FEATURE
MUSIC
Image by Saint Sophie
MARTHA HILL
NORTHERN ALT. POP SONGWRITER MARTHA HILL GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO HER YEAR, AS HER NEWLY RELEASED MUSIC HIT THE NATIONAL AIRWAVES It’s been a funny year for me, but also weirdly good in lots of ways. I’ve been lucky to have been able to continue working and creating throughout lockdown due to having invested some funding into a home recording set-up at the end of last year, and I’m massively thankful for that. I knew I had Summer Up North EP ready to release this year, but the challenge was: how do you record an EP when you can’t leave the house? After a few trial and error sessions, myself and producer Julien Flew managed to find our flow with it. I’d record the acoustic parts (my vocals, guitars etc.) in my living room and send them over to him, and then we’d sit together for hours over Zoom, screen and audio sharing, and build the rest of the arrangement together. It was funny being ‘in the studio’ and on my sofa in pyjamas at the same time! When I released Grilled Cheese in June, I was hoping it would do
ST JAMES INFIRMARY: VARIOUS
For high excitement thrills, tunes, glamour, and bravado you couldn’t go wrong with Kkett, Shy-Talk and Blom, the latter being a particular high point of TUSK. Everything coming out of the James Watts/Skyler Gill orbit was incredible, either being Lump Hammer barrage of repetitive noise riffs, Penance Stare with Esme Louise’s guitar reconfigurations of Goth for the New Age, Mobuis with spirit invoking chanting or James creating crushing sounds from self invented spring instruments. 2020 saw Gary Wilkinson produce a superb classical sample based symphonic electronic work full of the soul and passion he has always put onto his projects. Drooping Finger and Chlorine
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well, but I had no idea it would receive the national radio support that it got. It felt unreal when BBC 6Music picked it up on their B-List playlist, but then they bumped it up to the A-List and Radio 1 also picked it up as the BBC Introducing Track of the Week! The support it received was amazing, and it was lush having pals messaging me saying how buzzing they were to hear me on the radio. I have absolutely no idea what 2021 will look like. But I’m currently focusing on writing as much new material as possible, and I also have a tour booked for the end of April. My Durham show has already sold out, but there’s still some tickets for Westgarth Social Club in Middlesbrough (24th April) and The Cluny, Newcastle (30th April). I can’t waaaiiittt to play live again! I miss it so much. www.marthahillmusic.com
have continued to find new ways to unnerve and entice with electronic and percussive landscapes. Two albums that have rarely been off my personal listening devices this year have been Bad Amputee’s Convenience Kills and Yakka Doon’s Strenuous Detour, the latter’s Demolish The House being a particular favourite. www.stjamesinfirmary.bandcamp.com www.tqzine.bandcamp.com www.dolmendweller.bandcamp.com www.droopingfinger.bandcamp.com www.chlorinerecordings.bandcamp.com www.badamputee.bandcamp.com www.box-records.com www.kkett.bandcamp.com www.weareblom.bandcamp.com www.invertedgrim-millrecordings. bandcamp.com
www.penancestare.bandcamp.com www.yakkadoon.bandcamp.com
SIMON TAYLOR: ALEXYS ALFARO
Alexys Alfaro is a Peruvian multi-instrumentalist who is based in Newcastle and has been performing his beautiful Latin guitar compositions for as long as I’ve been gigging here (and probably quite a bit longer). Sensitively utilising guitar loops he creates atmospheric pieces the likes of which you don’t hear very often in the North East nowadays. You can check out Alexys’ 2020 release Guitar Dreams on Spotify. www.simontaylor.bandcamp.com www.facebook.com/alexysguitar
