ALBUM REVIEW: KULA SHAKER – K2.0
London’s 60’s revivalists, Kula Shaker, are set to release K2.0, their first album in almost 6 years on 12th February. The album title seems to be a play on 1996’s K 20 years on, but is the album set to be a celebration of that career or something new?
Opening with a sitar, indian rhythm and droning vocals “We are one, the infinite sun, fly like an eagle” on Infinite Sun, it’s immediately obvious that you’re listening to Kula Shaker. The track is instantaneously infectious, wonderfully psychedelic and has a familiar feel (perhaps due to it’s similarity to Strangefolk’s Song of Love/Narayana). Following this is Holy Flame, the verse of which is reminiscent of Blur’s Coffee & TV but with a soaring and upbeat piano-rock chorus. The more closely you listen, the more upbeat 90’s Brit-pop styling you can hear flowing through out K2.0. There’s even a little bit of the noughts in there with a Zutons-esque vocal lurking in Let Love B (With You).
As expected, the lyrics are often abstract, but also observational and witty. A great example of the latter is country ditty, 33 Crows which brings forth a wry smile from the outset. It is a satyrical story which looks at a past relationship where an omen “33 crows in the middle of the road, that’s when my heart said no” convinces the narrator not to move in with their partner. The line “you might end up with no-one to call a friend, unless they are canine, or equine” had me chuckling to myself which, in public wearing headphones necessitated a prompt but unsuccessful attempt to hide behind my notebook to avoid bemused looks!
There’s little to dislike about the album, the only thing for me was a cliché stab at Christianity in Oh Mary and the random hippy sound-bites (which sound a lot like Billy Connolly minus a few F words). As we’re talking about a 60’s revival act here I guess that clichés may be somewhat irrelevant but talking about not being able to make it to space on a bus or space-rocket but going there in your mind is abstract at best!
Going back to that long stretch since 2000’s Pilgrim’s Progress, it’s obvious that long periods between albums is nothing new to Crispian and Co. as this is only their 5th LP in their 20 year career. Fortunately, this method yields quality over quantity yet again. Kula Shaker have done what they do best with K2.0 and produced an infinitely likeable collection of upbeat and happy psychedelic Brit-pop numbers. It’s a good egg but whether this will fly among the droves of 90’s act comeback albums it’s hard to tell however, I reckon K2.0 stands as good a chance as any I’ve heard of late.
Source: ALBUM REVIEW: KULA SHAKER – K2.0
Audrey Evans and Alonza Bevan of Tumblewild Discuss Their Evocative New Album, When the World Had Four Corners
via http://www.huffingtonpost.com
What do you get when you mix a founding member of chart-topping women’s choral group Mediaeval Baebes with a founding member of chart-topping psychedelic rock band Kula Shaker? It’s amazing, and you can hear the results on When the World Had Four Corners, the brilliant, brand-new album, just released, by Tumblewild. The group, currently a duo and set to expand, consists of married couple Audrey Evans and Alonza Bevan, she of lyrics and lead vocals, he of bass, guitar, keys, etc.
Alonza and I have met — once, in L.A. — when Alonza was touring with Aqualung (following his work with Johnny Marr and the Healers), and he had just picked up a tiny baby grand piano for the child Audrey and he were expecting. A few years later, that’s their Lewis on their new album’s cover, posing before the barn-turned-studio the couple have converted to record, among other things, the latest Kula Shaker album, and of course Tumblewild’s When the World Had Four Corners. I congratulate them on both the boy and the album, and ask about “Revenge,” their new single and video. Audrey picks up the other line and orchestrates.
“Well, I can talk about the video,” she says to Alonza, “and you can talk about the song, yeah?”
“I wanted to do a nice, dark, dirty blues number, really,” reflects Alonza, “and Audrey came up with a great lyric. We constructed it in the studio — played everything ourselves on that one. We wanted to chuck some un-bluesy intstruments into the blues soup, like the Indian tamboura, and stuff like that. And even the approach to the drums was kind of a bit more voodoo-tribal, as opposed to the blues thing. Musically it was just a big play on the blues, but mixing up a nice soup.”
