Music
Album Review: The Wedding Present – Going, Going…
In 1994, my irrepressible* psychedelic band (*back then, rip-off promoters, total lack of press or record company interest, and poor quality drugs were seen as challenges, compared to today’s climate, where the literal end of the world is a “no” from Simon Cowell) landed a management/publishing deal with Brian Hallin, the long-time manager of The …
Album Review: Axis: Sova : Motor Earth
Before hearing Axis: Sova’s newest album called Motor Earth I had no idea who he was. Yes, Axis: Sova is a he. That’s the name Chicago guitarist Brett Sova goes by when creating grainy garage rock albums. If you’re at all familiar with DIY, scuzzy rock gods like Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Kelley Stoltz, …
Say Psych: Live, 2016 Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia
It is doubtful, even in the reified levels of psych music fans, that Keita Ise and Njål Clementsen are two names that easily trip off the tongue. Yet trip is exactly what these two guys sent me on at the latest instalment of the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia, now in its fifth year, held …
Album Review: Cymbals Eat Guitars – Pretty Years
I can remember hearing “…And The Hazy Sea” for the first time back in 2009 and being completely floored. Cymbals Eat Guitars had created this musical world that encapsulated all those wonderful elements that made the early 90s indie rock movement so magical. Bombastic guitars, quiet moments, tinkling keyboards, wobbly vocals that go from fragile …
New Music: Honeyblood – ‘Sea Hearts’
Honeyblood take us for a ride on a wave of invincibility with new song ‘Sea Hearts’. In the wake of their storming comeback with ‘Ready For The Magic’ – the first single from their forthcoming album, ‘Babes Never Die’ (out 4 November on Fat Cat Records) – the Glasgow duo of Stina Tweeddale and Cat …
See: Hinds release new video for ‘Bamboo’
Hinds, as you’ve never seen them before, become thieves in the video for their breakthrough single ‘Bamboo’. The charm of Hinds is inescapable – I fell for them when I reviewed their fearless debut album, ‘Leave Me Alone’, back in January. That album is now getting a deluxe release (on 28 October via Lucky Number), …
Atticus Ross/Leopold Ross/Bobby Krlic : Almost Holy S/T
Almost Holy is a documentary directed by Steve Hoover, and it’s about Pastor Gennadiy Mokhnenko, a rogue man of the cloth that works and lives out of Mariupol, Ukraine. In his city there was a massive influx of homeless, drug-addicted children and “Pastor Crocodile”, as Mokhnenko likes to call himself, felt it was his duty to help …
Album Review: Luke Haines – Smash The System
Former Auteurs frontman Luke Haines has had a varied career. As part of his former band he was responsible for some of the best albums of the nineties, including (in my opinion) his finest work to date ‘After Murder Park’. As a solo artist he has created a series of conceptual albums. His last release …
A buyers’ guide to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band cut a unique dash through the mid to late 70s rock scene. A little bit hard rock, a little bit glam, a little bit blues, a little bit theatrical, a little bit prog, a little bit pub rock, they were simultaneously all of these, yet none of these, and though …
Classic Albums: Considering the status of Nirvana’s Nevermind 25 years later
It should go without saying, but sometimes it’s okay not to like something as much as people tell you that you should do. This applies many multiple times over for music. So why am I pointing out the obvious? Because since the widespread use of the internet, there are more and more opinion pieces …