Listen to The Untied Knot

Don’t Hang The DJ

I urge you all to take action to try to save BBC 6 Music, especially as its Freak Zone show was the first radio programme to feature The Untied Knot. There is some great advice on how you can take steps to try to reverse the BBC’s decision here
Losing a channel such as 6 Music which is willing to expose marginalised music with often little commercial potential will be detrimental to both listener and emerging musician.

On that note, The Untied Knot continues to be grateful to the shows which have exposed its music to a wider audience. In particular, Jeffery Davison’s  Shrunken Planet show on WFMU which has recently played “Requiem For The Thirteen” and “Pelham Street” and possibly our biggest fan outside the UK, Fernando Pérez Herrero who has spun “Low Tide” and “Spanish Pine” in the last few weeks on Cielo líquido . It’s especially nice to hear our music amongst such great company…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

New York Knot

More airplay, this time from WFMU-FM – an independent freeform station broadcasting at 91.1 fm in New York, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley.
Jeffery Davison played “A. Corns” on his Shrunken Planet show on Sat Feb 6th. Nice to see it was in the company of some of my personal guitar heroes, Jack Rose (rest his prematurely departed soul) and Voice Of The Seven Woods. You can listen to the show here.

el nudo desatado (slight return)

More airplay from Fernando (a man of exceptionally good taste) on the Cielo líquido show on Spanish radio channel canal extremadura last night, “Requiem For The Thirteeen” was played – technically on Thurs 28/1/10. See more about the show here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

el nudo desatado

“Larus argentatus” was played on the Cielo líquido (liquid sky) show on Spanish radio channel canal extremadura last night – technically on Tues 19/1/10.
Fernando Pérez Herrero hosts this 4-times weekly show and lists John Peel amongst his heroes which is reflected in the diversity of his musical taste. You can find out more at cieloliquido.net or myspace

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Video “At The Threshold Of Perception”

The Untied Knot – At The Threshold Of Perception (Promo film 2009) from The Untied Knot on Vimeo.

As heard on BBC Radio 6 Music

“Larus argentatus” was played on Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone show on 18/10/09 amongst such distinguished company as Sun Ra, Squarepusher and Pink Floyd.

Liam Hayes and Plush, King’s Head 16/10/09

Tonight is a band outing for The Untied Knot – me and Matt hop a 91 bus for the long crawl to the nether regions of Crouch End in search of a fix of what the NME once described as a “one-man Love Unlimited Orchestra”. The gig is billed as Liam Hayes and Plush which is the official new moniker for 2009’s “Bright Penny” album.  Starting as we (it turns out) mean to go on we commandeer the 2 best seats in the venue, front and centre to the obvious dismay of the too-polite punters behind us. Not terribly English I’m afraid but that’s several ales and a one hour bus journey for yas, if you’re reading guys – sorry… Barring this unforgivable faux-pas, we settle in on our best behaviour as Liam lifts on his Fender Telecaster for the first number.  It appears the two Fender Rhodes and upright piano will remain untouched but just before a sense of mild disappointment sets in for both of us, the guitar is discarded for the second song and Mr Hayes is joined by his new right-hand man on duelling Fender Rhodes and synth bass – Mr Jimmy Rowland. I say “mild disappointment” as I would have been more than happy with a solo electric guitar set just like the brilliant one we witnessed at The Luminaire 12 months ago but finer still it is to witness my 4th variant on the Plush live sound since 1998.

Certain people talk about “outsider artists” but Liam Hayes and his music seems to exist in a timeless bubble somewhere on the outskirts of the music scene, untouched by any trends or concessions to the present millennium. Read the rest of this entry »

Into The Vortex – New Planes Of Ecstasy 9/10/09

Richard Youngs and Heather Leigh Murray’s swooping twin guitar maelstrom dissolves into an unaccompanied three word mantra drone and keeps me entranced throughout. I convince my companion “we” actually “could”n’t “do that ourselves” and we grab ourselves another drink.

Thanks to http://mapsadaisical.wordpress.com/ for this nice photo

Neil Campbell’s (a.k.a. Astral Social Club) set is the equivalent of ingesting a supercharged chunk of good acid during an electrical storm. As he plate-spins effects pedals and mic-manipulates layers of dense disjointed (near impossible to) dance (to) music, the visuals sketch out complex ever-changing geometric line patterns. Even the sound of a mobile going off during a subdued section doesn’t detract from this extended episode  of sensory euphoria. Sweet.

Skaters have cancelled so Alexander Tucker steps breach-wards with a set of looped cello narratives. I always enjoy his shows and always seem to catch him more by accident then design – this is no exception. The night is cut short as my companion requires a taxi to ferry us across London to last orders at a theatre bar – this, if nothing else is an excuse for tequila. Goodnight.

The Knot unTies on iTunes

“Sketches For A Lost Summer” is now available on iTunes with individual tracks at £0.79 each.
Forget your apps, get yourself a fix of music…

The Untied Knot on Spotify

“Sketches For A Lost Summer” is now on Spotify so you lucky people can hear the whole of the album by clicking here…

For those who aren’t familiar with Spotify – it’s a huge free on-line music streaming resource, effectively a radio station where you select what you want to hear.  As well as big-shots like David Bowie, Neil Young and The Beach Boys you’ll find all sorts of more esoteric stuff including loads of my faves like The Durutti Column, Robbie Basho & Popol Vuh.