Dusty Curtain Face (2007) Review Please check out the kind words of Oli Da Bass in this awesome review, thank you sir, much appreciated.
Rhodes
http://olidabass.blogspot.com/2011/02/cd-review-matt-stevens-and-hobopope-and.html
Saturday, 12 February 2011CD Review: Matt Stevens and Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral
Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral - ‘Dusty Curtain Face’ (2007)
self released, CD, £1
http://www.hobopope.com/
I’ll start this review with an apology: I’m going to mention Cardiacs a lot. I’m sure there are a lot of deeply obscure bands out there that could also bear a comparison with Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral (hereinafter to be referred to as the party of the first part, or maybe HATGC), but I don’t know about them, more’s the pity.
I say ‘more’s the pity’ because I like this sort of thing. You may be wondering what ‘this sort of thing’ entails, and the answer is simple: pronk.
This is a genre label, a contraction of ‘progressive punk’, which refers to a fusion of punk aesthetics and instrumental texture, with a progressive and sophisticated approach to the selection and use of musical materials. It is a term most frequently applied in relation to Cardiacs (although chief Cardiac Tim Smith prefers to refer to his music as ‘pop’; if we take genre labels as a convenient shorthand used to give music lovers a general idea of what a band might sound like, then I can’t begin to describe how utterly ludicrous that is!)
So pronk is a good starting place for HATGC, as is saying that it sounds a bit like Cardiacs: when I first heard them play (or him, as the multi-talented Paul Rhodes was making do with just a backing tape for a band), I thought ‘that sounds like Cardiacs’. Which is the only time I’ve heard any band other than Cardiacs and thought that. I’m going to leave Cardiacs alone now, because they are indeed an obvious influence, and Rhodes is a big fan, but he also has a musical brain of his very own, and it is an imaginative and creative one. His music is anything but derivative, and it has lot of unique features what he made up without copying a famous band.
One of the first things you might find is that a lot of the melodies don’t sound normal. That’s because they’re not. Normal melodies are based on one of a handful of musical scales: a lot of the melodies on this album sound to me as though they’re based on the whole tone scale, which is not one of those handful of scales. It is a symmetrical scale, which means that any one of its notes can equally well serve as the root note of any given phrase, leading to a sense of ambiguity and, well, rootlessness. This puts a slant on the music from the word go: it gives it a weird mood, as though you had unwittingly crossed into a parallel, similar, but subtly different universe.
Another thing that’s odd is the phrasing. Chords (and melodies) tend to be sequenced in long, meandering chains, that don’t come to a logical conclusion like a harmonic rhythm normally does, and that don’t cycle round in nice predictable little sub-phrases so that we’ll find it easy to sing along. Rhodes, sadly for those who want a sing along, and happily for me and other weirdos of a similar disposition, is not about to switch off his imagination in order to make things easier for us to digest.
Rhythmically the music usually sounds straightforward, at a basic level, but over the ground beat are layered all kinds of displacements, odd numbered groupings and abrupt gear changes in and out of half time, which has an effect on the listener nearly as unsettling as the unconventional melodic resources.
All of this is very clever, but it’s not about being clever: it’s about making sounds that are challenging, that demand your attention, and do not just remind you of something else you’ve heard. Most of the instrumental textures will be familiar from the heavier end of the rock spectrum, but that’s like saying the instruments used in the Rite Of Spring are the same as some of the ones in the Marriage Of Figaro: it doesn’t give you much warning!
Personally I find this music deeply satisfying to listen to: it is stimulating, intriguing, intelligent and passionate in a way that doesn’t jump about and draw attention to itself, but almost hides behind its ostensible weirdness. And it doesn’t entirely eschew the cheap tricks of less uncompromisingly creative music: I’ve just been having a very nice metal-head type time listening to the bizarre acid-thrash mayhem of B.I.A.B.W.A.B.I., the album’s final track.
There is singing. It’s kind of submerged in the mix, and I generally pay as much attention to the lyrics as I think the artist wants me to: in other words, if there are lyrics on the CD insert, or in an obvious place on the website, I’ll pay close attention to what the songs are ‘about’, but if they’re hard to hear and not reproduced, I’ll assume that they’re not crucial to an understanding of the music. It’s pretty clear these are not ‘ooh baby I love you’ songs or ‘feel the rhythm’ dancefloor anthems, but beyond that, I wouldn’t like to say. If that means I’ve totally missed the entire point of the album so be it.
