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Touring Ireland….

Bed and Breakfasts in Ireland are a wonder to behold. We are 4 gigs into our 9 date Irish tour put together by Music Network and feeling rested and well fed in a B&B in Tinahelay, Co Wicklow. The shows so far have all been packed and with a lively vibe. The Guinness flows freely. It’s been a hectic few weeks and looks set to continue that way for a while. We had a brilliant run of gigs in Australia (the Perth International Arts Festival was a highlight as was stalking Kangaroos and sloshing back expensive wine after a great show in a vineyard) and just when we’d got over the jetlag we raced back to northern climes to start this Irish tour. From here we travel to Spain and the Portugal and then back to London to begin our UK tour! Shortly after that we begin the Germany tour…

Isla released in Europe

Isla is released today across Europe – The album is a spotlight feature on iTunes stores in Spain & Italy www.itunes.com/porticoquartet

Poalnd to Perth

Just back from Poland- looked after in style and played a packed out show. Big vibe. Thanks to Anna and Hipnoza. We’ll be back…

In the meantime… Australia here we come! 10 days of sun- 3 shows, 1 workshop and plenty beach. Perth get ready. Ahh yeeah.

First show of 2010

Eeeeee yo! Heading to Poland this Sunday to play the Hipnoza Jazz Club in Katowice. This will be our first time to this part of the world and our first show of 2010 so we are darn excited. The Katowice Jazz Festival started in the autumn with the likes of Cinematic Orchestra playing and finishes in a marathon 2 YEARS TIME with a Tom Waits show! Sturdy work I rekon. We’ve had all of this January off to write and relax and so we are positively itching to get back on stage!

Post tour… pre 2010

Kicking back after the tour, we’re all getting back into the normal swing of things. What a wicked tour it’s been! Just thinking it over now and I can safely say we are darn pleased with the whole thing. Very happy indeed. All gigs were top- big and happy crowds, great venues and sweet, sweet music. All about you people at the gigs. Big love.
Being on the road this time around was improved immeasurably by the presence of two guys, a.k.a. ‘Team PQ’, who deserve a special mention- Jules McBride (tour manager and spiritual guru) and Harry Bishop (soundman and a very sound man). These two were indispensable and both have taught us a lot. If you’re reading Jules and Harry- all the love and bring on the next run!
So, many thanks again to all who came out to support us and made each show so great. Bristol, Basingstoke, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Middlesborough, Birmingham, Brighton, Norwich, Colchester, Cambridge, Liverpool and Nottingham. Up and down the country… in concert halls and clubs… it’s been great to meet you all and collaborate in music. See you again on our Spring tour 2010…

So what next? A Martini and a foot spa sure, but what after? Well, we’re all keen to get tinkering on new material (Duncan has just discovered the weird and wonderful joys of contact micing his drum kit) and so we’ll be setting up camp in the studio at the bottom of our garden and getting busy. And 2010…. The year is shaping up proper tasty with the international release of Isla (WOOP WOOP) and at least 5 or 6 tours across Europe, USA and beyond. Bring it. First of all though is a run of gigs in Australia in early Feb. Yes and yes.

One Love. Merry Xmas Over and out.

nick

A 4* review of us in the guardian

* John L Walters
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 November 2009 22.00 GMT

Known for playing intimate clubs and village halls, Portico Quartet have no trouble filling this famous rock dive. The venue is packed, and the set begins dramatically, with a repeated pulse from Nick Mulvey’s melodious hang drum and Milo Fitzpatrick’s double bass, shadowed against back-projected artwork from their new album, Isla. Saxophonist Jack Wyllie and drummer Duncan Bellamy join in, adding heat and intensity.

But the group don’t build their music like a rock band, with volume and big gestures. Nor do they sprawl like jazzers, with themes and long solos. Rather, they have the manner of an African or Indian ensemble generating a mood. They are British, though, and their moods are more folky than funky, more rural than urban. They achieve this through a subtle interplay of elements, such as Wyllie’s electronic loops and Fitzpatrick’s range of techniques: his bass is a constantly changing source of instrumental colour. The crowd respond enthusiastically – everyone knows the language, in which sound texture is as important as melody and rhythm.

The music comes unstuck when it veers too close to straight jazz, as in the freak-out in Knee Deep in the North Sea or the drum solo in Clipper. Bellamy’s sustained, restrained coda to Line is far more effective. The group can sound almost classical at times, with Wyllie’s pure-toned sax singing high above their shimmering Steve Reich-like patterns, but the compositions have an organic, evolved nature that’s closer to traditional music or post-rock – Tortoise or the Chicago Underground Quartet.

Yet Portico Quartet have their own unique sound, owing to Mulvey’s mbira-like hang, the pulsing heart of every number. It’s world music, for sure – and the crowd is gleefully proud that it hails from our part of the world.

