| | | ||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
son of everyone e.p. "not many ep’s clock in at forty-five minutes, that’s a whole album in old (vinyl) money, still fewer can fill each of those minutes with interest. more remarkable still is that calamateur is the work of one pair of hands, those of andrew howie. he shares an outlook, if not a sound, with ed harcourt, and he shares a sound (if not an outlook) with the likes of damien rice and josh rouse. confused? don’t be, howie is a simple man who writes as though guided by voices, massaging his words through a voice as swoonsome and melancholic as the finest american roots singers, yet his basic palette includes not just acoustic guitars but also a light drizzling of understated electronics. ideal for late night listening, even at lunchtime. 4/5." logo magazine - october 2003 | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| --- "it's as if acoustic music in scotland, once the preserve of wooly-pullovered real ale-quaffing beardies, has been liberated. rejoice! because while actual folk music done well is a rarity, alternative songs done on acoustic guitar are exploding all around us. theonewhoflew, ally kerr and even aereogramme can all captivate an audience with some spellbinding stripped-down songs. joining this group are calamateur, last spotted making atmospheric soundscapey samplefests, but the 8 tracks here are nothing short of brilliantly absorbing, indeed on 'here beside' you forget it's just one man and a guitar. with reverberant haunting vocals and occasional augmentation by keyboard, the stark production only adds to an impressive set of eerie 'folk' tunes." Is This Music - Winter 2003 --- "...fellow weegies calamateur are bolder still. their 'son of everyone' ep (autoclave)(3/5) is not only ludicrously long at 45 minutes (OK, lets call it a mini album then, though a fair chunk of the running time is silence) but it still manages to be bloody good with it, coupling alt. country strumming with tortured lyrics." the list - october 2003 --- "another local cd (9 song ep!) that I've had for a few weeks. on first airing, i must admit i thought "mmm, interesting production" on hearing the mix of raw electro-acoustic guitar and (home) studio electronica noodlings and soft chorused vocals. then i thought "mmm, actually comes across as a pretty straight singer/songwriter that's managed to dress up some pretty m.o.r. pop-ish songs". then i came back to it a little later and allowed myself to be drawn into andrew howie's relaxed yet earnest and melancholic world. and i was put in mind of elliot smith (famous in part for contribution to the oscar-nominated soundtrack to good will hunting). i dug out my copy of smith's 'either/or' album to see if it was a fair reference. the following day I found out that elliot smith had died just 72hrs earlier. made the comparison somewhat poignant. probably significant is that calamateur's songs contain more hope - both lyrically and musically. 2nd track 'here beside' stands out as a song that could see calamateur move into the 'coffee table' market - i'm not sure if he desires that or not. i'm inclined to a) see him play live and b) watch this space. inverness city advertiser - november 2003 --- "...less rock, but more in the way of some acoustic introspection, comes courtesy of calamateur who provide some heartfelt & earnest alternatives to all those noisy guitars that clog our ears. here we have a 7 track cd e.p. on autoclave..." norman records - september 2003 --- 8 track mini cd from calamateur and it is full of stark acoustic melodies that float along with sparse but emotive backing. think somewhere between the clientele,elliott smith and the fence collective. rough trade - september 2003 | |||||||||
| tiny pushes vol.1 (how to be childlike) ”congratulations are due, to the recipients of the itm? stamp of value and quality this month. following their almost harrowing autocity ep, calamateur been busy. the 10 tracks here are all downloadable and at 17 minutes in total you can hardly go wrong (john peel's a fan if you needed any further convincing). in fact this works as a set - fragments of found sound link together the more tunesome songs here such as the simple but mightily infectious guitar strum of 'three point turn'. other highs include the almost-metal riff of 'simpleton' which again is 'just' guitar, but all-powerful. 'hopscotch' is like a lo-fi durutti column with beatbox, and 'everyone is the one' is a lovely acoustic song, short and sweet, like a highland guided by voices.” is this music? – july 2003 |  |
||
|
