Galley Beggar are a folk-based band from Kent and London. BBC Kent Introducing listener Stephen Morris listens to their music, and likes what he hears.

The folk revival shows no signs of abating, and this can only be a good thing. Nationally and internationally this has been seen in the parade of bands like Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes and Bellowhead. More locally, Cocos Lovers have been enchanted by the spirit of folk - and richly rewarded their listeners in the process.

Now there is another local name to add to the list. Galley Beggar, taking their name from a mythical creature, are a seven piece band from Kent and London. They currently have five songs available on Myspace.

Trad Folk:

Galley Beggar’s music has a purer folk sensibility than most bands and artists currently exploring the genre. Their music is littered with mandolins and fiddles. At times, the instrumental accompaniment is stripped away to reveal fine close harmonies, as found on the introduction to “Sun God”.

An electric bass does make a fleeting appearance (expect cries of “Judas” any time now), but generally the music sounds pretty much like it might have come straight out of Far From the Madding Crowd.

There are subtle hints of modern rock and pop that peep through the gaps. The piano parts in “Farewell, Nancy” and “Farewell Nancy” are redolent of the accompaniments found on Nick Drake’s albums. The latter even hints towards the tiniest traces of a post-Radiohead influence. 

Under the Influence:

The band cite Drake as one of their influences, along with Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Jethro Tull - but they also refer back to music found in the collections of folk revivalists such as Cecil Childs. The result is a collection of songs which provide a patchwork summary of British folk across three or four centuries.

Even this assessment doesn’t quite do Galley Beggar justice. “The Outlandish Knight”, for example takes on even wider influences, mixing English and Irish folk styles before lunging into a full American Hoe Down.

Everyday Stories of Country Folk:

The lyrics found in the songs conform to traditional folk themes too. There are love songs (“Farewell, Nancy”), legends of  the supernatural (“Shifting Sands”) and morality tales of ne’er-do-wells (“Restless Sinners”). To top it all, there’s a hymn to a summer deity (“Sun God”), the kind of thing Britt Eckland might have once danced along to in the buff.

The themes and textures of Galley Beggar’s music all combine together to form a well produced selection of songs that bring a bygone age - or bygone ages - into the twenty-first century. It’s a gorgeous, gorgeous sound that demands repeated listens. Folk isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but Galley Beggar might just give you the taste for it. Go on, indulge yourself.

To find out more about Galley Beggar, visit their Myspace profile.

Underground Heroes are a band from Chatham with kills and thrills on their mind. Listener Stephen Morris lends them his ears and offers his thoughts:

Underground Heroes mix a blend of indie/rock and ska to form a high octane riot of sound. It’s a dirty, grubby sound fully of distortion and feedback which is more than matched by lyrical content that veers from tales of “serial killers” to “serial thrillers”.

Rocking the Party:

The music here is bang on the money. “The Ripper” rocks out with guitars that Wayne and Garth would love to blitz any ballroom with. It’s a perfect rock song full of solos, lairy backing vocals and lots of attitude. The riotous rocking carries on at full speed throughout all their tracks, taking no prisoners.

As the presence of the ska styling permeates further through the songs, the catchiness increases. This is music that you have to... need to dance to. At the very least you’ll be tapping your toe. Catch an earful of the Coral-ish syncopations of “Skinny Twins” and you’ll see what I mean.

Audio Nasties:

Behind the catchiness of their songs, the band isn’t afraid to pull its punches. “Alright Darlin” is the lyric of an aggrieved ex trying to make the grand statement when taking his girlfriend back (“if there’s a problem dear then it’s all because of you”).

Meanwhile, “Skinny Twins” sets its sights on unpopular acquaintances: “[The Skinny Twins] fill the place with laughter/then we ridicule them after”.

You’re a Naughty One:

The lyrics are slightly less acerbic in the other two songs. “The Ripper” is a one-song musical about Jack the Ripper - and his legendary elusiveness.

Meanwhile “Get Up and Go”, again with a heavy ska backing, reverts to a common theme in pop and rock - that of moving on. “If you had one chance are you really going to take it?” is the general theme of the song.