A review of us and Sweet Billy Pilgrim in the FT

This tour offers two Mercury Prize nominees: both groups have occupied the slot on the shortlist reserved for acts that record in sheds, whose victory would be a cause for delight but is improbable in the extreme.

Success has not yet spoiled Sweet Billy Pilgrim, who still amble on stage like three physics students and a Young Farmer, and who still visibly tinker with tunings and equipment. But their glitchy rock has toughened up, even if its melodies still swim just below a surface film of electronic bric-a-brac.

“Future Perfect Tense”, which would be their hit single if they had anything so vulgar, now hits hard, with rolling waves of thrashing guitar. “God In The Details” starts as a berserk waltz but has a sumptuous rising coda. “Joy Maker Machinery”, introduced by Tim Elsenburg as a song about sex, unfolded with a languorous rhythm at odds with biology. “We are engineers/we are architects”, he sang at the climax.

Portico Quartet’s Mercury nomination bought them a needle-precise production job from John Leckie for their second album, Isla. For a couple of minutes they felt formless but the music then resolved into the fragile hardness of “Paper Scissors Stone”, and they flew.

Their trademark sound is the hang, a steel pan that mimics the sound of a gamelan. Nick Mulvey had his mounted on tripods, looking like a model village War Of The Worlds . The hangs create colour, rhythm and pattern; they also anchor the music, as they coalesce into a blur if played loudly. Jack Wyllie’s soprano and tenor saxophone (and occasional tiny xylophone) were the main melodic instruments. On record his playing lands somewhere between Steve Reich and Moondog; here, he was wilder, more improvisatory. “Knee Deep In The North Sea” washed back and forth on breakers of drum and hang. “Line”, which would be the quartet’s hit single if they had anything so unlikely, was gloriously extended, Mulvey coaxing a couple of minutes’ shimmer from the hangs before the band took up the rhythm and Wyllie soared over the top. 5 star rating

Touring continues: Tampere Jazz Happening, Finland

Boomtown. On Friday night we played the Tampere Jazz Happening in Finland and it was wicked. Finland was cold and fresh and snowy and friendly and the festival was rockin. We played to about 500 Fins who went crazy for our music and then jumped in one of the country’s finest saunas. This was the real deal- rustic old shack, intense steam de-toxifying experience. Followed by icy water. After a long travel and a good gig there was nothing better than stripping down to the bare essentials and sweating it all out! Refreshed and energised we partied hard the rest of the night with the good people of the festival as the Timo Lassy Band rinsed out an amazing set and the Finnish licker went down a treat. Thoroughly impressed with the Finnish style and vibe. Splendid times.

Looking forward now to rest of the UK tour, particularly MONDAY’S ALBUM LAUNCH AT KOKO in Camden London (buy tickets at: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=gb_london&query=schedule&venue=kokovenue&month=10&day=2&year=109&Interface=koko&REFID=kokohome).

Blam.

Recent Review From Allgigs.com

The second album from ex-London buskers, The Portico Quartet, Isla follows on from their critically acclaimed album, Knee Deep in the North Sea, which was nominated for a Mercury Music Award in 2007.

Their fusion of post-jazz ambience is spellbinding; this is a group of four extremely talented musicians who make it seem so simple and minimalist, yet it flows so smoothly. The pièce de résistance is the hang drum, which is the backbone for each track, combined with clattered saxophones, drums and a thumping double bass, it creates something so fresh and so unique you will not be able to divert your attention for the duration of the album.

Bringing in Radiohead producer, John Leckie, the band is a lot more ambitious and experimental with this outing. Starting with the fast-paced Paper Scissors Stone, it is a lot freer than their first effort, which did seem quite controlled in some places. This album lets all that go and the results are astonishing, each track seems to be like a progressive jam, John Leckie has made the musicians more confident and it can be heard in their music. Line is an enticing, hypnotic, eight minute lesson in ambience; a Caribbean style steel drum starts of and leads the track into a scattered, yet alluring climax. Another joy to behold is the tune Clipper, which does sound in places like it could be on a Radiohead album, the slow/fast tempo is truly brilliant. This is free, loose jazz at its best. The album goes out with a magnificent Soprano Saxophone based improv, Shed Song which is a brilliant way to close this magnificent album.

This has to be my album of the year so far; it should get second Mercury nomination and possibly a win. It’s a beautiful album and the Portico Quartet have revolutionized the way others and possibly I see ambient music but also my perception of modern jazz.
Lucas Jones

A large mushroom!

New album is flying off the shelves and the promo rolls on. Had a little spot on BBC1 Breakfast News this morning. Well fun. It was as light and pithy as you’d expect from a chat on the couch with morning presenters but will reach a lot of people. Lady called the hang a ‘large mushroom’! Thought I’d heard them all…

Bristol was wicked last Saturday. Old Vic theatre is the shizzle. Very atmospheric and big up to the people who came along and packed it out.

Basingstoke tomorrow and then off to Finland for a couple of shows this weekend. Woop woop!