We're on the road to Holmfirth

Central Casting will be performing at this years Holmfirth Folk Festival, Yorkshire, 8th and 9th May. Performers from all over the UK and Europe will desend upon the town of Holmfirth where the bars, pubs, restaurants and even the local cinema become live music venues for the weekend.
Central Casting will be performing a set at Herveys wine bar on Saturday night, 8th May, and a second set at The Picturedrome on Sunday afternoon, 9th May.
Festival organizer James Munroe talks to local radio station Two Valleys Radio about the festival and Central Castings song Hawks and Larks gets some airplay 51 minutes into the show. Click here to listen to the whole show. Hit the North!

A few more dates for the diary:

Central Casting, Douglas E Powell, Robin Courtnage - Lilicos, Barnstaple, Devon, 27th May
Central Casting, Douglas E Powell - Tobacco Factory, Bristol, 30th May
Central Casting - The Hatherleigh Festival, Devon, July 23rd

Welcome aboard Central Casting

Twister Valley Records are proud to present their latest signing Central Casting.
Central Casting is a four-piece band, based on the West coast of the United Kingdom, which was formed during the long winter of 2009 by songwriter and guitarist Douglas E Powell. Citing as their musical influences bands such as Pentangle, Neil Young, Iron and Wine, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Ryan Adams making Central Casting an eclectic mix of alt-folk, vocal harmony and Americana.
The band will be touring the UK in the spring/summer of 2010 and will be releasing an album in the autumn of 2010.
For more information on the music of Central Casting or to book them to perform at your venue, contact CP Mandrake at twistervalleyrecords@gmail.com or visit their myspace site.

Devon Music Scene gets a big mention in Devon Life

Songwriters and performers Douglas E Powell and Amy Newton and Goldcoast Oceanfest organizers Warren and Shaun Latham get a very complementary write up in the February edition of Devon Life. The article was penned by author Tim Kevan, the writer of the newly published novel BabyBarista and the Art of War.
All of us here at TVR would like to say a big thank you to Tim and Devon life for taking the time to recognising that there is a diverse and immensely talented 'local' music scene here in Devon.
You can read the full article here on Tim's blog.

Vic Chesnutt dies 25th Dec, 2009 aged 45.

On Christmas day 2009 another great songwriter died. A man very close to my heart. A man who sculpted the way I write songs, after he gave me a copy of his album, Is the Actor Happy as payment for a support slot at a club in Portsmouth, England in 1995. That man's name was Vic Chesnutt. A name not ceremonious with world wide acclaim or stardom. The very opposite. He wrote the songs that others emulated. Artists such as REM, Smashing Pumpkins, Madonna even.
Vic was a true poet and song-smith of the highest order. To say that his songs were morose, maudlin and down beat would be a considerable under statement. That was the man's gift. Writing songs about the dark ironic comedic side of life. Often served with a healthy dose of impending doom.
His untimely death leaves a cavernous void in the world of song writing.
Vic leaves us a legacy (give or take a few side projects) of 15 studio albums spanning a 19 career.

Douglas E Powell

A weekend filed under 'difficult music' - ATP, Minehead, UK

A few close friends of TVR (Mr Jupp aka Belbury Poly/Ghost Box and Mr Stevens aka French Canadian Bean Soup) joined Mr Powell and Mr Mandrake in the town of Minehead for a weekend of alternative music appreciation. Here are some of my personal high points.



Pictured here J Masscis surrounded by his wrecking ball wall of noodlin noise. This shot was taken during his three song sound check. We watched the show from the relative safety of the rear of the auditorium wearing the ear plugs supplied.





Spectrum gradually built a sonic drone assault from the ground up as we all gazed at our shoes. Meanwhile later that evening Mr Stevens and Mr Jupp where told to keep their opinions on how to re-boot a Power Book G4 to themselves. They duly left the auditorium with their pride still intact.



Lee Renaldo lining up here for one of his songs from the Eternal set plus Death Valley 69.



Thurston Moore about to dispatch yet another vintage Fender Jaguar. Sadly no Jaguars where harmed during the show.





Now play nicely together Sonic Youth and please try and use your inside voices. Think of the neighbours.

Sometimes it's not all about the music

We pride our selves here at TVR on our diverse and eclectic cultural tastes. So when by chance we happen upon something a tad left field or just plane odd. We feel duty bound, obliged even to share it with you. So please enjoy the world of Entrances to Hell.

Eirlys Rhiannon - Sleep (Unlabelled Label for Irregular Records)

It starts with a Crazy World. It’s is a lovely drunken lurch of a song, that put me in mind of the taste of cider on a late night hay ride. Whatever one of those is. The backing for the smiling sleepy vocals is sparse and loose – Eirlys on guitar and Rowan Armes on fiddle. Rowan's playing is excellent. She starts by plucking a counter melody and it’s a great sound: fuller than a banjo and less irritating than a mandolin. Then she picks up the bow and lets loose, but without swamping the tune. So nice to listen to an accomplished musician who listens as well as they play. She also adds simple piano accompaniment on the tracks plot and come home again this works well

The plucked fiddle absolutely perfect on Fahrenheit. This is a bit of an epic that starts with a gentle kind of menace that builds up and up wonderfully. Sorry but the djembe freak-out at the end is like a waiter’s dreadlock dangling in your soup – unnecessary and lacking taste.

The more upbeat songs such as Chasing Hope and Packer’s Field missed me a bit. They sound a little overplayed and compared to the other tracks, they’re just a bit too strident and earnest. There’s definitely an element of old fashioned radical mung bean politicking going on here but it generally doesn’t detract from the music. Apart from the Djembe.

I try not to read lyric sheets. It's much better to catch odd phrases and put them together gradually into a jigsaw of familiarity. Eirlys rewards this method but when I got to Calon Lan, sung beautifully unaccompanied, I was forced to look at the lyric sheet, as it's all in foreign. Happily there's a translation and the meaning is as lovely as the sound.

I really like this album even though it’s not the sort of thing I usually go for. It lies somewhere in the space between Natalie Merchant, The Be Good Tanyas and a Reclaim the Streets Demonstration. That’s not a bad place to be at all.

For more information on the music of Eirlys Rhiannon or to buy a copy of her album Sleep visit her web site or her myspace page.

Reviewer: CP Mandrake