#diyvoices

Headfall released Stars Don't Shine to Noise in November 2004, just short of ten years ago. The record has just recently been made available to order online, along with a free digital download of the whole album. It was one of the first records I ever owned and it is still one of my favourite and most prized possessions by far.  Seriously, you should buy this album. It is a genuine undiscovered classic. The only reason this thing is not completely sold out is that for a long time, the only place you could purchase it was at Headfall shows, which only tend to happen once, maybe twice a year in pretty small venues. George McKenzie (drums, guitar, violin, piano, humming, tape loops, clarinet.) once told me that this album was the only thing he's ever made that he is still proud of. He then went on to tell me where all of the mistakes were. But they don't sound like mistakes to me. This whole shuffling, brooding thing sounds so on purpose, grey as mist on the sea, broken glass, to sand, to salt water. A bunch of punk kids trying to make jazz, awkwardness exploding out of them. Everything is poetry, sung and played, 'a truth too teenage'.  I don't want to keep describing how it sounds. You can find out for yourself, and you should. I just think that what it does sound like, what it wants to sound like, is captured perfectly, stylistically, aesthetically, framed in smokey static electricity, perfectly honed and curated, artfully presented. a jagged frenzy beneath a swelling surface, barely restrained, three yearning hearts.

http://headfall.bandcamp.com/album/stars-dont-shine-to-noise

Today I did two things: I watched The Culture Show documentary about Lego and architecture, and listened to The Jelas' new EP Beetroot Yourself. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03vkt8l/The_Culture_Show_2013_2014_Lego_The_Building_Blocks_of_Architecture/ http://timeofasking.bandcamp.com/album/the-jelas-beetroot-yourself

I always think of The Jelas as smart and complicated. To me any song in anything other than 4/4 is complicated but I think by anyone's standards The Jelas are pretty intricate. They are angular and fidgety and their lyrics are poetic and funny and it all fits together perfectly but only just. Listening to their new EP Beetroot Yourself makes me think about complexity in art. How its one of the best, most rewarding things a piece of art can be. But how it also can be terrible and off putting and self-indulgent and elitist. The Jelas are none of these things, but why?   I think the components of a Jelas song are really wonderfully accessible. The vocal melodies are really strong and simple and they carry the songs forward. The guitar and bass riffs are controlled and the drums are melodic to me, rather than repetitive. In fact there's a complete lack of repetition, which is probably where the sense of complexity comes from, but familiar elements keep you listening. Furthermore the lyrics are totally and completely beautiful. They are poetic, filled with imagery and metaphor but Colin and Nat's delivery is so unaffected they never come across as pretentious, only truthful. They do the things that the best of lyrics do which is talk about both the mundane and the profound in strange and exciting ways. 

"The Italian coffee maker is tall and has got broad shoulders, he's the definition of a tough barista"

In the documentary I watched this morning Tom Dychoff showed how the invention of Lego coincided with the epoch of post-war architectural ideals. Ethical and imaginative, modernist architecture put together simple, plain, unadorned spacial elements (so bricks) to create socially oriented buildings and cities. Dychoff draws a link between the simplicity of Lego with this focus on easily constructed egalitarian architecture. He also compares Lego builds to the post-modernist structures of the late twentieth century, brightly coloured shapes collected into fantastical towers. 

I imagine this EP as like a city, built of so many little lego bricks of riffs, melodies and rhythms. Where The Jelas stand out is the freedom of imagination that goes into their songwriting process. What they create is an asymmetrical tower block, with square turrets and tiny triangular windows filled with pus but the elements are the same bricks anyone would use. Their subjects are universal concerns; long term relationships, illness, time. 

The feeling of egalitarian, utopian concerns are not imagined. The Jelas are super DIY and unwavering members of the Bristol music community (I've borrowed their amps and drums loads of times). Their songs are generous and are created from the perspective of ardent listeners as well as talented musicians. This EP is powerful, beautiful and fun. An example of imaginative play enacted and formalised into a real life thing, like a lego pre-fab. True DIY.

DIY VOICES is super happy to get to share this interview with Bristol's very own Roxy Brennan; events coordinator at our vegan coop Cafe Kino, the talent behind Two White Cranes and generally awesome creative person.

Hi Roxy. Thanks for agreeing to be interviewed for DIY VOICES! Can you tell me how long you've been involved in Cafe Kino and in what ways? Say lots your role at the moment too!

I've been involved in Cafe Kino on and off for about 7 years. When it first opened in its Ninetree Hill premises I volunteered there. It was the summer before I went to university and I remember it being very quiet and mostly I'd just sit and read Middlemarch. My brother (Aaron) was good friends with all the Kino folks but I didn't know them so well and I felt very shy of them all. 

