Playlist: A Year Of Get In Her Ears Live!

For a year now, we’ve been putting on awesome gigs at The Finsbury, showcasing some of our favourite new bands and artists. From the sweeping, emotion-strewn power of Hawk, to the uptempo, jangly delights of Trash Kit; from the captivating cacophony of Madonnatron and the spellbinding power of ECKOES, to the immense, thrashing power of the likes of REWS and Bitch Falcon, we’ve hosted so many amazing musical highlights.

So, to celebrate our anniversary, here’s a playlist of all the fantastic bands and artists who’ve played for us!

Photo Credit: Jon Mo

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Album: MALKA – ‘Ratatatat’

“I wasn’t afraid, lyrically, of going back to my folk roots. I would write a lot of social commentary then and I’m quite politically aware; with 6DR there was a lot about what’s going on in the world, and with MALKA I kind of didn’t do that. I’d popped it up a little bit… but I went back lyrically to my roots and found a balance of who I wanted to be on this album.”

The second album from Tamara Schlesinger under her MALKA moniker (and her eighth overall) follows 2015’s Marching To A Different Beat. Musically, pop synths and tribal rhythms provide a bright counterpart to the shadow cast lyrically; in a time of societal upheaval and global uncertainty, Ratatatat provides a brief freedom from those fears, and a commitment to life-affirming art.

Opening with ‘Fell For You’ there is a hint of MIA, whilst the bubbling classic pop bass lines are reminiscent of The Cure; but there’s also an edge as chirps, chants and whoops play around a snapping beat. It’s a great introduction to a fascinating and immersive collection built on intricate details of loops, found sounds and repeating refrains.

‘Wonder Why’ may be the track that listeners are already familiar with – released between albums, it caught the ear of Lauren Laverne and made her best of the year list. It’s bright and brilliant pop, catchy in the ubiquitous way but with a depth and a creativity that delights.

There’s a definite theme to the melody throughout the album, but enough variety between tracks that the only sense of repeating is in the deliberate loops of beats and vocal. With lead vocals that are often sing song, and layered with deeper backing there is an Afrobeat element to these pop tunes, lifting them and embedding them in your head.

Intelligent, creative and as hopeful as it is reflective, this is an album to excite in all the right ways; a light in dark times.

Ratatatat by MALKA is out on 20 October 2017 and is available for pre-order here. And you can catch her live throughout November:

1 November – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
2 November – Hug and Pint, Glasgow
3 November – We Are Robots, London
13 November – The Walrus, Brighton
14 November – The Lexington, London
15 November – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham.

 

Sarah Lay 
@sarahlay

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Guest Blog: Deux Furieuses at Nasty Women UK, 22nd – 24th September 2017

Last weekend, self-identifying Nasty Women artists, comedians, musicians, spoken word poets, workshop panelists and arts volunteers came together in London in one glorious fuck you to the current president of the USA. Donald Trump’s “such a nasty woman” aside to the microphone while Hillary Clinton spoke during the final presidential debate has galvanised a global arts movement in a show of resistance and solidarity.

With an aim to give everyone who has ever felt silenced a voice, Nasty Women UK is an intersectional movement bringing together people of all genders, races, faiths and LGBTQIA identities. Nasty Women UK Co-Director and Producer, Kasia Uscinska, explains: “The last twelve months have seen a spate of sexist news stories, with women’s rights being threatened, both here and around the world. The political climate has normalised intolerance in our culture. An estimated 100,000 people attended the Women’s March in London in January. We want to carry that momentum forward, ensure our voices are heard and inspire new generations of Nasty Women.”

Deux Furieuses marched on that Women’s March and when we were invited to play Nasty Women UK’s event, we were determined to find a way to play a part. As we could not perform our normal drum-powered assault in the gallery space we decided to make our acoustic debut. We very much felt that there should be a nasty element to the music at this event. We challenged ourselves to put across Deux Furieuses without the power of drums and a Marshall stack. Ros played ‘Can We Talk About This?’ and ‘Are We Sexy Enough?’ on acoustic and changed the lyrics from “Are we angry enough?” to “Are we nasty enough?”. Vas joined in on vocals and tambourine for new song ‘Let Them Burn’. The response to our short set on the night and the following day has encouraged us to get our message out in as many ways as possible.

