Tuesday Ten: 062: Tracks of the Month (February 2009)
A new month, so back to the usual monthly round-up of the tracks I love right now.
Into the Pit: 074: 65daysofstatic – Live at Fuzz Club Sheffield – 26-February 2009
Incredibly, nearly two whole months into 2009 and last night was the first gig of the year that I have attended. I’m slacking! Anyway, last night was a trip to the Fuzz Club 10th birthday celebrations, for 65daysofstatic‘s first headlining gig in their home town of Sheffield in some time.
Tuesday Ten: 061: Comedians
Comedians have always influenced music in various ways, but no-one seems to have been sampled, remixed or simply been such an inspiration to various musicians like Bill Hicks – well, with the exception of Lenny Bruce, perhaps.
DJ: Guest: 032: Autonomy – 07-February 2009
Last night was immense fun, my set at Autonomy appears to have gone down very well (even though I’m not totally happy with what I played, I pretty much kept a good dancefloor for much of it), and roll on next time.
Tuesday Ten: 060: Blastbeats
Moved from Tuesday for this week only, and with good reason – thanks to the original light-hearted suggestion by music blogger Erich Keller, it's Blastbeat Celebration Day today. This got coverage even in the Guardian, and it's probably no coincidence that the new issue of Terrorizer – who were the ones who originally championed Keller's […]
But Listen: 080: Amduscia – Madness In Abyss
Over the past few years, the idea of “Harsh” EBM has been a popular route to take for many acts. Usually heavy of beat, with hissing vocals (the most effective often being in Spanish), sweeping, prominent synth lines and stuffed full of samples, the big problem of late is that the genre has descended into […]
But Listen: 079: ESA – The Sea and The Silence
Barely any time seems to have passed since the last album, but with a change of label to Tympanik maybe moving on quickly was the best way. Either way, with an apparently growing fanbase and lots of positive press, another album as good as the previous two would hardly be a bad thing.
Tuesday Ten: 059: Tracks of the Month (January 2009)
A bit later than normal, but here are my "tracks of the month" for this month. The next one of these will now be at the start of March.
Tuesday Ten: 058: 2008’s Voyage of Discovery
For perhaps the first year in a while, 2008 was very much about new music for me at least. Or, put another away, new musical discoveries. Some of these artists were new, some of them were not, and others I had totally missed along the way – and various people have prompted me to give […]
/Countdown/2008/Gigs
So, for the last part of my run-down of my 2008 musical highlights, here are my top ten gigs of the year. When compiling the list, I realised I haven’t actually been to anywhere near as many gigs as I thought I had been this year. Still, only two (Ladytron and Ministry, since you ask) […]
/Countdown/2008/Albums
Right, time for week three of my rundown of the best music of 2008. This week it's the best albums of 2008 as I see it. 2008 is the first year in a while where I didn't have a particular album in mind for the top spot for some months before the list – although […]
DJ: Guest: 031: Elizium – 13-December 2008
The longest distance I’ve travelled just to DJ was to Aberdeen, and the club venue, the Tunnels, was a strange little underground venue with two rooms (and pretty poor soundproofing between the two, oddly enough.
/Countdown/2008/Tracks
In these mp3-based times, this isn’t necessarily a collection of singles, more the best individual tracks I’ve heard this year (and were released in the last twelve months since last year’s list).
Into the Pit: 073: Modulate – Live at thesubculture Leeds – 05-December 2008
Despite a slightly late and frustrating train journey – where two teenagers sharing an mp3 player were singing only loudly, and badly, to the chagrin of much of the carriage – I somehow got to the venue just in time to be in place as ESA came onstage, and the pounding beats of Your Blood […]
/Countdown/2008 /Disappointments
And now, back to 2008. As per last year (and the year before that, etc), it’s time to begin my musical run-down of 2008, and I’m starting with the stuff that has disappointed me. This isn’t just albums this year, it’s a mix of observations on the music scene as I see it. Obviously, as […]
DJ: Guest: 030: Rob’s Leaving Bash
Rob – long-time friend and occasional DJ at tcf, left Sheffield for London (and I would follow suit a year or so later), so we threw a party, and I was one of the DJs.
But Listen: 078: Cyanotic – prehab 25mg-ep
It’s been a while since the last truly new material from Cyanotic – debut album proper Transhuman goes all the way back to spring/summer 2005, the re-built (as opposed to remixed) Transhuman 2.0 goes back to summer 2007 – so it’s no stretch to suggest that new material has been a long time coming. However […]
Into the Pit: 072: Ladytron – Live at Carling Academy Sheffield – 25-November 2008
What has been a busy month or two for gigs continued last night with me heading back to Sheffield Academy 2 for the Ladytron gig. Also on downstairs in the main venue was Jarvis Cocker, so it transpired, and in some poor organisation all punters were being pointed towards one main queue, and then another […]
Memory of a Festival: 006: Damnation Festival 2008
Like what appeared to be all of the UK metal community, I headed up to Leeds yesterday for the long-awaited Damnation Festival, the biggest incarnation yet of the one-day metal festival that has had something of a nomadic existence over the past few years. The queue to get into the venue was huge at 1630 […]
Tuesday Ten: 057: Side Projects
For this week's Tuesday Ten, I'm turning my attention to the side-project, an often-maligned pasttime for many artists.