It's always interesting when a new artist jumps out to popular attention. Séamus Bradd's The .Invalid has been the latest project to do this just recently, with a fair amount of ecstatic comment online from "the scene" once the album – apparently two years in the works – finally saw the light of day in […]
The height of summer, in this kinda dead period between all the festivals, is always a strange time to go to gigs. For a start, it is broad daylight still before you even get to the venue, and often all-too-many venues get rather hot and sweaty early on, meaning that perhaps, gig attendance in this […]
A new section where I look back at albums in my past. They may be great albums, they may be albums that haven't stood the test of time. But these are albums I bought and loved at one point, and maybe haven't listened to much in the meantime. More importantly, this is a way of […]
I was thinking about marking ten years of blogging with something special this week, but then I realised that I had a big list of great new songs to mention, so the usual pattern prevails for now. So I’ll return to that subject a bit later in the month.
I will, I promise, be covering another new band at some point in my reviews, rather than another returning. Although in Senser’s case, it is more a case of continuing to plug away, with a fifth album over a near-twenty year period, even if there have been downtimes and lineup changes along the way.
2013 has been a mightily odd year for music. While we’ve seen, for better or worse, no end of bands returning after long breaks, reforming or just keeping on going – with a seeming lack of new bands in certain areas – it has been quite astounding just how good many of those returns have […]
The height of summer, in this kinda dead period between all the festivals, is always a strange time to go to gigs. For a start, it is broad daylight still before you even get to the venue, and often all-too-many venues get rather hot and sweaty early on, meaning that perhaps, gig attendance in this […]
In a time where inequality is rising faster than in a long while, austerity is all the rage (despite the warnings that this is only making things worse), and the various results of the Euro crisis, to mention but a few things, I’d perhaps expect a rise in political comment from music or even comedy, […]
Last year, a new artist from Sheffield appeared, apparently out of nowhere. Said artist was Randolph & Mortimer, and I featured their first single The Markets in Tuesday Ten: 162. Then in fortuitous timing, I received new single Debt Is King the other week, in time for Tuesday Ten: 180, and I took the opportunity […]
Amazing how time flies – the beginning of next month marks ten years since I started blogging, so the corresponding post next month may be slightly different to usual. In the meantime, here are ten songs you should hear from the past month – with, for the first time in a while, a heavily industrial […]
Despite vowing to myself a long time ago I would try and avoid the retro "album live show" phenomenon that has seemingly ruled the live circuit for a good few years now, I've succumbed on occasions. One turned out to be one of the greatest gigs of my life (Spiritualized), another was a nice blast […]
I’ve looked at this kind of thing before, but from a different viewpoint (/024/Changing Direction), where bands changed direction decisively for what they would likely protest is “artistic reasons”. I’m taking a different tack this week, and it is inspired by a few things (like many of these posts, they are frequently in the works […]
I was invited to DJ for the band System:FX at their EP launch show last night. Here’s my set.
During my recent Depeche Mode live review, I noted that they were one of those bands that I’d been waiting a long, long time to see, and indeed, over the past few years, I’ve made considerable inroads into a long list of similar bands. Particular shows of note included Laibach at the Tate Modern last […]
Usually, I guess, when you emigrate to the other side of the world, and start a new life 10,500 miles from your home city, continuing your existing band/musical project may not be high on the list of priorities as you settle down. But Ed Oxime has had other ideas after doing exactly that, with a […]
Into a new month, so time for my usual roundup of great tracks from the past month.
Sometimes the most interesting gigs, the ones that give you a new perspective, are not in large venues, or at public gigs, but at small events that you weren't even sure you were attending until late on. As happened here, with a Thee Faction show that happened to be a member of the band's birthday, […]
I think that most of us that listen to a lot of music, and have been in one “scene” or another have a bucket list of bands that they simply have to see at some point or another. I’m no exception, and in my incessant gig-going in recent years, I’ve cleared many of the bands […]
I’ve had this on my “to do” list of Tuesday Tens for about two years, but to be honest, I’ve been awaiting the right moment to use it. But with a new (rather lacklustre) DM album, the O2 shows this week (where I finally see them live after years of waiting), and an intriguing new […]
The last gig of a bit of a frantic period at the end of April into early May, before a couple of weeks off from gigging, this was a hastily arranged, last minute attendance. I had a ticket for the A&P show earlier in the week, but the announcement of this show allowed me to […]
