Issue One | Spring by Kaylea Mitchem

R I S &CO SEQ ENC

K N U E

Issue 1 | March 2009 | Free

It’s been a long time coming, but we finally made it.

Contents

ANNEKA LANGE & AMY ELLIS

PATRICK WOLF

THE JOY FORMIDABLE

EMMY THE GREAT

THE FALL

ESSER

MARINA & THE DIAMONDS

AS IN REBEKKAMARIA

WILD BEASTS

THE 18 CARAT LOVE AFFAIR

THEOPHILUS LONDON

INTRODUCTION

Having put the deadline back by two months already, between us, we’ve managed to find the right balance of encouragement and pro-creation, although there was definitely procrastination along the way (Flash Flash Revolution, anyone?). So here it is, in your hands, the first ‘Risk and Consequence’.

I hope you enjoy reading and exploring what we’ve been doing for the past few months, but I do apologise, for it’s not as brim-packed full of gig reviews, album reviews, et-cetera as I’d have liked. We’re completely D-I-Y and that includes paying for entry to gigs and purchasing albums (no, I haven’t quite mastered the art of blagging guestlist yet) - alongside this we work full time jobs AND attempt to have a social life - what can you do?

So if you read ahead, and think you’d like to contribute in someway or another, then don’t hesitate to email us at ‘riskandconsequence@gmail.com’ - we’d love to hear from you.

So, for now, we welcome you.

introducing

T L

E O

Theophilus

P H I N D by sam white

L U O

S N

London is a New York City-based rapper (apparently he changes where he’s from often, but just for now, it’s Brooklyn) who’s playing anything but safe in this mixtape. It has quite an 80’s synth-driven sound throughout, coupled with a healthy dose of 90s R&B. The production brings it up to date, with a completely eclectic mix of songs that really throw the listener off-guard.

This particular mixtape initially took my

interest due to the obvious reference to The Smiths in the title, but furthermore, the Elvis Costello-inspired cover art. The mix has

introducing

been making its way onto my daily listens ever since I downloaded it, and best of all, it was a completely free, legal download.

T H E / 1 8 / C A R AT L O V E / A F F A I R

ways Love You” and raps over the top like the songs were made for each other, and later on he throws in Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” and Lauryn Hill’s cover of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. ‘Ultraviolent’ uses a heavy post-punk track which I, (or even the internet, surprisingly) can’t place - which is what’s so great about the mix - although I’m writing this 3 months after its initial upload to the internet, it’s still causing ripples of excitement on the music blogosphere, creating interest and building hype that is sure to explode once he starts to produce and release more music. IV

pic-n-mix of a band, featuring Steve Horry (of 586 fame), Jim Rhesus (frontman of Subliminal Girls), Kate Dornan on the keyboard, (claims to fame include once backing Jarvis Cocker as part of an orchestra and playing at Alan Moore’s wedding), as well as former White Heat resident Dj Patrick Barrett on bass. ‘Stop Me, Search Me’ has fun with vocal harmony and dramatic keyboard breakdowns, whilst ‘Constructs’ is synth-heavy, and seems to sample ‘that’ noise from Justin Timberlake’s ‘My Love’ (unsure on the intent there, but it does work)! The band look forward to tentatively

He takes Whitney Houston’s “I Will Al-

by kaylea mitchem

The 18 Carat Love Affair is a four piece

In the meantime, you can sign up to the bands mailing list to receive free downloads of ‘Constructs’ and ‘Ride The Blue Tiger’, and you can also catch Steve Djing at the collaborative launch of Fierce Panda and Cool For Cat’s new Clubnight ‘Sidewalk’ on 4th April at London’s Scala. What to expect? Erasure, Girls Aloud, Queen.... and a bit of The 18 Carat Love Affair and 586 for good measure, well, because he can.

