Wednesday 23 February 2011

GORGEOUS BULLY

the friend/troubled genius has given some more music for us lucky people to listen to...

Better Than Your Friends by gorgeous bully

Tuesday 22 February 2011

A press release from our sharp, maladroit friend George "The Shark" Macbeth

The Black Tambourines, are not:
A group of percussionists
A beck cover act or
A plural of the seminal 80’s noise band

What they are is Cornwall’s premier surf-rock band. The lineup is: Jake Willbourne, the formidably creative punk Buddhist who croons, yelps and plays bass, Paddy Staccpoole the taciturn guitarist who catcalls, paints, sings and rarely smiles, Jim Sibley the urbane drummer and keen cyclist who defies every tub-thumping stereotype going and Josh Spencer the languid hip-hop enthusiast who’s wall of guitar noise unifies the group.

The fourtet emerged in a puff of weed smoke from the primordial soup of Truro College’s music course and began to notch up regular appearances at gig’s put on by the tireless promoters at Duelling Kazoo’s and Dirty Sunday’s. After only a series of gigs the band began to generate real excitement amongst local music fans, as people flocked eager to witness the risk and energy of genuine rocknroll. For too long the Cornish had been limited to yawning through sets of either post-hardcore macho posturing or banal surf-songwriters at local gigs, so the arrival of the BT’s sent a strain of enthusiasm through the college populations.

Having recorded their eponymous first EP themselves in a hazy week last summer and finished college they set about consolidating the attention that surrounded them in more hectic performances. The songs on the ep deal with: unwanted attention ‘I don’t want to be yr lover’ the affectations of a local hipster ‘tommy’ and sticking two fingers up other peoples expectations ‘I can’t surf’ (and wishing happy birthday to paddy’s dad) All of this wrapped up in their rad and raucous blend of lo-fi garage. Achievements to date include their split seven inch on up and coming south-west imprint ART IS HARD RECORDS with like-minded Exeter dudes New Year’s Evil, with whom they shared a ferocious gig at Exeter cavern and are planning a Spring tour. Having shared a stage with acts like Jeff the Brotherhood and The Automatic (in steeply descending order of brilliance) and hosted their own smoky/strobe-lit gigs emblazoned in projected visuals of skateboarding, the band rarely turn in a dull show.

Perhaps the best crystallization of the disparate influences that are fused in the Black Tambourines circuits is their most recent ‘HOMBRE’ Ep (again self-issued & recorded). The EP does away with the murkiness of its predecessor to reveal the sheer strength of their current set of songs that now share triple vocal duties between Spencer, Jake and Paddy. As the songs clearly show, the BT’s don’t shy away from melody- and songs like ‘Vitamin D’ with its final emphatic refrain demonstrate their love for the likes of Brian Wilson. This isn’t a band likely to buckle to musical orthodoxy or one that can’t evolve. No, this music defies the homogenization of your standard listening experience to present you pure, undignified creativity at its most intact, affecting and downright fun.

FUCK SHIT UP 2K11