So then I went away to university for a few years and sort of moved between Bristol and Oxford a bit. But when I came back I was much less shy and I knew that the Kino folks were the kind of folks I wanted to spend time with. First of all I was involved in helping out with events and I learnt how to do to sound because I thought it would be a good thing to do (which it is, but its also very very difficult)

Then I got a job working in the cafe properly (making coffee, which is one of my favourite things) and since then I've been very involved. Its a workers co-operative so being a staff member there means you have lots of opportunities to get involved in running the cafe.

I'm now the events co-ordinator, which means I reply to people who want to use the space downstairs for cool events, as well as planning some of my own. Its a really really great job, because it means supporting the arts and creativity and its also really great for the cafe which means it supports my friends and colleagues and veganism, all my favourite things! 

What's your relationship /connection with Bristol?

Bristol is where I've lived for most of my life and I love it, largely because of the community that I am involved in. Everyone I know and love in Bristol makes something good. There are so many people working really hard to make it a better place and that is why I love it. I love The Cube and Cafe Kino so much. I was extremely lucky to grow up, as a teenager, around the people who make those spaces what they are, and that has really influenced me. I know that the things of value in this world are community and art, and that they don't come from nothing - you need to work for them and that you can't have one without the other.

Can you say more about the DIY and Independent scene, not just in Bristol, and how it affected you growing up?

DIY affected me immeasurably growing up. I remember going to Ladyfest and Bring Yourself Fest when I was 15/16 and it meant that I've always just assumed that people put on their own shows and play in bands. I really can't imagine why anyone wouldn't, and even though I understand not everyone wants to, it means that for me DIY doesn't at all feel like a political 'choice' as such but just the way that my life and my community works, which is great! This has really empowered me and made me feel quite strong.

I see the DIY scene sometimes as part love/part activism as it goes against or across the dominant social structures and industries (art music etc) can you say whether you've seen and/or experienced any of the burnout /fatigue /etc that comes from passionate people expending lots of energy and time in things they believe in? Do you have any ideas in how we can avoid burnout?

It easy to feel very tired and burnt out by DIY, and I know lots of people who do feel like that and I have at times just felt completely overwhelmed by putting on a show and felt that it totally wasn't worth it. But then you go to a show, like the Pull the Strings event at Southbank earlier this month, that makes you feel completely inspired and privileged to be part of a creative community, even if it is hard work sometimes. 

I suppose the other decision I've come to regarding burn out, is the importance of supporting art you really believe in. Even though ideally I want everyone who makes art to have a platform to express that, I am not in a position to facilitate that, and in fact capitalism is a system that makes that impossible. I want to keep art, especially my own art, as far away from capitalism as possible but that is almost impossible. Even giving away things for free seems to become tangled up in this insane system where writing a song is equal to some stupid thing called money. Anyway, so because of that it is not possible to support everyone's artistic endeavour's so for now I try to only put on shows where I really love the bands. But if everyone did that DIY would work really well, because everyone would put on their favourite band, once a year and we'd all have a really lovely time!

Lastly can you tell me about the creative projects and bands your involved in (time to blow your own trumpet etc)

So at the moment I'm involved in lots of bands - many more than ever before which is really exciting

two white cranes is my solo thing. I've been writing songs since I was 16 and I've been performing and recording under this name for two years now. I like not using my own name because it gives me the freedom to have other people be part of the project. at the moment I'm recording an album and I'm hopefully gonna release it on vinyl through stitch-stitch records which is real exciting. http://twowhitecranes.bandcamp.com/

trust fund is a band I play bass in at the moment. It is Ellis Jones' band and I love playing in it so much. We get to play lots of fun shows and his songs are my absolute favourite things in the world, and he is basically my favourite person in the world so its pretty perfect. We're on tour next week and generally playing tons of shows because Ellis is super popular (and rightly so).

http://trustfund.bandcamp.com

acres is a band I joined last summer, playing bass. It is an indie-pop band and the songs are mostly by Matthew Cheney who is a song writing genius. Its very different to my other bands because the song writing is a little bit more collaborative which is really fun. We're going on tour at the end of this February. 

http://acresbristol.bandcamp.com

Grubs is a band I've just started with my friend Jake and Owen (from the band Joanna Gruesome). We've only got two songs but we've just recorded them so hopefully people can hear them soon. In this band I write some of the songs and they are much shoutier than my solo stuff.

https://www.facebook.com/nogrubs

The Nervy Betters is another band I play bass in. Steve and Henry are excellent songwriters and playing with them is totally dreamy

I also write essays, I've written some stuff that's on the Arnolfini Blog and I have a occasionally updated blog here http://twowhitecranes.wordpress.com/

Thanks again Roxy, I really love getting to hear more you and your life and DIY VOICES is super proud to have you as our first interviewee.

(Instagram by @thejensteiner)

Tonight's main act have squeezed Bristol onto their UK tour, and how lucky are we to have the magical duo from Japan, TENNISCOATS, grace us with their live touch at the legendary Cafe Kino.

