rescuing musical virtue in distress.
It’s great to hear the various singles and one-off songs as they issue from a band but I’m old school and still view these as just tasters and teasers for the bigger release. A full album gives you a wonderful insight into a band, it acts as a sonic character study, it takes you on... Continue Reading →
If you were going to place Black Note Graffiti on a musical timeline of rock’s ebbs and flows, you would place them very much in the here and now. But not because they are just part of the modern pack particularly, more because they are forging a sound which is part past musical glories and... Continue Reading →
Heartfelt promises, a personal challenge and unlikely inspirations are what drives, multi-instrumentalist and obvious fan of Spoonerisms, Tash Hagz’s first single release. Having made a vow to his father that he would write, record and release a song that was totally of his own creation before he turned 50, it was to the story of... Continue Reading →
Remixes of songs can fulfil a number of roles in music. To some artists they are just a way of getting more milage out of the current single, a collectible cop-out at best adding little to the musical landscape. To others they are means by which to explore the hidden depths of a song, to... Continue Reading →
Rock music, perhaps more than any other genre, has kept the idea of labels, demarkations and sub-genres alive even as the rest of the musical world has embraced a more post-genre attitude towards such things. But, as always, where you chose to place any band on the musical map really depends on your own individual... Continue Reading →
Although you wouldn’t really call King and Queen pop-punk, sonically it ticks a lot of the same boxes, which gets my vote because it means that you get the same pop punch, rock grunt and cool punksome swagger without having to put up with all those big shorts, smug demeanours and toilet humour references. Everyone's... Continue Reading →
Channelling swathes of 90’s alt-rock and even the hints of the previous decades post-punk reinventions, Coldswell take a melodic rock sound and proceed to knock off any remaining smooth edges, add angular and often abrasive riffs, staccato deliveries and anthemic yet brooding vocal punches. That’s a lot to fit into one song but then Dark... Continue Reading →
As the opening salvo of Yesterdays, the song which first turned me on to the delights of this band, rolls confidently out of my speakers, oddly enough the first thing I think about is how small the world is, how cyclical music can be and how great ideas are not governed by time and place.... Continue Reading →
There has always been a sweet spot to be found between rock weight, indie cool and pop infectiousness, and the search for it has become a legendary quest for a sort of sonic Holy Grail. It is only in such sacred places that the effect of these three influences mixes with perfection, a heady blend... Continue Reading →
A new album from Beauty in Chaos is always something which generates a lot of excitement. There are not many bands who manage to marry alt-rock swagger, post-punk inventiveness, brooding, gothic overtones and old school rock and roll so effortlessly, certainly none which do so without falling for the usual cliches. And if Michael Ciravolo... Continue Reading →
A song isn’t just about musical structures and lyrical ideas. Those are important of course but a song is much more than that. It is about vibe and feeling, emotion and delivery, authenticity and believability. If you don’t have those things you basically just have a car without an engine. It appears to have all... Continue Reading →
As always, A Shoreline Dream seem to pose more questions than they present answers for with their latest release. Then again, if your music isn’t working that hard then perhaps it is just taking up too much space anyway. Seek To Hide is certainly a cluster of contradictions, one that will ponder notions such as... Continue Reading →
I’m sure that you get asked this a lot but what is it like being siblings in a band? What are the plus points and what problems, if any, does such a relationship come with? The Haunt: It’s definitely a lot less complicated than people think. The biggest plus of being siblings in a band... Continue Reading →
Okay, I'm late to the party as ever. But if GagReflex can take 3 years to follow up A Mouthful of Marbles, then I think that I can be three weeks late in getting around to a review. But I’m here now…so what’s going on? Well, it’s safe to say that a lot has changed... Continue Reading →
With its almost ballad-like point of sonic embarkation, it is easy to think that you may have somehow cued up the wrong song…or what ever the digital equivalent might be. Experience has taught us that Heavy AmericA are masters of low-slung, howling, growling, riffed up and rocked out music, so where is the grunt, the... Continue Reading →