In conclusion, this is not for the faint-hearted, or the closed-minded. This is for the open-eared listener with a willingness to embrace new sounds, and to be taken on a journey without continually clutching at generic reference points. It is some of the most creative and technically accomplished music I’ve come across recently, and also some of the most intelligent.
Posted by Oli at 00:26 Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz
|
- Friday, December 23, 2011
7:30 pm
- DCF Records and Kibou Records presents......
-
The Northcroft Social Club:
Sudbury, Suffolk, UK
(MAP)
- A night of awesome bands i've had the pleasure of recording on the Dusty Curtain Face label.
MEADOWS
CHESTBURSTER
THE DOMESTICS
ED ACHE
Expect loud crushing noise, punk riffage, face shredding grind,
10 ton doom and all over awesomeness.
- £1
-
18+
- Thursday, December 15, 2011
8:00 pm
- An Evening of Acoustic noise with ED ACHE (and hobopope)
-
The White Horse:
North Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10
(MAP)
- An evening of acousticness with ED ACHE, HOBOPOPE, JACK NEWNHAM and more TBC.
Expect punk, prog, circus, reggae, blues, niceness, horribleness and down right oddness.
Probably the most eclectic acoustic evening around.
- FREE
-
18+
- Thursday, October 20, 2011
8:00 pm
- An Evening with ED ACHE
-
The White Horse:
North Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10
(MAP)
- An evening of acoustic fun with ED ACHE, HOBOPOPE AND THE GOLDFISH CATHEDRAL and TEDDY DRISCOL. Expect punk,prog,reggae,circus,crush and oddness.
- FREE
-
18+
- Friday, May 20, 2011
7:30 pm
- Spritus Promo Presents
-
The Northcroft Social Club:
Sudbury, Suffolk, UK
(MAP)
 - FREE
-
18+
- Thursday, April 14, 2011
8:00 pm
- HOBOPOPE, ED ACHE and UMBRELLA ASSASINS @ The White Horse
-
The White Horse:
North Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, UK
(MAP)
- FREE
-
18+
- Saturday, December 5, 2009
7:30 pm
- Rock and Punk at The Fleece Inn
-
The Fleece Inn:
Boxford, Nr Sudbury, Suffolk
(MAP)
- Awesome night of music from
THE FANNY PADS
CHUCKIN' CUSTARD
HOBOPOPE AND THE GOLDFISH CATHEDRAL
- Wednesday, November 25, 2009
8:00 pm
- Rockin' Horse
-
The White Horse:
North Street, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10
(MAP)
-
18+
- Thursday, November 12, 2009
7:00 pm
- Frog Morris Presents
-
The Montague Arms:
289 Queens Road, New Cross, New Cross, London, SE15 2PA
(MAP)
- Saturday, September 12, 2009
1:00 pm
- FROGSTOCK
-
The Swan:
Coney Weston
(MAP)
Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral shall be at FROGSTOCK on Saturday 12th September. For more info check out the Frogstock website at www.frogstock.frogmorris.net
- Sunday, June 7, 2009
2:00 pm
- FELSHFEST
-
The Playing Fields:
Felsham, Suffolk
(MAP)
THE EVENT IS FREE, THE DAY KICKS OFF AT 2PM. MUSIC WILL START AT 2 OR 3PM . AS PART OF FELSHAM FUNDAY, STUFF WILL BE GOING ON ALL OVER THE PLACE. THIS IS CHILD FRIENDLY (THEY CAN GO NUTS) AND THERE WILL BE BEER, FOOD, MAGICIANS, DOGS .. OH IT GOES ON AND ON
PLENTY OF PARKING SO GET DOWN AND HELP RAISE MONEY FOR THE LOCAL KIDS!!
KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE DETAILS AS WE GET CLOSER.. www.myspace.com/felshfest
BANDS
Over the sun
Hobopope and the goldfish cathedral
Lost town Legion
The Great Ashfield Project
A Touch of Class
Rock on....
- Friday, May 1, 2009
8:00 pm
- Indecent Exposure
-
The Old Maltings:
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
(MAP)
- Wednesday, April 1, 2009
7:00 pm
- Masons Arms Songwriting Comp
-
Masons Arms:
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
(MAP)
- Hobopope and the Goldfish Cathedral shall be coming at you in all acoustic glory, i have no idea how this gig will sound. Bonkers i reckon.
|
