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 Scatter are a large
Glaswegian ensemble with a somewhat fluid membership, who create music to
spite those who classify sound into genres. There’s a lot of brass
instrumentation (over some fairly swinging rhythms), but you wouldn’t call
them jazz; there is a proliferation of voices and acoustic instruments,
though you wouldn’t call them folk; but there are flourishes of stranger
sounds - electronics, vocal babbling, and odd percussion - as well as
ethnic/rock leanings. At their core Scatter are a glowing ball of musical energy;
the clatter of various instruments are layered to create their dialogue.
Scatter were recently invited to support Belle & Sebastian at shows in
London and Edinburgh, and one of their former members now plays guitar in a
certain Franz Ferdinand.
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 George
(aka Michael Varty and Suzy Mangion) sound partly like Manchester's answer to
Low, but a studied eccentricity percolates their music, pitched somewhere
between folk electronica and sepia-hued melancholy. Instrumentally, George
display an antiquarian's magpie methodology, with their vintage sense of
otherness broadly occupying the same territory as Pram or Young Marble Giants
- the music's junk shop aesthetic matching primitive electronica and music
box tinkling. However, Suzy Mangion's voice cuts through the muggy layer of
postmodernism to deliver songs that beautifully capture a sense of perpetual
loss through the passing of time itself.
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 Oddfellows Casino
is the latest incarnation of Brighton-based singer-songwriter David Bramwell,
whose past exploits have included recording with cult producer Kramer for the
Shimmy Disk/Koko-Pop label. Bramwell makes some of the most swooningly
harmonic melodic pop-as-art being recorded today. Lush, dreamy intimate
constructions made from a mixture of folk, jazz, avant garde pop, show tunes,
bright acoustic and electronic textures, as well as classical flourishes, all
employed with great empathy and tenderness. Oddfellows Casino have recently
released their 2nd album, 'Winter Creatures' (on Pickled Egg). Written and
recorded in collaboration with Stereolab's Simon Johns, the album mixes
elements of psychedelia, the dark folk sounds of the Wickerman, dirty
electronica and early Soft Machine, all held together by Johns' punchy drum
and bass playing, Emma Pepper and Alistair Strachan's melodic horns, and
Bramwell's tender voice and accomplished song-writing.
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 James Green
is the brainchild behind Sheffield/Leeds-based ensemble, Big Eyes, who,
over the past four or five years, have become something of a Pickled Egg
houseband, releasing no fewer than four albums for the label. Although Big
Eyes are currently undergoing something of a musical revamp, James has
continued to write music and perform solo, and those familiar with his
group's discography will recognise James' unmistakeable grasp for simple,
affecting melody, presented with an honest, confessional simplicity, which
commands attention. By consciously limiting himself to the acoustic guitar,
James has developed a sound that might complement the New Folk troubadours
currently emerging from the US, such as Jack Rose or Ben Chasny (Six Organs
of Admittance), but with a lightness of touch almost absent in any of those
guitarists' work. Let it be said that this is closer to the work of Mick Turner
(Dirty Three), John Williams, Bert Jansch, Eric Satie or Debussy than Fahey,
Kottke, Basho or other names so often paraded but rarely equalled.
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 Zukanican are
like an unholy hardcore collision between Can, The Soft Machine and Art
Ensemble of Chicago: theremin battery, skippy keys, s-bending bass, drill
pattern drums, siren organ in continuum, other pulses muscling in on the
action, a diversion into free-funk with sci-fi white noise cutting across.
This is merely track one. Sax skronks, flights of intense fancy, you can
imagine Acid Mothers' Cotton Casino wanting to collaborate with this lot, but
would be hard pressed to make it more dynamic than it already is, or cram
much more in than is already there. This is a jammed door-way of sound.
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 Dragon
or Emperor are the recently formed
two-piece of Aaron Moore (Volcano the Bear, Songs of Norway) on Drums/vocals,
and Stewart Brackley (Black Carrot, Songs of Norway) on bass guitar/vocals.
To-date, they've only played a handful of live shows, but have already caused
quite a stir with their explosive, high energy shows, which reminded this
observer of nothing less than some bastard offspring of Pere Ubu and
Lightning Bolt. They could be huge, if they want to be.
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