Hammer and Tongue featuring Stephen Morrison-Burke

The headline act for Hammer and Tongue this month is the 2013 slam champion Stephen Morrison-Burke. He stormed to victory in London after winning the Cambridge heat last year. Now he's on tour to share his powerful work with H&T audiences around the country. To get an idea of what to expect listen to him on this show from earlier last year.

28.7.13 with Stephen Morrison-Burke by Headstand on Mixcloud

All dates are on www.hammerandtongue.co.uk. The most relevant ones to readers of this blog are 7th November in Brighton and 13th November in Cambridge. Support in Brighton comes from another recent guest on Headstand Tommy Sissons.

Next month it's the Brighton final which I'll be competing in on December 6th.

Headsound: Tom Adams - Migration

Migration is the first track to released from Tom Adams' new EP: In The Constant Noise. Ambient sounds, delicate piano and Tom's tender vocals building to a powerful crescendo create a spectacular cathedral of sound which gently dissolves into a silent void. Impressive results for a late night session with a hand-held recorder.

All the new songs on the EP were recorded this way. Tom explains:

"This brings an intentionally imperfect and intimate feel to each track as every recorded layer features the sounds of birds, wind, rustling leaves and other natural sounds unique to the recording location.
By emphasising and celebrating these imperfections, the EP explores the idea of silence in a world where high levels of background noise are the the norm.
The result is a highly emotional set of new songs that invite you to listen to music and the sounds around you differently. Whilst each new song tells its own story, they are all unified in a melancholic lament for the sounds that have been lost in the constant noise."

Interview: Euros Childs

Headstand favourite Euros Childs plays Brighton this Saturday. The former frontman of Welsh indie band Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, has had a prolific solo career.  Last year’s album Summer Special was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize and he has already released the follow-up Situation Comedy. 

The album was recorded with a band in a live environment. “I've worked this way on quite a few albums,” he says. “It's probably the first album I've made in which all songs are sung from the perspective of different characters.” These include an Avon lady and a singer who realises: “nobody is really listening,” on Holiday From Myself. The album finishes with a 13-minute mostly instrumental piece, Trick of the Mind. “I wanted the album to finish on an unexpected note,” he says.

There was an unexpected note or two at a previous solo gig in Brighton. He recalls: “I played a solo gig with a piano in a church a few years ago. I was in the middle of a song called Poodle Rocking and a piano string snapped and hit a woman sitting in the front row. Luckily she was unharmed.”

He will be playing with a full band on Saturday towards the end of a national tour, then it will be time to take a break and plan the next album.

Euros Childs plays Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, 9-12 Middle Street, Saturday November 2nd, 7pm, Tickets £10. Support: Laura J Martin and The Wellgreen.

Headsound: Kaninchen - Broke Up

Duo Craig Taylor-Broad and Chris Trevena recorded their latest EP in warehouses and public toilets to accent the perfect amount of natural reverb to fit a single vocal part.
The five intertwined tracks blend poetic monologues, movie dialogue with atmospheric instrumental arrangements.
The duo are from Cornwall but their sound draws on Scottish influences Belle and Sebastian, Arab Strap, Mogwai and Boards of Canada.

Rob Auton and Brighton Poetry Society

I'm still getting to know the Brighton spoken word scene but there are a couple events coming up in the next week.

On Saturday there's a chance to witness the surreal humour of yellow loving, blue sky thinking Rob Auton as he performs The Sky Show upstairs at the Three and Ten on Steine Street. It starts at 6pm and tickets are available here.

On Monday Brighton Poetry Society host an open mic event at The Victory Inn, Duke Street from 8pm. Entry by donation. More info here.

If you know of any other music or spoken word events in Brighton that deserve a plug get in touch.

Headsound: Cloneliness - Sights

Osaka based Canadian-French artist and musician Charles-Eric Billard has regularly featured on Headstand since the beginning in various guises. His improvisations on found and homemade instruments intrigue with skewed sounds and mesmerising rhythms.

His latest pieces released under solo monika Cloneliness are smoother and more melodic. Acoustic and electronic elements blend into finely crafted performances though still with a refreshing touch of spontaneity. Enjoy the concise 'Sights' then delve deeper into his recordings on Soundcloud.

Show: 20.10.13 with Tom Sissons

This show features an interview and poetry with Tom Sissons. At 18 this Brighton based poet has already published his first pamphlet, reached the national finals of Hammer and Tongue Poetry Slam and done a national tour with Apples and Snakes.

You can also hear:

The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
Melt-Banana - Infection Defective
Euros Childs - Tête à Tête
Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer - Hail The Chap
Arnaud Rodrigues - Turma Da Poiê
Chris T-T & The Hoodrats - The Bear
Tom Sissons - Poetry
Gran Kino feat Ayanda Nhlangothi, Burni Aman, Manelis, Jitsvinger - Brand New Day
Afrodita Nikolova - Thresholds
The Handsome Family - Owls
Polymath - Vertex
Isolation - Kafuka

20.10.13 with Tom Sissons by Headstand on Mixcloud