crybaby-diary-blog

[crybaby-diary-blog]

Ko_Plune - Auditory Atlas.

Meet Ko_Plune, a genre blending 4 piece from Southampton. Consisting of Carl on guitar, Courtney’s vocals, Jack on bass and Guy covering drums and percussion. I got to snap their faces at The Hope and Ruin recently, since then they’ve released their first EP Auditory Atlas. Read on for my thoughts and a little interview! 

 5 songs long Auditory Atlas has a distinct jazz vibe but also mixes in some experimental math riffs. Kicking off with Rare Error the first thing to hit me is how smooth and beautiful Courtney’s vocals are. This record starts off very chilled but picks up with intricate riffs, and layered vocals. Toe-tapping stuff. 

I do feel that the transition into Panda could be a little smoother, it felt like a bit of a jump. Of course with so many genres and influences being pulled here that’s to be expected. The song still has an overarching jazz theme but is definitely more of an alt/rock track. 

 This alt-rock theme carries through on the intro to Red where Courtney’s vocals get darker and a little sassier. This is probably my favourite track off the EP, it’s tight, interesting and really strikes a chord with me. (I’m so sorry…) 

 Hydra takes things down a notch and right back into a smoky jazz lounge. What really hits me about this whole EP is how tight it is, you can tell this is a band that practice hard and are really going for it. It’s a really strong record in my eyes and I’m really excited to see how the band progresses. 

 It all wraps up with Macchiatto, a really cool track that I think really shows off a fusion of genres. It ends on a quiet note, really giving off that relaxed feel. Auditory Atlas is something that has to be listened through from start to finish as it’s quite an experience and it’s good to see how the tracks flow. 
 I love this EP and I’m really impressed considering how new Ko_Plune are. My only note would be that as much as I adore Courtney’s vocals there could be moments where they give way to really show off the instrumental side of things. Other than that it’s a ridiculously solid record that I can see all kinds of people enjoying. 

I’m really excited to see where Ko_Plune go from here as it’s evident they’re a dedicated hard working band with lots to offer. Check out the EP on bandcamp here and give them a like on Facebook here. 

If you made it this far, fabulous! Now read the conversation I had with Ko_Plune…








Hey Guys! So to kick off could you sum up your sound in 3 words for new listeners? Carl: Progressive, alternative and Jazz or Working Class Jazz.   Guy: Varied, genre-hopping pseudomath Courtney: Punchy Jazz Rock! Jack: Diverse, Alternative, Jazzy.

Can you tell me a little about the writing process for the EP? How do you guys work best to form the songs?

Courtney: The writing process for the lyrics was definitely a challenge. Carls guitar parts can be extremely complex and trying to find space for my vocals which can be difficult at times. But after repeatedly listening to the songs it can just come to me. the best method for me is to just listen to the instrumental track on my phone when walking around or just when i have music on. I feel like I get the best melody lines when I’m not consciously thinking about it. Carl: Ko_Plune songs usually start with me writing a riff or idea that I’ll program into Guitar Pro and then work on creating different sections that eventually form a structure.I’ll then take it to the band and we’ll run through the song section by section, usually I’ll write,bass and keyboard parts but either they’ll stick or the other members of the band will add their parts or come up with new parts completely. Once all of the instrumental parts have been created we’ll either record a demo of it or record some footage of the song send it to Courtney and she’ll write  the lyrics. That’s usually the set method for each song. There was n’t any specific genre or direction intended for Auditory Atlas apart from just writing songs that we all enjoyed playing.

Guy: Usually, Carl will show me a riff or send me a guitar pro file and I’ll either improv a drum part or score one out. Then, we’ll refine the song altogether in practice by changing the structure etc. Courtney will write some lyrics.

 Jack: Well, Carl is the mastermind behind the operation. He would write anything from an awesome guitar riff, to a virtually complete song, bring it to practice and then we’ll piece it together or add the finishing touches at practice.

What do you guys think of the music scene in Southampton?

Carl: The music scene is Southampton is quite different and varied there’s a gig on every night with bands that are completely different from each other.

Courtney: It’s brilliant! always something going on for all genres every night! the Joiners and Talking heads are the best venues in Southampton for up and coming bands. They are great people to work with an can really help build your contacts.

Guy: I’d say the main two genres I see in Southampton are hard rock/metal acts and brit rock acts such as The Novatones.

 Jack: The music scene is fantastic; there are so many venues all over the place, ranging from small stages in pub corners to venues like Joiners, Talking Heads or the Guild Hall. The city hosts all different kind of bands, from the famous to the up and coming, to the brand new, all of varying genres. And you can pretty much guarantee that they is music in one of the many venues every single night, so live music is always readily available.

What's next for the band now the EP is out?

Carl: We are working on playing as many shows as we can and adding some new songs in the set. We are always working on new songs even though the EP has just come out.

