Vol 2. Issue 1, SEPT 2013

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Words by Chris Fear. Photography by Will Culshaw.

Picture it. I’m sat on the top deck of a harbourside cafe getting ready to interview. My dictaphone is ready

in my hand, my notepad is resting on my knee and my pint is steadily cooling on the table. Everything is agogo and the first question is already forming on my lips. Suddenly there’s a droning screech; like a rather melodic cat trapped in a car door, and Duncan stands up. “Look over there,’ he says, squinting and pointing in the direction of the Arnolfini, “There’s a bagpipe player!” I thought it was fitting that an interview with one of Bristol’s ascending electronic musicians and producers, Duncan Silvey,

The Bristol Alternative

Duncan Silvey’s GoldStandard

should start with a fanfare from an instrument that completely penetrates your auditory system; much like the haunting intensity of Silvey’s tracks. On first impressions alone, Duncan Silvey appears as an amiable, slightly modest, twenty-something with an aura of good-natured approachability. Listen to his haunting, moody electronica and you recieve a very different impression. Completely unlike the mellow, easygoing musician I met; his music is broodily intense. As we speak, it quickly becomes apparent that Duncan is intensely committed to his... Continued on page 3

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Diving Bell

SomethingAnorak

Spaces Between

A Fresher’s Guide To Bristol Music

The Bristol Alternative

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Notes From The

Spaces Between

September’s band

It’s not often you hear an elec-tronica / ambient project where both elements are so perfectly bal-anced that they fuse harmoniously together, but Mike Orr of Spaces Between seems to have acheived just that equalibrium in his song-writing. Every track we’ve listened to seems to display the same highly refined intensity. It’s a travesty that Spaces Between have been ignored for so long.

A selection of our favourite sounds this month in Bristol.

September’s release.

‘My Bedroom Collapse’ :

September’s track.

‘Glass Eyes’ : Diving Bell

Underground

Contents

Editor and Designer: Chris Fear chris@livezine.co.uk

Online Editor: Ali Maxwell ali@livezine.co.uk

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L!VE Zine is a monthly print and webzine and a D.I.Y collective. We are devoted to championing new and emerging music and artists in Bristol and the surrounding area. All power to the the collage.

The views expressed in L!VE Zine are those of its respective contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the zine or its staff.All rights reserved L!VE Zine 2013.

Published by Industria Press, Bristol.

Printed by Maxwell House Printers, Banwell.

With poignantly beautiful, understated melodies wrapped around shimmering and warped acoustic guitars, ‘My Bedroom Collapse’ is one of the most perfect lo-fi Indie abums we’ve heard this month; possibly even this year.

Bizzare but at the same time utterly brilliant, this track explores the obesity epidemic through the microcosm of a wedding. All the trademark, post-rock Diving Bell-instrumentation is here, not to mention the caustic humour : the lyrical dexterity present in lines like ‘White blancmange on a tray/ Big bride, bigger buffet.’ would make Morrissey put down his notebook.

Something Anorak

FOREWORD L!VE ZINE, SEPT 2013 NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND L!VE ZINE SEPT 2013 3

Download the album here:

http://somethinganorak.bandcamp.com/album/my-bedroom-

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Notes From The Underground 3Sounding out the best new noises reveberating through the city this month.

Duncan Silvey’s Gold Standard 4

A Fresher’s Guide To Bristol 6

Rising gloom-electronica composer and producer, Duncan Silvey talk to us. Subjects covered include; bagpipes, songwriting and

New to the city? Itching to sound out the best venues? Here’s the guide for you...

CommentOur resident columnist, Smellen Degnerate tears the word ‘scene’ a new one.

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question of current musical influences. As a musician and a producer, Duncan Silvey’s got a varied and diverse musical pallette and his influences show that. “I remember hearing his James Blake’s first album and being like ‘Holy shit, like this is great’ so I’d definitely say him to an extent. But also artists like Baths and John Talabot. I listen to a lot of different things.” He also rates a lot of current Bristol talent as well. “Ambiotics, who was my second year housemate, really inspires me. He’ll make little games out of doing things; he doesn’t take things too seriously and he’ll come up with great production as a result. A lot of music is made up of field-recordings. He’ll make something completely new out of the sounds he’s got and that’s something I definitely look to for inspiration.” It’s at this point that the interview draws to a close. We both have other committments and we’ve talked through practically everything. Duncan Silvey is an

