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Friday 6th April 2012
All Day BBQ Festival

Sparrow and the Workshop
6 Day Riot
The Nuns
Singing Adams
Y Niwl
Colours
Dignan Porch
+more tbc

The Windmill
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On Our iPod

Golden Grrrls - New Pop 7”

Chris Devotion & The Expectations - Amalgamation & Capital (album)

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester (album)

Throwing Up - Mother Knows Best 7”

Howling Wolf - Complete Chess Masters 1951-60

The Ketamines - A Rotten Bond/1 Yr (from Oddbox Singles Club Pt 2)

Cardinal - Hymns (album)

Proper Ornaments - Taking the Gamble Out of Buying 12”

Darren Hayman - January Songs (album)

Various: Marshall Teller EP 12”

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Album Review

Paperplain
Entering Pale Town Destructible Records

Article written by James S - Feb 16, 2010

Paperplain - Entering Pale Town

Scouring the back of this CD for label details, I have just found out this DIY debut is released under license by Destructible Records. On the night that I have just walked out of a film at the cinema for the first time in my entire life and my football team has had its 13 month unbeaten home league run ended by fucking Walsall of all teams, the irony isn’t lost on me.

Unluckily for 19-year old Helen Page aka Paperplain, I had already made my mind up about this record before these disappointments. Recorded at home on an eight-track and then layered together, Page plays a mix of piano, percussion and acoustic guitar. Things start promisingly enough, with Pale Town sounding just like the kind of thing that the music guru on Skins would slip over the top of a scene of Effy biting her lip winsomely whilst staring out of a window or Naomily making up after one of their fights.

Things soon take a turn for the repetitive, cloying and too twee even for me though. Page might bear some aural resemblance to another current act, but in terms of confidence and swagger this isn’t so much Allo Darlin’ as I’m Really Sorry To Bother You. Repeated refrains involving “big cosy jumpers” and “tummy ache” soon become sickly and prove no substitute for a decent chorus.

The likes of Rescue Boat and Spin Wheel are fragile and pleasant enough but ultimately they just don’t grab your attention for more than a few seconds. And it’s safe to say that the nigh-on million people who have made 11:30 such a YouTube sensation were probably more attracted to the self-promoting teenage fan who made the accompanying video of herself poncing around in a variety of dress with tight tops and short hems than the song itself. This isn’t a record worth destroying but what might have looked good on paper is really pretty plain in reality.

Links:
http://www.helenpaperplain.com/
http://www.myspace.com/helenpaperplain