Audrey chimes in on the visuals: “Well, we live not far — we’re lucky — it’s not far from an old steam train line. It’s run by amateurs, so they just do it for fun. And you can pretty much go there and look at whatever you want: you can look at trains, you can get on a train — so we turned up there. We had some Scottish friends over, and our friend Scott had a camera, and we just did it there and then.”
In one day. Not bad! Alonza laughs: “We got a lot of freebies on that one. Normally it costs quite a lot to get a steam train in a video.”
Audrey Evans & Alonza Bevan are Tumblewild
Audrey and Alonza name-check Bonnie and Clyde as creative inspirations, which prompts Audrey to share some of her methodology:
“All the songs we do, I can’t sing about myself. Every song — it’s not a scene — but it is inspired by something: by a photograph, or by a book I have read, or by fairy tales. And this one was kind of inspired by Dial M for Murder — you know, the Hitchcock film. So it’s got that, but then you add the bluesy kind of thing to it, so there’s a theme to it, a kind of revenge theme.
They both laugh, and Alonza riffs on “Hell hath no fury…” Then Audrey continues:
“But also, the album is kind of influenced by the move we made, from London to this remote village in the middle of the woods, and kind of discovering our surroundings, and living a different life.”
“We feel a bit like outlaws here — now that we’ve left London,” adds Alonza. I ask if they fade in, or stick out.
“We are ‘les Anglais,'” he concedes. ‘Oh: les Anglais.’ They knew — we hadn’t been here more than a day, and we bumped into someone in another village, a few villages away, and we were chatting, and he said, ‘Oh, you’re the English.’ And word had already spread. People around here are super-friendly. That was remarkable, coming from London.”
Fueling up with Tumblewild
Does Alonza, being Welsh, take umbrage to being called “English”?
“It’s funny for me,” he declares, “because I was brought up in England, but my parents were both Welsh — and particularly my father, was very nationalist-Welsh, like they all are, really — and just had a huge contempt for the English. It was a real dilemma for me, growing up, you know, within that English culture, while also having — they killed our king, you see.”
I express condolences.
“It’s a funny, schizophrenic thing,” continues Alonza. “As Audrey says, I’m only ‘Welsh-ish.’ When I try to tell her I’m Welsh, she explains that I’m ‘Welsh-ish.'”
“Yeah, a little bit of Welsh,” laughs Audrey, returning to their change in environs. “It was amusing to come to the country — we had that kind of romantic ideal of like, oh, lovely walks, meadows — but we didn’t think of, you know, basic things, like plumbing and heating.”
“Heating’s a problem,” admits Alonza. “Nothing to do with the album, but yeah, it’s true: They don’t have buttons here, or like a little dial you turn up when it gets cold, you just turn it, and it gets warmer? You kind of have to cut wood. You have to work for your warmth.”
The work has paid off. When the World Had Four Corners is terrific, already one of the great albums this year. We discuss a few tracks, and I ask if that’s Lewis’ baby-baby grand on the delicate “Elevator Girl.”
“No, that would be cool, wouldn’t it?” responds Alonza. “It’s actually very out-of-tune, that piano. That’s a little glockenspiel — it’s something that Audrey rescued from an old school. It’s sad, a lot of the music education of the early years is changing, so they’re chucking out all those old little Fisher Price bells, and glockenspiels, and things like that — but they sound great, they record great.” He cites a Serge Gainsbourg inspiration (Hammond organ, et al) — and lo! there’s “Bonnie and Clyde” again. Consistent, these two.
Audrey brings the backstory: “It’s inspired by a Robert Frank photograph called ‘Elevator Girl.’ This girl, that’s her job — that’s all she does, she’s pushing buttons, and no one sees her. That photo takes that kind of loneliness, and it spoke to me — so I decided to write a song about it.”
