Mariee Sioux, Georgina & Hurricane Lulu - Sat 29th May

New Adelphi Club, Hull
Mariee Sioux - A captivating Californian folk singer / guitarist blessed with the voice of an angel. Mariee has recently played gigs with fellow Nevada City musician Joanna Newsom.
'Full of Folksy breath and bittersweet syrup, Sioux crafts sorrowful organic sounds and scenes of ancient history... Enchantingly visceral at times, Sioux's songwriting is hard edged, gorgeously poetic and, well, graphic. The result is an overwhelmingly expansive sound that, while darkened by meticulous fantasy, is uplifted with a soft woodland warble.'
+ Georgia Seddon - A wonderful Scottish singer-songwriter who can also be found touring with her father, Mike Heron, of folk legends The Incredible String Band.
+ Hurricane Lulu - Yorkshire based musician who uses voice, violin & 'magic boxes' to create a glorious one woman choir & orchestra.

The Whalebone - live

'The Whalebone' - one of the last songs yet to be recorded for Salt in Wires. Built entirely from vocal loops. I tried it out live for the first time at the Adelphi in Hull. A chap called Eddy who films a lot of gigs there caught it on camera :0 (Check out the 'NoddyGuevara' channel on YouTube for more clips)


The Whalebone

A curtained tail and concubine cockle-shelled cooing lips
Roll of bone, does calve up & calm the mind
7 days, for 7 days I've been kicking rats off this raft
With the strangest of feelings, of something following me
So I root around, searching for the shiniest of peripherals
I hold it up, & then I see
On the seventh day. It was on the seventh day
On the seventh day I saw the whale.
Moving, we keep on moving
Keep the corners flat, score then fold
Take two ebbing tides tired of towns & car park lots
Since Thursday last I've been your meal & you my only friend.
You, my meat, my only friend
You may meet my only friend
A curtained tail, carving round in circles
A curtained tail is better than a smile
If I were Hull bound, I'd take you down The Whalebone
tell all the lads, that I was the greatest Whaler
And we would bask as one
Just as long as I had my harpoon gun. My gun.
Moving, we keep on moving
Keep the corners flat, score then fold
Take two ebbing tides tired of towns & car park lots
Since Thursday last I've been your meal & you my only friend.
Moving, the whale keeps on moving
Warm gills, gills that keep us breathing
Calling, the North-East girls are calling
Since Thursday last I've been your meal & you my only friend
You, my meat, my only friend
You may meet my only friend
Tell all the lads, I am the greatest whaler. The greatest whaler.
Tell all the lads, I am the greatest whaler. The greatest whaler.
My bonny lass, I am the greatest whaler. The greatest whaler.
My bonny lass, I am the greatest whaler. The greatest whaler.

Carla Bozulich, Cello Playing Francesco & cats in an old Italian house

Playing the New Adelphi Club, Hull
2nd May
Carla Bozulich (voice, guitar, effects & electronics)
Francesco Guerri (Cello)
Sup: Hurricane Lulu (voice, violin & magic boxes)

It is great news that Carla Bozulich (Constellation Records) is returning to Hull. This time she plays in a duo with Italian cellist Francesco Guerri. I was lucky enough to see Carla's 'Evangelista' whilst playing with Awash With AntleR *see bottom* a couple years ago. On 2nd May, I'm supporting as Hurricane Lulu (mostly Rose, my violin & I) . As my project is still unravelling, I'm not going to give too much away for now. I really hope you can make it. It should be a pretty special night. Lulu x

'I'm in the countryside outside Bologna in a big, ancient house playing music and cats with an awesome colleague / friend, Francesco. The paint is peeling. Giant fireplace warming my feet. We're making pasta with herbs that grow wild in the hills...All that other stuff can kiss my ass.' Carla Bozulich
(Official newsletter, 15th April)

*** For our 5 hard core Awash With AntleR fans (you know who you are)... Having been a bit more Hull bound this year already, professional tea & cake sessions with Sally & Emma have once again commenced. There are quite a few things lined up this summer. Please see http://www.myspace.com/awashwithantler for dates***

I love Radio 3! And pretentious prog rock too. There, I've said it :0 :0 :0

Distressed by waking up to hard edged news each morning (I prefer reality to kick in post cup of tea & shower), I've re-tuned my radio alarm to the soothing sounds of Radio 3. I know, this officially makes me very old! It also potentially beats my winter obsession with 70's pretentious prog rock. Ok, my long suffering boyfriend may argue about this. Now I set 'sleep' to the obscure sounds of Appalachian folk, sperm whales, & the clicky clicky sounds found on Late Junction. The wake up call of cheery 'classical lights' however, is not always to my bitter tastes. Bring on the darker pieces.

