Hotel Lux - 'English Disease'

"we're all in the bar drinking Stella Artois, referencing Sartre and Danny Dyer"

It's an oft used phrase, the English Disease, and a cursory rummage on the internet will throw up several meanings, invariably inferring to the country's 1970's status as the "sick man of Europe". The English Disease referenced in Hotel Lux's new single is, however, a louche take on our current woebegone situation.

Though now based in London (and appropriated accordingly by the NME) Hotel Lux will always be a little bit Portsmouth (you only need to check their merchandise to know where they're from); listening to this latest tune reminds me of many nights spent in some of the less salubrious hostelries around here. 

Comparisons to Blur's 1994 take on British culture may be levelled but this is a different beast, it foregoes the cockiness of Phil Daniels' vocal delivery for a casual drawl that uses the pub as a metaphor (with a telling lyric about jukeboxes). It's a casual, ambling, drunken singalong of wonky loveliness, with its slight discordant guitar chime, that says more about modern Britain in three minutes than some of us might be comfortable with. And that's why I'm going to listen to it again...

Girli - 'Deal With It'

A few years ago at The Great Escape, in the pub on Brighton Pier, several hundred of us punters waited to catch Black Honey's headline set. However, before the local indie rockers took the stage, we were entertained by two acts whose sets bordered on performance art.

Whilst art-indie ensemble Drones Club employed masked dancers to interact with the crowd, with two juddering figures who moved around the room in a disquieting way, indie-pop chanteuse Girli challenged the male contingent of the crowd to deal with menstruation, throwing sanitary pads into the crowd at the end of the set (at least, that's what I remember). Yes, Girli's set definitely stuck in my memory and, much like every new act I encounter at The Great Escape, the artist was added to my ever-growing Ones To Watch list.

New single Deal With It is three minutes of shouts, call-outs and catchy beats, a football chant interlaced with a driven, annoyingly repetitive, tune that drills into your brain whether you like it or not. Admittedly it's not, for me, quite as strong as previous single Day Month Second (which was, quite rightly, selected as a 6Music Recommends track by Lauren Laverne) but is still rather good if you like that kind of thing (which I do). At the very least I expect to hear this ditty played on the next series of Made In Chelsea (yes, there go my alternative muso credentials).



Deal With It is from Girli's forthcoming debut long player, Odd One Out, due for release in April.

Wyldest - 'Dream Chaos' Album & Tour

Before relocating to London a few years back, dream-pop merchants Wyldest were a frequent presence on the Portsmouth music scene, gigging at some of the city's fine venues and building a dedicated fan-base along the way. Heck, one of the band members used to work in Southsea's excellent  Pie & Vinyl (and I'm fairly sure it was they who served me when I bought a Battery Hens' EP there).

Wyldest, originally Wildest Dreams, began as duo. The addition of a drummer has definitely help to fill out their sound, though the band has undergone a line-up change following the departure of original guitarist Holly Mullineaux. A move to the Big Smoke has allowed the band to take advantage of the benefits, such as more venues where they can hone their craft and dedicated studio space at their disposal, that living in a thriving metropolis offers.

After spending 2018 writing and recording new material the three-piece, now consisting of Zoe Mead (guitar and vocals), Mariin Kallikorm (Bass) and Jack Gooderham (Drums), have announced details of their debut long player. Dream Chaos is scheduled for release on Friday 1st March via Hand in Hive and, to celebrate its launch, the band are heading out on the road.

The Dream Chaos tour starts in London on March 5th, swings through Liverpool, Milton Keyens and Norwich, wrapping up on March 20th at Southampton's Heartbreakers, and tickets can be purchased via Songkick.

For a taster of new material check out their October 2018 single, Headrush, via the embed below:

Save Maida Vale

The BBC recently announced that its iconic Maida Vale Studios are to close and, whilst I can see value in Auntie building new state-of-the-art facilities (because, lets face it, a converted roller rink in a sleepy part of London seems out of place in this digital age) the building is of great cultural importance (thanks in no small part to its association with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the many Peel Sessions recorded there) so shouldn't be demolished and replaced with another block of flats.

Having been lucky enough to visit Maida Vale Studios it strikes me as odd that so much interesting music could come from such a nondescript building, hidden away as it is on a quiet residential street. From outside there's not much to give the game away, a brass nameplate (as in the image above) and a flaky paint job. Once inside however the corridor walls are adorned with photos of artists past and present, in various states of performance, all hallowed visitors to NW6. There is brief time to ogle these images though as, crocodile fashion, punters are led past flight-cases and into one of the large studio rooms where sonic wonder awaits.

So then fellow music lover, how to save this quirky, odd,yet highly significant piece of British music history? Hope? Thoughts and prayers? Perhaps not, but one enterprising soul has created an online petition to implore the BBC to reverse their decision. Sign the petition and follow Maida Vale Studios on Twitter for updates. Whatever happens, when/if Maida Vale closes, I trust the BBC are going to throw it one hell of a goodbye party.

Neil Cowley Trio @ Koko 20/07/2008

Nice.