Backseat Mafia On Tour: York
This past weekend, part of the London Family of Backseat Mafia took a trip up to the beautiful city of York for a wedding of friends. The occasion itself took place in the gorgeous (and sunny, thank goodness !) surrounds of the Hospitium. That wedding introduced me to the wonderful game of Hammerschlagen, but the …
Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City
In the end this album didn’t quite do enough. There was a moment when I thought “Modern Vampires of the City” might be really brilliant. But it has ended up just being very good. I’m sure the band are going to be devastated when* they read that. It boils down to a case of a …
From an old record box: INXS – Need You Tonight
First out the box is INXS’ 7″ single “Need You Tonight”, b-sided w/ “Move On”. This is Mercury catalogue number 872 214-7 for anyone who might be interested. It was released in 1987 and was one of the first singles I ever bought, although I couldn’t say where from – highly likely to have been …
From an old record box – introduction
It was a Sunday, just back from Mass, so what else would I be doing but pottering around in the shed, doing some gardening and spraying some wd40 on the hinges of my car doors ? It’s the glamour that attracts me. I’d been thinking for ages about finally using the USB turntable that my …
The Winter Kind – Sound Sketch 1
Alright then. Fact 1 – I only listened to this once. Fact 2 – this piece is only 2 minutes long. Disclaimer – I am not lazy, I just spook easily. I am at home on my own, it’s twilight and I have a seriously overactive imagination. I blame Nick Love, the man behind Winter …
Deerhunter – Monomania: Album Review
Sailing on a sea of scuzz and fuzz, Atlanta, Georgia’s Deerhunter today release their sixth album: “Monomania“, recorded at Rare Book Studio in Brooklyn, New York and produced by (previous collaborator) Nicholas Vernhes and leader Bradford Cox Cox and co. are clearly possessed of something – maverick spirit is not in question, that’s always there. Even …
Coastal Cities – Nothing Ever Changes
Listen, I just checked it and the weather forecast for today is mainly excellent for the UK. So do yourself a favour, get up, get up as soon as possible after now. Don’t fuck about watching telly or take ages trying to make coherent plans, just make a couple of phone calls and get some …
The Watermelons – Dance Strange Together
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there’s a certain amount of indie guitar rock on our blog. Toby, David, Sam and Matthew make up The Watermelons and hail from Brighton, which is a long way from my favourite indie city of the last two months, Portland, Oregon. Still, it’s a well-established-indie-pedigree town and I …
Just Lions – Monsters
When I left work on Friday evening I was booze-bound, off to meet my Best Man and friends from home via a quick trip to the Tattershall Castle to drink onboard ship in the sunshine. The opening bars of this song are the ones that I wish I had been hearing as I began my …
Vampire Weekend – Ya Hey
On Jools Holland’s Hootenanny 2010 they won me over. I’d resisted for God knows what reason, possibly because my friend Jo wouldn’t fucking shut up about them before I had even heard a song. I guess it might also be because at that particular time when all I knew was that one of their lyrics was “who …