PREVIEWS

Hello…

At the time of press, the North East has been placed in the highest tier of restrictions. This clearly has a profound effect on the businesses and people we champion every month, not to mention you, dear Constant Readers. It’s going to be difficult to predict what will happen over the coming months with any degree of accuracy, and our hearts go out to those in hospitality, performance-based businesses and creatives who won’t know if they’re coming or going from one month to the next.

As for us, we’re as much in the dark as anyone, and while it saddens us greatly to have to go back to publishing digitally, we’re absolutely determined that as soon as our outlets are happy to welcome us back we’ll be there in the format we love. In the meantime, there will be much to engage with; our region’s creatives are old hands in the virtual world now, so expect livestreams and online creativity to flourish. When it happens, we’ll bring it to you via these pages and on our website, where you can get up to date information and entertainment.

Thanks for reading. The thought of you keeps us going. Claire & the NARC. team

MUSIC

GEORGE BOOMSMA RELEASES NEW EP, CHINATOWN

Words: Jay Moussa-Mann

Chinatown is the latest exquisite EP from George Boomsma. The four-track EP was recorded live to tape at Echo Zoo Studios, with the addition of a string quartet bolstering George’s refined guitar mastery. The title track

immediately stands out, throwing together all the best parts of Boomsma’s sound; his warm melodic voice, his poetry, clever songwriting and deft guitar playing. Boomsma skilfully throws in chord changes, surprising the listener while at the same time making them feel as though they had been waiting for that particular resolution all their life. SamSara is another quiet gem nestling towards the end, don’t miss it!

This EP reaches new musical heights for Boomsma, bearing the huge sweeping emotion of a 1930s Hollywood soundtrack, with all the gentleness and soul of the Laurel Canyon scene. The vintage sound is no accident, with the subtle fingerprints of producer and studio owner Dave Izumi Lynch, creating the characteristic saturation and crunch of tape recording.

Having supported many established artists such as Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and with a memorable musical appearance on UKTV’s Taskmaster, George Boomsma is definitely one to keep an eye on, and Chinatown is the perfect collection to warm you through the season.

George Boomsma releases Chinatown on 6th December www.georgeboomsma.com

STAGE

DANCE EDITS @ DANCE CITY ONLINE

Words: Claire Dupree

While Dance City’s spaces have been quieter this year, there’s still been plenty of activity behind the scenes. Not least the creation of brand new work by some of the region’s most exciting performers. As part of the Newcastle venue’s annual professional platform event, Dance Edits, eight artists and companies from the North East and Scotland have been developing their work with support from Dance City through residencies and surgeries.

Audiences will get a chance to enjoy an eclectic evening of live performance and dance film on Friday 11th December, as Dance Edits gets an online outing. Each performance is roughly 10 minutes long, offering a variety of work and concepts. Adam Russell’s Love_Dances (Phase 2) explores the universality of love; Alicia Meehan’s When Saturn Returns is a colourful work about real life friendship and selfexploration; Ellen Spence’s dance documentary follows culture, community and connection with artists, refugees and migrants in the UK and Lebanon; developed for families and children, Jennifer Essex’s How Long Is A Piece Of String? is a digitally interactive work in development; Lila Naruse explores happiness, existence and struggle in her piece, FLOW; Patricia Suarez presents La Llorona, a choreographic exploration of femininity and internalised emotion; Penny Chivas’ Burnt Out takes climate change as its subject matter, with text and choreography used to question how we got here and what may lie ahead; while Meta4Dance’s Anonymous is a fluid and contemporary piece exploring the representation of the dancers’ identity performed in a raw and open way.

Dance Edits is available to view on Dance City’s website on Friday 11th December www.dancecity.co.uk

When Saturn Returns by Alicia Meehanseven, part of Dance Edits at Dance City

MUSIC

WILL GOOD & THE MATTES RELEASE NEW EP

Words: Laura Doyle

Band-turned-solo-project Will Good & The Mattes takes regional pride to the next level with the latest release Three Tynes. This hefty song EP celebrates all things River Tyne. But in a move that will only disappoint geographers and the like, this is not just a bunch of songs about meanders and oxbow lakes. Instead, from the sparsely populated highlands and origins of the river in Kielder to the escapism of the mouth of the Tyne, the record personifies every step of the river’s formation in a heartfelt, romantic story.

