Inspiral Carpets – 21 February 2025 – We, Thessaloniki (GR)

Inspiral Carpets live at We (Change of Venue)

Friday 21/2/25 at 21:00
Electronic tickets here: https://t.ly/k2Wdp
Collectible Hard Copies coming soon to WE.

A Few Words about Insiral Carpets (by Dimitris Korgialas)
Guitarist Graham Lambert, their founding and permanent member, stated in an interview that the group changed thirteen (!) bassists to end up with Martyn Walsh. True to their early garage attempts, they never gave up on the idea of ​​having farfisa (or other keyboards) in their sound and Clint Boon was the right man for the job.

They come from the greater Manchester area (specifically from the Oldham area) and are part of the Mad-chester music scene (without, however, completely adopting the dance trends of the other big names of the scene). Before releasing their debut album “Life“, they already had a bunch of EP’s and singles (on their own Cow and other small independent labels) that, listening to them, one has strong reasons to include them in the neo-psychedelia and garage-revival movements of the time.

If one listens to “Butterfly“, “Garage Full Of Flowers“ and “Seeds Of Doubt“ one will find almost all the basic elements that characterize garage: two-minute tracks, fuzz guitars and farfisa (the tambourines, maracas and screams are missing, of course, but that’s not a bad thing).

However, Inspiral Carpets did not go down in history for their garage-like two-minute tracks, but for their somewhat more general references to the ’60s. The first recording of these references on an album is in “Life“ (Mute, 1990), a landmark album, introductory to their sound and inclusive of all their subsequent performances [see presentation below].

Although their next three albums are not far behind, I still claim that the place that an album has in a band’s discography plays its role, and even more so when this album is a debut. Because in this case, there are two risks: Either the album is hesitant (and therefore loose, flabby or sparse), or it is dense (and therefore tight and incomprehensible). “Life“, however, exceeds the risks of this type. I often insist on the analogy of musical elements, and the two aforementioned dangers would create disproportion, disharmony and dissonance, and therefore would “bury“ any good stylistic element of the group. Because the Carpets may be experienced from recording EP’s, however, the attempt to record their sound in another form (which has other requirements) carries a risk.

On the second album: “The Beast Inside“ (Mute, 1991), while they start with the up tempo “Caravan“, however they generally lower the tones, “darken“ the atmosphere. The carefree “Please Be Cruel“ succeeds the gloomy “Born Yesterday“. We find here the sweet and dreamy “Sleep Well Tonight“, “Niagara“ and “Dreams Are All We Have“ and the stick-in-your-mind “Mermaid“. Maturity is more than obvious on such enjoyable albums. Have the Carpets gone further? Of course! Because the fact that they do not hesitate to “spread“ the 14-minute trip “Further Away“ on the second side of the album, instead of scribbling a few pop songs for general consumption shows that the group decided here to give the album a different character than the one that the EP’s or singles have. The Carpets decide to use each form as it is appropriate. In general, however, 1991 is a year of introspective melodies for the group. Even “St. Kilda“ and the wonderful “Skidoo“ that appear on the EP move in a similar mindset to that of the album.
Inspiral Carpets2The 1992 album is prefaced by the monumental single: “Dragging Me Down“ (a song that comfortably finds its place among the album’s tracks). “Revenge of the Goldfish“ (Mute, 1992) is an album that is undoubtedly sonically rougher and stylistically more graceful than the previous one. Not that one does not encounter moments related to “The Beast Inside“. Because what would we think of “Two Worlds Collide“, “Rain Song“ and “Bitches Brew“ – tracks, all of them, that take into account the experience of “The Beast Inside“. Along with the speed-masters “Generations“, “Mystery“ and the unique “Here Comes the Flood“, the third album of the Carpets is a full and substantial album in all its lengths and widths.
“Devil Hopping“ (Mute, 1994) is also their swan song. Yes, the sweeping opening “I Want You“, “All of This and More“ and “Cobra“ are bone-breaking, and yes, they are nostalgic for their beginnings (“Uniform“ and “Lovegrove“)… but wait a minute! What are all those strange “Party In The Sky“, “Saturn 5″ (one of their most famous), “ The Way the Light Falls“ (really, can you hear a mellotron in the background?) and “Plutoman“ (with a bassline that brings to mind “Ball Of Confusion“ by the Temptations); What are all those space references: either sonic or lyrical?

“Devil Hopping“ is the Inspiral Carpets’ album, in the sense that it takes on the character of an artistic kaleidoscope. One wonders where this band could take its sound.

The Carpets did not continue (I will not deal with the 2014 reunion here). And the question will remain unanswered: How would the space references of “Devil Hopping“ be integrated into a fifth album?
However, the listener who will seriously deal with Inspiral Carpets has an interesting job to do: To understand how the group produces something and how it almost immediately assimilates it in order to create something other and, at the same time, related to its previous product. It is a process of ascension that is not often found in discography. Elements of each album (whatever it is) are already present in the previous one, but in each new attempt there are upgraded ones. Perhaps the third and fourth albums may seem strange at first listen, but this is not due to a compositional disintegration or lyrical discount. On the contrary, the listener is invited to listen carefully and then read the revaluation to which the group voluntarily subjects its sound. None of the EP’s and singles should be ignored, nor should their covers, with the horror-like atmosphere of Gloria Jones’ “Tainted Love” dominating. Inspiral Carpets were one of the most important British bands of the ’90s.