Category Archives: Article XI

New live recordings site, and some Bandcamp recommendations

With all live music off for a while yet, I’m working on a new project that looks back at the gigs I’ve been a part of over the past few years. My hard drives are full of audio from past concerts, and in normal times I hardly ever had time to listen to them. In lockdown, or at least in the rare moments that I’m able to focus on working at something, there’s time to have a good dig around in the files and listen back to some sets. I’ve set up a new Bandcamp site that will act as a kind of scrapbook of old and raw live recordings from my archive. This will be a slow burner, but the first two recordings are up now – a solo set and a duo set with Seth Bennett, both from 2016. All the music on this site will be ‘name your price’, so there’s the option to pay on the door for these old gigs. The money will be split equally between the musicians on the recording.

As you may be aware of from seeing a billion social media posts, Bandcamp are giving artists some extra support during the pandemic by waiving their commission on the first Friday of the month in May, June and July. We have something in the pipeline at Luminous HQ for the July one, so keep an eye out for that. And as today is May 1st, I thought I’d pull together a few recommendations of music to check out and support some artists close to my heart…

Article XI – Live In Newcastle (Discus) / Anton Hunter – LUME Kestrel Online

I’m proud to be a member of Anton’s large ensemble, and it’s great to see a second release out there. This live album was recorded on our double bill large ensemble tour in 2017, at the mighty Bridge Hotel in Newcastle for Jazz North East. Featuring two previously unrecorded Anton Hunter originals! Anton is also releasing a brand new track TODAY, made in lockdown, with lots of us playing and a kestrel drawing by me…

Bathing Trio – Stretford – Bromley-by-Bow – Peckham

The excellent trio of Sam Andreae, Otto Willberg and David Birchall are making tracks together live over the interwebs. This is one of several improvised lockdown sets they’ve published so far…

Deemer – Live at the Vortex (Luminous)

Dee and Merijn are currently working on something new for Luminous, but check out this live set from 2016 if you haven’t already.

Kodian Trio – Live In Leeds (Raw Tonk)

The latest slice of Kodian Trio goodness on Raw Tonk Records, recorded by Chris Sharkey at LS6 Cafe.

Ti/om – The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Madwort Records)

This is a pretty special release, several years in the making. Ti/om went to the Isle of Eigg in 2016, staying in a bothy together for a week and recording these pieces. It’s lovely to see them surfacing now on Madwort Records.

Johnny Hunter – Pale Blue Dot (Northern Contemporary)

A four movement sextet suite by Johnny Hunter, recorded at the Lescar in Sheffield. A gig I wished I could have attended! The fourth release on the excellent Northern Contemporary label.

Venue fundraisers

It’s a very challenging time for music venues right now for obvious reasons, and they need our support if we are able. Hundred Years Gallery and the Vortex both have fundraiser Bandcamp sites, Martin Clarke’s oem label is raising money for Arch 1, and IKLECTIK has a page of fundraising music on its website. Here are some starting points…

Off Bandcamp, you could always become a digital member of Cafe Oto and support them while treating yourself to a year of amazing downloads.

I’m finding it hard to engage with the online world, and with everything that’s going on around us in the real world I’m struggling to even think about being creative. We all have to do what we do to get through this! I hope you find some sounds you love in this post, and that we can all be back out there listening to and playing live music again soon.

Article XI – Live In Newcastle

A new release to check out! Anton Hunter has released a new live recording of his large ensemble Article XI, from the Newcastle date of our double bill large ensembles tour in 2017. Released on the mighty Sheffield label Discus Music, the set features two new compositions plus new live versions of some AXI classics. Have a listen – it’s great to be a part of this group and I hope we can play live again soon.

Tracks played on the Ambrosia Rasputin show…

Earlier today (Sunday 30th September) I was a guest on Ivor Kallin’s Ambrosia Rasputin Show on Resonance FM. It was a lot of fun chatting to Ivor and playing some tracks by friends and collaborators as well as some of my own, so I thought I’d post links here to the music I played. You can find the relevant albums on Bandcamp by clicking through on the embeds below. The whole show is available to listen to on Mixcloud, and also features two duo improvisations from Ivor (on viola) and me (on baritone sax) live in the studio.

We opened with a couple of my own pieces:

Then I played ‘Bone Machine’ by the Pixies! A classic track that I don’t need to link to here…

Next up was some Entropi:

And then some Article XI:

Some Birchall/Cheetham/Webster/Willberg:

And a track from the new album by Tom Ward and Adam Fairhall, the first release on Madwort Records:

To round things off I played Dee Byrne’s composition for Saxoctopus:

Big thanks to Ivor for inviting me! It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday lunchtime.

Favourite Animals album now available to pre-order!

It’s almost out there! Today I shipped out albums to all the crowdfunder backers, and pre-orders are up on the Bandcamp site. The release date is 4th December, so if you order a copy between now and then, it should drop onto your doormat on the day. Even though we only recorded this in August, I feel like I’ve been working on it for a really long time, so it’s good to get it over the line. The first track is streaming online now:


Next up, it’s all hands on deck as we finish the last of the logistics ready for the double bill Article XI/Favourite Animals UK tour. Here’s the flyer again – come out and see us if we’re in your town…

A tour for December

Favourite Animals is heading out this December on a double bill tour with Anton Hunter’s Article XI. The two ensembles share several members, so we thought it would be fun to take them out together! We have four dates around the Midlands and the North, with both bands releasing albums around the same time. The tour is supported by Arts Council England and The Fenton Arts Trust.

Wire review for LUME Festival

LUME Festival has a review in this month’s Wire magazine, courtesy of Daniel Spicer. He really sums up the weird post-Brexit mood on the day (two days after the EU referendum result) and has some pretty glowing things to say about the music, including Word Of Moth and Article XI. Although it was only in June, the festival feels like a long time ago now. Roll on the next one!

(Click on the image to enlarge).

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