By the time Monday dawned, I was starting to flag fast. To get through thirty-six bands – and to actually try and see all of them – while doing some touristy stuff and finding time for drinking in cheaper bars, too, is an exhausting enterprise, I can tell you.
I was utterly bowled over to be invited to DJ at Festival Kinetik 4.0 in Montreal, Canada. I was going as a punter anyway – and it was a crazy week and some out there, topped off by DJing on the final night. My plan to return to Kinetik at some point never happened, with […]
As Sunday’s show began, it was plainly clear that the early bands were going to suffer from the same issue that Infest Sunday does – that everyone had a very, very heavy night the night before (myself included, although that was mainly because I was so buzzing following 242 that I couldn’t possibly sleep for […]
Just in case I thought this weekend couldn’t get any better or more fun, Saturday’s performances ended up being probably the finest day of live industrial music I’ve ever seen – and that was even with at least one act that I really, really don’t care for.
After a day exploring areas out of downtown Montreal (and having the wonder that is poutine from La Banquise), it was back to Metropolis for another evening of industrial music. And the Friday line-up was a pretty heavy duty one, too – including the two British acts on the bill.
There were points over the weekend that perhaps, just maybe, I was thinking just how completely insane it was to fly a 6800 mile round-trip just to come to an industrial festival. And then there would be another moment that made it crystal clear that it was definitely the right thing to do. So, below […]
It was one of the best nights at Autonomy I’ve had since I started DJing there. It was the third birthday of Redeemer (what, already?!?), and so was pretty busy anyway, and was made even better by a good turnout for Autonomy itself. It took a little while to shake down and get the dancefloor […]
At Nuis@nce a week or so ago – a night of otherwise pleasant throwbacks to a now long-gone indie-rock heyday – we were also reminded of the godawful side of Britpop. That of the lad-rock band. You know the kind. Boorish, bellowing and lumpen indie rock with vapid songs, and sometimes equally vapid fans. Watching […]
I first came across And So I Watch You From Afar at Damnation a couple of years ago – and even for the handful of songs played, I was one of a good number of people suitably blown away by this young and energetic band.
May already? Time for my usual roundup of ten great tracks you should hear from the past month. Playlists: Spotify YouTube Track of the Month Skindred Warning Union Black Benji Webbe has been around on the metal scene now for a good many years. First as the vocalist of ragga/(heavy) metallers Dub War, and then […]
It’s always a tough one when a much-loved band split up. Such was the case when Interlock did so – on the verge of announcing the release of a second album. Their first album proper, after a long period of playing small venues and releasing the odd track and a split EP with Needleye, was […]
It won’t have escaped anyone’s attention in the UK at least that there is a wedding of two privileged people this Friday that will take place in front of a worldwide audience, shutting down the normal workings of much of central London for the day – and indeed the rest of the country as an […]
I’ve always been in two minds over whether Tim Skold is actually any good or not. He’s had his moments – some of his production work has been good (indeed his work with Marilyn Manson on The Golden Age of Grotesque resulted in MM’s best album in years), but then much of his work with […]
Matt Fanale’s rise through the ranks has been steady and impressive. From self-released/his own label early on, via some high-profile live slots, to this album being released on Metropolis. The steady change in styles has been notable, too. From early material having more of an industrial noise slant, to dabbling in what can only be […]
I think it's fair to say that I had begun to wonder if this album was ever going to appear. Endlessly delayed – 'Modern Ruin' was first revealed as the album title way back in 2009 at least – and seemingly with something of a difficult gestation, with various tracks debuted live and then not […]
Thursday night was something of a trip into the past. Although not for the venue – somehow despite my fifteen years or so of gig-going in London, I’ve never made it to the Purple Turtle until Thursday night (and of course, in the way these things go, I’m likely to be there at least two […]
Where on earth is time going? Time once again for my usual monthly roundup of great new songs.
Killing Joke are a band that, to many peoples surprise, I have never managed to see previously. So when the chance to go to this came up, there was no way I was going to miss it (even if it meant missing out on Paradise Lost playing all of Draconian Times across ‘town at The […]
I wondered for a while how I was going to tackle this week’s vague subject, and how strict I had to be. After all, when it comes to songs about horror, do I only go for specific songs referring to horror themes? Or songs that are scary and terrifying? Or songs that poke fun at […]
It’s been a while since I’ve really hunted out any new extreme metal. Part of that is down to being a little bit detached from the scene nowadays, with it being a couple of years or more now since I ceased the three years of fun that was Stormblast. And to be honest, part of […]