Underground Heroes are undoubtedly a band that will cause a lot of excitement. A set filled with music like this can only set a gig on fire. Given a bit more context, “Alright Darlin” and “Skinny Twins” could become strong character portraits of the frustrations of love, life and everyday life which would only add to the appeal.

In the meantime, “The Ripper” is a head banging, barn-stormer of a song, ticking all the right boxes in all the right places. More of that, please. Much, much more.

To hear more from Underground Heroes, you can find them on BBC Kent Introducing’s list of friends.

Antmonkey, the stage name of Anthony Martin, is a Medway singer/songwriter with melancholy on his mind. Here Stephen Morris takes a listen and offers his thoughts:

Ah, misery. You can’t beat it, can you. A bit of despair, sadness and general all-round glumness before breakfast and you’re set up for the day. Well, Antmonkey is anyway.

Misery Me:

The Medway based singer/songwriter (also known as Anthony Martin) has misery in spades. The four tracks currently available on his MySpace page cover themes from suicide notes (“Dear God”) through to addiction (“Addict”) via childhood trauma (“Pictures in a Broken Home”) and feelings of antipathy towards your home town (“Revenge on the Medway Towns”).

And the misery comes in different shades: mild gloom right through to angry rage and back again.

Paint it Bleak:

It is, perhaps, the role of a singer/songwriter more than any other group or genre to explore the more desperate side of life. The most likely point of reference would be Tom McRae. In Antmonkey’s songs there is a similarity in theme, texture and the general mood to McRae’s earlier work. This is song writing in its rawest and most honest form.

Antmonkey’s songs paint a bleak picture of inner turmoil and anger. It is at its most intense in “Addict” where the speed of the song with its repeated lyrics (“I wanna be an addict and throw it all away…”) accelerates past the point of control - just like the problem it speaks about. 

By contrast, opening track, “Dear God” is a more meditative affair - all the more heartbreaking for its sheer simplicity: a voice, a guitar and the most basic of backing vocals. It gives the impression of a small voice crying out in a big world, lost, confused and very, very scared.

Getting Personal:

These songs are intensely personal affairs. If they are not in fact autobiographical then they are, at least, written with a powerful empathetic imagination drawing the listener in to a detailed world of loss and loneliness.

“Pictures in a Broken Home” is a case in point. “How were you supposed to know that all the pictures you have of me were framed in a broken home?” is the line that best sums up the song. The lyrics contain a fear of history repeating - the terror that the screaming and shouting of ones parents’ relationship might pass down a generation.

Towns Called Malice:

It is “Revenge on the Medway Towns” however that is likely to be the most ear-catching, particularly to anyone with the most basic awareness of the area.

The much maligned Medway Towns get yet more of a battering in in the song. Medway Council are unlikely to use this song in its tourism literature. (“Nothing in Medway is worthy of pride”). Even local celebrities become targets for Antmonkey’s wrath: “Find Billy Childish and beg him to die”. Just a little harsh, maybe.

Should Kent Fire & Rescue find themselves slightly busier than usual in the north of Kent, you’ll know why when you hear attention grabbing lyrics like: “Take Chatham High Street and burn in down”. Well, it is (apparently) a place “where idiots and stupidity converge and abound”. It’d probably be a blessing in disguise...

For the Restless:

There is always the danger that music from the more pessimistic side of the tracks will sound a little too self indulgent (witness the rise of emo and all its predecessors for further proof). Antmonkey avoids this simply through the honesty of his lyrics.

“Pictures in a Broken Home” is more than just an “it’s so unfair” teenage rant. Even “Revenge on the Medway Towns”, for all its extremism, seems to be grounded in some sense of genuine anger, injustice and possibly even grief for unrealised possibilities.

All the songs are delivered against a musical backdrop that feeds this feeling of melancholia. This is not mass produced angst for people who think it’s fashionable to feel misunderstood. This is the real deal: heartfelt, heart on sleeve, heart breaking stuff.

To hear more from Antmonkey you can find a link to their MySpace page via the BBC Kent Introducing friends.

Bruised Beauties are a grimy, dirty sounding band from Bromley. BBC Kent Introducing listener Stephen Morris takes a closer listen...