Guy: Right now we’re trying to promo our EP as much as possible and, after that, we have a few new songs at various stages of completion. But we’ve yet to decide how to compile them.

Courtney: Next on the list other than promoting the EP is to try and get a music video on the go for our new single! 

 Jack: We’re going to be gigging a lot; we already have five shows booked for March, and we’re definitely heading towards the festival route. We already have Smilefest and Silkfest booked in, and we have high hopes for future festivals later this year.


Auditory Atlas / artwork by: Beth Warne

Which is your favourite track from the EP and why?

Carl: I don’t have any particular favourite track since it varies from gig to gig or what mood I’m into. I honestly like all of them equally.

Guy: I would say Hydra since it starts out as such a chilled out, mellow tune and eventually builds to this monstrous, psychedelic sound full of great rhythmic and melodic snapshots.

Courtney: it is hard to pick a favourite because i always get the same level of excitement while playing the songs. i will always have a soft spot for Panda and Hydra though as they were the first two complete songs we had. 

 Jack: It’s hard to choose as I enjoy them all, but it would either have to be Hydra or Macca, and just simply because they are both super fun to play. Hydra has a huge slow ending which I love, but Macca has strong punchy and catchy choruses. 
 What would be your dream gig line up to play?

Carl: Without sounding too egotistical without I’d like to see what it would be like to see us perform from an audiences perspective since that’s something I’ll never ever get to see. I think that would be quite interesting as a self assessment. Other than that I’d like to mainly play with my friends bands such as Lost Focus from Southampton and Signals, Exploder Than You and Orchards from Brighton too. I’d really love to see Dredg hopefully they put some new music this year.

Guy: I’d love to play a packed out venue with the bands we’re most friendly and familiar with such as Lost Focus and Signals.

Courtney: On a big stage with an open plan venue, maybe even outside in the summer. There are so many bands id love to be on the line up like Lost Focus and Exploder than you (check them out!!). 

 Jack: It would have to be Night Verses, Chon and Coldrain.

Finally - who are the bands you're loving right now?

Carl: At the moment I’m listening to Joe Hisaishi the main composer for the Studio Ghibli movies. He writes the most amazing simple melodies so I’m focusing on learning some of the songs from those films.

Guy: Chon, Last Dinosaurs, The Drums, Circa Waves, Bombay Bicycle Club, Crystal Fighters, Arctic Monkeys, Two Door Cinema Club

Courtney: Right now I’m into Chon, Hiatus Kyote, New Desert Blues, Science of eight limbs, Band of skulls and many more! (i could go on). 

 Jack: The three main bands I listen to the most at the moment are Night Verses, Chon and Coldrain, which fell in to my dream gig line up category funnily enough. These bands are great and definitely my main influences in my playing. But for a band a little closer to home I have to say Lost Focus, who are supporting us at our EP release show, they’re a great up and coming band, hot on our trails.

Thanks guys, great answers. Can’t wait to see and hear more! Again - check out Ko_Plune on Facebook and Bandcamp - Words & Photos Pandora Jane. xo  If you like my work and want to see the photos that don’t get posted on tumblr then like my Facebook page - here. 

[crybaby-diary-blog]

Johnny Foreigner VS. Me

PSA - *POST IS V V PHOTO HEAVY AS THIS IS KINDA MY FOCUS. THERE IS WORDS TOO AMONGST IT ALL THOUGH* 

Ha look I did a blog title with a pun! Being from the Midlands I have a massive soft spot for Birmingham band Johnny Foreigner. Their references to different Btown legends are comforting when I’m far from home, and they’re a bloody brilliant band.

For some stupid reason or other I’ve managed to go years without seeing them live though - some fan huh? ANYWAY they played at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar on independent venue week, and I was there, and this is my review...

Exploder Than You

I’d seen opening band Exploder Than You a couple of times before, but I’ll admit, I didn’t remember much due to alcohol (oops). I was pretty excited to see them as I like their music and knowing how excited they were to support JoFo I knew they would be on top of their game. I wasn’t wrong.



Often I find the music that falls into the math scene can be a little self-indulgent and well, a bit pretentious. Exploder Than You swerve this entirely by serving up math technicality, sincere vocals and best of all a bit of fun. Shouted gang vocals about food theft, song titles such as Danny Devito’s Defeato Burrito…to be at an Exploder Than You show feels like being included in some brilliant inside jokes with friends. 
The set was high-energy, full of emotion AND technically brilliant, yeah that sums it up really. Excellent band. Check out their EP “Melon” on Bandcamp . (Also like them on Facebook - here) 


Exploder Than You

The bar was raised pretty high for main support Weddings, a 5-piece from London. This band drew me in with their alt-noise style and vocalist Maria’s shouts/singing/movements. Listening to their offerings on band camp, the mix of indie vibes with thrashy post-punk styling had me dancing about like a tit in my living room. 
The one thing that I noticed was the crowd reaction wasn’t very lively and this maybe affected the bands performance and energy a little? That aside I would definitely love to see them live again and I’ll be looking out to see what they bring out next. 