Bach's Chaconne for solo violin


PS. DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THE BAND I'VE BEEN OBSESSING OVER ALL YEAR???? DID I (?)

Images (of)

(c) Joseph Payne


(c) Ian Rook

Transylvania

January / February spent in Transylvania, Romania :0 Waltzing powdery snow, blood & howling wolves!

2nd Kitchen Cast

NERD ALERT!!! Electronic circuits & bent toys used to help create an electric storm soundtrack: Kawasaki keyboard, pink barbie violin & a photo resistor with blinking LED oscillating audio circuit.

Upcoming Hurricane Lulu gig

Exciting & nerve racking news. I will be doing my 1st Hurricane Lulu gig a week today (Tues 24th Nov) at the Adelphi Club. I'm supporting New York band DUFUS, described as ' a Downtown pagan mystery meeting'. Joseph, who does some of the artwork, will be joining me on guitar . I'm wheeling out my organ. Hope to see you there :) Lulu xXx

New Adelphi Club, De Grey St, Hull
Doors 8pm / Tax £5 /£6.

1st Kitchen Cast

Welcome to my 1st kitchen cast. Just some of the instruments used on Stormy Grace: carboot keyboards, teapot, thunder, kaossilator & am radio. Plus a tune sampler at the end. That's me & my brother in sail boats. I wrote some of the song on this day.

Lulu xXx

Introducing Lulu's Muffin Kitchen

Started the day programing beats for my island tune & got really racked off trying to learn my new edit program!!! So I sketched down some words for a different melody I've been humming in the shower & filmed it in my evil lair, & posted it on YouTube. I have since taken this down, as it was just a test & I thought it a bit pants really.

I probably shouldn't be revealing tunes in such raw format, especially with whiskey throat from the night before. You'd never get Helen Daniels, the extraordinary painter from aussie soap Neighbours doing that! She'd always wait until things were finished before flouncing them around the walls of her poor neighbours' unsuspecting homes.

Anyhow, I am going to dedicate a section on my youtube called Lulu's muffin kitchen ...intended for all things doughy & uncooked. They'll be a new film every month or so.

http://www.youtube.com/user/hurricanelulu#play/user/2A3B5EEAFF3F143F

Album Sampler : Roll the Death Ship

A snippet of the opening track for Salt in Wires - indian harmonium, violin & voice. Filmed in the creeks in Cornwall. I think maybe I've been watching too many horror movies lately. :0 :0 :0



These lines trailing across the ocean
Salty lines, beating with our voices
These miraculous storms come in every one hundred years
You would like the tropics, you were a hula hula dancer
These miraculous hands
These miraculous hands
Roll the death ship it is coming
Stall the death ship, it is coming
I've been on this shore too long
I've been on these shores too long
These miraculous minds
These miraculous minds

Leeds Festival '09

A knackerring weekend sound engineering & camping out at Leeds Festival :-0 Got to see most of the BBC Introducing Stage. Greatly enjoyed hearing Radiohead play songs from Kid A & In Rainbows. My highlight, by far, was Faith No More :) I'm a big fan of pretty much whatever Mike Patton does (Mr Bungle, Tomahawk, Mondo Cane), so this was a real treat. He was wearing silver pants & had a very shiney bottom. Amusingly, they kept on breaking into the Eastenders theme music. Now I'm back, I've had a 1 hour long shower to make up for the two freezing showers I had; one at midnight, one at 6 in the morning. I have caught up on some sleep. Waha! I am edging to get stuck back into some music, itch itch.... We did get in one campside drumming jam, but the spoil sport sound police threatened to throw us out. Why? because the children were sleeping. THE CHILDREN WERE SLEEEEEEPING wtf*K!!!
Tomahawk -

CD case - electronic instrument

Have just come across this wonderful cd by Moldover. He has turned his album case into an actual instrument! Most swish.



I have been busy mixing Stormy Grace . I had to re-do some of the drums, as I originally recorded them in straight from my zoom drum machine as a stereo track & it sounded well naff (not even in a cool lo-fi way). So I separated all the beats out, mixed some together with the kaosscilator & real recordings of me playing drums, teapots & table tops, panned them round, ran them through some effects & fattened them up a bit. Voila, they are starting to pulse & ripple now :) I need to get my circuit bent AM radio working again (which I accidentally destroyed) ... oh & I need an old typewriter... This will have to all wait till I get back from working at Leeds Festival this weekend.