Detailing another: “‘Lucinda’ — that song was inspired by a book called Water for Elephants (by Sara Gruen) — they did a film afterwards — and it’s a story about a fat lady in the circus, and the man telling the story — and that spoke to me — how they used to ‘red-light’ people: they used to chuck them off the train!”
Audrey shares her appreciation for Edward Hopper, then turns to a haunting, standout track. “‘Sweet Bones’ is actually ‘The Grasshopper and the Ant,'” she says, and asks if I know what it is. (Pleasingly, I do: Aesop’s fable.) “It’s my favorite of Aesop’s fables, and it used to terrify me as a kid! I thought, ‘I really want to be an ant! But I know that I’m a grasshopper at heart.’ Actually, I think I married a grasshopper.”
The two share a good chuckle. I ask how Alonza and Audrey — the bass-man and the Baebe — manage to merge their estimable talents.
“We have very different musical tastes, to start with,” explains Audrey. “And being husband and wife, it’s weird to work with your husband. I just want to laugh all the time, or I just want to throw hissy-fits — it’s one or the other. But sometimes for me it just works. And I think the will of both of us wanting to do something, and enjoying each other’s company, and respecting each other — like each other’s paths, where we come from.” She laughs, “But like, when you started bringing the Hammond organ out–“
Alonza rejoins, amused, “You hated it. You hated everything. Anything new I would try, you hated it.”
Audrey clarifies: “No! I want to keep things all simplistic — like, fewer instruments — I’m a big fan of letting a song breathe. So those were kind of our fighting points: Alonza always wanted to add another thing on. But then, it just worked: we do enjoying doing stuff together. And we do have a mutual love of blues music, or traditional kind of American folk music. And so for that it jelled, it kind of worked.”
“Kind of” is an understatement. When the World Had Four Corners is rich and rewarding, an album of gems. We close with Audrey and Alonza weighing in on the art form itself:
“I’m a huge music fan,” notes Audrey. “I think I prefer even listening to music to singing or playing myself. But I just can’t see my life without music. I guess it’s like a natural progression — I like other things: I love photography, and there’s other art forms I love. But music — I was bathed in it, I guess, from an early age.”
“Music, it’s true,” enthuses Alonza, “of all the art forms, it’s the one that spoke to me the most — the one that kind of moved you the most — I guess when you’re younger it’s something that you just connect with — more than you would with a piece of art, or even the movies or something. It becomes a soundtrack to your life. It’s what you project onto the world.”
Photos courtesy of Tumblewild
When the World Had Four Corners download
Top 10 of the most promising upcoming British film directors around today
Following the demise of the Film Council, and all the doom-laden prophecies that brought, it may feel odd to think that we’re seemingly on the cusp of very exciting times for the British film industry. We may no longer have a dedicated body helping get films out there, but what we do have is an abundance of incredibly talented filmmakers, all beginning to make their mark and establish themselves as serious players globally. Help is also at hand to support new talent – Pinewood Studios have launched a new initiative to fund British films, and their first project is the quite wonderful A Fantastic Fear of Everything. So with that success fresh in our minds, let’s celebrate some of the British talent to look out for. It’s in no particular order, and I’ve left off such filmmakers as Duncan Jones who have already made it, but below are ten major talents.
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Crispian Mills
Yep. That Crispian Mills. As in Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills. Rock star turned debut director with his film A Fantastic Fear of Everything, it seems that Mills may have found his true calling after all. Working with fellow debut director Chris Hopewell, A Fantastic Fear of Everything is an assured first film, with an absolutely blinding first half (it doesn’t quite keep up the quality the whole way, but it’s a definite treat throughout) which makes you forget that this could easily be portrayed as a musician having a laugh and making a film because they can. Instead what you have is someone who understands the language of film, and how to get the best out of his cast and crew while putting a personal spin on the material. While Crispian Mills comes from a theatrical family (his mother is Hayley Mills), it’s no easy thing to take on the responsibility of a film set and get a watchable, let alone enjoyable, product out of it.
