One of the things people told me they liked about Facelift the fanzine in the 1990s was the ‘… and beyond’ part of the magazine – a regular section which reviewed music which couldn’t easily be put under the ‘Canterbury scene’ umbrella. I ended up on the mailing list for a number of very supportive record labels, including Cuneiform, Delerium and Voiceprint, reviewed a lot of albums from their rosters and ended up hearing some quite marvellous music I wouldn’t otherwise have been exposed to. Ultimately though, this part of the fanzine became a bit of a millstone – finding space and time to include those reviews arguably took Facelift away from its unique position of covering Canterbury music. It was one of many factors that meant that things ground to a halt in 1998.
25 years on and Facelift the blog and Facebook group has tried to maintain the same Canterbury-centric approach, although, like everyone else out there, I have much wider tastes than what is contained within its pages alone. So, as we draw towards the end of 2024 I thought it was high time to share some of the non-Canterbury highlights for me this year. I just didn’t feel I could justify entirely avoid talking about them. The criteria for selection: well, I’ve listened to them more than any other albums, Canterbury included, in 2024: my daughter, for example, immediately identified what they would be, based on her (and other household members’) subjection to their various virtues!
5. Sykofant
An unexpected addition to the growing collection of Norwegian progressive music I have in my collection came back in the spring from a band calling themselves Sykofant. This suitably hirsute guitar-based fourpiece purvey a whole host of extended, epic compositions of heavy, folkloric intensity . Imploring vocals imbued with just a hint of growling menace (‘Suddenly I walk among the gods’), crashed guitars and enough changes in direction and style to keep this listener enthralled, this is good rollicking stuff, with chugging riffs, hints of Rush in its compositional complexity, alternately rasping and soaring solos, and the odd mellow vocal melody a la Porcupine Tree.
The last two minutes of ‘Forgotten Paths’, ushered in a by a brief mediaeval burst of mandolin, no less, are based on a mere three chords, etched through with funked, thrashy strumming and power chords (and are actually a mirror for the opening few bars of the album, as those, who like me have the CD on repeat, will recognise) and are amongst the finest passages of music I can recall this year or any other.
4. Dog Unit: At Home
Dog Unit are one of two bands in this list who’ve had a video session on the fine State 51 Conspiracy platform, which is an excellent introduction to their work, but who actually came to my attention thanks to a recommendation from a good friend with entirely different musical interests to my own.
They’re an instrumental four piece of 2 guitars, bass and drums providing grooving, slightly hypnotic pieces propelled along by the prominent, bouncy drumbeat of Lucy Jamieson. On stage the 2 guitarists are seated opposite each other, alternately supporting the themes of one another with clearly marked out lines of their own, a bass which rolls along rather nicely, and arguably the star of the piece, Jamieson, whose undeviating motorik rhythms provide the visual and sonic focal point for the band. I hear elements of post-rock here (they’re like a slightly more upbeat version of Tortoise at times), early Foals-ish too in places, but also throw in some funk licks a la The Egg, plus occasional stop start rhythms to keep you on your toes (‘We Can Still Win This’).
The band’s music is so fundamentally simple, and the musicians’ presence on stage so understated that you could almost imagine yourself getting up there on stage with them to add an extra line or two. If you did, however, you’d have to don a regulation issue boiler suit bearing the band’s name! Hypnotic, grooving, slightly warped stuff from which the ambience and glorious bass line of ‘Consistent Effort’ is the highlight.
3. Actionfredag (Amarxe)
Late contender chez Facelift for crashing the Bandcamp server through repeated listening, is Actionfredag. Apparently a Norwegian supergroup of sorts – they appear to have attracted a ‘Canterbury’ tag, which if valid, constitutes just one facet of a varied palette of influences. From the charging bass line and angular two note guitar motifs of the opener – ‘Pönk på Svenska’, to the anthemic, open-throated vocal (and violin) theme of ‘En behagelig durakkord som sier noe om hvordan det er å se uten å bli sett’, this is memorable and high class music throughout.
If indeed Canterbury is at play, then it’s probably within the National Health-like jumpiness of ‘Jesus i min bod’ or the Samla-like complexity and unison lines of ‘Ensomhet er bare en følelse’ or even the Underdubbish jazzy guitar/keyboard lines of ‘Tobias’. But frankly I was just glad to turn off my Canterbury antennae for a moment and enjoy the music for what it is: an undulating, foottapping ride where the core band of guitar, (heavy) bass and keyboards, and drums are augmented by flute, harp, woodwind, tuned percussion and strings. Complexity and cacophony are very fine bedfellows in the hands of Actionfredag, and I’m looking forwarded to jumping into a second album which has also appeared on bandcamp.