Bruised Beauties music is filled with stories and drunken nights out and longings for an England that probably never once was. There’s fear and wit, regret and longing here aplenty. And all of this is delivered with a Estuarinism ping-ponging its way between chirpiness and world weariness.

Tonight, Matthew...

The tracks currently available on their MySpace page never veer too far away from the heavy, heavy influence of The Libertines; whether this is in the music, the vocal delivery or the lyrical content. These could easily be four tracks that didn’t quite make it onto Doherty, Barât & Co’s two albums - or maybe the former’s solo projects.

In particular, “Beloved Britain” is typical of Pete Doherty’s quaint patriotism towards a homeland haunted by faintly mythical better days. Take as an example the refrain: “Beloved Britain/now the plot does thicken/I never gave you up” repeats itself amid an account of an underground culture of violence and spite. It’s a sad paean for better days, poignantly sung.

Dirty Pretty Things:

Elsewhere the songs are equally grubby and gritty. “The Great Wahoo” is about a night out that goes wrong. “Snatch glass, boom bang” pretty much sums it up, while “if we keep getting along” returns to themes of mindless violence, murder and a “bit of lead buried in my brains”. Nice.

It’s only “Bombay” that lightens the mood a little. It returns to Merrie Olde Englande imagery with talk of kings, queens and castles, while countering it with the slightly less refined settings of drunken nights out perched upon barstools and falling to the floor afterwards.

If “The Great Wahoo” is about a night going horribly wrong, then this is its opposite: a night going fairly well - give or take a drunken stumble or too. 

This Charming Band:

As a whole the music in its current form may be just a little too derivative to do the Bruised Beauties too many favours at the moment. The influence of Doherty et al lurks throughout while other songs nod their heads vigorously in the direction of Jet (compare and contrast “The Great Wahoo” with “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”) and The Coral.

That is not to say that Bruised Beauties don’t deserve to be listened to. They do. A lot. There is a frantic energy to them which is strangely enticing.

The mix of cheekiness and murkiness in equal doses adds to the charm and the effect. Given the chance to evolve away from their direct influences, the band will no doubt be able to become yet more enticing, more charming and more effective.  

To hear more from Bruised Beauties you can find a link to their MySpace page via the BBC Kent Introducing friends.

Chatham's Kid Harpoon, reviewed by BBC Kent Introducing listener Stephen Morris:

Kid Harpoon’s bright star seems to be continuing its inevitable ascendancy. The artist also known as Tom Hull has been busying himself with the release of a couple of singles, preparing for a forthcoming album and enlisting the services of Jack Penate and Katie Melua for a session with Steve Lamacq. All in a day’s work really.

Two of the latest singles, “Stealing Cars” and  “Back From Beyond” are currently available on Myspace (where you will also find a video for the both) along with “Don’t Cry On Me”. They closely follow the themes and ideas that Kid Harpoon has explored in past songs, while simultaneously conveying a sense of Hull’s musical and technical development.

Perfect Pop:

The result is a cleaner, slicker, less rugged sound (nonetheless retaining Hull’s distinctive coarse voice) which may please some while disappointing older fans who may have grown used to a grubbier sound. Whatever your opinion of the new improved Kid Harpoon, this much cannot be denied: the three songs featured on Myspace are as close to pop perfection as it is possible to get while not being Thunderclap Newman’s “Something in the Air”.

The songs have got it all: wit and self effacing honesty, insight and a well judged dollop of snarling self assuredness. Add to that some killer riffs and catchy tunes which Kid Harpoon provides in spades and you can’t really ask for more.

Adult Harpoon?:

Opening song, and current single, “Back From Beyond” covers territory familiar to those who may have heard previous songs like “Late for the Devil” and “In the Dark”. The song is all about the desire to be at ease in the grown up world and coming to terms with the fact that life will never be that simple, no matter what your circumstances.

“It’s OK to feel down” runs one line in the song. The trick is to realise it won’t be like that forever: “memory fades and time brings change to everyone” after all. And that, maybe, is why the song sounds so upbeat.

Freedom Songs:

“Stealing Cars” meanwhile is a more carefree song - as the title might suggest. For all the criminality suggested in the song’s name, there is a certain innocence to this song.  The chorus is full of lines like “I feel like I’m alive” and the whole song is full of the idea of making the most of your life - while “the whole city is asleep”.

