May 2012
5 posts
Cakewalk – Wired
What happens when you get bored of listening to the same old arrangements of music? There’s the possibility of you dying a little inside, but mainly you look for fresh inspiration and fresh interpretation. Recently, the sound of drums and guitars combining in a regular association has left me cold and bored. The thrill of listening to these instruments has left me. I’ve turned to other...
The Visitor: 10th May 2012 →
My radio show from Thursday evening, now available to download or stream on SoundCloud. Not my best work - I was shattered and there were no teabags in the studio. It was the end of times.
Sponsored by Rhythm Online, 2 hours of music brought to you by Rich Hughes.
Follow The Visitor on Facebook.
Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury - Lawmaster / Pursuit Beastie Boys - Sabotage Beach House - Myth...
Hymns for living: A night and a day of electronic...
In the surroundings of the progressive Unitarian church in the centre of Cambridge, a mini-festival took placed over “a night and a day”. All the simple wooden chairs were organised in a semi-circle, reverentially looking up at the altar of sound from which the sermon of music was to be delivered over the coming hours. The backs of the chairs were filled with hymn books with inspirational...
Liminal Minimals – April 2012
Three pieces from me this month: Good Night & Good Morning, Hiss Golden Messenger and Kelvox 1.
Read the full article at The Liminal.
April 2012
6 posts
The Visitor: 26th April 2012 →
Last weeks radio show.
Sponsored by Rhythm Online, 2 hours of music brought to you by Rich Hughes.
Follow The Visitor on Facebook. All old shows are linked to on my blog.
Jim O’Rourke - Therefore I Am
Arc In Sound - II
Echo Lake - Even The Blind
Trouble Books - Lurk Underneath
Lower Dens - Brains
…
James Yorkston – Moving Up Country (10th...
In 2006 I was an ignorant young man (some might say I still am). Having started a blog championing new music, I was swept along by a wave of “indie” guitar music at the exclusion of all else. One Friday evening however, I found myself watching the first in a series of programmes on BBC Four called Folk Britannia, tracing the history of folk music in Britain. It was something of a revelation and...
L’ocelle Mare – Serpentement
L’ocelel Mare is the solo project of Thomas Bonvalet and Serpentement is his fourth release under this guise and was recorded in the Protestant temple of Bergerac in France at the tail end of last year. Each piece of music, entitled ‘Serpentement’ 1 through 9, are intricately composed, featuring a plethora of notes from a barrage of instruments. A multitude of sounds are created, flooding your...
Liminal Minimals March 2012
Small form reviews, including bits on Benge, FRAK and Pleq & Lauki from me.
Read on The Liminal.
March 2012
11 posts
1 tag
The Visitor: 22nd March 2012 →
My radio show from last Thursday. No show from me for the next month as I’m helping with an outside broadcast covering the Strawberry Fair battle of the bands competition.
A two hour journey though The Visitor’s listening over the past 3 weeks, sponsored by Rhythm Online.
Lotus Plaza - Strangers
Wilderness – End of Freedom
I Ching – It’s Me
Soccer96 – California
Lozninger – Like A...
Carter Tutti Void – Transverse
The meeting of new and old. Chris Carter & Cosey Fanni Tutti of industrial behemoths Throbbing Gristle get to play nice with Nik Void of the post-industrial Factory Floor. Transverse was taken from a recording of their live collaborative performance at London’s Roundhouse during the Short Circuit festival curated by Mute last year. The pieces were prepared and practised at a series of...
Whisper of the Wild
An article I came across via Twitter in the New York Times about efforts to record and thus preserve “soundscapes” in natural environments.
It’s only when you manage to escape to somewhere that doesn’t suffer the sounds of humankind living, do you really experience the sound of nature.
Hearing arguably fixes us in time, space and our own bodies more than the other...
WatchKCC001: Sculpture: Slime Code Performed live to 8 track tape by Dan Hayhurst and Reuben Sutherland (Sculpture) on 1st July 2011. 7 unique dubs to C20 compact cassette were executed by DH, and a digital edit was compiled from the C20s on August 6th 2011. The free unlimited digital manifestation is available through Kaleidoscope: k-is-for-kaleidoscope.com/*label.html
Hidden Channels – 10 Years of Underground Music in...
It’s absolutely thrashing it down with rain. Luckily for me, I’m not on my bicycle today but even as I successfully find a parking space at the side of the road just up the road from Kettle’s Yard, my walk down Castle Hill involves stepping on a paving slab that ejaculates a muddy wash over my feet and trousers. Not exactly what I had in mind for a Sunday lunchtime. However, these Sunday...