L D / B E A S T interview by christian allen

interview

Nearing the end of their UK tour, Wild Beasts settled down somewhere in Newcastle, hopefully over a nice cold beer, and discussed Wild Beast-related things with Risk and Consequence’s Christian Allen. No ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ to be seen anywhere, unfortunately. R&C: How has the tour been for you so far, do you sense people are enjoying the new songs? Wild Beasts: It is going better then we could possibly have dreamt of. been very open minded. It’s impor

tant for us to tour - realistically the the album may not be out until September, but when you’re in a band and you make new music you want people to hear it straight away. R&C: So you’ve finished recording the new album, that’s a pretty quick turnaround from last year’s ‘Limbo Panto’, pretty prolific. Wild Beasts: Well that’s our job; it’s easy to get embroiled in other things. But being in the studio recording new music is where we want to be. R&C: For people who haven’t heard you before: can you try to sum up your sound? Wild Beasts: Fundamentally, it’s pop music. Four minute-long songs with verses and choruses. But at the same time we want to think ‘outside the box’, and surprise people. We, ourselves, are very bored of what we’re currently being force fed.

interview

R&C: What can we be expecting from the new album then? Wild Beasts: It will be more accessible and less of an intense listen from the last album. I think it’s a little more ‘groovy’ and danceable than ‘Limbo, Panto’. R&C: What new releases are you most looking forward to in 2009? Wild Beasts: Junior Boys are one of the most underrated bands around. They’re signed to Domino Records and are releasing a new album this year. R&C: My first glimpse of the Wild Beasts live experience was when you were supporting Maximo Park at Gloucester Guildhall a year or so ago, and it seemed the crowd weren’t really sure how to take you – is this becoming less of a problem now? Wild Beasts: I remember that being a particularly difficult gig! But that’s part of what we want to do, to confront people. VII

AS/IN/REBEKKAMARIA by kaylea mitchem

In Rebekkamaria is the altermusical project of RebekkaMaria Andersson, leading lady of Danish/Swedish band Lampshade.

Fingers

introducing

crossed she follows suit with the album, and then after what will be a painful wait on my part; a tour of the UK.

by kaylea mitchem

Marina Diamond, or her musical pseud-

onym of Marina and the Diamonds, hasn’t done too badly with her first foray into the music world. Her debut single ‘Obsessions’, released by Neon Gold/Warner on Valentine’s Day (only a couple left for grabs, pick it up whilst you can at www.puregroove.com) has been remixed by the Lamacq-championed duo of Gold Panda and The Aspirins For My Children and has been picking up praise from all corners of the industry.

The album, Queen of France, has abso-

lutely blitzed its way through my Last.fm charts, hanging onto the top spot for quite some time now. Standout track She Lion is an absolute belter, at it’s best when cranked up to full volume in the car with no regards to who can hear you singing your face off. So far, the album has only been given a Swedish release, which was way back in October 29th, but She Lion is set to be. released in the UK at a date to be confirmed

M A R I N A / & THE/DIAMONDS

“Many thanks to Simon Cummings (http://5-against-4.blogspot.com/) for the recommendation ofAs In Rebekkamaria.”

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She

has a string of dates around the

introducing

UK coming up with appearances as far afield as Edinburgh and the Isle of Wight in amongst various festival appearances at The Great Escape Festival (we’ll be seeing her there!) Camden Crawl, and Bestival to name a few.

was lucky enough to catch her performance at Southampton’s, erm... Hamptons venue in February. It was refreshing to see a confident female artist strutting around the stage whilst powering her way through the set with a voice so strong that it’ll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Arena magazine hails her as ‘the English Gwen Stefani, except she

can play an instrument’ and in almost a tribute to this comparison, she did play a fantastic cover version of “What you waiting for?”.

With Marina retorting on the latter comparison in her typically outspoken manner, “Oops I have a vagina and a keyboard. We’re so similar!”

definitely a ‘diamond’ in the rough (you knew it was coming), but let’s face it - she needs to be in the vast sea of female singer/songwriters drowning the British music scene at the moment. Her lyrics are simple and honest, with ‘Obsessions’ boasting a 30 second long confused question of whether or not to buy crackers in a panicked frenzy. Comparisons have already been drawn left, right and centre to Kate Bush, Regina Spektor, Nina Hagen and unfortunately... Kate Nash. IX