his art: he explains that the tracks he’s currently working on have been composed over the course of a year. “ I’ll get home from work and add bits and pieces,” he tells me as he carefully sips his pint, “What you hear has been made over the course of six months, mixing and producing it as I write.” Listening to the tracks, you can hear that the sustained and measured approach to their creation has proved particularly worthwhile; they’re full of depth and structure, like little musical worlds framed by a three minute track length. I question him about this clear sense of songwriting that seems to pervade his electronica. He replies that he considers himself equally a songwriter and an electronica producer. “I listen to different things in terms of the songwriting side and the production side; I’d like to think my songs have a definite structure in terms of songwriting, with verses and choruses. I always grew up listening to rock so I guess that’s where the songwriting element comes from.” He pauses and takes another sip from the glass. The bagpipes are still blaring. “When I was young and was trying to find my musical direction, my dad would play me little bits of Kraftwerk and Portishead. I guess that’s where the electronic and production side comes from too.” Its refreshing, not to mention slightly surprising, to find a musician so aware of how early influences have shaped their sound. Duncan’s tracks demonstrate a meticulous awareness in this respect; the sonic variation in his tracks creates a subtle richness that’sreally quite beautiful and original. His music is incredibly difficult to define. It’s firmly electronic but at the sametime, strangely organic. A melancholic pop sensibility lurks

underneath it all that blurs the boundaries between the genres. His sound is incredibly complex. I’m interested to find out the method Duncan uses to create such painstakingly arranged tracks; he explains collaboration is important in generating initial inspiration. “I’ve got two really good friends who give me their input, then I’ll go away and mix the track; it’s pretty much a jigsaw that comes together. “I’ve been working with my friend Alex Parker, for a while now. I’ll come up with a small idea and record it and try to get everything down chordwise. I start with piano which is my main instrument with this project and structure everything around that in terms of sound. I’ll then hand him the finished track and he’ll say ‘what about this idea’ and send back a track of him mumbling some words. I’ll then try and pick out little phrases in there and develop the words around that.” He pauses and takes another sip of his drink, and smiling. “It’s kind of like a postal service thing; backwards and forwards. It’s a very twenty-first century way of writing, I guess: having the option to send stuff online.” It’s strange to learn this, because his music sounds seamless; there’s little hint of the fragmented, slightly

patchwork way that it was composed. Arguably, composing in a decidely modern method, as Duncan puts it, has increased the creative intensity of his tracks. They’re more intensely focused, they’re more intelligent and they’re just more neat as a result. As we finish talking about the writing process, the bagpipes are still playing on the harbourside. The cafe is getting noiser, as it begins to fill up with the usual quota of post-9 to 5 suits. We get another drink and stumble on to the subject of Duncan’s plans for the future and the tracks that he’s working on at the moment. “I always want to try and find new things to bring into my music” he tells me, “I’d like to get more analogue equipment; like hardware synths and just more gui-tar.” He’s also reveals that he wants to get more experimental with his mu-sic. “I’d love to go out and do some live sampling too. I’ve been reading a lot of interviews with some great artists, who’ll just go outside with a mic and recorder and collect sam-ples,” He points over at the bagpipe player whose still bellowing away in the distance, “Like now, with those bagpipes, they’d stand there and go ‘that’s great’, record it and then sam-ple it. I’d definitely like to get more creative with samples.” After that we hit the genric

intelligent person, as well as an intelligent musician. We down our drinks and leave. The sound of the bagpipes still drones away on the harbourside as we descend the stairs. CF.

Duncan’s currently working on a collection of new tracks.

Listen to some of them online at:www.duncansilvey.weebly.com

J I G S A W S

FEATURE PAGE 4, SEPT 2013 FEATURE

M U S I C A L L!VE ZINE SEPT 2013 5

Start the Bus 7-9 Baldwin Street, BS1 1RUWho: Connan Mockasin, Vivian Girls etc.Why: Right in the centre of the city, Start the Bus is a restaurant and bar during the day and a venue and club come the night. Host to touring indie and electronica, the music at Start the Bus is decidedly modern and hip. A great place to catch new bands in an intimate setting if conventional venues aren’t your thing.

The Louisiana Wapping Wharf, Bathurst Terrace, BS1 6UAWho: The Libertines, Amy Winehouse etc.Why: The Lousiana is the best place to watch the latest, breaking acts when they reach Bristol. In it’s short lifetime, it’s hosted some illustruous names; most before they’ve hit the mainstream and gone on to achieve wider success. In short, it’s the perfect place to find the cult bands of tomorrow.