With many musical friends in Bristol TENNISCOATS support acts are alone worth the ticket entry! Tonight's first treat is DJ ICHI welcoming us into the venue. Next, the kora playing, heart singing, water-y Will Newsom. Any gig with Newsom on the lineup feels like the right place to be. His music is the listening equivalent of an Isolation Tank; that over-worked and tired part of the brain is taken to a deeply relaxed and healing quietness. Songs such as "Up In The Trees" and "Sea-ing" speak to forgotten spaces in the unconscious and Newsom's vocal; sung almost part spoken word, part invocation.

After a short break (long enough to munch a famous Kino burger) we are treated to the uniquely expert crew of I Know I Have No Collar, and an on-stage musical chairs ensues with ever-changing cast of band members swapping instruments and entertaining babies. The band play a set that is mostly their versions of music from Hal Hartly films, after their recent performance at The Old Vic as part of the fundraiser for The Cube Microplex's bid to own their current premises. The word that comes to mind is ramshackle, but not in a negative way; the various parts of the band build to something greater than their individual parts. Their own sparkle song of the night is "Chalk", a lo-fi, keyboard drone gem.

On to TENNISCOATS. ワウ. (Wow.)

If the band were one body the guitar playing of Takashi Ueno would be the heart; ever present, a constantly flexing and contracting muscle, propelling such a rhythm over the course of the hour long gig. Saya Ueno would be the blood; liquid, mobile, full of life and improvisation, transporting meaning and melody into every part of the body with her voice and melodica.

As a pair, heart and blood, the band deliver a performance of unquestionable poetry; never seeming like something fixed or static, their songs seem to be born on stage and we are the wide-eyed mid-wives. They are joined on various songs by their friends, Sam Jones, Rachael Dadd, Steve Brett and ICHI, and whilst our minds take in the beauty and gift of a set of songs mostly in Japanese, TENNISCOATS also play here with language, translation and improvisation. Saya calls out the performances she wants (and must hear herself) and conducts her friends, her partner and the music in such a collaboration of gesture, humour and force, that the audience are also pulled into the performance. 

TENNISCOATS seem to expect to take hold of the entire stage, the entire venue; as if they know their songs will be playing in our heads as we walk home, as we try to sleep, as we wake up the next morning.. Their barefoot and bold performance was completely, completely mesmerizing.

The power of the DIY scene is in relationships, people and their passion for community and expression. ありがとう (thank you) TENNISCOATS and all whose work made the evening.

The above photographs were taken Nici Dunkelman and the live drawings of the evening by Rosie Faragher.

People like people.

Fact.

Sometimes, people are lucky enough to find people that they like AND who like them back, in an on-going way.

It's crazy but it's true. We call them 'friends'. What a gift! What a low-down and awesomekind of special thing.

Photographs 2009-2011 by Cherry Styles, is a 7"x7" book, printed by synchronise witches, an independent printing company started in 2012 and run by Cherry Styles.

All of the photographs in Photographs were shot on 35mm film between 2009-2011 in Norwich.

Styles says "I used to take so many pictures, lots of them never getting 'used' for anything. Some of the friends in this book have since moved away- and I have moved away- I guess the pictures that still seemed really important were the ones of friends that have stuck around, even though we don't live down the road from each other anymore.."

Getting to look through Photographs is like being gifted entry into someone else's circle, at least for a little while. We see shared jokes, vulnerable moments, physical closeness, lots of smiles, a deep chat; we see bedrooms, kitchens, sofa's; we see intimate glimpses of a group of people risking liking each other.

What a treat! what a gift!

What a low-down and awesomekind of special thing!

And the seeing is a seeing that includes touch, it includes the turning of pages and the weight of a thing in a hand. It is the not the lit-screen seeing of Facebook or the like, pictures of 'friends' we scroll through and click 'Like'. It is a seeing that is quiet and personal, no hum of computer. The pages of this book are bound together; friends lie, closed, one on top of the other, until they are peeled apart into the light, and then turned over and returned to the closeness of pages bound tight.

Photographs is a book about a specific time and a specific place. But it is also timeless in that it is mostly it is a book about people. A book about people who like other people.

Treasure.

Photographs 2009-2011 is available from http://synchronisewitches.com/

Cherry Styles blog is http://cherrystyles.co.uk/

The aim of a review is to give an honest opinion.

That's it, it's that easy.

A review can be one word long; AWESOME!

Or it can be longer (probably no need to be longer than 500 words) depending on how excited you are about the event/gig/zine/record.

There's really no limit on what you can review, talk about or even interview; this whole thing is up to you!

That said, there will be a limit on any oppressive or abusive submissions. D I Y  V O I C E S would also like to raise the issue of being honest, but not mean. If you like something, great, if you don't like it, be honest but also respectful of someone else's creative attempts.

If you'd like to get on the guest list to a gig or event, get in touch and I'll do my best to make it a reality for you as a reviewer for D I Y  V O I C E S, although as we're in our infancy here, it may not be possible.

That's right! It's gonna be awesomesauce...