Electric Violin

Well I have been having fun this week :) Here's a 5 string electric violin. The extra string on the bottom is the one a viola would have (C3) which makes for beefier, bassier sounds :o Yum. It sounds just as good as it looks. Peter & the good folk at Beverley Music Centre let me try it out. They run a workshop on Wednesday nights, so you could learn to make your own. Fun as that sounds, I'm fear I wouldn't have the time to do that. I doubt I'd match the craftmanship on this instrument anyhow. I'd like to get one custom made up at some point. Yah, it is on the wish list! (It turns out the man who made this instrument, Collin, is the brother of the hurdy gurdy man of Hornsea who repaired my harmonium)

Lu x
ps. Do get in touch if you play the electric violin. I'd be curious to hear about your experiences.







http://www.beverleymusiccentre.co.uk/

Illustration exhibition

Illustrations of my band, Awash With AntleR & I, made by the multi-talented Joseph Payne are appearing at an exhibition in London this week. The exhibition is on 16th - 19th July at the Islington Business Centre.

More info here -
http://www.newdesigners.com/page.cfm/link=7

Joseph's Flickr -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23joseph32/sets/72157623706417817/


PS. Joe has since made a wonderful illustration for my tune 'Stormy Grace' which I cannot wait to post ...

Hurricane Lulu

2009 / 2010 Release date tba -
Under gestation, mwahaha. A secret love affair with the violin, pump harmonium, beeps, beats & bent circuits. It is currently sounding like a dark death ship in the night! ... a tropical storm ...electrical interference... a haunted lighthouse... ok, that will do for now...

I'll be blogging more on this. Please, you are most welcome to join me. It may help me to stop going mad!

Lu x

Gigography

Please email me if you'd like to book me (Hurricane Lulu) or the band I play with (Awash With AntleR) -
handsomejam@googlemail.com

Hurricane Lulu = Lu + voice, violin, loops & effects.
Awash With AntleR = Lu, Emma, Sally + vocals, violin, viola, keyboard, stompbox, percussion & drums.

Lu x

Hurricane Lulu
2010
4th Aug: Mr Wolfs, Bristol
3rd Aug: The Front, Falmouth
12th June: Paradox @ Fuel Bar, Manchester
2nd May: s/ Carla Bozulich, Hull
29th May: s/ Mariee Sioux, Hull
2009
(organ set w/ Joseph on guitar)
24th Nov: New Adelphi Club, Hull

Awash With Antler
2010
31st July: Traveling Curiosity Show @ New Adelphi Club, Hull
20th June: Beverley Folk Festival, Beverley
10th June: CD Launch - 'All Night North' - Larkin 25 Hull
28th May: Eskimo Stage @ Springboard Festival, Cottingham
30th May: King Billy @ Springboard Festival, Cottingham
2009
30th Jun: Springboard Festival, Cottingham
13th May: w/ Elizabeth Devlin @ New Adelphi Club
13th Mar: EP party @ New Adelphi Club
22nd Feb: The Puppet Theatre, Norwich
7th Feb: s/ Sparrow & The Workshop @ The Packhorse, Leeds
6th Feb: The Boathouse, Cambridge
1st Feb: BBC Introducing Sesh, Radio Humberside & Leeds
2008
20th Dec: DIY HI5 xmas hosted by The Rocky Nest, Hull
8th Dec: Seaside FM acoustic sesh, Withernsea
4th Dec: Fucked up Thursday @ Dry Bar , Manchester
26th Nov: s/ Finley Quaye @ New Adelphi Club
18th Nov: w/ Anathallo @ New Adelphi Club
31st Oct: Halloween - private party, wilds of East Yorkshire
16th Oct: w/ I Concur @ New Adelphi Club, Hull
21st Sept: s/ Slow Club @ New Adelphi Club
12th Sept: w/ The Notebook @ The Lamp, Hull
16th Aug: s/ The Cave Singers @ New Adelphi Club
1st Aug: w/ Sunny Day in Glasgow, BRAINLOVE FESTIVAL, Leeds
27th Jul: Film Fun @ The Lamp, Hull
12th Jul: Newland Ave International Festival @ The Lamp, Hull
21st Jun: Summer Solstice @ The Boathouse
8th Jun: Cottingham Springboard Festival, Cottingham
14th May: w/ King Creosote @ The Lamp, Hull
26th Apr: Paul Burwell Tribute Party @ The Boathouse
25th Apr: s/ Carla Bozulich @ New Adelphi Club, Hull
13th Apr: s/ Curtis Eller @ New Adelphi Club
29th Mar: Funky Fundraiser @ New Adelphi Club
26th Mar: Cabaret night ‘Off The Road’ @ New Adelphi Club
1st Feb: Saturday Night Live @ Beverley Memorial Hall, Beverley
29th Jan: s/ Anni Rossi @ New Adelphi Club
27th Jan: BBC Raw Talent – acoustic - BBC Radio Humb & Leeds
5th Jan: Suck My Sound live radio sesh, Manchester