In a genius move which combines both the iconic aesthetics of the North East and its unique culture, North and South Tynes appear as two loves making their own way in the world from humble origins to become a torrential force to be reckoned with. From techno-rock opener Something Else to the folkish mellowness of This Place, and even the disjointed classic rock energy of What A Pair We Make, each track embodies a different aspect of life by the River Tyne. As someone who has spent most of their life in the region, the character of the North East is easily recognisable. Best enjoyed on a moody drive from the depths of Northumberland or Wearside to our gorgeous coastline.

Will Good & The Mattes release Three Tynes on 1st December www.willgoodandthemattes.com

STAGE

INTERACT ONLINE THEATRE FESTIVAL

Words: Caitlin Disken

“One positive that has come from all of this crazy period is that it has offered an opportunity to diversify and democratise the industry,” says Jonny Bussell, Faculty Leader for the Acting Stage and Screen degree at the Northern School of Art. With coronavirus making physical performances unfeasible, the Hartlepool-based school is holding a week-long online festival to celebrate the work of their acting students.

Entitled Interact, the festival will take place between Monday 18th-Friday 22nd January, and aims to equip students with the skills needed to enter a post-pandemic acting industry. It will feature mockumentaries, solo shows and a contemporary rework of Georg Buchner’s tragedy Woyzeck which will mix livestreamed performance, recorded montage and projection mapping, whilst also utilsing Instagram and Twitter to showcase the students’ skills beyond the traditional stage.

“The sector is changing and is so different to when I was at Drama school,” says Bussell. “Then, coming from Teesside, you felt you had to go to London to be successful. However, now with developments in technology and the fantastic arts scene we have in the North East I think students can have a great experience learning their trade and then after graduating forge their careers in the North East and beyond.”

Second-year acting student Gemma Blake is particularly excited about the event. “I’m excited for this festival to take place not only to allow artists in training, like me, to have an opportunity to shine, but also to show people how welcoming the arts are.”

The festival is free, but donations to Mind and the Trussell Trust are encouraged.

Northern School of Art’s Interact theatre festival takes place online from Monday 18th-Friday 22nd January www.northernart.ac.uk

MUSIC

FAX MACHINE RELEASES NEW ALBUM, OUCH!

Words: Ali Welford

Regular local gig goers will probably recognise David Turnbull by now – whether he’s creating a doomy din with Okay Champ, tranquil dream pop with The Dawdler or most recently retro torch songs with Lovely Assistant. By contrast, the guitarist’s own project, Fax Machine, is yet to make its live debut, but has gathered a word-of-mouth following regardless on the strength of last summer’s low-key full-length, Soup. A gloriously off-kilter patchwork of lo-fi alt. pop, the record was likened in these pages to “a broken Field Music”; an aesthetic Turnbull has expanded and then some on this month’s follow-up, Ouch!

While Soup was pieced together from around a decade of disparate ideas, the new record benefits from a more focused gestation, with work (alongside returning producer Willy Thorneycroft) having commenced immediately after its predecessor’s release. Exploring the interplay between childhood memories and adult dreams with a characteristic discordant clang, Ouch! nevertheless skips through a

melange of idiosyncratic sounds, effortlessly offsetting jarring and peculiar pop nuggets like Motorbike and Spelling Kids with stripped dirge-rockers such as the sax-splashed Scole Group. Due on 11th December, it’s a late addition to the bounty of brilliant releases North East artists have treated us to in 2020 – an early gift in this oddest of festive periods!

Fax Machine releases Ouch! via Treetrunk on 11th December www.faxmachinemusic.bandcamp.com

Fax Machine

MUSIC

E-MENCE RELEASES NEW ALBUM, TALKING TO MYSELF

Words: Damian Robinson

Observing from afar, there’s something special about E-Mence and the way he carries himself. A character slightly removed from the group, yet potentially the most supportive within it; the North East rapper has the persona of someone who is both fully in the moment and yet reflective of it at the same time – an interesting style when you think of the core requirement for a rapper to be able to proficiently communicate how they see the world.

