Archives
Video of the Day: Just Lions – Monsters
So I’m too late for Hallowe’en. Who gives a rat’s arse ? I was on holiday carving Pumkins (sic) and doling out sweets and had scant time for the interweb there. Now I have the time and who better to help me make up that gap than Just Lions. I know, I know, I already …
Not Forgotten: Kenickie – At the Club
The guitar bands that rose to prominence in the UK through the mid 90s in the UK were a mixed bunch. There were a handful of thoroughly enjoyable bands, but on the whole as it was largely either ridiculously pretentious, impossibly dull or lowest-common-denominator rubbish. It was even worse for the female fronted groups, as …
NOT FORGOTTEN – BILLY JOEL – COLD SPRING HARBOR
What the hell is this? A Billy Joel album in this ongoing A to Z of underappreciated albums? When I first started this series of reviews, I never imagined that of all of the acts that come under the letter J in my collection, it would be Billy Joel’s solo debut that would leap out …
Album Review – Corsicana Lemonade by White Denim (Downtown Music)
I am the first to admit that I am a bit of a snob when it comes to music. I know what I like and by the same token I know what I do not, and for some reason I am not very keen on bands who become too popular. I am not sure what …
News: Morbid Angel reissue Covenant, plus US tour dates
I once read a review of some music that claimed that it was ‘a crass monster, a hideously writhing wounded dragon, which refuses to expire, and though bleeding in the Finale, furiously beats about with its tail erect.’ It illustrates two things, it shows that not everybody understands or likes new music, but also it …
Boss Caine – The Rhythm and the Rhyme (Part 3 of Backseat Mafia On Tour: York)
Years ago when Gomez first emerged there would always be at least a strain of suspicion running through reviews. For the generous, the fact that this group of adolescents wrote about life experiences they couldn’t have had, in places they might only have seen as wide-eyed tourists, channeled through one particular singer who sounded like …
NOT FORGOTTEN – THE ISLEY BROTHERS – SHOUT!
How hard must it be to write a brilliant pop song? You know, one of the all time, genuinely timeless greats that doesn’t rely on the technology or gimmicks of the age, one that can withstand any number of heavy-handed and unsympathetic cover versions by even the most cloth-eared performer. “Shout” is one of those …
Not Forgotten: Half Man Half Biscuit – 90 Bisodol (Crimond)
Even after all these years I find there’s something very admirable about Half Man Half Biscuit and the way they have conducted themselves throughout the last quarter of a century. Remaining on the miniscule Probe Plus label since their debut release, they remain singularly anti-career in their approach. They do not tour, but play one …
Meet: Goodbye Van Occupanther – Tim Smith and life after Midlake
In the fall of 2007 I read an article in Spin Magazine about this band named Midlake. Denton, Texas boys with a penchant for dark, folksy songs that had the feel of both Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, and a Ray Brandbury story. It was a review of a live show and the journalist put them …
Hard at work: Altadore in the studio
The fact is that I am a pretty impatient man. It’s something that I struggle with on a daily basis and I can end up expressing it in various ways. Fortunately for you one of those has been repeatedly harassing David Katz of Altadore to give me updates on new music. Well, the band have …