It’s probably best to try to make the most of things while not stealing cars, but the spirit of the song definitely has a hypnotic, alluring appeal to it. 

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do:

Elsewhere, “Don’t Cry On Me” is a heartbreakingly heartless sounding song about a break up.  From the opening knowingly clichéd line of “It’s not you it’s me” this is a song filled with a cold detachment - which is, of course, utterly misleading.

The song is riddled with subtext, giving it a depth almost equal to The Beatles’ “She’s Leaving Home”. The only reason the song’s narrator doesn’t want his ex to cry is because he is feeling pretty upset himself.

The End of Love:

All of which takes the song from being an apparently cold hearted dismissal to something almost representing a tender account of a man coming to terms with the end of love (“You are no longer the spark in my eyes” is a much more poignant way of putting it than other more obvious options).  The narrator is doubtlessly doing this in a backhanded, clumsy and ultimately hurtful fashion, but that’s us men for you.

The song is delivered against a barrage of indie-rock that bears more than a vague resemblance to the Arctic Monkeys. But as with Alex Turner, Tom Hull knows that a decent tune is never going to be enough. Kid Harpoon is a craftsman and as such that means very, very good lyrics - which he does very, very well.

In these three songs, Kid Harpoon is continuing to show that he is ahead of the game in producing high quality pop songs that have more than just a catchy riff to them. There is thought and sensitivity entwined throughout each of these melodies. It’s difficult to imagine a selection of songs that will better these - but  I have no doubt that Kid Harpoon will prove me wrong sooner or later.

Deal based Cocos Lovers are a folk tinged band with a dream of a better world. They’ve already won over listener Stephen Morris. Here he explains why.

Folk music is making something of a comeback at the moment. Perhaps it never really went away. The once maligned genre is now in the resurgence with bands like Bellowhead and artists like Kate Rusby entertaining audiences from beyond the usual folk radar.

Fleet Foxes have been one of the most prominent of these invaders from Planet Folk. Their brand of simple, close harmonised American folk meets 60s West Coast pop seems to be ticking all the right boxes. And if you like them, you might just like Cocos Lovers.

The grammatically challenged Cocos Lovers hail from Deal. Their sun tinged songs are just the right thing for chilled out summer evenings - which may just explain their rather hectic tour diary at the moment. They’ve also got a selection of six tracks available on their MySpace page at the moment.

Each song forms a treasure chest of delights and wonders. The songs here will take you into a bright new world - a slower paced sun tinged existence that usually only exists in sepia tinged photographs.

The band is a family affair made up of husbands and wives, brothers and sisters. There are eight of them in total playing the standard band fair of guitars and drums and slightly less familiar flutes, banjos and bagpipes.

According to their Myspace page “James” also plays the “Middle Eastern Silk” which is surely a fabric, not a musical instrument. Then again, Ben & Jason’s debut, Hello featured someone playing a chest of drawers, so maybe that’s not so weird after all. Regina Spektor played a dining chair at this year’s Glastonbury...

The songs concern themselves with the search for freedom you might expect from such sun tinged tunes. “Time To Stand”, the first song currently listed on the Myspace page, takes this theme to heart immediately. It’s a peaceful manifesto: a call to arms - or rather a call to no arms. “Oh, victory will never be/If I raise my fists to fight the war” runs one couplet in the song.

“Awake You Loon” meanwhile considers the fight for freedom from a different angle. Perhaps surprisingly for a folky sounding outfit, the song has something of a sci-fi theme. You won’t find too many Millennium Falcons in the work of Fairport Convention.

Nevertheless, here a man turns into an android: “They peeled his skin off to take his soul/and when they wired him a robot rose”. It’s a gorgeous song with a clear message: Cocos Lovers are as wary of the notion of corporatism, globalisation and anything else The Man might throw at them as they are of the concept of apostrophes.

The sense of trying to make a break for freedom and rejecting the cares of the modern world can also be found in three other tracks: “Moonlit Sky”, “Dead in the Water” and “Lunatic Van Rogue”. Thematically these songs have little difference with the Britpop of The Kinks’ “Plastic Man”, The Jam’s “Planner’s Dream Goes Wrong” or The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man”.

