Overview
Tom Hingley (of Inspiral Carpets) concert.
Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets)
Tom Hingley - former lead singer of The Inspiral Carpets, a band that along with The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses defined everything that was good about the UK music-scene at the beginning of the 1990's but more importantly, introduced the mainstream to Madchester with a bevy of pop anthems (including the hits, Joe, Caravan, I Want You, Saturn 5 and This Is How It Feels). One of the pleasures of listening to Tom Hingley is hearing a voice being set free: it soars and sings, like really sings. The songs are intelligent, fun, deep, and toe-tappingly tremendous. Tom steers the sound lyrically and vocally away from the Inspirals, but the ear for a good hook is there in spades.
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Head of Programmes
Head of Programmes is essentially the alias of one James MacGregor, a loner type singer/songwriter whose subtle, simple songs talk of melancholic self-obsessed views on relationships, God and heartbreak. HOP's early output consisted of home recorded four-track experiments "My Horse, your car" and "Breaking Your Arm", given to friends and done for his own enjoyment, not many still exist. MacGregor's non four-track debut 2007's "Heart Rung Of Hope"Ep, again self released, this time in a limited run of 100 hand numbered discs, tackled the same subject matter but in a more advanced and structured manner. The music itself was still spare, but the recordings show the beginnings of Head of Programmes inviting other players into the sound, this time in the shape of D.Parker on Guitar. From this point on live shows became more frequent, and the sound began to resemble more signs of traditional songcraft. Frequent collaborators have included Amie Willingale of The Dharma Bums, ex Lemanis drummer John Sidbotham and Brown Scotch, another bedroom based singer songwriter and singer of alt-experimentalists Fishermans Mission. November 2008 sees the release of "The Magnetic South" via fledgeling indie label FoundObjective. It sees Head of Programmes fleshing out the instrumentation while still keeping the signature bare bones appeal of early live shows. MacGregor is currently working on material for a second full release, due out sometime in 2009.
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