Exchange 72-73 Old Market Street, BS2 0EJWho: Palma Violets, Turbowolf etc.Why: Sister venue and replacement to the late Croft (R.I.P), the Exchange hosts the most diverse range of rock, metal and indie you’re likely to find in Bristol. With two stages, one on the ground floor and one in the basement, the Exchange is a great medium sized venue with oodles of character and cheap drinks aplenty.

The Fleece 12 St. Thomas Street, BS1 6JJWWho: Veronica Falls, The Blackout etc.Why: One of the city’s oldest venues, The Fleece has undergone a rebirth in the last year and is fast becoming one of the best venues Bristol has to offer in terms of cost, diverse lineups and value for money. Again, host to some famous names in it’s history, the music is a mix of everything from acoustic acts to metal

Fresher Should KnowEvery

COMMENT PAGE 6, SEPT 2013 COMMENT L!VE ZINE SEPT 2013 7

Five Bristol Venues

The Thekla The Grove, BS1 4RBWho: Franz Ferdinand, Patrick Wolf, etc.Why: Possibly Bristol’s most famous venue, the Thekla is a boat and a floating club. Home to a genuine Banksy outside, Thekla embodies Bristol’s grimy, post-nautical spirit. The music is generally geared towards touring bands; if an established band you like is playing a gig in Bristol the odds are it might be at the Thekla.

Been there,

If there’s one word in the English language that

really gets my dander up more than ‘second-home’, or ‘craft beer bar’, then it has to be the word, ‘scene’. A few months ago me and a friend were discussing the state of the Bristol music industry and the types of bands currently active within it. He mentioned that he had recently read an article written by a Bristol musician in which the author argued that a ‘scene’ is a creatively limiting and fundamentally damaging thing. This got me thinking. I’d never considered the concept of a ‘scene’ before. I had always just dismissed the word, thinking it a lazy noun used by lazier music journalists who couldn’t pull their fingers out of their arses and think of a decent adjective to describe a collection of similar-sounding bands. What did the word even mean to me? This called for some research.

Scene that.

After exhausting my contact list and phone credit, I was unable to track down the elusive author but I was provided with a rough outline of their ideas, which I’m going to expand upon here. The author argued that rather than encouraging the creative development of original music in an area, a scene actually stifles creativity, resulting in a range of bands that look and sound exactly alike. If one particular sound becomes dominant, then a sonic hegemony develops and other, different-sounding artists get forgotten. A worrying conclusion for a city that prides itself on the diversity of its music. Look at certain groups active at the moment, and you can certainly see this hypothesis proven correct: everyone’s decided to pretend they’re in Foals or Sigur Ros. We’re one more ‘noise-rock’ band away from becoming just one massive post-rock impersonation city. I’m sure you’re wondering why am I getting so angry about a word? Simple. Because if different ‘scenes’ do exist, then how they operate bears all the traits of a cartel or a clique; not the democratic and cooperative entity that people like to market them as. The music clique is a dangerous thing. Bitchy, suspicious and incestuous, its run by a small group

L!VE ZINE SEPT 2013 8

Smellen DegenerateCOMMENT

of powerful individuals who promote and jealously guard the interests of their own musical offspring, excluding other, arguably more creative artists who then get ignored. Trust me, I’ve scene it all.

Smellen Degenerate

REVIEW

Being inside the Fleece, there was a genuine

buzz that this has been a line-up that fans had been waiting for. First on were the locals Beyond Recall. Even though they had sparks of real talent, they fell short of being truly unique. The result was a blur of social memes and rock clichés. Fresh from the other side of the bridge were Reaper in Sicily. The almost pubescent vocals took time to settle but after few formidable numbers, the crowd became engrossed as they verified themselves as a threat to the hardcore scene. With a new album soon to be released, they are destined for their time in the spotlight. Billed as an intimate gig for The Blackout, the atmosphere was just that. Lead screamer Sean Smith, spent the majority of the

The Blackout @ The Fleece, 22/08/2013.

time strolling off stage, dancing and engaging with the fans, whilst proceeding to being mobbed for photographs. Merthyr Tydfil’s brightest have been warriors of the alternative scene in recent times, yet with a disappointing reaction to their latest album, it would be easy for the lads to become jaded. Nevertheless, there was still an authentic desire to entertain the faithful fans, as they belted out the classics that they are known for. The Blackout, who claim to be the ‘best in town’, put on a show that proves they deserve to be on the Main Stage at Reading/Leeds Festival. They succeeded in making a memorable night that many fans with cherish and talk about for years to come. Bex Williams

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