Returning with the forthcoming album Talking To Myself, itself kicked off with a number of singles including the recent spirited release Someone Else, E-Mence makes the most of 2020, carrying on his musical, lyrical and personal development to new highs. Focused around the concept of being true to yourself, and trying your best to live the life you want, Talking To Myself finds E-Mence in deep reflection, contemplating the expectations others have of him – and those he has of himself. Dark in places (Not Enough) and lighter in others (People Say) Talking To Myself is an album well worth looking forward to; both for its rhythms as well as the opportunity to spend time with a special character.

E-Mence releases Talking To Myself on 10th January www.e-mence.bandcamp.com

E-Mence by Meg Smith

ART & LIT

NEVER NORMAL @ VANE GALLERY

Words: Beverley Knight

Inclusivity steers the ship in the latest ingeniously titled exhibition, Never Normal, from Chilli Studios, which will be housed at Vane Gallery in Newcastle between Wednesday 20th January-Saturday 6th February.

As a charity, Chilli Studios have provided the valued service of creative endeavours to those experiencing mental health problems or those that society can often exclude for sixteen years. The challenges of 2020 have brought to our attention and strengthened the necessity for safe places to express ourselves. Arts Co-ordinator Jo Burke demonstrates: “This year has only highlighted the importance of art to our mental health and well-being. Using art as a powerful and liberating tool to often distract and heal ourselves, to self-express, to also challenge and make actions towards change.”

The exhibition represents over fifty artists including Tracey Hopper, Janice Ormston, Clare Armstrong and many more, and is not only inventive but delicately invites others to look in on personal experiences of the past months.

Considering the concept of our ‘New Normal’, the work playfully questions how the media’s view can differ with ours. It considers reality, what we class as normality, and how this has affected individual and collective mental health. A visit to observe the show at Vane may provide some clarity on what we have all encountered together.

Chilli Studios’ Never Normal exhibition takes place at Vane Gallery, Newcastle from Wednesday 20th January-Saturday 6th February www.chillistudios.co.uk

MUSIC

MARSKE RELEASES DEBUT ALBUM, SWELL

Words: Laura Doyle

Change can be scary: new jobs, new relationships, an unexpected change of circumstances – all can provide challenges that can seem too overwhelming to overcome. But let the debut release from North East/ London-based artist Marske show that it is possible to go through troubling times and make it out the other side stronger than before.

Marske (aka Patrick Duffy) underwent some big life changes that, while some may call them less than ideal, gave him an opportunity for a career refresh. But he may not have steered himself in a wholly creative direction without input from world-renowned DJ Geoff Kirkwood, alias Man Power, who just so happened to also be considering shifting gears from global touring, to taking a decidedly more experimental approach to his creations.

The result is an explorative, exciting album that, thanks to some incredible visual and physical materials in addition to the record, goes beyond any mere auditory experience and encapsulates the shared values and culture of two guys who both grew up in the North East. Swell might not feature heavily on the dancefloors of Ibiza, but is sure to pump up the vibes of your own at-home, socially distanced club nights.

Swell by Marske is out now www.mememe.bandcamp.com

Marske by Will Morgan

MUSIC

LANTERNS ON THE LAKE RETURN WITH NEW EP, THE REALIST

Words: Louise Henry

Back in September, a grainy video of Lanterns On The Lake vocalist Hazel Wilde appeared on my Twitter feed. Sat on the floor with her back against the wall, she recalled a moment during recording Spook The Herd, where the entire band laughed at the thought of being nominated for the Mercury Prize. “These things don’t happen to bands like us,” she said in a later Guardian interview. No one else laughed of course, and just about everyone North of Wetherby services jumped out of their seats when Lauren Laverne announced their place on the shortlist.

Fans will be pleased to hear that they’re back with new material, and the five-track EP, The Realist, is 22 minutes of goosebump inducing perfection. The EP includes four new tracks, along with a paired back, revised arrangement of single Baddies. Recorded during lockdown, the reworking is a far cry from the original; the lyrics still hang heavy, but there’s a gentle, reflective feel to the track, which save for Wilde’s unmistakable vocals could pass for a Cinematic Orchestra cover.