Check out their facebook and bandcamp.

Weddings

Weddings

Nothing could prepare me for Johnny Foreigner, years of anticipation and a few ciders down it’s safe to say I was pretty bloody excited. I was supposed to be photographing this show but I’ll admit for half the set I had to put my camera down so I could truly just enjoy the show. Old favourites and exciting new songs made this a really well balanced set, although y’know I wouldn’t turn down seeing JoFo just perform everything from their back catalogue.

This band know how to make a show feel special, it felt like every person in the crowd was included - well we were when Alexei decided to jump in and share a bottle of gin around…
 Sincere, slightly self depracating, funny, I love this band. Having such an emotional attachment to their songs means I’m going to be pretty biased writing this, but their set was spirited and intense, had there been any noticeable slip ups they’d be totally forgiven. 
I’m still a little hoarse from shouting along to You VS. Everything and I’m not going to lie it almost brought a tear to my eye. 
 Finally seeing this band was incredible and now I’m holding my breath for the next gig announcements. 
 Check out their Facebook and website.

If you got to the end of this and actually liked any of my photos feel free to go and like my Facebook page for more photography and updates on blog posts!  *shameless self promo over*  -Pandora Jane

[crybaby-diary-blog]

Green Door Store: 5th Birthday Party.

Green Door Store is a venue I have such a fondness for, so I was really excited to see how this night would unfold. Stepping through the door an hour before the first act are due to go on and I could feel the buzz in the air. By 9pm venue capacity is hit and there’s a queue snaking down the car park.

-Brain Queen First on stage were Brain Queen, hailing from Brighton they’re a fairly new band. They had a good sound, a bit psychedelic and scuzzy with strong vocals and great energy from frontman Jordan. I really enjoyed watching them however there were moments in the set where the energy didn’t seem to be quite there. They had such a good sound though and I see the potential for them to be a break out band in the Brighton scene. Check out their (really bloody cool) music video premiering on DIY here.

-BATHCAT Next up were BATHCAT, I had heard of them through friends, but wasn’t expecting to be so blown away. You could tell they had pulled quite a few people in the crowd from the cheers and inside jokes being thrown about. A fusion of genres including funk, dub and the most powerful soulful voice made for an incredible set. They got everyone dancing and definitely bumped the atmosphere up a few notches. Not only talented but also a really fun band to watch. Follow them on instagram here. 

-Eugene Quell

Eugene Quell was probably one of my highlights of the night, lo-fi, part singing part spoken vibes, kinda reminded me of the band teen suicide, a real cool Brooklyn NY feel, though they seemed to get mixed reviews from the crowd, and it was disheartening when during quieter songs/moments the crowd spoke loudly over the top. I really enjoyed the set with the balance of quiet thought out build ups into thrashing noise and then reigning it back in for hazy melodies. In terms of my music taste I would definitely go and see these again. Check out the Eugene Quell bandcamp here.

-Abattoir Blues

Seeing as I had only really seen/listened to headliners Kagoule I had no idea what to expect of each band. Had I known what was coming next I wouldn’t have positioned myself centre front for Abattoir Blues - well not with my camera to hand anyway! About 5 seconds in someone flew over me taking a chunk of my hair in their hand. One pint of beer in the air later and I retreated like a lil wuss to the safety of a table at the side. These guys are INSANE. Quite inconspicuous to look at (in terms of style think this is England meets The Wytches) but that plays really well off their beastly sound. Harry’s voice is raw and melodic, not just some kid shouting over noise. At one point in their set I’m fairly certain the gig is going to get shut down when the kids at the front pick up the barrier and proceed to crowd surf it backwards. Luckily we make it to the end of the set with adrenaline pumping and ears ringing. I’ll be keeping an eye out for this lot! Find them on Facebook here.

-Kagoule

Finally, time for Kagoule. Unfortunately it seemed like the room had cleared a little by this point, maybe Abattoir Blues had taken the last bit of energy from the crowd, who knows. This said, there was still a massive reaction from the crowd, people clearly knew what they were in for.

I’ve seen Kagoule a couple of times before and thoroughly enjoyed it, this time was no different. Cai, Lawrence and Lucy work the stage so well, giving every bit of energy but in a way that is mesmerising not messy. Lucy’s dance moves were being emulated throughout the crowd enhancing the strange vibe through the room. Not a band to be lumped into the “grunge” genre Kagoule bend and morph their sound into something eerie and a little discordant all the while being totally hypnotising. Listen to them here.

Unfortunately I am an absolute loser and knowing I only had a few hours until I had to be back in work, I slunk out of the venue early so I didn’t catch the Dj set from Steve Ansell (Blood Red Shoes). From the size of the queue upon my departure though I’m betting it’s something I should have stuck around for.

- Pandora Jane.