Once you have 6 albums, an ep and a whole bunch of singles behind you, it is only natural that you get a bit reflective about the journey that you have been on for the last decade. And with that in mind Kevin Gullickson, the man behind Radio Drive, has released a collection of his... Continue Reading →
I’m not a fan of covers, not really. Whichever path you take, you loose, generally speaking. Remain too faithful to the original and people question why you even bothered reworking a song if you are going to bring nothing new to the table. Get too creative and you risk accusations of arrogance. Did you really... Continue Reading →
Bands are very fluid beasts, few run through their whole career with little or no changes in line-up. In fact most bands coalesce around just a few core members who act as the heartbeat of the band, others coming and going as the considerations of life, family, fashion, career, and everything in between plays out... Continue Reading →
I think as you grow older you fall into one of two (gross) generalisations. You can feel content with your record collection and your own musical equilibrium, and hermetically seal yourself in against encroaching fad and fashion with statements such as “music isn’t as good as it used to be,” and resign yourself to a... Continue Reading →
Princess Thailand seem to use sound in the same way that Jackson Pollock used paint. It’s almost as if they throw it, almost unplanned, at the song creating random explosions of sound, producing striking shapes in random colours which clash just as much as they compliment. And then they hold this all in place by... Continue Reading →
Song titles can tell you a lot about an artist. With a tryptic of intriguing titles making up the middle part of this record, namely “The Biscuit (Who Grabbed My Face)”, “Diet of Worms” and the gloriously named “The President of The United States Is The Breitbart Bimbo” tells me all I need to know... Continue Reading →
Laszlo’s formative years, growing up in an environment where listening to rock music was highly disapproved of, might not have suggested that he would go on to carve out a career as a musician. Listening to First Day of Summer it sounds like it is a role he was born for. It is a song... Continue Reading →
Last time that Going To The Sun passed my way with their glorious and eponymous debut, I’m pretty sure that I may have used the phrase “life-affirming” and it is great to hear that although a not insignificant slice of life has passed since then, they seem to have lost none of their positivity. Hopeful... Continue Reading →
It is often the case that you can listen to a release from a forthcoming album and that song acts as a sort of sonic roadmap, a stylistic signpost as to what the fully formed beast is going to be all about. What was great about Hillbilly Hippie Haiku Heaven was that after experiencing its... Continue Reading →
The best music always has something to say. And it is worth remembering that all movements that matter, from rock’n’roll to hip-hop, from punk to grime, have been born out of dissatisfaction, restlessness and outrage. Throw into that mix Rockie Brown, who has never been shy in coming forward, has never been one to hold... Continue Reading →
I suppose the question isn’t so much why chose to cover such an iconic song but what do you do with it to make the whole process justifiable. Three approaches spring to mind. There is the faithful rendition, which sort of suggests that you feel that original needs someone to take a new, pretty pointless... Continue Reading →
The news at the end of last year that Puerto Rican alt-rockers Circo were back in the studio after a thirteen year hiatus certainly set some areas of social media abuzz, and as the lead up to a new album from the Latin Grammy nominated band, La Tormenta is the first in a run of... Continue Reading →
All this time the powers-that-be have told us that, when it came to rock music, you could either be in the classic camp or the alternative camp, the two were separate entities and never the twain shall meet, and all that. Well, Chainflower obviously never got that memo. How do I know? I just listened... Continue Reading →
It’s all very well hiding your song behind technology, relying on banks of pedals, auto-tuning and samples, but if you have to do that, did you ever really have much of a song in the first place? The great thing about Because Villains is that even though the end result might be wrapped in the... Continue Reading →
The more things change the more they say the same. That’s what they say isn’t it? And in Tough on Fridays' world, a lot is changing but so much is also business as usual. Katie may have left the band to pursue a different, you might even say more normal lifestyle, but main songwriter Caleigh... Continue Reading →