Cocos Lovers share in a long lineage of pop music which expresses a dissatisfaction with the status quo. In truth, this is what much folk music has always been about. And so Cocos Lovers are marrying themes that pop music fans have been listening to for years back together with a folk sensibility.

The results are magical: from the flute and banjo climax of “Awake You Loon” to the a cappella harmonies of “Dead in the Water” - which wouldn’t sound out of place at an outdoor baptism in the Deep South.

Cocos Lovers are already impressing a large audience. Believe the hype. They really are that good. And with an impressive set of tour dates over the summer and beyond, there’s plenty of chance to catch them - not just locally but nationally.

To hear more from Cocos Lovers you can find a link to their MySpace page via the BBC Kent Introducing friends list.

Filthy Nights are Alt Rock/Punk band from Tunbridge Wells. Listener Stephen Morris has listened to their music and writes the following:

Name checking yourself with wild abandon is usually the preserve of Hip Hop acts. Filthy Nights may not be a Hip Hop act, but that’s not going to stop them incorporating their name (or even just part of their name) into their lyrics.

The word “filthy” constitutes approximately 87.6% of the lyrics of the song with that name. Well, okay, maybe not quite that much - but it can’t be that far off.

The Game of the Name:

Writing songs containing your name (or naming your songs after your song lyrics) usually means one of two things. Either you are a very self assured band/artist, keen to product place yourself within your own work (well, it worked for Rembrandt) or you are a one trick pony capable only of producing songs relating to the one theme.

Filthy Nights may be charged with one, other or both of these accusations. It is probably too soon to tell. However, their current inclination towards - well, filth themed lyrics may give some clues.

Sound Affects:

The band are a fast and furious sounding indie/punk machine. Comparisons are made on their Myspace page with The Clash and The Jam. But similarities with more recent acts such as The Warm Jets and, even more recently, The Libertines should not be ignored.

They have a fresh sounding, garage band appeal that’s been going strong ever since The Ramones first picked up their guitars. Although Filthy Nights make a point of including the word “unmastered” on the track titles, the two songs the band are currently profiling on Myspace show a lot of promise.

Sexual Politics:

The two songs featured are fast paced, high octane tracks themed around two sides of the same coin. “Die Young” admonishes a girl for sleeping around (“You claim to be so fresh and innocent/how could I believe a girl like you?”). Meanwhile, conversely “Filthy” appears to celebrate - in fact pretty much endorse - prostitution.

It’s not quite up there with the issues heavy lyrics found in “Eton Rifles” or “White Riot”  - songs by their musical heroes, is it. While there is some contradiction in the band’s approach to women’s sexual liberation, this may fairly accurately reflect a lot of men’s feelings on the subject (usually dependent upon the nature of their relationship with the woman in the first place).

Whether this was always the band’s intention to expose the contradiction remains to be seen.

Regardless of any socio-political interpretations I may care to festoon the band’s music with, the two songs currently available remain great indie-dance tracks. With any luck we’ll be hearing a fair bit more from them soon.

To find out more about Filthy Nights follow the link to them via BBC Kent Introducing’s friends pages.

Peter Jackson and the Empire have produced a selection of songs “based on the feel and experiences provided by South Eastern England”. Listener Stephen Morris finds out more here.

Lights, Camera, Action:

Picture the scene: a rainy night in a well lit Metropolitan town or city. Bars and restaurants are open and the place is thriving despite the rain. The camera focuses in on the middle of the street. An attractive young couple look sadly into one another’s eyes. She looks sorrowfully up at him. Even the mascara running down her cheek seems to have an elegance to it.

“I have to leave,” he says. “Please don’t,” she pleads. “But I have to. It will never work,” he explains. “The CIA have stolen my thesis on quantum theory, you’re on the run from your vampire cult family and the aliens will be taking me back to my home planet tonight.”

Despite her pleads to go with him, he resists. He walks off, alone into the night.

And then the music starts. He walks off - alone, but surrounded by city revellers. She stands there watching - alone, but surrounded by more of the same as the music swells around them both.

