Peter Hall may not be a familiar name to most of you but hopefully that changes soon, as he is an incredibly talented
musician, that is just waiting to be discovered. Some may recognize the name as the person behind the wonderful band Play People who first recorded two EP’s on the brilliant This Almighty Pop! label run by a person with impeccable taste, Stephen Maughan (of Bulldozer Crash, Kosmonaut and The Memory Fades) and a 7” single on another highly regarded label Cloudberry Records (run by Roque Ruiz, who is one of the most knowledgeable people in the indie pop world). So already with a pedigree like that, you know it is going to be excellent and we are immensely proud to have it as a Beautiful Music release.
This EP combines beautiful melodies with intelligent lyrics, and will bring to mind bands like Aztec Camera, The Lilac Time, Elliot Smith, Delta, Captain Soul, January, Paul Weller, and Nick Heyward’s recent release “Woodland Echoes” and probably several other Scottish Pop bands and maybe even with a hint of mod thrown in as an influence. Janglepophub mentions a few more, if you are looking for possible similarities: “the two stripped back tracks of Hold Me and She Fell From The Sky, visit Tame Impala / De Marco style semi chill jangle and piano-less Nick Batterham guitar strums respectively, whilst maintaining definitive originality by adding the sort of smooth, rounded production, that just about slides into sophisti-pop territory.” “However, it is when his music ventures into mid-tempo and increases the ‘surround sound’, that the EP really reaches it’s heights. Blood Flow and Everything is Fading Fast (both below) are able to take their place alongside modern guitar pop luminaries like Dropkick, The Boy With Perpetual Nervousness … as volumes of melodic intent bubble to the surface with a lack of intensity that borders on ‘summer perfect’.”
And to quote When You Motor Away: “We are not particularly familiar with UK artist Peter Hall, but the four tracks on “There’s Something Wrong With Everyone” have made fans of us. This is intimate, carefully crafted and richly melodic indie pop that has lifted our spirits today. We suggest it may well do the same for you. There may be something wrong with everyone, but there is nothing wrong about this EP.”
Give Peter Hall a listen, you will be richly rewarded and as a bonus, we even through in an extra hidden track as a surprise, but you will need to get a copy of the EP to discover that :).
Peter Hall – There’s Something Wrong With Everyone
Beauty 048 – CD Version
$10.00 CDN
Here is more information:
Peter Hall Bandcamp: https://peterhallmusic.bandcamp.com/
Peter Hall Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterhallmusic/
there appears to be quite a lot more going on in the music of these songs and Lloyd isn’t that easily pigeonholed. The release starts off with “Lost & Lonely” in a beautiful, meandering, dreamy Beatles influenced song with hints of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and then picks up a bit with some mid 70’s soft rock / easy listening, lounge moods sneaking in, but it’s Lloyd’s vocals that tear at your heartstrings but inspire hope when he sings lines like “leave me down here on my own” & “the suns coming up”. However, it’s what follows, the amazing “OXFORD Guitar Club” with its hints of New Order meets The Jazz Butcher, with a bit of an Altered Images guitar feel that really hooked us. We won’t give our impressions on all the songs, as we would prefer you make your own, but suffice to say Lloyd keeps that beautiful momentum going all the way through these songs. This is a brilliant mini LP/EP, in our opinion, but we prefer you made your own opinions.
Just who are The Irony Board & why have we not heard of them before? Information about the band is quite scarce, but we do know that they had a song featured on one of Firestation Records legendary “The Sound Of Leamington Spa” series (Volume 7), which in itself automatically gives them some street cred., as Firestation Records are certainly one of the purveyors of great taste in this modern era. We also know that a published novel, “Capturing The Wry”, was written about the band, this book written by John Hartley (aka Johny Nocash) chronicles the crazy and fascinating story of the trials and tribulations of his unsigned band The Irony Board. That book, which is highly recommended, was endorsed by Merric Davidson (editor of Toppermost.co.uk) and Steve Williamson (EIO40 kingpin), and several members of the Trash Can Sinatras, making this story even more intriguing. Initial copies of the book were accompanied by a free bonus CD, of studio recordings, of the tracks featured within the book. That however is just the tip of the iceberg.
As we get back in action, we have a brand new album to be released on our label in May, which I’m very excited about, it’s an album by James Clarke Five, the latest project by James Hughes (AKA Clarke), an amazing musician who played in the short lived, but very talented 80’s Liverpool band, 
We can however confirm that new music is in the works and judging from this latest single “End Of The Summer”, a beautiful and languid delight of hooks and harmonies, we can confidently say that there must be some humans behind this project and without a doubt, you are going to love their new album. Listen to “End Of The Summer” on their Bandcamp page.
Dot Dash’s new album Proto Retro, the band’s sixth long player, out now on TBM. Proudly our 42nd release!
We are extremely proud to be involved in the release of “one of SPAIN’S finest power pop bands who are hero’s of their craft!” as Jeremy from Jam Records once described them. He went on to say: “The Yellow Melodies