The Visitor: 1st March 2012 (St. David's Day... →
A special St. David’s Day edition of my radio show from 1st March.
As it was the 1st March, a special 2 hour edition of The Visitor featuring the best old and new music to come from Wales.
You can email me rich@cambridge105.fm or find me on Facebook.
Tich Gwilym – Hen Wlad Fy Nhadu
Cut Ribbons – White Horses
Los Campesinos! – You! Me! Dancing
Super…
The Doozer – Keep It Together
Cambridge is a strange place, finding itself stuck between its illustrious, established and domineering past and a future of high-technology business parks, affluent regeneration and multi-cultural inclusion. It suffers from being too close to London for total independence, yet far enough away that it can be deemed to be isolated. There’s no major sporting team from Cambridge and our biggest...
Liminal Minimals February 2012
Short reviews of the latest Lindstrom (Smalltown Supersound), Spiro (Realworld) and Gultskra Artikler (Miasmah).
Read on The Liminal.
February 2012
6 posts
An Interview With Pontiak
Pontiak are a band striving to create something different each time they approach an album. Last year’s Comecrudos was envisaged as a soundtrack to a lost roadtrip whilst Echo Ono, released this month, is an attempt to recreate colours as sounds. Having chatted to bassist Jennings Carney during the recording of the album, it felt like the three brothers who make up the band had finally settled...
The Visitor: 16th February 2012 →
My radio show from the 16th Feb is now available to stream and/or download.
A two hour trek through my record collection featuring some very new music tucked in between some older stuff.
You can get in touch by emailing me on rich@cambridge105.fm or become a fan on the Facebook page.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Mansion on the Hill
Jim O’Rourke - Ghost Ship…
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins at the Junction 2,...
This could easily have been called “An Evening with King Creosote and Jon Hopkins” given its intimate nature and how the night eventually panned out. The surroundings of the Junction 2 might be ultra-modern with exposed metal and stone work, but its minimal lighting and comfortable seats ensure that you can concentrate wholly on the stage and the players. It’s no wonder this has become the de...
The Visitor: 2nd February 2012 →
My radio show from the 2nd February.
Two hours of music from the old and the new.
FC Judd – China Bowl
Add N To (X) – Metal Fingers in My Body
Portishead – Chase the Tear
Django Django – Default
Belbury Poly – Chapel Perilous
Mark Lanegan Band – Ode To Sad Disco
Lee Randaldo – Tomorrow Never Comes
Father John Misty –…
Liminal Minimals – January 2012
Some short form reviews on Pete Wyeth, Refractor and the new FC Judd compilation.
Read over at The Liminal.
January 2012
4 posts
Portico Quartet - Portico Quartet
For their third album, and second on Real World Records, the Portico Quartet have embraced something that the Hollywood studios are currently obsessed with: re-imagining, or rebooting the “franchise”. For the Portico Quartet this has meant changing their sonic approach, with this self-titled album (how many times have we seen this being used as a means of starting again?) seeing the band make a...
The Visitor: 19th January 2012 →
My radio show from the 19th January which features a live set by C Joynes.
welcomethevisitor:
The Visitor 19th January 2012 by hughesrich
Two hours of cross-genre audio stimulation featuring a live session with C Joynes.
Retribution Gospel Choir - Hide It Away
The Men - ()
British Sea Power - Oh Larsen B
The Doozer – The Island
Huw M - Hide Behind You
Mavis…
Ensemble Economique – Crossing The Pass, By...
Brian Pyle, aka Ensemble Economique, is something of a chameleon. Each album flirts with a different genre; my iTunes library features a different description for each album of his I possess. At The Foot of Nameless Roads is deemed to be “Noise / Drone”,Standing Still, Facing Forward is laughably described as “Jazz” and, well, the latest LP entitled Crossing The Pass, By Torchlight is blank,...
1 tag
The Visitor: 5th January 2012 →
My first radio show of 2012.
welcomethevisitor:
Download or stream the show here.
A final look back at 2011 with some of my favourite tracks of last year.
All Tiny Creatures – Holography
The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines
White Denim - It’s Him
Explosions in the Sky - Last Known Surroundings
Mogwai -…
December 2011
6 posts
Albums of 2011
I produced a list of 25 records that went into the giant boiling pot that became The Liminal’s Albums of 2011, and here they are in their entirety.
