Another excursion into the realms of the long player, with track one clocking in at over 27 minutes and track two a snappy 15 minutes. Both tracks are presented in their entirety as they both manage to capture the magic of live spontaneity very well, a first for the Cubest series.
It’s true to say that the Cube orchestra will join in with whatever is happening at the time, be it a tune-up, telephone conversation, or a visual cue and once it gets going there’s often little chance of stopping it until the theme is exhausted …
Cubest 006 is the first complete uncut compilation and each track tells its own story. Here are some ‘sleeve notes’ to accompany the tunes
Don’t Say I Never Warned You (Remote Assistance)
2015 01 14 –
Sharleena Ray: Vocals;
David Insua-Cao: Percussion, Dulcimer;
Jean-Michel Maheu: Guitar, Percussion;
Keef Chemistry: Melodica, Vocals, Percussion, iPad;
Ollie Owen: Guitar
This is my own personal account of events and may be peppered with inaccuracies …
On the evening of January 14, 2015, while waiting for the Cube Bluescreen event to start, Sharleena, Jean-Michel, Ollie and David are chatting by the piano, while I play with echo feedback on the other side of the stage. No one else is there …
0.00 Ollie picks up his guitar and the track begins with an excruciating sound, followed by a haunting echoey pick
0.30 Conversation
0.35 I join in on melodica
1.00 Jean-Michel asks Sharleena if she’ll play piano to which she replies in the negative, then rolls out some sweet notes
1.24 David joins in on dulcimer
1.54 Jean-Michel is there too. We now drift along, following each other around, absolutely in no hurry
3.00 Jean-Michel tunes up and we accompany him
3.55 Jean-Michel voices his concern that we are too far away from the other three players and have lost the flow, but I tell him I’m flowing. I enjoy calling to the other side. You can hear the stereo separation dividing the sounds
5.30 David gets his gurgling thing going, making a rasping sound, like sucking an empty drink through a straw
6.00 It drops out
6.20 Jean-Michel tunes up again and we accompany him
7.00 I think we’ve found a groove
7.49 Here it comes. Jean-Michel finds a bassy groove to accompany David’s percussion, Ollie soars up high and ethereal, Sharleena moves away from the piano
9.00 Over to the mic now. This section floats along with perfect harmony, Sharleena singing, Ollie responding, Jean-Michel filling the body adeptly with some killer playing, David carrying the rhythm throughout
10.48 Sharleena’s singing about levitating
12.00 I decide to add some melodica and David adds some gurgling
12.50 Some sterling drumming now from David
13.00 Sharleena delivers the title of the track
13.28 It drops out again, but the drumming rolls on
14.10 Jean-Michel’s mobile phone goes off and he has to provide technical assistance with an echo mic in his face, while the rest contribute, Sharleena translating for the listener
15.30 It drops out to a simple beat and Sharleena now speaks fluent eastern european
15.56 Ollie finds a riff
16.11 David joins him on beat
16.18 Nice vocals. The beat builds and builds
18.00 Sharleena has moved back to the piano, Jean-Michel has finished his call and returns on slide guitar, leaving me free to open up the melodica again
18.20 It breaks, full-on
19.34 It drops out for a breather, yet the melody develops
20.08 Ollie takes a solo
20.39 It really drops out, but heavy man
21.03 It takes off again
21.15 Another drop out, with some fuzzy guitar work
21.40 Jean-Michel comes in with some way-out guitar work
22.04 It breaks again, running for it
22.30 Drop out, with the guitars working together
23.00 Great beat now. I love the way beats evolve
23.20 Sharleena is back on vocals and we journey on together
23.44 We’re cooking
24.11 Drop out
24.35 Down a notch
25.00 Bash it out big time
25.26 Up a notch
25.51 Feels like the final drop out
26.16 Drops out more
26.42 Another drop
27.00 Marcus comes in to announce they’re about to let the audience in
27.09 It’s a pretty slick ending for us
(Taken from ‘The Sweet Spot’ blog at https://keefchemistry.com/the-sweet-spot/)
Future History Lesson
2015 02 11 –
Kieran Gillick: Trumpet;
Josie Gill: Piano, Vocals;
Sammy Weaver: Flute, Vocals;
Odysseas Pappas: Guitar;
Sharleena Ray: Vocals, Melodica, Piano;
Ghoufran Warlow: Piano, Percussion;
David Insua-Cao: Percussion;
Jean-Michel Maheu: Guitar, Percussion;
Keef Chemistry: Melodica, Vocals, iPad;
Marcus Valentine: Keyboards
An experimental excursion into the future, narrated by Jean-Michel and interpreted by the orchestra members. He imagines a world without diseases, indeed without humans, and proceeds to explain the why and how of this dystopian future. It sounds practised in a free-flowing way. When it strays too far from the path Jean-Michel guides us back with another snippet in the potted history of life, the universe and everything. Perhaps not for everyone (indeed both tracks require an open mind to music), I like the way the music moves and develops, remaining predominantly upbeat. My overall feeling is that the future is oddly bright, despite our inevitable annihilation …
Don’t get used to these uncut tracks, my next job is to hack some of our lengthier tunes down to the size of a pop song!
- keef chemistry