Title track The Realist is one from the archives that didn’t make the cut for Spook The Herd as it “didn’t fit sonically or narratively”. Here though, it’s a powerful yet delicate opening to an intimate record. “Every moth needs a flame” sings Wilde, as the song draws to a close; it’s certain to become a release which draws listeners in for some time to come.

Lanterns on the Lake release The Realist on 11th December via Bella Union www.lanternsonthelake.com

MUSIC

MICHAEL CG RELEASES NEW EP

Words: Jonathan Horner

You could be forgiven for loving Michael CG as a fine, inspired, rock historian. His passionate channelling of his many muses – from Bowie, through Bolan and Byrne, via many more that this writer isn’t cool enough to have heard of – is unparalleled. However, to see him as such, you would be limiting yourself to 2D, a flat world. Looking at a sculpture from the front and missing the body and depth. Pop on those cardboard 3D specs and circle Michael CG and you will see: he just keeps on going. This is not just homage. Though if it was, it’d be a fine homage. His grandiosity is matched by his virtuosity, and then some. His enthusiasm for his heroes is such that he leaps from this genius to that revolutionary like he’s chatting manically to you on a stranger’s sofa after a few too many.

This whirlwind of hyperfanism coited to his own transcendent self gives birth to something new. In The Most Highly Acclaimed Horror Phantasy Of Our Time he is growing into this otherness. It has a special energy: restless, sprinting, skipping, lurching around corners. Hooks full of sass and layer upon layer of fuzzy fun. Less guitar-led than its predecessors, though it rocks no less for it, he’s flexing his musician muscles, from the brass fanfare of the chorus of Paper Plastic to the organ-led chaos of Heads Will Roll Pts. 1 & 2. However, guitars do step forward when called for. The creeping, stalking (in a playful, jaunty “he’s behind you” kind of way) bass and muted guitar duo of The Living People are joyfully theatrical.

This all results in an EP which is something that we are all lucky to experience and something that is sure to be soon not just ours but the whole nation’s and indeed the world’s! Doubt not, an ominous looking cartoon box labelled ‘Acme’ has been planted under Michael CG, and it is a case of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’ it will detonate!

Michael CG releases The Most Highly Acclaimed Horror Phantasy Of Our Time on 4th December www.michaelcg.bandcamp.com

Michael CG

MUSIC

NARC. TV CONTINUES

Words: Claire Dupree

We launched NARC. TV, our magazine-style programme featuring live performances and interviews, on YouTube in early November and we’ve had a fantastic response – thanks to all who’ve tuned in! The five-part series (with potential bonus footage to come!) was conceived in order to fill the gap that the lack of live music had left in our lives during lockdown, providing musicians and venues with paid work and a music-hungry audience with exciting live performances and in-depth interviews.

Episodes one and two featured incendiary performances, captured by talented filmmaker Ste Bardgett, from Ceiling Demons, Girl From Winter Jargon, bigfatbig and Mt. Misery. Still to come, we have thrilling sets from Wax Heart Sodality and Shakk and Eyeconic (Thursday 3rd December), Marketplace and Plastic Glass (Thursday 17th December) and The Dead Seat and Faye Fantarrow (Thursday 7th January).

As we now enter another uncertain period for the live music industry in the region, we believe that it’s more vital than ever to show support for musicians, venues and the technical teams that make live shows possible, and we’re working hard to raise funds for series two so we can pump some much needed money back into our precious live music economy. For now, we’d love it if you could tune in to the shows coming up, and don’t forget to check out the episodes already online. If you like what you hear, why not go one further and purchase music or merch from artists’ Bandcamp pages, donate to one of the venues or buy a ticket for a future show.

www.youtube.com/narcmagazinetv

MUSIC

MOTORHOUSE STUDIOS LIVESTREAMS

Words: Claire Dupree

As has been reiterated in these pages many times over the last few months, adaptation and diversification is the name of the game for cultural practitioners in the region. Having carved out a reputation as a respected recording studio, Sunderland’s Pamplemousse studios was started by producer and musician Jordan Miller five years ago. Joined by fellow Vandebilt musician Jack Wade in late 2019, the pair had big plans to renovate the studio and push the business forward as the recently reimagined Motorhouse Studios. “This was going well until the lockdown happened in March, and it wasn’t until the end of June before we finally got back to work and started completing the renovation work.” Jack explains. “We soon realised we would have to adapt the business to try and generate some work as with bands not gigging for so long nobody had a disposable income to spend on recording, so we invested in some new equipment and turned our space into a live streaming venue!”

