Wednesday 20 July 2011

This week I have been mostly listening to.....

1977 by Ash! I bought this record when it came out in early 1997, I loved it then and I still love it now, and to think that Tim Wheeler and co where only 15-17 when they recorded it shows you how some people are just 'born with it'. Compare them with other bands of the late nineties (popular or not), such as Saves The Day and Braid - also fantastic musicians and songwriters. I don't want to sound old fashioned, but they just DON'T make them like they used to. Or perhaps they do, but there are SO many bands around nowadays who are willing to do whatever it takes to sell records, that the genuinely good/unique ones often get left to fester under the dark scaly underbelly of the underground music scene. Perhaps they're better off there though, with the music scene in its current state.

The reason I love this record is that it sums up everything about being young, in love, enjoying the Summer but without the hideous cheesy element of bands who sing about similar subjects (we can all think of a few). The age of the band at this point certainly has something to do with it, it's REAL. The production is AMAZING. 1977 was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales (also where Sepultura recorded Chaos AD, and Oasis recorded Definitely Maybe) - it was produced by a favourite of mine, Owen Morris, who is a pioneer of the 'brick walling' technique where everything is recorded as LOUD as it will possibly go! You can hear that everything is in the red, but it suits the band so well, and again seperates them from bands writing about similar subjects but having the horrible clinical 'clean' and synthetic production! What a record!

Onto to other things anyway, studio related of course:

ANCHOR BABY TV has now put it's first episode up for your viewing pleasure. It's a 100% live recording + HD video service being offered by myself and Stretch (bass player from Yamaharahara). If you're interested in something like this for your own band (location can be anywhere) then please e-mail anchorbabyrecordings@live.co.uk - you can see the first episode here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEMAUlqLIqU and also our 'pilot' test episode here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EpDSjpGRDU

The studio has been really busy over the last few weeks, with recordings from The Fix, Magnets, Tener Duende (live video), Blaise Paisel, Project Plenty, Ruby's Wishes and more. Plus, a load of cool bands coming up including Yes We Canada!, Chutes, Penthouse...Nice!

More news, and brand new recordings up online soon!