Portico Quartet on BBC London TV
Portico Quartet are appearing on BBC London TV this evening at 6pm as part of Ronnie Scott's 50th Special.
Tune in to see the band being interviewed...
Bought For A Dollar, Sold For A Dime
The musical melting pot of 'Bought For A Dollar, Sold for a Dime' is large, and bubbling. Here are addictive rhythms. Soulful vocals. Pinches of dub and funk, reggae and gospel. Oh-so-subtle samples and innovative electronics. And underpinning it all, McDonald's shimmering blues guitar licks, conjuring a space where the dirt roads of the Deep South meet the shiny lanes of the Information Superhighway.
Utopia
The guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. However, informed interpretation, the essential characteristic of western classical music, is only possible if you have a repertoire of the highest quality to interpret. The gap between popular and classical guitar culture is huge and I have been eager to begin to bridge it, as well as to add to the range of contemporary music repertoire.
Admission
From the driving drums on opener 'Falling Down' to the campfire sing-along on the final track 'Please', there's a sonic nod to Muse, perhaps an echo of Radiohead's Street Spirit, with Gareth Hale's yearning, passionate vocals suggestive of Jeff Buckley, a fresh urgency reminiscent of The Jam... But comparisons aside, the dynamic sound of The Black Swan Effect is all their own.
Trance Sessions
Repetition builds on each track that grows slowly from song to abstraction, infused with psychedelic energy, a web of sound far greater than the sum of the three player's parts.
Hobo
Charlie distills his music to its raw essence, a hearty modern gumbo of blues-folk, straight-talking lyricism, and soul, all laced with beat-boxing and quirky instrumentation. From the anthemic 'Like a Hobo' to the existential campfire pop of 'Kick The Bucket', from 'Generation Spent's passionately strummed critique of contemporary culture (or lack of it) to the whimsically melancholy 'My Life As A Duck', the album playfully resists easy genre categorisation yet maintains a spirited, contagious rootsiness...
Isla
Portico Quartet sound like nobody else in jazz, World or contemporary music. Each of the nine tracks on Isla has a distinct mood and atmosphere, while remaining firmly within their soundworld. From the churning maelstrom of Clipper to the pounding pedal points of Dawn Patrol; from the fragile ostinatos of Line to the anthemic ensemble of the title track, Isla is an album whose contents reveal fresh nuances and facets on each listen.
Kalashnik Love
"I've always had this rage that I need to express." Mehdi Haddab sits back, rests his electric oud on his lap. "Rage against, I don't know... injustice. Inequality. The system." He pauses, smiles. "And music - loud music - is the thing that helps me channel it."
Better hold on: with Haddab behind the wheel of Speed Caravan you know you're in for a ride. Electrified, amplified and fuelled by creative fire, the Paris-based quartet charge towards a psychedelic horizon; slaloming through rock, dance, electro, hip-hop, world and other music - blazing a trail with raised fists, a hand brake turn and a sharp spray of desert sand.
Return to Addis
The EP, 'Return To Addis', features all unheard material: two new tracks and two remixes from the album 'A Town Called Addis'. Track 2 is a Sima Edy remix by that most irie emperor electric, Cesar Diaz - a Real World Remixed competition winner (producer Dubulah was so taken with the winner he wanted this track to reach a wider audience). It features "Mr Mesenqo", Teremage Woretaw, on lead vocal and mesenqo, vocalists Sintayehu Zenebe and Tsedenia Gebremarkos Woldeselassie, Samuel Yirga and Feleke Hailu on keyboards and sax, topped off by the unbelievable bass playing of Winston Blissett (possibly the best bass player in the world).