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Video of the Day: Until the Bird – Nightingales
I’m sure it was shot in the autumn, but it’ll do. Brighten up your Winter morning with the (faux) Spring light and the arboreal fecundity of “Nightingales”. You can enjoy strong, ardent vocals, virtuoso folk musicianship, the sun rippling over bark, and a lovely moment where the camera takes a dip (in the Thames ?). …
New Music: Spring Offensive – Hengelo
This is one of those songs that can invite different appreciations – an instinctively personal take perhaps, and an understanding informed by the facts behind the tale. Once you’ve read the inspiration, you might never be able to get back to your own. So here’s the track – think on for a while and then …
Mark Yarm – Everybody Loves Our Town: an oral history of Grunge
It gradually occurred to me, as I was reading this excellent and enjoyable oral history, that I didn’t, still don’t really like Grunge, or at least, any of the acts that this jerry-rigged genre supposedly covers. I briefly entertained Pearl Jam, although it was a pretty standard bit of teenage bandwaggoning – they were hip, …
Denim Snakes – 21
“21” is a good time. The sentiment is somewhere we’ve all been – those glorious, fleeting months or years when everything is possible or at least worth a punt and almost every weekend, if not night, throws up serial delights and adventures. The man from Barry’s got it right “18 and I’m an overlord !”. …
Meet: Q&A with Gene’s Matt James
My heart, in the 90’s at least belonged to Gene. The indie quartet appeared out of the haze of The Smiths, were loved by almost crazily obsessive fans, released a handful of albums that touched both the charts and the heart strings, and then split. They set the standard for emotive indie rock, with front …
Comic: A Stinky Tail by Sally Anne Hickman
Back in August I finally got around to writing about comics. It hasn’t taken me quite so long to get around to the second piece, but long enough. The good news is that the quality bar got higher, and that the comic in question is another independent. This time around, the author remains the same …
Young Braves: Interview and Free Download
“A little bit of liquid courage doesn’t go unnoticed…” Personally I can never get enough of Shropshire, a beautiful combination of breathtaking landscapes and awe-inspiring industrial achievements. It’s also home to Young Braves (formerly Arcade Parade), a band who have already received some pretty favourable exposure through BBC Introducing and who have recently released their …
Video Interview: I Set The Sea On Fire
A couple of weeks ago you might remember me swooning over “Monsters” by Sheffield’s I Set The Sea On Fire. As an early Christmas present to myself, I asked the band for an interview. It was just going to be the usual case for busy people of putting some questions over on email, but that …
Spotlight on Christmas
No Rea. No Shaky. No Slade. No Cliff. Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal There’s no particular rhyme or reason to the list, and I’ll concede that these aren’t all about Christmas. But Christmas hereabouts takes place in Winter, so the two go hand in hand. Alright ? Really, these are just 11 songs (to …
See: A Minor releases video for Thinking bout the things, plus release details
The weather is awful today. The wind is howling through the trees, my journey to work on the motorway was frankly awful as the lorries veered every time we got out into the open air as the wind hit them, and there are bins and clothes and buckets and whatever else all over the road …