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Roddy Woomble is well travelled and he's got the book to prove it.
I I feel guilty every time I walk onto a budget airlines aeroplane. what With all the newspaper articles I‘ve been reading abOut climate change. AerOplanes being some of the worst polluters. and budget airlines enc0uraging everyone to fly. It's so cheap though, and who cares about not getting any food. it was disgusting anyway. I take a picnic. Regardless. l was flying to Berlin. where I spent a few days wandering. seeing a concert and hanging around with my only remaining friend from my brief time at university who lives there.
Knowing someone who lives in the city you're visiting is just about the best thing. Right from the start you feel more comfonable. and are given more of a sense of the place. before a guidebook has been opened or a question asked. We were staying in the Friedrichshein area in a weird hotel that took over one floor of an imposing looking communist—era building. The area itself (like much of Berlin) is ‘up and coming' whatever that means; basically it‘s the son of place you can get an apple and calvados crepe at three in the morning; people turn their living rooms into record shops. and hipsters in ankle boots overtake gnarly old grannies on the crumbling pavements. The kind of place the guidebooks don‘t tell you about. Often they're the best places to be.
I'm addicted to guidebooks. Actually, I think I'd like to write one. or at least contribute to one. I like the idea of every single place. every bar. cafe. hotel. art gallery and museum in every major city. being summarised and graded and put in a little book you can keep in your jacket. We get subtly guided everyday — directions. instructions. reviews and opinions — so it‘s not such a special thing. Or maybe I just like guidebooks because I like holidays.
I Roddy Woomble's solo album My Secret is My Silence is out 24 July on Pure Records. See Surface Noise. page 69 for full details of his forthcoming tour.
64 THE LIST 8—22 Jun 2006
i4/j'r/K KHOMA King Tut‘s. Glasgow. Mon 12 Jun
‘We have a vision of creating heavy music that reflects more feelings than just sheer aggression. Sometimes whispering can be more powerful than screaming,’ says Jan Jamte, one third of the core of new rock outfit Khoma. Proving perhaps that it is indeed the quiet ones you‘ve got to watch. Khoma started as a musical outlet for three young Swedish college students - vocalist Jan Jamte. guitarist Johannes Persson, and Fredrik Kihlberg on guitar/piano - the trio bringing their aforementioned ethos to bear on their embryonic noisy experiments. The results were fruitful and they quickly recorded a clutch of songs which became their debut Tsunami. They were however, still only part evolved.
‘We weren’t even a real band, merely a project filling a musical void, something we created because we felt a need to play together,‘ explains Jamte. ‘Since we had no real goals and no one expected anything, we also had nothing to lose.‘
.JAZZ
ALISTER SPENCE TRIO
Jazz Centre at The Lot, Edinburgh. Wed 14 Jun; Brel, Glasgow, Thu 15 Jun
Back in 1988. Glaswegian saxophonist TOlty Gorinan and his Australian .‘.’lif:. saxophonist Sandy Evans. linked up Wllil Aussie keyboard player Alister Spence in Sydney to form Clarion Fracture Zone. an excellent group that toured here a couple of times. and made some impressive recordings.
The band were forced to scale down their activities after Tony German .'.as diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1.997. Alister Spence now returns to Scotland With his own trio. featuring two more former Clarion Fracture Z’N‘f: musicians: bass player Lloyd Scranton and drummer Toby Hall.
‘The trio first got together nine years ago in Sydney. but .'.e nad all ola,ed together a lot before that.‘ he says. 'For me the band goes from Siffjl‘gll‘ to strength I have written a lot of nevi; material that we hope to record this year
The pianist is also a member of the Melbourne-based Ai.istralian Art Orchestra. a large contemporary jazz ensemble. As well as being regarded as one of Australia's best jazx pianists. Spence composes film music. and has received nominations for his scores in Australian film awards.
Previous yiSitors from Australia hay e left a fa.ourable impression of current developments on the jazz scene down under. and on the e.’l(l€llC€ presented by the group's current CD. Fm, recorded in 2003. they should be ‘.‘.’E:li i.-.iortn Checking Out on their first ‘.lSlI to Scotland. The band .-.ill be joined by a special guest for the second of their Scott=sh dates at Brei in Glasgo ill the shape of alto saxophonist Ray mend MacDonald, iKenny Mat‘niesOn
Such is the tight-knit music scene in their hometown of Umea, that when they hooked up with three other musicians to help further explore their sonic intentions. they were already involved with other bands including the Perishers. the Deportees and legendary metal outfit Cult of Luna. The result is a band evolving with a side project‘s timetable but retaining the energy of something that is a primary concern for the players.
On record. Khoma‘s music evokes the hollow. sonorous tendencies of Echo and the Bunnymen, the soaring riffs of Deftones at their most contemplative and the glacial majesty of Muse. except perhaps with that band‘s distinctly English campness replaced with an unfettered Scandic confidence. Their second album The Second Wave is startling. Songs like ‘Stop Making Speeches' and ‘Through Walls‘ are huge and imposing slabs of guitar and drum bombast laced with exhilarating choruses. Cold. crisp and pure; the icy Scandinavian cliches come running out on hearing it, but this is a truly special record. We can only hope they stay together long enough to let us enjoy even more. (Mark Robertson)