Pinewood announces support for first British film production
Pinewood announces funding assistance and access to world class facilities for first small British film production
The Pinewood Studios Group, a leading provider of services to the global film and television industry, today announces that it will be providing facilities and co-investment to support a new British film, A Fantastic Fear of Everything. It is the first film to receive support from ‘Pinewood Films’ – an initiative launched earlier this year following an announcement that the Company is making a return to investing in film production, supporting independent, British films.
The psycho-comedy is written and directed by musician-turned-filmmaker Crispian Mills, marking his feature debut. He is joined by co-director and animator Chris Hopewell as part of a collaboration with Collision Films, whose award-winning work includes Radiohead’s There There and The Killers’ Smile Like You Mean It. A Fantastic Fear of Everything is produced by Geraldine Patten and stars Simon Pegg (Paul, Shaun of the Dead). (more…)
Kula Shaker: Interview with Alonza Bevan
In the nineties, during the era of the grunge, the brit-pop and growingly faceless songs at the music channels, it is almost unimaginable for a psychedelic rock band, deeply inspired of India, to conquer the charts. The music of Kula Shaker bears at the same time the fiery energy of the youth and the wisdom of the musical culture of past epochs; contemporary, yet reflecting the spirit of the music of the 60’s; wonderfully combining the vivid picturesque pageant of the soundtracks of “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” with the psychedelia of the later Beatles. And in 2010 it abandoned all this musical whirlwind to release one of the purest, tender and beautiful rock albums. Kula Shaker closer, presented by Alonza Bevan.
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RR: First of all – congratulatio
ns for “Pilgrims Progress” , though it’s been half an year since it came out! It is among the most beautiful albums ever released. Can you tell us shortly about the album, the label issue in 2008, the songs and the recording sessions?
AB: Well, the album grew out of circumstance we had just got out of some dodgy dealings with the dark side (moneymen, accountants and lawyers) which left the band in a rather poor financial position. We knew we had some good songs and so with some great help from our friends and local musicians we started recording Pilgrims Progress here in the countryside of southern Belgium.
RR: The first thing that is obvious while listening the CD is the fact that you have taken off the colorful garment that was so typical for your previous releases and “Pilgrims Progress” is a stripped down to naked melodies and pure emotions record. Was that transmission natural or you made it by purpose? (more…)
Classic Rock Interview With Crispian
Kula Shaker mainman Crispian Mills is about to release a solo single – one he recorded a decade ago.
It’s to be made available on seven inch vinyl through the Ho Hum label on September 27, with the songs in question being Healing Hands and Be Merciful.
Talking to Classic Rock, Mills explained what happened with these recordings, and why the release has been so delayed:
“When I left Kula Shaker [in 1999], I was wandering around the music business looking for something different to do. Then I met Mark Pritchard from the Jedi Knights [an electronic-based project] and knew right away he was the man for me.”
The pair collaborated on a series of tracks, although in Mills’ own words, “We didn’t have enough for an album. And the two here are definitely the pick of the bunch”.
But Mills does feel that the music was a lot better than his label, Sony, believed at the time.
“I was very satisfied with the way it all came out – or rather the way it all sounded after we’d finished in the studio. But I got hit by the sort of record label attitude I’d heard had affected other artists. Now, I got first hand experience.
“The label didn’t know what to do with it. They said it was too early to release it. They wanted us to re-record things. It all got very confusing. And after 18 months they gave up.”
Result: Mills left the company, and it’s taken until now for anything to come out. Thankfully, Ho Hum [run by a friend of Pritchard’s] got to hear about the songs, loved them, and now are putting this out.
“I’m really happy it’s being issued on big, thick vinyl. The trouble with downloads is that, as an artist, you don’t feel you’ve done anything substantial when it’s only available as a download.”
