English avant-garde guitarist Colin Robinson once again headed to the Nutclough Tavern in his hometown Hebden Bridge for a set of improvised guitar excursions for his one-man project Jumble Hole Clough. Besides his usual array of effects to create on-the-spot loops and a basic rhythm track he brought along a vintage drum machine to give his meandering compositions a bit of borderline funky grounding. It's doubtful that the audience broke into a wild dance because of this, but it is a change of pace that works really well.
Sad Power Rangers is pushed forward by a swaggering backbeat that invokes finger snapping and foot tapping, while Robinson wails away on a barely contained distorted guitar, invoking the devil's dance music. Always on the lookout for he conjures up the image of merry band riding bicycles in the aptly titled Sir Funky McFunk and His Funk Orchestra, making their escape from Ambientville on Raleigh Choppers.
Whether he is poking fun at religion in the sparse Choose your own celestial dictator - just a few notes to create a motif, grinding his teeth and bringing it home - or acting truly surprised about the repeated vicious attacks on a local shop in Drive-by yoghurt attack on crochet teacher's haberdashery leaves her shaken, Robinson's always finds a way to turn pretty much anything into a free-flowing guitar workout.
Live at the Nutclough Tavern 23rd January 2016 is a self-released album. Buy it (pay-what-you-want) from his website. Mick West did a fine job taking care of the live sound and recording. He joined Robinson for Furtive biscuit-tin banjo-caster intrude, playing Martin Roberts' big tin guitar.
Tracks:- Nihilon via Absinthe
- Sad Power Rangers (Soundcheck 1)
- Sir Funky McFunk and His Funk Orchestra, making their escape from Ambientville on Raleigh Choppers
- I've only seen you sniff the jar
- The Observer’s Book of Boarded-Up Public Houses (Vol.17, Rawtenstall-Rochdale)
- Choose your own celestial dictator
- Furtive biscuit-tin banjo-caster intruder (Soundcheck 2)
- Drive-by yoghurt attack on crochet teacher's haberdashery leaves her shaken (Soundcheck 3)
- Forest of Scissors
- A post-apocalyptic glow from the direction of Todmorden
Colin Robinson will be performing with Iain Taylor as a duo named Doggerland, at the Golden Lion in Todmorden tonight a spart of the ?Post-Apocalyso Age of Aquarius festival.
» Jumble Hole Clough on Facebook
HCTF review of Live at the Nutclough Tavern 30th December 2015.