We appear to be in something of a transitional period in the scene nominally called “industrial”. Many bands I have looked upon as relative newcomers for some time have now been around for five or ten years, few new bands are coming through, and even the clubs and DJs appear unclear on what they want […]
I got wind over the weekend that the bar that I ran tcf in for five years is closing – initially it sounded like it was for good, but instead it’s apparently for a refurb that will see The Nelson in Sheffield close for eight weeks. So it feels like an appropriate time to look at songs […]
Ok, so it’s my usual monthly roundup of ten songs you should hear. Or go back and listen to again if you have already.
I’ve been meaning to go to at least one of the days of Wireless for a couple of years now – but I think really I was awaiting for the right lineup to splash my cash on – and the announcement of Pulp for this back before Christmas (god, that long ago?) sealed the deal. […]
After celebrating 25 years of “conceptual continuity” in 2009-2010, with the associated tour and best-of album, as we headed into 2011 the first signs of the next stage of KMFDM were revealed, in the guise of a couple of singles, and now a new album under the moniker of WTF?! – continuing with the age-old […]
Yes, I’m still on something of a retro tip. After seeing a depressing “top selling dance songs of the noughties” list, I began thinking back to the stuff I loved in the nineties. I was, to be fair, heavily into big beat and drum and bass in my uni days, so this list might well […]
I, like other music lovers, should perhaps be getting very concerned about just how many gigs that I’ve attended in recent years that are a reunion or return of an “old” band. The same goes with re-issues of “old” albums, repackaged, remastered and resold to fans that quite likely already have the original.
I seem to have been delving into my musical past, and in particular the nineties, an awful lot so far in 2011. I’m not exactly sure why: perhaps it’s just been discovering a handful of nights in London that cover parts of that past that I’m still fond of – so Nuis@nce and Louder Than […]
I wasn’t going to let a small case of burnout, exhaustion and illness to stop me getting to this gig – after all I’d waited some years to see the headliners. So on my own I went to a venue I’d never attended before.
Turnout was a little lower than expected – a mix of WGT and the appalling weather, I suspect – but it was good, and my setlist included a few old favourites that I’ve not played since the days of tcf – and I’ve realised this morning that it is almost two years already since I […]
It’s a shame I wasn’t quite fully with it on Saturday night, actually – as Autonomy was fantastic fun. An unexpectedly bonkers dancefloor, who danced to pretty much anything I threw at them. And it was good fun to be DJing alongside DJ Deaddancer and Gadgeeuropa, too.
For my first Tuesday Ten in nearly a month, it’s back to the usual monthly round-up of things you need to hear.
Like it or not, club gigs during a warm summer can be a real trial. And so it proved on Wednesday night, with the Garage resembling a sauna by the time we got through the doors at about 1945, never mind when the bands were on later and the venue had filled up. Still, I […]
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 […]