Right now, Mills is a very busy man. The reactivated Kula Shaker released a new album, Pilgrim’s Progress, in June, but have little time to support this on the road.
“It’s been incredibly well received everywhere. However, we’ve not had the time to do much touring, because I’m currently involved with another project.
Mills is writing the script for a future movie, although details on this are sketchy right now.
“It’s taking up all my time, which is why there’s no time at the moment for Kula Shaker. I’m working on it with Bruce Robinson, who wrote and directed Withnail And I.”
Classic Rock » Blog Archive » Crispian Mills Releases Solo Single.
Upclose with Kula Shaker (Interview with Crispian Mills)
Kula Shaker frontman, Crispian Mills, also known as Krishna Kanta Dasa to some, speaks to Nicholas Shay ahead of his band’s tour through Hong Kong.
By Nicholas Shay | published Aug 05, 2010
HK Magazine: Will this be your first time in Hong Kong? What are you expecting?
Crispian Mills: It will indeed, and everybody’s thrilled to be coming. It’s uncharted waters, so I have no idea what to expect. We went to Russia last year for the first time to play a concert, and we went on stage very late to a huge, very drunk crowd. It was quite frightening, but once we got on stage, it was fantastic—so you never know what to expect.
HK: Can you tell us about your new album, “Pilgrim’s Progress”?
CM: This was the first time we made a record where we had absolutely no pressure other than our own desire to make beautiful music. Our first record, “K,” was complicated because we could feel the record company’s expectations, which stifled the spontaneity. When you’re young, you’re more inclined to please people… well, I was. Now I’ve given up trying to please people, and ended up making a good record as a result. It’s a very mellow acoustic album with lots of daydreaming. The process was much more spontaneous than our other records. It’s brilliant, I’m telling you.
HK: Where do the band’s Indian influences stem from?
CM: I don’t know. Maybe from past lives… friends, fate and destiny. There is something very universal about oriental culture, and we can connect with it. I think it’s because the people of the earth were all joined together at one time.
HK: Could you explain a bit about your own spiritual beliefs?
CM: Everybody wants love, don’t they? If you have all the money and power in the world, and you don’t have love, you’re just gonna be a weird psycho. And that’s really the problem with the world. Spiritual life should be practical, not superstitious. You should be able to apply it to your life, in healing the earth and healing each other, because it’s all in a bit of a mess. You have to respect all faiths; you have to have a spiritual philosophy. I try to have that in my life, and it’s been very good for my music and self-expression.
HK: Who are some people that you gather inspiration from?
CM: I kind of live in a bit of a dream world. I read all the old myths and legends. When I was growing up, my favorite books were all the ancient Greek myths. I got into Indian folklore and the philosophy of the Mahabharata. I’m into archetypes and mythic heroes. I like George Harrison and Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple. He’s a great guitarist, but they’re just guys. When it’s an inspiration or a muse, I think more of those mythic characters. They’re more colorful.
HK: If you had a dinner party, which three guests would you invite?
CM: Well, I would probably get Charles Dickens and Shakespeare together with somebody like Johnny Rotten and see what happens.
Upclose with Kula Shaker by Nicholas Shay | HK Magazine Online.
Kula Shaker are back! With Shanghai in sight (Interview with Crispian)
Written by Jade Bremner
Nearly everyone in Britain during the 1990’s had a copy of their multi-platinum selling record K featuring the hit single Govinda. The energetic psychedelic Brit-pop foursome with their Indian obsession and traditional sitars, tambura and tabla percussion have reformed. This month they are releasing a new album called Pilgrim’s Progress, and are looking to perform in Shanghai.
Remembered for his velvet suits, being the grandson of Sir John Mills and his strong opinions – front man Crispian Mills got in to a sticky situation with the British press over his comments regarding the bands usage of the Hindu swastika during the peak of their career. Arguably, this is what brought about the demise of the once highly regarded rock band. (more…)
The Lowdown: Kula Shaker Interview
The Lowdown: Kula Shaker
“Love each other and drink more tea.”