These are my records of the year, in no order - I find it hard enough to distil a years worth of listening to just 25 as it is. These are stand out LP’s, each one worth owning and enjoying.
It was a year which saw my taste shifting...
WatchAs the year comes to an end, I’m going through my Delicious links and finding interesting articles and videos I’ve saved for when I had more time.
This is a very interesting and short 20 minute talk by Richard King about that awful word “indie”.
Heatsick – Intersex
The term “intersex” refers to an atypical combination of physical features that usually distinguish female from male. It was used in the title of work by renowned German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, who looked at the relationship between music and sexuality, and how its interaction is in a constant state of flux. Intriguingly, it’s now the name of the debut LP by Steve Warwick, aka Heatsick....
An Interview with Peaking Lights
Peaking Lights are the duo of Aaron and Indra, a husband and wife team from California. Newly signed to Domino, they’ve unveiled, in the past month, a mix website, collecting wave after wave of music that’s not just inspired them, but has served as a soundtrack to their lives. They’re also part of the Not Not Fun stable in the US, and as I chatted to Aaron and Indra, it seemed like an obvious...
Liminal Minimals – November 2011
As we stumble towards the end of the year, as the day light hours slim to almost nothing, we bring you a selection of albums that we’ve not had time to cover in detail.
I cover albums by Archers by the Sea, High Places, Rob St. John and Three Cane Whale.
Read on The Liminal.
November 2011
7 posts
Bad Timing Turns 10 with Hacker Farm, Pete Um &...
Bad Timing, the project of Cambridge-based promoter Jo Brook, celebrated its 10th birthday in the surroundings of the Aid & Abet art space near Cambridge Railway Station. A makeshift space once used for engine repairs, it was at its minimal best with the performance area at one end bathed in shifting projections. Tea and cake were served next to an ad hoc bar, black and white photos of the...
The Necks - Mindset
Before approaching any album by The Necks, the trio of Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton, you should ensure you’re aware of their intentions. They are renowned for their live performances where no two shows are the same, each set an improvised exploration of the music that can be crafted from a piano, double bass and percussion. Over 24 years, they’ve produced 16 albums, all subtly...
2 tags
WatchEfterklang - An Island
Efterklang’s excellent movie, An Island, directed by Vincent Moon, is now available on DVD. It comes in an amazing package, I’ve been lucky enough to get one. It’s only available for order from their website. Watch the video above, fall in love, and buy the film.
“We wanted to play songs as songs”: An interview...
200 Years is the new duo formed between Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance) and Elisa Ambrogio (Magic Markers). Considering their respective backgrounds, it comes as a surprise when playing the self-titled album that it’s so quiet. There are songs here, and it could possibly be described as a folk or even “roots” album. There’s no noise, no drone, no madness – just songs that show off...
WatchRob St. John ‘Sargasso Sea’
The debut album by Rob St. John, out soon on Song by Toad records, has affected me more than most. There’s something so sparse and delicate about the songs, something so honest and raw about the delivery. This is the video for the standout track ‘Sargasso Sea’, the video is footage from a home film of a mid 20th C American carnival, found...
Liminal Minimals – October 2011
Short form reviews about the new Field, Container and Colin Stetson releases and a reissue of the Roberto Cacciapaglia LP on vinyl.
Read on The Liminal.
October 2011
7 posts
Drum Eyes at the Corner House, Cambridge
There was a definite whiff of Autumn in the air tonight. As I cycled across Midsummer Common a wind with an icy breath blew through me, the now obligatory bike lights caught snatches of discoloured leaves rustling over dead twigs and tufts of grass. Luckily, the Corner House felt rather cosy with the lights turned down and a stage full of drums, pedals and acres of cable.
Continue reading on...
1 tag
The Visitor 13th October 2011
My debut radio show is now available to download and stream over on my dedicated Tumblr site.
Second show goes live on Thursday, 7-9pm on Cambridge 105FM and online.
1 tag
Simon Scott - Bunny
When we look at the world through art, be it literature, paintings or photography, we tend to be invited to look at it in polar absolutes. There is good and evil, there is darkness and there is light. Very few artists, in what ever their chosen field, can express the actuality of our world: that we live our lives in the middle of all this – a grey area, so to speak, a juxtaposition between...
2 tags
2 tags
Tusk Festival 2011
A road trip to the North East was too good an opportunity to miss when the line-up for this year’s Tusk Festival was announced. Based in two, very close, venues which had an intimate feel regardless of numbers present, the festival eschewed convention with an incredibly varied, yet complementary, series of acts.
Continue reading on The Liminal.