Music
NOT FORGOTTEN – JOE COCKER – I CAN STAND A LITTLE RAIN
Throughout my childhood I grew up hearing Joe Cocker due to the fact that my dad is a huge fan of his. Cocker is Sheffield born and while he was attempting to establish a name for himself through the 60s, he lived barely a stones throw away from where my dad was growing up in …
NOT FORGOTTEN – HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – THIS LEADEN PALL
With references to long distance haulage companies, pear drops and heavy metal groups of the 80s, it’s no surprise that lyrical diversity is a strength of This Leaden Pall. What is perhaps a little more surprising is all these references are squeezed into the opening number… Welcome to the obscure, unique, and yes, occasionally downright …
New Music: Laura Welsh – Undiscovered
I’d be careful if I were you. Laura Welsh is back amongst us. She’s releasing her new single ‘Undiscovered’ on the Outsiders/Polydor label on October 28th . It’s thought that she was holed up across in America for the recording, produced by Lana Del Rey and Kanye West associate Emile Haynie, and it will feature …
Track: High Highs cover College’s A Real Hero, plus US tour dates.
Australian duo High Highs a.k.a. Jack Milas and Oli Chang have been bringing delicious electro to parties basically everywhere. They’ve toured with Vampire Weekend, Empire of the Sun and How to dress well. In addition they’ve self released their debut album ‘Open Season’ earlier in the year, and they have an ep of remixes coming …
Album Review: The Polyphonic Spree-Yes, It’s True
The Polyphonic Spree has always had this air of overwhelming positivity. Even on their darkest album, 2007s The Fragile Army, despite the black jumpsuits and black eyeliner they came across as pensive, yet hopeful. I think that quality has always endeared me to them. Tim DeLaughter and Wayne Coyne are like the opposite sides of …
New Music: Wild Swim – New Dawn
It’s one of those quintessentially English places, Oxford. The writer William Butler Yeats, in a letter to fellow poet, and possible unrequited love interest Katharine Tynan, said “I wonder anybody does anything at Oxford but dream and remember, the place is so beautiful. One almost expects the people to sing instead of speaking. It is …
News: Canterbury four piece Broken Hands announce UK tour dates; full details here
Canterbury (UK) four piece, Broken Hands, are about to embark on a UK wide tour kicking off in Bristol on the 18th September. To wet your appetite with a taste of what to expect, the band have released a video of ‘Pulled Under’ from their recently released EP, ‘Down By The Current’. No strangers to …
ALBUM REVIEW – NEKO CASE – THE WORSE THINGS GET, THE HARDER I FIGHT, THE HARDER I FIGHT, THE MORE I LOVE YOU
Its her voice that strikes you at first. It’s a clear voice, an honest voice, a strong voice. A voice that’s compelling whether you like alternative country music or not. The first song I heard her sing was “Margaret Vs. Pauline”, the stunning opener to her gorgeous Fox Confessor Brings the Flood album and since …
Meet: The Kitchens of Distinction, and news of their new album
Sometimes you have your head turned. By money, by people you find attractive, by a job offer. For me it was much more simplistic. It was by records. So when I saw something made by the impossibly named Kitchens of Distinction (named, unsurprisingly I suppose on thinking about it) after a shop the band drove …
Vandetta – Ground Zero
It is an impressive feat, to have constructed a song using sampled and manipulated versions of your own vocals. As with earlier single ‘Fly’, singer Vanessa Fernandez has built this track organically and that approach extends to the whole of her forthcoming EP. Formerly part of twosome Octover, from Singapore, she will release the full “Vendetta …