Features
Northern Kin Festival. Thornley Hall Farm, Durham. 9th/10th/11th August 2024.
Back for it’s sixth year and in a new ‘venue’ Northern Kin 2024 certainly had some organisational issues to deal with prior to the weekend. Last year the weather caused chaos with the old site turning into a mudbath. This year the festival, on it’s new site at Thornley Hill Farm, was originally scheduled for …
Feature: Rumin Give Us A Track By Track Of Their New EP Horizontal/Vertical
HORIZONTAL/VERTICAL is a collection of the first three songs that have been created by RUMIN. It is a totally self-produced recording, done on a zero budget. Drums were captured by Andy Ellis in a rehearsal room in Pirate Studios, Hove. Bass, guitar and vocal tracks were all recorded in Andy’s home studio in St Leonards, East Sussex. …
Feature: Simon Scarlett Of Barbarian Hermit Gives Us A Track By Track Of Their New Album ‘Mean Sugar’
Manchester’s leading purveyors of groove-laden, stoner/doom metal, Barbarian Hermit, have returned with their new album, Mean Sugar, out now via APF Records. Written over a three-year period, ‘Mean Sugar’ is a cathartic creation set against a backdrop that has seen people endure a global pandemic, endless political turmoil, a cost of living crisis and war. …
Live Review plus Gallery: Underground Lovers with Youth Group, Corner Hotel, Melbourne, 27.07.2024
It is a rare and wondrous experience to see two of Australia’s most exciting and iconic bands (Underground Lovers and Youth Group) together at the legendary Corner Hotel on a bitter cold Melbourne night. It was one of those special nights that capture something unique. Of course it was made extra special by it being …
Meet: If Einsturzende Neubauten was the backing band for The Shangri-Las – we have a chat with Jim Reid from The Jesus and Mary Chain about the music, sobriety and offending Scarlett Johansson.
The Jesus and Mary Chain are about to embark on a tour of Australia as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations, and I caught up via Zoom with singer Jim Reid. The question I have always pondered was how the iconic album ‘Psycho Candy’ came into existence with its bizarre marriage of sonic chaos and …
Feature: Fin Greenall Provides A Track By Track Of Finks Highly Anticipated New Album ‘Beauty In Your Wake’ Which Is Out Now
From the wilds of intercontinental DJ-sets as a Ninja Tune original to nurturing the songwriting gifts of Amy Winehouse and on to becoming a teacher, producer, partner and father, Fin Greenall’s exploration of life and music brings he and FINK to a place of grounded self-assurance on the band’s new album, Beauty In Your Wake. As their eighth studio album is given to …
Live Gallery: Pond at Altar, Hobart with 208L Containers, 15.06.2024
Like a patient etherised on a table, prior to the iconic Dark Mofo Festival it has been alleged that winter in Hobart showed little signs of life, with only a discernible pulse. And to push the analogy more than is strictly necessary – this year, Dark Mofo was undergoing restorative surgery – it was not …
Meet: We chat to Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) about wild characters, leaving the Bad Seeds, mortality and pride
Mick Harvey, founding member of seminal and legendary bands, The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, has made a profound and lasting contribution to indie music. His ability to write and co-write some of the classic songs of these bands have only been matched by his cool and collective demeanour – a …
Meet: Music is the vice – we chat to the legendary Kid Congo Powers about danger and excitement and being an alien.
Kid Congo & the Pink Monkey Birds are in the middle of a tour of Australia and I caught up with the irrepressible Kid Congo Powers on the the day before he ventured to the deep south to play in Hobart. Born Brian Tristan, Kid likes to be called Kid – even my sister calls …
Meet: The Avant-Garde entertainer – Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten talks about rocket ramps, the future for the band, writing the new album and creating a whole new genre of pop music.
It was nearly four years ago to the day that I spoke to Blixa Bargeld from Einstürzende Neubauten on the eve of the release of their album ‘Alles In Allem’. It was a strange time given we were both just entering lockdown and it was an interview interrupted by food delivery services, which symbolised, in …