The Wheatsheaf

Today's derelict pub is The Wheatsheaf, a hostelry on the edge of Altrincham, a town that has been reborn in recent years. It's high street suffered the fate of many small town high streets and with Manchester city centre a tram ride away and the Trafford Centre even closer, shops moved out. Since the mid 2010s its market hall has turned into an indie gastro food hall and the surrounding area now teems with bars and restaurants, nick knack shops and a vintage market. None of this saved The Wheatsheaf, a mile out of town on a bend towards Broadheath (an area with several pubs within walking distance). The Wheatsheaf had the added attraction of pygmy goats in its beer garden- no idea what happened to them. For all I know they could be still there- they could have chewed their way out by now and be living quite happily in the boarded up pub.

We used to do a pub quiz in a pub down the road, The Old Packet House, four of us every Monday for years. One Monday and found the Packet closed for redecoration. 'The Wheatsheaf has one', Pete said and we all trotted up the road. The pub was full of local teams, we were definitely outsiders from the moment we walked in. We bought our beers, paid our entrance fee and got our answer sheet. An hour and a bit later we'd won the quiz. This didn't go down especially well with the rest of the teams. As winners, we got to do the Play Your Cards Right round and won that too. This gave us the opportunity to rummage in a cloth bag, pick a key and see if it opened the box that held the cash, cash paid by everyone's entrance fees, the money building up each week if it wasn't won. I stepped forward to choose a key from the bag- there were only three keys in the bag. Embarrassingly the key I chose opened the box so we won the cash as well as the quiz. We slunk out without staying for a celebratory drink, everyone else glaring at us. 

The diametric opposite of pub quizzes and derelict pubs is the voice of Elizabeth Fraser and her five track mini- album that came out earlier this year. Written and recorded with her musical and romantic partner Damon Reece, the duo calling themselves Sun's Signature, the five songs are a fully realised song set, Liz's voice set in a rich setting of folk music and chamber music with timpani, strings, Moog, mellotron and tom toms. I'd missed this and was alerted to it by friend of the blog Spencer. This song, Golden Air, is a joy, like turning to your face the skies and having warm honey drizzled over it by the sun. 

Sun's Signature came out in July and has now been re-issued in an extended package with remixes from sympathetic souls. Gwenno, Welsh psych/ folk/ synth artist (who records songs in Cornish as well as Welsh) has remixed Golden Air, taking something already fairly close to transcendent and making it moreso. 

There is an orchestral remix of Apples by Will Gregory of Goldfrapp, and others from John Grant, CUTS and Hinako Omori, all taking Elizabeth and Damon's songs elsewhere while retaining their original character. But of them all, I recommend this one, the LUMP remix of Bluedusk is an electronic/ cosmische working of the song, as if Liz Fraser were fronting Kraftwerk or Factory era OMD. You can buy or listen to Sun's Signature (Extended) here. 

Tir Ha Mor

Gwenno has a new album out soon and this song/single Tir Ha Mor is a lovely way to promote it. Lots of little melodic touches, organs and synths pushed along by insistent drums and topped with her sing-song vocals (in Cornish). The song was inspired by a trip to St Ives and the Cornish abstract landscape artist Peter Lanyon.



Gwenno's last album was a psychedelic/motorik joy sung mostly in Welsh. One of the songs, Chwyldro, was remixed by our friend Andrew Weatherall in fine, wigged out, lengthy style.

Chwyldro (Andrew Weatherall Remix)

Voodoo Time

We got back from three days of very un-Lake District camping weather last night- the sun has shone and there hasn't been a drop of rain. There's a pile of washing to do that smells of bonfire and some sunburnt skin here and there. But all is good and I have the rest of the week off.

Here's a slice of late May lushness from John Grant and Gwenno. I don't think I've heard much by John Grant and I'm well aware he's highly rated by many people but I've just not got around to trying him out. His song Voodoo Doll has been remixed by Welsh psyche/cosmische Queen Gwenno and Peski Kid and it is a delight with a lovely ascending and descending vocal line over some light bubbling psychedelia.

Gwenno In Salford

The Sounds Of The Other City is a one day festival at a variety of venues in and around Islington Mill in Salford, a low key rival to Manchester's more famous one. As a result most of the names are pretty well unknown. Salford's Chapel Street is not a place you'de expect to find people milling around between gig venues, tents and gazebos- until recently it was very much the wrong side of the Irwell. Gwenno was performing at St Philip's Church on Sunday night and with one of my brothers I found myself not just watching Gwenno but drinking a beer with her beforehand as crowd and performers milled about the church. The vicar of St Philip's served beers from a trestle table. Without the opportunity to soundcheck properly the group launched into a six song set, Gwenno on vocals, keyboards and iPad with Rhys on bass, drummer Cliff and the natural reverb of the church. Gwenno's songs are attention grabbing live, a combination of noise and melody and that motorik groove, not so floaty or dreamy as on the album, with Gwenno's Welsh language vocals low in the mix. The threepiece built up a head of steam through to last year's single Chwlydro and set closer Fratolish Hiang Perpeshki, which threatened to go all techno, beats from the iPad and the drummer crashing against each other, as the bright blue spotlights and the stained glass worked their magic.

Fratolish Hiang Perpeshki

They keep coming thick and fast, new songs that lift the spirits- this is Tim Gane's (Cavern Of Anti-Matter) remix of Gwenno marrying the 60s psyche-pop of her to the motorik beat and West German synths of him. Gwenno said the song is 'a song to dance to at the end of the world'. I never thought the apocalypse would sound so pretty.

Bonjour

Hi. We're back. We found that sun we were looking for, 30-34 degrees of it most days. It hangs about over France almost every summer apparently. The Jura is ace- beautiful hills and villages, lakes for swimming in, cheap wine.

This is that Andrew Weatherall remix of Gwenno, bouncy Welsh psychedelic dub. It turned up just before we left two weeks ago and got several airings in the tent.

Chwyldro

After listening to Weatherall's latest radio show for NTS I went backtracking- there was a Weatherall remix of a song called (I thought) Hydro by Gwenno. Actually Chwyldro, Welsh for revolution. Then a hop and a skip and I found the original, released by Gwenno Saunders in 2013. Gwenno is from Cardiff, speaks both Welsh and Cornish, was in The Pipettes and has since made some solo records. This song is like a sunny, optimistic Stereolab, a Welsh speaking St Etienne after a weekend doing motorik drums having forgotten to bring the synths. Gwenno herself claims that this song will change the world, end world poverty and help you find your keys. It will make your Saturday morning a whole lot better.