2. Yang – Rejoice! (Cuneiform)
Whenever I’m asked who my favourite guitarist is (which to be fair, isn’t very often), it’s expected that I might roll out Phil Miller, Steve Hillage or Allan Holdsworth for consideration. And indeed that might be the case. But undoubtedly the guitarist I listen to most of all is Frenchman Frederic L’Epee. Frederic came to my attention back in the Facelift fanzine days when Cuneiform Records sent me a series of albums from his wonderful quartet Philharmonie, with its intricately intertwining guitars and an uplifting semi-classical vibe of almost religious portent. He went on to form the somewhat heavier Yang, associated with much harder riffing and a funkier vibe, whilst at the same time putting out a series of digital-only solo guitar releases which veer between sound experimentation of varying accessibilities and the most deliciously gentle orchestrations. Whilst L’Epee’s calling card is his Frippian motifs (as well as early use of what are now ubiquitous loopers), for me he produces music that is much more beautiful: it sets out to elevate first and foremost, not just to discordantly wrench the heart strings.
All of which gives only a brief backdrop to ‘Rejoice!’. After 3 entirely instrumental albums, Yang took a slight diversion with their previous album ‘Designed For Disaster’, introducing a female vocalist and despite some undoubted highpoints (‘Flower You’ has a set of guitar themes to die for); but it felt slightly like a hybrid approach. ‘Rejoice!’ takes things to a much more logical conclusion: new vocalist Carla Kihstedt is entirely integrated (fellow guitarist Laurent James sings too), and this rather lengthy album, whilst varied in style, feels like a much more coherent statement.
‘Step Inside’, and the title track ‘Rejoice’ enjoy the discordant, heavy riffing I’d associate core Yang with. ‘Concretion’ too, but it’s the latter which starts to subtly weave the album’s web, Philharmonie style, with some wonderfully subtle reflective guitar interplay. ‘Entanglement’ and ‘Berceuse For the Guilty’ incorporate vocals into this intoxicating mix: the former, in which Kihlstedt sings in French, is a lesson in building tension until the main guitar theme finally breaks through.
These particular pieces involved such heavy repeated playing that it took me an age to reach the later extended tracks, most particularly the epic closer, ‘The Final Day’ whose first 5 minutes build through a succession of separate but complementary guitar themes, eventually bridging via a hypnotic, almost Zeuhlian chant to a crescendo which thereafter refuses to relent. It’s a fitting conclusion to a very fine album.
I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent listening to Yang’s particular alchemy over the last few years: the telepathy between the guitars of L’Epee and James is apparent; the intricate rhythms handled with precision, subtlety and power by Voloda Brice; not to mention Nico Gomez, who is amongst the most melodic bass players I’ve heard.
Frankly I had to get this review out (and it what was triggered all the other ones in this piece) as I’m getting rather tired of inflicting it in its entirety on myself and others around me – it’s that good…
1. Plantoid: Terrapath
Plantoid came to my attention thanks to a video posted by Dario of Homunculus Res of a 20 minute section, performed live, also on the State 51 platform: a jazzed up segment featuring the ultra-tight, intricate head-nodding versions of ‘Wander Wonder’ and ‘Insomniac’ with a stellar performance from vocalist Chloe Spence.
Dave Newhouse of the Muffins commented when I posted this “Man! I watched that whole thing! Amazingballs! Big Wow! Like Indie Pop but with some fusion and then really strange time signatures,”, and when you consider that musically this is just a brief sample of their considerable wares, the sum of the album ‘Terrapath’’s parts is simply astonishing: at times they do crash through indiestyle, but elsewhere guitarist Tom Coyne solos with the angular dexterity of a Patrice Meyer or Allan Holdsworth; bass player Bernardo Larisch chin juts a la Mike Howlett ; the drummer Louis Bradshaw is impressively omnipresent, and in the middle of it all is Spence, not just playing the rhythm guitar which underpins the whole thing but a compelling vocal presence too, all the way from the gentle Moloko-like intro ‘Is That You’ to the utterly bonkers ‘Dog’s Life’, which manages to jump effortlessly between any number of razor sharp, super tight rhythms whilst Spence croons beautifically above. Probably my track of the year from most certainly my album of the year.
The Canterbury scene(zine) continued.... 