Music
A buyers guide to The Hold Steady
It’s October 2007 and it’s a time of change for me. I’d recently come out of a medium-term relationship, my career was stagnating and I spent a Saturday evening with a drunken and bullish jazz musician friend once again declaring at great length that because I prefer rock and roll to the stuff he makes …
Album Review: Quilt – Held In Splendor
As soon as Quilt’s new long player Held In Splendor begins playing you get the feeling you’ve been transported to 1968. The room is a little wobbly, the air is thick, and the beanbag you’re sitting in is strangely comfortable. A goofy grin forms across your face and opening track “Arctic Shark” has done its job. …
New: Reverend And The Makers anounce new album Thirty Two, plus tour dates
Reverend And The Makers, one of the more commercially successful bands to come out of Sheffield, release their fourth album ‘Thirty Two’ via Cooking Vinyl Records on 24th of February. The follow up to 2012’s ‘@ReverendMakers’, for ‘Thirty Two’ the band have had a bit of a guiding hand from with Youth (Primal Scream, Depeche …
Album Review: A Great Big World – ‘Is Anybody Out There’
Of all the albums coming out this first quarter, this has been the one I’ve been looking forward to most. When you listen to a lot of albums that try to be deep & meaningful this and concept that it’s always nice to return to an album that has just simple and honest good music. …
Psych Insight: Album Review – Hello Griefbirds! by The Shine Brothers (Cardinal Fuzz)
To say that Cardinal Fuzz are on a roll would be an understatement. The label has a series of vinyl releases under its belt which have, to my ears, all been winners; and my previous recommendations of albums by The Dead Sea Apes and Vision Fortune might lead you to believe that I have some …
A Buyers Guide to Cud
Recently on 6Music, Steve Lamacq asked for suggestions of near misses by obscure 90s indie bands to play on his show. On the whole the suggestions were rather prosaic and uninspiring until one lady suggested they play some Cud. This wasn’t just a mild-mannered ‘hey, remember these guys?’ request, this was a full-on obsessive fan …
Live: Darlia – Leadmill, Sheffield, 24.01.2014
Darlia – Leadmill, Sheffield, 24 January 2014. Thankfully, the highly amusing if somewhat, over enthusiastic member of the audience that had entertained us, whilst distracting support act LSA, had crashed, burned and left the building well before Dick Dale’s Misirlou came over the PA, as we welcomed Darlia to the stage. Right from the …
New Music: LSA – More Or Less Equal / No Good Man
Here’s one to watch for 2014. LSA apparently stands for Love Stays Alive, but instead of peddling some kind of all girl delicate folk their name suggests, instead they play, or so it would seem after listening to their track No Good Man, this sort of jagged shoegazey indie rock, which nods towards Britpop at …
New Music: Au Revoir Simone – More than
It’s turning into a busy year for Williamsburg Brooklyn’s Au Revoir Simone. Thy recently announced am European tour, taking place in February, and passing through the UK for some dates, including anNME awards show at London’s The Garage. The band, Erika Forster, Annie Hart and Heather D’Angelo, have always been a band close to our …
See: New Video from The Wow for the track Talk My Shit
I have this checklist, you know mentally, when I listen to hip-hop, and more so when I watch hip-hop videos. Firstly, scratching. Then, that old style beat in the background. Following that, street smart rhymes with cultural references. That’s why I fell for The Wow, aka rapper KO the Legend and producer Balthazar Getty, and …