young, in thrall and praise. Long may that all live!

Madame So @ The Islington, 13 June 2017

From the incredible Madame So - Solange, singing solo and acoustic at The Islington last night.

Any fears Solange expressed about the acoustic format were exploded, as her voice is as almighty powerful without her electric band backing her. It's in the way she plays with wordless sounds as well as her detailed, emotive, intelligent lyrics. There's conviction and a sense of release, not just simple anger.

Solange wants us to take notice, her strong and personal delivery commands it constantly, as her songs offer something that's missing from music - a meaningfulness that's so often lacking. Backed with a plugged-in rhythm section her songs rock the place but it's no less so when you focus on how and what she delivers vocally.

When she breaks into "anything you want, I got it!" you can feel her self-belief in her music, and the cover version tagged along to one of her own songs sits perfectly - she's shouting it now, demanding we absorb not only her attention but also her sheer confidence and passion.

This is songwriting that will go far, far beyond tonight's pub backroom. Solange's presence and performance scream out superstar in all the best ways.

Brix And The Extricated, Live at The Lexington, London, 4 November, 2016

My fourth time seeing Brix And The Extricated play live. [Click here for an older live review]

Tonight at The Lexington, Brix's entrance was dramatic, she sparkled from head to foot in shining headdress, glittering eye make up, twinkling gold guitar strap, and (hopefully faux !) fur coat. I have to admit to feeling emotional, even tearful - I think it was feeling overwhelmed and glad to be bestowed a female heroine, centre stage, at last. Decades of gig-going, but back in my teens and the most part of my 20s, what I would have given to have a rock goddess of a frontwoman/role model...! Chrissie Hynde has had a similarly powerful effect, in my 30s, and [I wrote about that here]

The songs and Brix's singing are so powerful. The strength of her voice, so commanding. There were only two moments where Brix lent a slower, quieter quality to her voice (as heard in The Adult Net). Primarily, Brix is unafraid to be loud and insistent, and to sing in a talking punk or rap style, and deliver everything with intent, dead serious. At one point, in a new song, she was pointing, and reaching out to the audience from lowdown, in-your-face, in a 70s punk style: confrontational, or just wanting to demand a direct communication with the audience, on our level.

With Steve Hanley's expert bass, we've obviously got another legend of The Fall. The full band sound is huge and rhythmically spectacular. Hearing songs like 2 X 4 - that rockabilly influence was one of the key things to draw me to The Fall. I'd play along, in my bedroom, with newly bought electric guitar, frantically, inspired. Now I'm dancing along, propelled in awe.

Big New Prinz is the pinnacle of the night, once again. But this time it is epic. We're led in with a slow, swirling intro, wondering what's coming next - Brix whispers the words, and we're taken aback when the song suddenly explodes into action. Winding and grinding on, hypnotic trance effect successful, the song then plays out to its end with every band member leaving one by one. First, it's Brix, and I have to smile that it's her walking out of a song a bit early and not Mark in his trademark nonchalant style. Then the instrumental chords and rhythms dwell magically, before guitar is gone... leaving only that monumental bass with drums. I think we could listen to that legendary sound all night, but soon it slows to an end, and we're left transfixed.

Watching Brix perform, again and again, as I have done, I come away feeling blessed by her confidence, self-assurance. She may be singing songs she wrote in her time in The Fall where Mark E Smith tyrannically ran the show, but now she's the frontperson, she's centre-stage. She's the star.

Brix And The Extricated, at the 100 Club, 29th May 2015

Brix was a pivotal part of many of The Fall's best creative periods. The thrill of her returning to music, with intentions to publish an autobiography, is still reverberating. A moot point for some, but for me this club gig with other former Fall members outstrips anything the Mark E Smith group have done in a decade. While Kicker Conspiracy, CREEP, Hit The North, Dr Faustus, LA, Big New Prinz, Totally Wired, Cruisers Creek are songs that wouldn't fill up a usual Fall setlist nowadays, they are played resoundingly powerfully tonight – and are all we could wish for and more. It's not the hankering for the old, but hearing these songs fronted by the almighty and wonderful Brix in such a commanding manner.