Following the crowds round from Hackney Wick station to Stour Space on Friday evening, we found the opening night in full swing. We wanted more of Bishi on her sitar; we were introduced to the wonderful Phillippa Egerton who has created Donald Trump’s head in fruit cake form and invited us to the slicing and eating event at her house on 15th October; we were thrilled to find that rock photographer Iona Dee had a photo print of Ros playing guitar at our album launch at The Lexington in the exhibition… Guess who bought it?!

On Saturday night we were welcomed to Stour Space by moonlighting Southbank Centre volunteers who showed us to the performer green room. We looked down to a packed audience sitting on the floor and laughing uproariously in recognition at the comedy of Sindhu Vee. We loved that she was smart and could handle her British-born son but was quite defeated by the ‘old people logic’ of her Indian parents. Fatiha El-Ghorri also had us laughing while allowing us some insight into her struggles as a female Muslim Londoner in a head scarf who clearly leaves the house armed with a cutting comic retort. A drink with Saturday night’s DJ and Clit Rock founder Ms Mohamed led to a discussion about female musicians’ isolation in London and her idea for a monthly meet up.

We squeezed our way into the Art As Activism workshop on Sunday and felt our own struggle reflected back by the many other artists there. The panelists told us about their work, talked about female artists often suffering from imposter syndrome, and during the Q&A an audience member asked about the soul destroying need to measure the impact of your art for the purposes of funding – “GO SMALL!” said panelist Sam Roddick.

As we came down the stairs from an inspiring workshop, we heard singer songwriter Madame So soundcheck in the main space. As sound engineer Isabella Dibi adjusted the sound, people milled around looking at the art as photographer Suzi Corker captured everything with her camera. From the organisers’ production grid to real life, here was Nasty Women in action; at its best when the different sections of curation overflowed and merged together in one common creative endeavour.

Later Feral Five front woman Terry Tyldesley (whose photo on stage giving it her all in a home made Nasty Woman T shirt pretty much nails it) encouraged us round to witness Selena Godden in full flow spitting out her spoken word to a spellbound audience. Here was all the depth, power and comment that we aspire to as musicians and songwriters.

Nasty Women’s weekend event has raised over £7500 for End Violence Against Women and was a smash of a success. But it is not over. It feels like it is just beginning – and, as we look at the photos and find each other online and plan to meet up, the work starts again! This is an art movement on the march.

Words: Ros & Vas, Deux Furieuses
Photos: Suzi Corker

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Introducing Interview: Beckie Margaret

(Originally posted on Gigslutz)

When Parallel Lines first announced Beckie Margaret’s debut London gig at The Waiting Room earlier this year, I immediately scrawled it in to my diary. As an avid fan of Cool Thing Records (the label Beckie is signed to) and all of the artists on their roster, instinct told me this was going to be something special. My instinct turned to panic when they (very kindly) asked me to DJ on the night under the name of Get In Her Ears, but the panic subsided at the thought of chatting to Beckie before the gig and spinning a few 90s grunge classics throughout the night.

I met Luke (Asylums/Cool Thing Records) outside the venue, and was introduced to Beckie shortly afterwards. We joked about both being from Essex and my questionable DJ skills, before heading down to the backstage area of the venue to have a proper chat. Although Beckie is new to interviews and gigging, speaking to her about both was effortless and genuinely enjoyable. We laughed our way through interruptions (that’s what happens when you sit on a chair in front of a door) and talked about her influences, her expectations, and where she’d like to perform next…

So, Beckie, when did you first start writing your own songs?

I started playing songs when I was about 7, and then when I was around 9…

That’s so young!

I know! I think it’s because I just loved poetry and words from a really young age, so just out of curiosity I started using other peoples poems and putting them to guitar. I mean, obviously they weren’t very good – I was 9 – but I’ve always been interested in English language and literature. I think the poems were just things that I’d find on the internet, or in old non-recognisable books in charity shops…God knows.

