Live Review: East India Youth – Rise, Bristol, 10.04.2015
To people of a certain age in Bristol the mention of Imperial Records makes everyone slightly glassy eyed and wistful. It was a place to bump into friends and find new music thanks to a multitude of recommendations chalked on its walls. Its demise felt like another lurch forward in the gentrification of what used …
Track: Kodaline return with new single, The One
Taking a lead from Sliding Doors and a myriad of dating website ads, the video to Kodaline’s new single The One, has a real ‘will they won’t they’, sniff of destiny about it. The two are perpetually in the wrong relationships, living in the same area, going to the same parties, they even went to …
News: Soul Legend Percy Sledge dies
Percy Sledge is one of those rare artists who secured their pension pot with their debut single as When a Man Loves a Woman must be played on the radio somewhere in the world every second of the day. Sledge, who died today, is not unusual in the soul world for having one classic single …
Album review: Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
Writer: Carmen Efferson Compton’s native son delivers a sound riot revolution with a backbeat and a message to young black males the ghost of Mandela hope my flows they propel it let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message – Kendrick Lamar AND JUST LIKE THAT…in one massive broad stroke of …
Meet: Jessica Davies from Smoke Fairies
After a critically acclaimed debut album Smoke Fairies seemed on the fast track to success but a more a muted response to their second record Blood Speaks sparked a crisis of confidence. It promoted Jessica Davies to turn to band mate Katherine Blamire, and pose the difficult question – was it time for them to …
Live review: LoneLady at the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
I lived in Manchester for the best part of two decades so it was an astonishing experience to be transported by LoneLady right back to Hulme’s crumbling brutalist terraces and forward to the modern Northern powerhouse the city now is. LoneLady – aka Julie Ann Campbell – has created a series of soundscapes that evoke …
Live Review: Pierce The Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, Issues – Leeds O2 Academy, 3.4.15
Both Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens boast enthusiastic fanbases to say the least, the tour was sold out months in advance, tickets were even being sold for more than four times the amount of their original price in the few weeks leading up to the shows and the queue for the show in …
Track: Black Honey – Spinning Wheel
Brighton beauties Black Honey reveal the other half of their double A side single and its recent live favourite ‘Spinning Wheel’. Spinning Wheel opened the shows on their recent tour and stood out as a highlight, which is no mean feat when you hear the rest of Black Honey’s set list. Starting off calm and …
News: Final Cambridge Folk Festival line-up announced
Singing Scottish twins The Proclaimers are the latest big name added to the Cambridge Folk Festival bill joining veteran peacenik Joan Baez, posh troubadour Frank Turner, Joan Armatrading and Wilko Johnson who has recovered from his cancer scare. But if you want to go you’d better be quick as the strong bill means Saturday day …
Remembering: An Interview with Kim Fowley
A chat with Kim Fowley: On poetry, rock and roll, Hollywood, and his least favorite L.A. punk band by Kimberly J. Bright The infamous Hollywood music, ubiquitous talent spotter, songwriter, scene staple, cranky old geezer, namedropper, and likely Tourette Syndrome victim Kim Fowley passed away in January at age 75. His manic career started when …