She’s

E S S E R interview by christian allen

R&C: How are you finding the jump from the venues that you’re used to playing to the arena dates that you’re playing on your current tour with The Kaiser Chiefs? Esser: We’ve never played to so many people before. The first couple of shows were nerve-wracking but I think we’ve really learnt to adapt to the huge venues, and have been able to put our sound across well. R&C: Who would you cite as your main artistic influences? Esser: Someone I find myself mentioning a lot in terms of influence is Joe Meek (Gloucestershire born music producer from the 50s/60s). He has really influenced me in terms of what he was

interview

doing with sounds. I’m mainly inspired by someone who dares to be innovative. R&C: With the debut album recorded and mastered, when can we expect a release date? Esser: The debut, ‘Brave Face’ is due to be released in May. It’s weird because it’s been sitting there for a while, so we’ve been working on a new E.P, writing and doing some production with other people, you know, keeping busy. I’m really pleased with the album but also want to keep things moving and show the world what I can do. R&C: Many artists who have been touted for 2009 have a heavy 80s synthsound…where do you think you fit in? Esser: When I started writing I wasn’t thinking about how to fit in. I just wanted to write pop music. It just seems at the moment there are more artists who are proud to be writing pop tunes, which wasn’t the case a few years ago.

R&C: Who do you suggest people listen to, other than yourself of course! Esser: I really like what Fryars and Micachu are doing at the moment. There’s also another guy who plays under the name Danimal Kingdom (ex Bolt Action Five) who’s coming with us on our headline tour, I’d definitely recommend you give him a listen. They’re all acts who haven’t been hugely hyped but are doing interesting and important things. R&C: It’s important to see that there are exciting bands outside of top 10 ‘ones to watch out for’ lists. Esser: This is it; you think, ‘surely, not all these bands can be huge?’ People just get excited about something new, regardless of whether it’s good or terrible. It takes a number of albums for bands to really produce their best material; it’s not always

interview

R&C: Are there any bands you aspire to tour with in the future? Esser: I’d love to support Blur! R&C: Complete this sentence: ‘Readers of Risk and Consequence should get involved in music because…’ Esser: It’s fun. I think too many people create bands because they want to be famous and be the biggest band in the world. They forget to enjoy themselves along the way.

E / F A L directed by tarsem singh by carl howard

The Fall is one of those films that don’t come around too often, it’s to be watched with an open mind and with a fair bit of imagination.

A labour of love for Tarsem Singh

(The Cell), the story behind how the film came to be made is almost as interesting as the film itself. Taking around four years to complete and using minimal special effects, all locations in the film are real and were only facilitated by Tarsem simultaneously carrying out his day job of directing

film review

television commercials and music videos. He funded the film almost entirely himself, and you can really tell that he put his heart and soul in to it. Set in 1920’s Los Angeles, it centers around the unlikely friendship between recently paralysed stuntman Roy Walker (Lee Pace), who was injured in the literal sense of the title just prior to the opening sequence, and six year old Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) who is recovering from a broken arm. To pass the time and to make conversation, Walker begins to tell the young girl a story, which is where The Fall really starts to come into it’s own. All of the story sequences are shown through Alexandria’s XII

point of view. Thus begins the extraordinarily vivid and improvised tale of six heroes, introduced one by one with their own back stories but united by one common goal; to seek revenge and to bring the evil Governor Odius (Daniel Caltagirone) to justice. They are The Indian (Jeetu Verma) - an unnamed warrior seeking to avenge the death of his wife, Otta Benga (Marcus Wesley) - an escaped African slave seeking revenge for the death of his brother, Luigi (Robin Smith) - an explosive expert banished from his homeland, Charles Darwin (Leo Bill) - avenging the death of an extremely rare butterfly, and their leader The Masked Bandit, who’s brother had been kidnapped, tortured and hung by

film review

Odius. They are then joined by a Mystic (Julian Bleach) who decides to help them on their quest.

F ilmed on location in eighteen countries including South Africa, India

and Fiji, the story sequences flit between vast deserts to lush gardens to grand temples but manage to fit together seamlessly in a visually stunning collage of scenery, all held together by Walker’s narrative.

A s time goes by, Walker struggles to come to terms with his condition

and realises that he can use the story to manipulate Alexandria in to helping him commit suicide. The film and story sequences then take a dark twist and I won’t give any more away but say that what happens after that really wrenches at the heart strings. XIII

U ltimately, it’s the relationship and interaction between the

character of Alexandria and Walker that holds the whole thing together and is dealt with in a very delicate and touching way. Pace and Untaru were kept apart prior to and in-between filming and all of the hospital scenes are shot in sequence so all of the reactions from the character of Alexandria are genuine. In fact, whilst filming the hospital scenes, the entire cast and crew were led to believe that Pace was actually wheelchair bound.