Whilst Brix is clearly reliving the glory of 80s and 90s Fall, and must have a lot of great memories, she is also buoyant about the present moment, being frontwoman, innovating a cracking set of songs. This is a new and absorbing experience. Certain Fall fans faithful to Mark E Smith as centrifugal overlord are wrongly wary. Questioning Brix's credentials is not an option: she has nothing to prove. Hearing this batch of songs and many more from those years, emphasises her imagination, ideas, contributions through several crucial epochs of The Fall. In the interim between her departure from the MES-led Fall and this current venture, Brix had a pop career – Adult Net, a sunny sounding rock act with gentle, lovely vocals that represent a different side of her – now she's here playing her favourite old Fall songs, and she's singing with more fierce force and power than Mark E Smith. Her voice is deep and dark. The intent in her delivery is full of sure-fire strength. Wilful ignorance or gendered contempt from a certain kind of Fall fan is not to be tolerated. Pining for MES ('it's not The Fall without Mark!') is tiresome. How about instead opening your ears and mind to a positive alternative from someone who was equally a key player in the finest Fall achievements? Mark E Smith is a great, but it must be admitted that the live shows have become poor: continual celebration of frothy, drunk mutterings as spectacle becomes hollow and sad (Mark can be sharper, and all the better for it).

Brix's confidence and control show her seriousness of purpose. With the celebrated Hanley brothers on bass and drums, and Fall Heads Roll era Steve Trafford on guitar, this is no tribute: this is still the music of legend very much alive. Lay of the Land is a surprise highlight of the set, and that classic, crunching, tight, rhythmic sound so definitive of early Fall kicks up a storm. Likewise, 2 X 4 is a surprise and heavyweight addition. We are spoilt with Hit the North and Mr Pharmacist - and Big New Prinz, possibly Brix's defining moment (from The Fall's most overlooked LP, I Am Kurious Oranj), is the perfect closer to a compelling gig. Brix shouting the lyric: 'He is not appreciated!' seems at odds and feels poignant (she must be appreciated!). This isn't about nostalgia because the new songs sound beyond worthy in comparison, and the old stuff has been enlivened anew. If Brix and The Extricated are to be a long-term concern, they threaten to surpass current Fall standards by a long shot. These are invigorating times.

Setlist:

U.S. 80s-90s

Feeling Numb

Leave the Capitol

2 X 4

(a new song)

LA

CREEP

Cruiser's Creek

(2 new songs)

Hotel Bloedel

Dead Beat Descendant

Totally Wired

Lay of the Land

Hit the North

Mr Pharmacist

Big New Prinz

Windmill dog / all-day Easter gig at Brixton Windmill

This big creature was keenly overseeing the free barbecue at The Windmill in Brixton yesterday!

Good to go to an afternoon-into-evening gig on a Good Friday. It was much too cold to be having a barbecue, but on arrival we managed to eat vegetarian burgers and salads in the freezing outdoor garden - my friend with gloves on! There were about three terrifyingly large dargs on the roof as we ate, plus we got unwanted conversation from someone with a musical Noddy doll, which made for an unsettling start.



It was excellent to see Viv Albertine once again, though. Small wonder that she is playing somewhere as compact as this. She was greeted like a legend, by many, rightly, though. Her songs and lyrics are so off-kilter, funny, clever, political, great. She said she had arrived feeling grumpy, and had multiple technical problems - including us witnessing her getting electric shocks on her mouth so bad, she resorted to putting what looked like a sock over her mic. But her smile was as sunny as this Easter day in April should have been. She was inspiring and entertaining to watch, really reaffirmed my faith in things. I must definitely buy some of her albums at next financial opportunity.

Interestingly, I bought some old music magazines on a market recently - one of which was an edition of Q from late last year. Inside, there was a mock image of a cover of Q with Viv Albertine on the cover, saying if the magazine had been around in the late 70s, that's how it would've looked. Hello, Q! Viv Albertine is very much alive, performing, and kicking - so what's your excuse ?

(Above photo of Viv Albertine from the Strummerville event I went to a few years ago as didn't get to take any photos at the Windmill gig).

EDIT: Since I wrote this post, it's been announced that Viv Albertine has written an autobiography! This will be utterly superb, and I cannot wait. We need many more female rock musician biographies, there are not so many.