Track: Bishopskin – Mother’s Steel Bike
As the wait for their debut album becomes ever shorter, Bishopskin – one of the most unusual and intriguing outfits to have graced London’s alternative scene in recent years – have released a portfolio of singles which is impressive in breadth and depth alike. Listening to all of them back to back gives a good …
Track: Bishopskin – Stella Splendens
Had anyone told me that the catchiest song of Summer 2023 would be a postmodern folk take on a 14th century hymn, complete with lyrics in Medieval Latin, I would have been more than a little taken aback – but this is what happens when you bring into play Bishopskin, one of the most unexpected …
EP Review: Children of the Pope – Committed to Cynicism
Much as the more avant-garde, cutting edge section of the alternative UK music scene is giving those who know where to look plenty of satisfaction these days, there is also another way of being experimental, a path less trodden and perhaps somewhat underrated that can nonetheless lead to very exciting results; one that looks back …
Track: The Ringards – Flaccid Venus
As an old-school punk fan who is also a lover of all things weird, there was no way I was not going to be completely entranced by this new single courtesy of London experimental outfit the Ringards, recently released through Isolar Records (which keeps standing out as one of the new labels with the most …
Track: Bishopskin – Ave Maria
Following a break during the Summer after a triumphant last live show in late May, Bishopskin have returned with a bang, delivering a new single that both refines and redefines their sound. The alternative folk outfit (as much as this description may fit a band that is refreshingly defiant of any sort of genre categorisation …
Track: The Ringards – The Death of Charlie Clown
As we have finally come to terms with the fact that the many splinters of what we used to call ‘post-punk’ are now developing into a landscape of avant-garde sounds for many of which we don’t have an exact name yet, it is always good to remember that it is precisely in this rapidly developing, …
Album Review: deep tan – diamond horsetail
Deep Tan (or rather, deep tan, as they are more correctly styled) are one of those bands that it’s really hard not to keep coming back to. Their stripped-back, almost minimalist approach speaks of a charisma and a confidence that is rarely found, and their live outings somehow manage to be oddly chill and intense …
Track: Children Of The Pope – Junkie Girlfriend
The latest addition to the Isolar Records rosters, Children of the Pope certainly know how to make a striking entrance, showing up with a new single which is a very strong calling card: immediately recognisable, eminently listenable, and brimming with promise. The band has been, for a while now, a well-known presence in the London …
Live Review: Walt Disco / Priestgate / Voya – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, 13.04.22
The last time I saw Walt Disco live was at a festival at the very beginnings of their career. I had a hole in my timeline and picked their slot on the strength of what was objectively one of the best band names I’d ever heard, with no clue whatsoever of what I was in …
Live Review: Tony Hadley 40th Anniversary Tour + The Vanities – St David’s Hall, Cardiff, 09.03.2022
It is good to get a sense of normality again as restrictions lift even in Wales and gigs come back, and this mid-week appointment with the Cardiff date of Tony Hadley’s 40th anniversary tour, celebrating four full decades since the inception of Spandau Ballet, was an excellent occasion to shake off the cobwebs and experience …