A s I mentioned in the introduction, if you watch the film with an open

mind then you’ll be rewarded with a visually incredible and heart warming story, a must see and cannot be recommended highly enough.

E G

M R

Y / E

T H A

album review by gareth harper

E T

always worries me a fair old bit when a band gain an impressive and substantial following off of the back of a few EP’s and Demos alone, before any thoughts of putting out an L.P have even reached an embryonic stage, as this is one of the reasons that so many brilliant bands have fallen prey to something resembling the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome before the process of releasing their first has even begun.

Fans

build up their own preconceptions of what the album should sound

album review

like, and it means for example that if someone like Emmy The Great decides to change anything about one of the five previously released tracks that were re-recorded for her debut album First Love, in even the teeny tiniest of ways, then a sense of underwhelming and disappointment may well ensue, if not a sense of uproar, amongst the aforementioned fans

in ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘MIA’ for example, however this affirms their status as fan favourites after all, if it isn’t broke.....

album is a beautifully crafted musical odyssey, coalescing elements of indie-pop and antifolk with an underlying presence of storytelling. Indeed, much has been changed by Emma-Lee Moss and her co-producers slash bandmates, ‘The Hypnotist’s Son’ has been lent a new lease of life with a quicker tempo, whilst ‘We Almost Had A Baby’ benefits simply from a good oldfashioned polish in production. New elements are applied astutely, including extra instrumental elements XV

charmingly delicate, consistently stunning vocals possess the ability to break one’s heart and then stitch it back together within the space of a verse; a feeling characteristic to the listening experience of the album as a whole. The album deals well with fairly earnest issues, portraying them through a storytelling perspective, and bonding them in an eloquent yet childish observation, evincing the band’s unmistakable anti-folk influence (despite their best efforts to avoid it).

The

So,

when I finally got my hands on First Love I must confess that I had braced myself slightly for an anticlimax. I was taking a “Hey, if I don’t get my hopes up then I won’t be too disappointed when it’s pants” approach to listening to XIV

this album, and as such I think this may well be a contributing factor to my highly objective opinion that THIS ALBUM IS AMAAAAAAAZING!

flickr.com/photos/fishplums/ - Jonathon Fisher

Emmy’s

This

is perhaps most evident on the title track and lead single, ‘First Love’. Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s “First Love’, the story describes how she was seduced by a boy with ‘a room’ and ‘music to play’ - more importantly, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. It lures you into a wistful state with its insightful lyricism, menacing bass-line and eerie synths; making the shift into the realms of the major key all the more glorious each and every time the chorus returns.

Despite

Emmy claiming, with a clear double entendre, ‘I wish that i’d never come’, the shift to the major key for ‘Now that I have, I would do it again’ says that, even though she says she didn’t enjoy her

album review

one night stand, she can only remember the ‘Hallelujah’, in other words, she did enjoy it really!

is perhaps all to easy for this ‘writer’ to get carried away with the beautifully crafted nuggets of folksy-pop that this album consists of and ignore the blemishes that lie therein. There is of course room for improvement: the inclusion of a reprise to Easter Parade (the imaginatively entitled Easter Parade Pt.2) could be deemed as slightly fruitless and verging slightly too far on the wrong side of the border between killer and filler, as does the entirely forgetful Dylan which has the dubious honour of being the only track on the album that you’ll find yourself continually skipXVI

album review

ping (although this skipping is rewarded as you’ll reach the blissful On The Museum Island when you do so). [“Dylan is a sentiment that noone else will ever understand” - it’s one of my favourites from the debut; so I guess that there’s a little something for everybody, and not everything is to all tastes! - Lea] Negative points (or lack of) aside, this offering of songs should be enough to convince those skeptical of Emmy’s ability to create a consistently excellent full-lengththat she has in fact done that, whilst those who weren’t skeptical in the first place will probably just fall completely in love with what lies within the packaging and lyricism of First Love.

THE/JOY/FORMIDABLE album review by kaylea mitchem

Now, about that difficult second album...

Called Moaning’ on February 16th as a free

There’s something about train journeys

that make me feel really odd, out of sync. It’s not often that I catch a train; unfortunately I have a rather large carbon footprint that is formed from the tail-end of my car. However there’s nothing that could possibly beat a train journey on a beautiful day, apart from a finding a debut album for download, completely free and legal, that I’ve been waiting to hear for months, that is downloaded and on my mp3 player within ten minutes just in time to catch said train on said beautiful day.