In the 90’s Britpop heyday Kula Shaker were one of the driving forces. As Britpop faded into oblivion so did Kula Shaker. So what actually happened to them? We managed to get The Lowdown with the guys about what happened for them as people and as a band between then and now.
Altsounds: Thanks for taking the time to talk to Altsounds, tell me where in the world you are when answering these questions?
Kula Shaker: I’m on an Easy Jet flight to Hamburg, it’s very very early so please excuse the following answers.
Altsounds: I never felt Kula Shaker were given the amount of continued positive press they deserved, why do you think that is?
Kula Shaker: Because we’re a bunch of c**ts! Apart from that we had a lot of success very early on in our career and in the UK once the press have built you up they like to knock you down, hey ho.
Altsounds: What is it like to have upcoming bands cite Kula Shaker as an influence towards their work?
Kula Shaker: It’s always nice to get validation from other musicians. (more…)
Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts. Второе пришествие
Ян В. (статья из STRANGE FOLK №5)
Маловероятно, что кто-либо из читающих эту статью совершенно не знаком с историей «трудного» второго альбома Кула Шейкер. Однако эта история стоит того, чтобы её вкратце повторить. Создание следующего за мульти платиновым «К» альбома былтаким же сложным и эпическим, каким суждено былстать и самому альбому. «Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts»появился на прилавках в марте 1999, этому предшествовала двухлетняя запись. Изначально продюсированием альбома занимались Рик Рубин (Rick Rubin) и Джордж Дракулиас (George Drakoulias) запись производилась в Нью-Йорке, а затем в Лос Анжелесе. Затем за штурвал встал Боб Эзрин (Bob Ezrine) (в буквальном и переносном смысле, так как запись продолжалась в тихой и уютной студии «Астория» («Astoria») Дейва Гилмора (Dave Gilmour), разместившейся в его плавучем доме на Темзе.)
Помимо продюсеров, многое менялось на протяжении долгого периода работы над альбомом. В первую очередь изменения касались трэк-листа: такие песни, как «Strangefolk» и «Light of the day» уступили место композиции «Mystical Machine Gun», которая была написана позже (а самая старая песня – «Shower your Love», демо- версия которой уже звучала в момент выхода «К», – по иронии судьбы, так и осталась в списке, вплоть до финальной версии). Многие песни, написанные для альбома, со временем менялись в лучшую сторону, например «Sound of Love» (вошедшая в переизданный вариант PP&A в качестве бонус трэка), которая превратилась в «Sound of Drums» и была выпущена первым синглом с альбома. Ранние версии песен часто коренным образом отличались от финальных, тексты менялись до неузнаваемости, дополнительные эффекты, в конечном счёте, сокращались. (more…)
Interview with Alonza
On the week of the release of Kula Shaker’s new record ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ we caught up with Bass player Alonza Bevan for a quick chat about their new album and what’s install for 2010.
It’s been a few years since the release of your last material, what have you been up to since the release of Strangefolk’?
It has been a few years, is time speeding up or are we just getting older? To answer your question, we’ve been playing the odd show here and there while writing and recording Pilgrim’s Progress. Crispian and his wife have had a little boy, I’ve been wrestling with wood burners and defective chimneys, Paul has been obsessively practicing the drums and Hari has been busy being a genius. We have also continued our charity work, donating generously to accountants and lawyers.
I hear you’ve built a recording studio in Chimay, Belgium; has the whole band relocated to Belgium or is it just a place for you all to get away and concentrate on writing/recording?
I moved to Belgium about two years ago because Britain had become a fascist state. I live in a small village near Chimay surrounded by woods. With help from the band and friends we built and put together the studio in which we finally recorded Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s a lovely place to record but it gets bloody cold in the winter which was when we did the majority of the tracking. Must get the wood burner and chimney sorted for the next album! (more…)
KULA SHAKER 