That’s cool. So your inspiration came from poetry originally, but are there any songwriters/musicians in particular that your song-writing is influenced by?

I love Jeff Buckley.

ME TOO! Sorry, carry on…

Justin Vernon from Bon Iver, they’re probably my main ones. When I started to self-produce, James Blake became a massive influence in terms of arrangement, but for song-writers it would definitely be Jeff Buckley and Bon Iver. Purely for the organic emotion, that gets me.

Same, especially with Jeff. How did you hear about your label Cool Thing Records? Did you approach them or did they approach you?

Luke (Asylums/Cool Thing Records founding member) is a teacher and he taught me song-writing, and he’s one of the reasons I’m doing my song-writing degree at ICMP (The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance). I’m in my third year of that now. I left college, started my degree, self-produced my single ‘Cars & Catacombs’, got it mixed and mastered and ready to go, but I didn’t know how to release music.

I dropped Luke a message asking if he could recommend any websites and how to release new music, and he asked me to send it to him. I was like, “why does he want to listen to it?” and I remember saying to my boyfriend “I’m really nervous, why does he want to listen to it?” – the next thing I knew, I was in a meeting with Luke and he said he wanted to sign me. I literally just thought I’d get a link to a website when I sent the message.

That’s great, he obviously had faith in your talent if he took you under his wing straight away?

He’s great, he’s always helped me. Even when he taught me back in college he understood that sometimes I didn’t always work as well in a group so he’d let me sit on my own, and just let me be, you know?

It’s great that you’ve got that level of support from him. 

Your sound differs quite dramatically from the other acts who are also on the Cool Thing label (Petty Phase, Suspects, BAIT, Asylums). What do you like about these bands? Is there something in their sound that inspires you in your own performances or song-writing?

I think it’s mostly just about being yourself and each band doesn’t really care about trying to be like anyone else. I think that’s what Luke looks for, as well as quality. I really love how different and versatile everyone is. It’s a real support system as well, everyone’s behind each other all the way and that’s what makes it an inspiration for me. Music is music at the end of the day, as long as you can emote to it, it doesn’t matter what genre it is!

You’re about to play your first London headline show for Parallel Lines at The Waiting Room. How are you feeling? What are your anticipations for the night?

I’m hoping I won’t just be playing to my Mum. I’m new to gigging, so I think it’s just about remembering you’re doing it because you love it and to not take it too seriously. I just want to enjoy it, which is actually harder than it sounds. I’m just gonna focus on my band mates and get lost in the music, and if it goes wrong – it goes wrong!

That’s a good attitude to have! I know you’ve only just started to perform live, but once you’ve established a larger following (which I’m sure you will) do you have a “dream venue” that you’d like to perform in?

KOKO. I love KOKO. We’ve (Cool Thing Records) had discussions about potential followings and finding a following that’s loyal, and not big – kind of like Lucy Rose. I saw her at a festival recently and I went up and spoke to her and we were just having a chat about her music and her little dog, but no-one else really came up to her and knew who she was. I’d like to be like her, to be respected but not be mobbed, you know?

That sounds cool. What new music have you been listening to recently?

This is gonna sound really weird, but I starve myself of music as part of my creative process. I tend to listen to Brian Eno, Philip Glass and drone music because it provokes lots of thoughts and helps me to write my own songs. I’ve been starving myself of music while writing single 3 (listen here to single 2). I have listened to Nothing But Thieves new album though, and Anderson Paak, and I’ve gone back to Bon Iver recently too. And of course, the Cool Thing guys too. I couldn’t help myself in those areas!

Of course! So, what’s next for Beckie Margaret? More song-writing? Recording? Live dates?

Everything really, we’re going to be stepping it up a notch. I’m already working on single 3, I’m working on a cheeky EP, and just getting ready for next summer really. I’m going to make this my project for the final year of my degree too, so very busy. It’s good to be busy though!

Huge thanks to Beckie for answering our questions, and to Cool Thing Records for being as cool as ever. Follow Beckie Margaret on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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