You know the kind of music: a strummed guitar, a solitary voice which rises to a climax with violins and an electric guitar in the chorus. Kind of a bit like Peter Jackson and the Empire’s “Is This Love”. Pretty much exactly like Peter Jackson and the Empire’s “Is This Love” in fact.

Maybe we should let Joss Whedon know about these guys……

Urban Music:

Peter Jackson and the Empire have six songs available on Myspace at the moment. The idea behind these songs was to record an “album based on the feel and experiences provided by South Eastern England and London Town”.

Aside from one song (“Piccadilly”), there is, in truth, little reference to the South East or London in the songs currently available. Nevertheless, what remains is a collection excellent soft rock/guitar based pop songs with a folk tinge.

Songs of Love:

The selection opens with “When She Came” (no sniggering at the back, there) and a confident, almost brash, string introduction - a mini overture anticipating the drama of what is to come. This is followed by “Troublesome Land”, a track with something of a sea-shanty feel to it concerning loneliness and a desire to be at peace.

Elsewhere, “Piccadilly” is a whimsical Beautiful South-ish song about a couple with a past who are unsure if they can give things a second chance. Finally “Is This Love” , completes the quadrology of whimsy with a nod of the head not just to the US Teen TV genre, but also to the late Matthew Jay.

Taking a Diversion:

After this, things become a little more experimental as PJ and the Empire take a diversion from the light pop feel of the first four songs. “From Me To You” has something of a Small Faces feel to it while “Eyes Talk” could be John Lennon.

“From Me To You” goes about its business in a cheeky mockney manner, but also introduces a Scouse pop element you might find courtesy of The Coral. It’s a bitter rant of a song from someone who is convinced their ex still isn‘t over them: “Try to hate me back/that’s something I’d like to see from you” runs the recurring chorus. You get the idea.

Meanwhile, “Eyes Talk” approaches the theme of denial from a slightly less self obsessed angle: “You live so underground/can’t uncover the sound/make a reason/why I love you”.

With these two latter songs it is clear that Peter Jackson and The Empire are happy to explore different musical ideas and have not yet settled on a definitive style just yet.

The Oldest Trick in the Book:

Rather than being a selection of songs about London and the South East, these are actually songs themed around the oldest pop music concept in the world: love. Each song explores this idea in a slightly different way but it remains there all the same. 

This band have a great sound - whatever the style they care to choose. Each song has been lovingly written, crafted, sung and produced. Peter Jackson and the Empire deserve to do very well indeed.

To hear more from Peter Jackson and the Empire you can find them listed as friends on the BBC Kent Introducing Myspace page.

Canterbury based Orangespine describe themselves as a “funk/grunge/indie band”. Here, listener Stephen Morris takes a listen and offers his thoughts.

Orangespine like to keep things to a minimum. Or so it would seem. On their Myspace page at the moment, you will find the impressive sum of one whole track available to listen to and enjoy.

It’s not a huge amount from which one can produce an informed opinion, but there’s enough variety in this lonesome song to suggest the listener might just be on to a good thing.

Time Stretched:

“Illusion” is a sprawling epic of a song which is crammed into an impressively short 2 minutes and 37 seconds. It’s possible that the band have discovered some sonic version of the TARDIS because it actually seems much, much longer than this.

The song in question is a study in psychosis, of reality versus hallucination. It’s set against a back drop of psychedelic, wandering guitars which merges with darker undercurrents of malevolence. For those all important list of influences and “sounds like…..” you could do worse than name checking The Doors, Muse and Kula Shaker at their least gimmicky.

Local Produce:

There’s also a local comparison to be made with Motion Picture Soundtrack. While the latter’s grim sounds capes eclipse the angst portrayed here, “Illusion” is, nevertheless, a fine song profiling an impressive sounding band.   

The song starts with a slow burning, mystical feel that builds and builds with intensity as the song progresses. It perfectly matches the sinister and confused feelings of the lyrics.

Based on this one song, Canterbury based Orangespine could well be ones to watch. I for one am looking forward to more of them soon.

To hear more from Orangespine you can find a link to their MySpace page via the BBC Kent Introducing friends list