"i have to be honest with you. i have no recollection about where this first cd by calamateur, called 'tiny pushes vol.1 (how to be childlike)', came from. as good a place to start as any though, eh? weirdly, although this is a cd, this whole collection is available to download for free...hey, don't worry too much about big slow download times either, because the whole ten songs clock in altogether at only around seventeen minutes. it's worth downloading the whole lot too, as some of the tracks individually are cut-up snippets and fragments of random samples and sounds, and so it's best listened to as a whole - the more 'song'-like tracks (which, even then, are only glimpses of ideas) being interspersed with passages of vaguely electronic, vaguely dreamlike strangeness. it's hard to get a grip on where calamateur are at, but from this selection, they seem to exist in a world of half-asleep-yet-heartfelt acoustic songs in a suitably lo-fi style. they remind me of tapes which people used to put out in the old indiepop/underground cassette days, ideas committed to magnetic tape before too much refinement comes into play. an interesting listen which makes me want to hear more - hopefully, their invention and reluctance to submit to traditional songwriting rules is carried throughout their other work." diskant - november 2003 | |||
 |
autocity ep “calamateur released a single last year i think it was which you seemed to like.... we did. now just in this fat morn we have a 3" cd single ltd to 200 copies in a porn style brown paper bag (more like an envelope actually) with little inserts and that. a lovely thing to look at indeed. tis called the autocity ep you know. it's atmospheric floaty type music with samples from news reports (by the sounds of things) of war and carnage. very pretty beautiful sounding stuff and well worth a punt me thinks.” norman records – january 2003 | |
|
--- “beautifully packaged 3" cd limited to just 200 copies from calamateur who come from the suburbs of glasgow. the four tracks are total bleak urban soundscapes with spoken word samples on top. this could sit easily on constellation or on a clientele single.” rough trade– january 2003 --- “the second concept record about driving this month but this one is clearly not in favour of our mechanical friends. 4 pulsating tracks on a 3” cd which somehow mimic engine noise, while samples of crash death statistics interplay in a cursory warning on the evils of the automobile. snippets of radio chat on traffic build up through the cd – ‘bad day’ features a description of the state of a collided car until the inevitable ‘farstar’ is reached – actually so spooky that it seems it would soundtrack a space shuttle crash until an american statistician (of course) kicks in equating highway death tolls to those in ‘nam.” is this music? – february 2003 | ||
| white light unknown/inhabit “astonishing debut single from men of mystery from somewhere in the leafy glasgow suburbs. white light unknown is a haunting (musically & lyrically) little ditty, with just the slightest beat to propel it along. inhabit is somehow less upbeat, the fragile vocals hardly getting going. we have seen queues of enquiring music fans form at the dj booth in clubs when this has been played. which is probably some sort of recommendation.” jockrock - summer 2000 ---- |  |
|||
|
“…a fine debut from glaswegian band calamateur
and first release for the newly formed timshel label. absolutely no details with
this except that it's extremely limited to 100 pressings so purchase on sight
because i certainly think that those of you with a love for gentle pop will want
a part of this. 'white light unknown' features some softly spun acoustics, timidly
sparse in approach, nothing too threatening but possessing the kind of delicate
use of vinyl grooves that deserves one of those sit down and contemplate it all
moments in life. 'inhabit' is my personal favourite of the two tracks, slightly
more happening here but again providing one of those moments where your head says
nothing really out of the ordinary happening here but your heart suggests otherwise,
trembling as if touched by something altogether magical. file away with the fragile
whispers of galaxie 500.” losing today - november 2001 ---- “starting with a delicately picked tune and hushed vocals that recall elliot smith’s most sensitive moments, this single gradually grows into a beguiling, bleary eyed, late night glory. seek it out, great things could follow.” track & field – october 2001 ---- “…is a thing of great beauty as their stark acoustic melodies float along with sparse but emotive backing.” the list – march 2001 ---- “effortless two track single from indie collective calamateur. soft restrained acoustica is the order of the day with mournful vocals and delicate instrumentation dominating both songs....lovely.” --------------------- | ||||