Streaming from their studio space, Motorhouse have already put out some quality content, with full-on performances coming from Smoove & Turrell, Me Lost Me, SQUARMS, Plastic Glass and Vandebilt themselves over the last few weeks. Coming up in December, they welcome Hartlepool’s dream pop band Leopard Rays (Thursday 3rd), funk popsters Picnic with support from RnB folk pop artist Nadedja (Thursday 10th) and on Wednesday 16th December the irrepressible rockabilly honky-tonk sounds of Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra, with more shows promised in the new year.

Tickets are available via Skiddle. www.facebook.com/motorhousestudios

ART & LIT

EXHIBITIONS @ ESTON ARTS CENTRE

Words: Claire Dupree

Two new exhibitions which explore themes of identity, social interaction and our everincreasing dependence on the virtual world will take place at Eston Arts Centre.

Geraldine Snell’s work navigates humour, nuance and awe by utilising moving image, performance, music and the written word. Her exhibition, self help, runs from Thursday 17th December until mid-January. “My creative endeavours help me to navigate being an overthinking, overloving, oversharing subject in our hyperconnected, oversaturated, dopamine-soaked now.” She explains. Often using a compact or camera phone, her work captures sublime and mundane moments and insights. “I embrace digital and social media because they are best placed to house antidotes to the conditions of oversaturation and alienation they can induce. Whether it’s human eyes blinking through an emoji, the grubby phone that draws attention to your own sticky screen, or YouTube tutorials that offer more rumination than instruction, I interrupt image streams and social media zing with intimate works that offer a slow, haptic counterpoint to the speed and slickness around them.”

Somewhat ironically, given the uncertain local lockdown situation, the exhibition will be held online if it’s unable to take place within the arts centre itself, but rather than detract from the message the artist is conveying, the medium merely serves to prove her point. Already slated to take place online throughout December and January, moving image artist Petra Szemán’s show also plays with boundaries between screens and the worlds represented inside them, via notions of identity, virtual worlds and animation theory and dissecting the ways our memories and selves are constructed within a landscape that has become oversaturated with fiction – both on and off-screen.

www.facebook.com/estonartscentre

Monomyth, 2020 by Petra Szeman

MUSIC

SHY-TALK RELEASE NEW SINGLE, REDUCERER

Words: Damian Robinson

If Pop Art’s central prose was the ability to find meaning and inspiration in the most usual of places, then God only knows what Andy Warhol would have made of the new track by Shy-Talk. Taking a poor tackle in a non-league football game as its central narrative, Reducerer, a scuzzy, feedback layered piece of guitar pop, uses the everyday event of playing football to make interesting comments on social class and modern life. Further, it makes art out of non-league football.

Speaking about the song, vocalist Michael Bridgewater, aka Moses Escariot, says: “Reducerer is a song about social class and non-league football. More specifically, it is about a tackle so ‘bad’ that it transcends the definition of ‘reducer’ – it is a reducerer. The band attempts to capture the gleeful/lamentable violence of such a hypothetical tackle through agitated vocals and crushing breakdowns. By the way, it’s a pop song.”

Not ones to let a good merch opportunity go by, the band follow-up on their ‘magnificent dog wearing sunglasses’ ornaments by offering a 12” screen printed vinyl (literally floor vinyl) alongside tote bags and mugs, accompanied by branded tea bags and milk. Shy-Talk have once again, both in musical bombast as well as high-brow art, exceeded themselves.

Shy-Talk release Reducerer via Box Records on 11th December www.shytalkne.bandcamp.com