Assorted 2004 - 2007
Hull Community Voices @ Pearson Park Grassroots Fest
Hull Philharmonic Orchestra @ Hull City Hall
Iceland Airwaves Festival 2005 (w/ SMS), Iceland
Captain Xmas @ Glass 2005, Manchester
Assorted solo shows -
1999 - 2002
Busking in Brighton's 'The lanes'
The Pressure Point, Brighton
The Jazz Place (Miss Navaho) , Brighton
The Fishing Museum (w/ Bonnie) Brighton
Hove Peace Festival, (w/ Square Cow), Hove
Sallis Benney Theatre, Brighton
Going back, back, back in time ...
1992-1999 Nerd alert! Too many concerts to mention :0
Brighton Youth Orchestra, Brighton
Manchester Symphony Orchestra /Symphonia, Manchester
(including tour to Valencia, Spain '93, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Town Hall, Royal Northern College of Music)
Manchester Classical Guitar Ensemble
(Royal Northern College of Music)

Suck My Sound Podcast

I spent last weekend working on a new music podcast with my good friend Leanne. We used to do a radio show together on a small station in Manchester (WFM), then our old school friend Sarah took over when I left. Lea is now going to be doing a quarterly podcast, & I'll be helping out with some 'shed sessions' where I can. The next one is likely to include Norweigen, saw playing Ragnhild of 'The Bee's Neice' :)

SPRING PODCAST featuring The Joy Formidable, Magic Arm, Phil Eddleston, snack time & live shed session. Listen here -
http://www.suckmysound.org

Handmade Electronic Musical Instrument Workshop - AMSTERDAM

I’m just back from a week away in Amsterdam, where I attended a brilliant workshop: ‘Handmade Electronic Musical Instruments’ with Nicolas Collins at STEIM. Day 1 started with making 'electronic percussion' out of a raw loudspeaker, 9V battery, coins, and scrap metal (used as variable resistors). Voila, electronic maracas! We made & played around with contact (piezo disc) & coil mics. Then on to the circuit bending :) We each dissected a battery powered AM radio, laid our hands across the circuit boards & found marvelous sounds in the short circuits! Using the musical toys we were asked to bring, we tried to locate the resistor which controlled the clock chip and replace it with a variable pot = cheap, & fantastically weird alternate to a drum machine.



Days 2 & 3 got stuck in to making circuits from scratch, first on breadboard, and then soldered. This included an oscillating circuit, controlled with photo sensor resistors sat on top of blinking LEDS (my fave), a dirty sounding modulation circuit, a mixer and a phaser. I came away with bleeping, clicking, flashing circuits to use in my music. I need to box them all up now though! Nic had some examples where his circuits were housed in cigar boxes & old tins. I’m full of new ideas for recording techniques. The best thing about this course though is that it’s shown me how tactile electronic instruments can be, & has opened up many possibilities for using them in live performance. Watch this space!







Some other pics ...

View from my secret annexe -

Hot melted mograt & mozzarella pizza. Quite a speciality !

Westerkerk Clock Tower (view from fleamarket)

Canal boat garden.

Cornwall - March '09

I'm in Cornwall at the mo, staying with my family. I've been most busy, going out with my laptop recording the sea, talking to the wind in the trees ;) and making a wee film. It's been a great week. I even managed to do a bit of sailing, coffee & ginger cake, carboot & fleamarket rumaging & mountain biking too :)








Sat 21st
Went to a great gig at Miss Peapods in Penryn. Peter Walker (60s American guitarist) & Nancy Elizabeth were playing. I'd seriously check Lancashire lass Nancy out. Her music is sublime. She sometimes plays harp & piano, but used guitar on this gig. According to her website, she's working with a Japanese electronic artist on her next album. Now this I can't wait to hear! -
www.myspace.com/nancyelizabethcunliffe



This morning, my brother & I hired sail boats at Stithians. The sun was shining & we had the whole lake to ourselves! I managed not to capsize on this occasion. I'm at my folks' house now, but am leaving soon to walk round to my brother's house for tea & a cowboy film. He'll no doubt subject me to a whole night of excerpts from his 70s prog rock / folk record collection...which I've seen & heard all before :0 :0 :0 Maybe there'll be a couple of obscure additions of bearded ones playing psychedelic flute whilst riding a unicorn.



If you can get round the gurning, it's a great tune. Jethro Tull -



Sun 22nd
Up at arse o'crack this morning to go to a carboot sale in Hayle. Picked up 2 keyboards (1 midi controller, 1 broken vintage organ (I will try to repair) (pictured bellow) & one obnoxious, rock star-esq, fake fur coat, which is rather smelly & needs a good Atlantic airing. Set up camp in the kitchen. This is where I'll be programming some beats using my laptop, kaosscilator & zoom drum machine.






























Tues 24th
Big bike ride today to Portreath (Bissoe trail) through old mining country where the water still runs red! Very sore bottom :0