The Joy Formidable released ‘A Balloon XVII

download from NME.com. Opening track, ‘The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade’ is a wise choice for an opener; I recognise it instantly from when I saw them supporting White Lies a couple of months back, however it seems to fall downhill from here. Predictably, ‘Cradle’, ‘Austere’ and ‘The Last Drop’ all feature on the debut. I doubt the album will surprise or excite an established fan, as it all seemed to wear off for me post-’Austere’, having exhausted the initial three tracks pre-album release. The remaining tracks aren’t enough to convince me that the album is a strong first-release, and I’m honestly very disappointed, Luckily, my mood is rarely dampened when I’m traveling by train.

P A T R I C K / W O L F live review by kaylea mitchem

Cheltenham and Gloucester have seen

very little action in the way of music since the demise of Pop Goes The Weasel, Coughing Colours, and more recently, The Super Salon (God bless their souls). Then along came iDLE HANDS and the music enthusiasts of Gloucestershire exhaled a collective sigh of relief. Run by a small group of promoters from Hereford, iDLE HANDS presented Patrick Wolf to the Gloucester Guildhall on Monday 9th March.

Having seen Patrick numerous times

in various packed out venues around the country (including Shepherds Bush

live review

Empire in December 2007, where it was a struggle to breathe, never mind move) it was quite a shock to see the 380-capacity venue less than half full (or empty - depending on your outlook)! As Patrick took to the stage he appeared to be wearing a black leather chastity belt..... on his face (insert longshot at a metaphor of sexual repression and restraint here)..... Always a pleasure to see your costume, Patrick!

Patrick’s set showcased a great variety

of songs from the upcoming album, The Bachelor, including Damaris, Hard Times, and Back Down, mixed in with old-time favourites Tristan, Accident and Emergency and a newly-altered Teignmouth, which sounded definitively different, XVIII

live review

happier perhaps. He also performed a tweaked and produced Theseus, which has previously only been played acoustically. I was initially worried that Patrick was going to be a little shy, as he kept any conversation with the audience to a minimum in the first half of the show - I reasoned with myself that perhaps it was because he hadn’t toured for so long and wasn’t sure what to talk about. However he soon warmed to the stage as though he’d never left, and spoke of how pleased he was to be performing again -

“I’m here and I’m happy”, despite going through a particularly bad patch at the end of 2007, where it was

Steve Bateman/Big Machine Media

XIX

rumoured he wanted to quit music altogether. It looks like the new album is set to feature an eclectic mixture of songs, some heavily influenced by rock music (which is a direction I am, and others I’m sure, are surprised that Patrick is taking). He finished the set by going back to basics with a song named ‘Back Down’, featuring just an electric organ and drums, which Patrick wrote shortly after he learnt that his father was ill - saying that it was a return to nature after finishing The Magic Position & the promotional tour, what he summed up as “a year of excess”.

Next came the inevitable; what cos-

tume change would be better precedented

live review

by than an encore? Patrick returned to the stage in a cape designed by Ada Zanditon (created for the self-directed video for the first single taken from The Bachelor, Vulture), who has been busy backstage creating costumes for the tour. Adorned with an animal skull encrusted with pink jewels, Patrick bid the excitable crowd of Gloucester farewell by dedicating ‘The Magic Position’ to the parents of a long-time fan Gemma, who passed away last year. He described it as a “celebration of life”, a song that has opened many doors and opportunities for him - and certainly gained him a legion of adoring fans. XX

Thank you for taking the time to pick up and read the first copy of Risk and Consequence. If you enjoy it even a fraction of the amount that Ross enjoys camping, we’ll be a very happy boy and girl.

“We should put ribbons on it and everything!” - Cain With Thanks Editor: Kaylea Mitchem Designer: Cain Gill Co-Editor: Carl Howard

Artwork: Anneka Lange Amy Ellis

Contributors: Sam White Christian Allen Gareth Harper

Photography: Steve Bateman/Big Machine Media Jonathon Fisher Caroline Nordin

Special Thanks: Rob Kimber Expect Issue Two to land late Spring! Want to get involved? You can contact us at riskandconsequence@gmail.com Read our blog at riskandconsequence.blogspot.com Alternatively follow us at twitter.com/riskconsequence

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