rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Long before you even get to the moment when you start playing the music, TMTE offers a lot of intriguing ideas and interesting elements to think about. Firstly titles. Titles are important. They speak volumes. Take Istanbul Hovercraft, just those two words together are intriguing, songs with names such as Casting Nasturtiums shows that they... Continue Reading →
Getting old. It happens to us all. It also creeps up on us quicker than we could ever expect. One minute you are bouncing about on the stage at CBGB's playing to like-minded gutter-punks and rock 'n' roll rebels, the next it is just a fading memory. And at that point, you start to get... Continue Reading →
Cave, Waits, Cash, Campbell. These are all name that come to mind when you listen to the depth of the vocals on this record. I would definitely put Danny Kiranos (ATD) into this particular hall of fame. Where is this person from? Could be The Med, Eastern Europe or the USA. There is great diversity... Continue Reading →
As the cascades of picked guitars give way to more solid beats, as sonics are joined by the vocal top line, you realise that Out There is the perfect example of how music keeps moving forward. Sure, there is no shortage of bluesy grooves and rock'n'roll moves, but there is something intrinsically modern about the... Continue Reading →
Opening with a real anthem middle-finger salute to the last year and the difficulties and isolation that it ushered in, 2020 simply unleashes all of the pent up frustrations that we have all been feeling and does so to a runaway, pop-punk beat and a groovesome gallop. The perfect calling card for a new band... Continue Reading →
The first thing that hits you as I Am Your Queen struts and swaggers its way towards you is just how out of keeping the track is with any current musical fad or fashion. And I say that as a good thing. A very good thing. But then again, I guess if it had landed... Continue Reading →
Any band that can take you from ambient to epic in just over four minutes is a band that you need to take note of. Especially if they can do it through the deft use of measured increments, slowly adding sonic weight, building beat, turning grace into the groove, in a way that is so... Continue Reading →
I think it is safe to say that the whole rock genre knows what it is all about these days. I mean, so good has it been since its earliest days, that it has only ever required slight alterations and evolutions to turn it into a whole new scene. And so, whilst skinny-jeaned, fashion-conscious kids... Continue Reading →
By the time I got to January, the second song on the album, I was hooked. It has a fantastic groove, relentless, dedicated and unwavering but lyrically it just reminded me of the depth and delicacy, poeticism and poise of someone like Leonard Cohen and at that point, I just hand over the money and... Continue Reading →
That Witch is a strange and beguiling affair. Opening up with some squealing and squalling guitars, a maelstrom of raucous sounds which then stop as violently as they started, to settle down into a soft and soulful piano piece. It feels like you have walked through the most bitter and battering sonic winds to emerge... Continue Reading →
If Pennies By The Pound are regarded as makers of music which falls into the broadly progressive realm, Indigo Screams proves that it is prog with punch, prog with power, perhaps even prog with a pop-heart. Sure, it throws in a few dynamic twists and sonic turns to make the soundscape more interesting but the... Continue Reading →
If Images of Imogen made for an understated and intriguing start and Mankind & Destiny set a more buoyant pace, then this third offering from the spooneristically titled Tash Hagz, really ups the ante. You are immediately greeted by a John Lennonesque, post-Beatle vibe, not necessarily in terms of the sound of the song itself... Continue Reading →
Not every band seems to come with full working knowledge of musical dynamics. Many are just happy to throw all their ideas, sonic kitchen sink and all, at the listener and hope that style rather than substance wins the day. Of course, sometimes it works but usually only temporarily before the next fashion or fad... Continue Reading →
You have to wonder why so many bands still expend so much energy chasing that elusive record contract when the timing and technology are perfect for setting-up your own label, releasing your music yourself and just doing things your own way. It's what Brooklyn's A Brand New Start has done and their first single is... Continue Reading →
There is always a danger when you front-load an album with the recent singles that it might run out of steam once you have gone beyond their obvious charms. That said, the opening, triple salvo which greets you on Tim Kile's solo debut album is a bit special. The wide-screen and ambitious sonic span of... Continue Reading →
Music, and the scenes that surround them, might often seem to be about revolution but bands are without doubt more about evolution. Watching Tough On Fridays grow has been a fantastic experience. People may have come and gone but the music always seemed to play out to a solid vision, one built of strands of... Continue Reading →
Built around a bundle of brooding beats and building tensions, The Shadow blends modern metal moves with Doorsian 60's grooves, tribal energies with primal sonic screams. And as the musical journey continues, it occasionally explodes to release some of that tension, letting off steam in frantic bursts before returning to the job of building anticipation... Continue Reading →
Although the singles which have passed under my pen so far, Tomorrow and Roses, showed a dreamy pop side to Sophie Dorsten, you could always hear that she was choosing to operate in an understated fashion and that if she ever decided to really embrace a wider sonic range, it would be a wonderful thing... Continue Reading →
With a solid background in film and also having spent his formative years opening for alternative rock and pop-punk stalwarts such as Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World and Incubus, it is no accident that Trey Warner writes songs that blend both melodic drama and a sort of wide-screen and filmic bredth. The opening title track... Continue Reading →
Just because a song has been written and recorded a certain way, why draw a line under things so soon? Why resign yourself to the idea of a definitive version of a song when it can have any number of rebirths and reinventions. A good song is a good song after all, so why not... Continue Reading →
I've listened to this half a dozen times now and I'm still not sure what is going on. But then, the best music is challenging. The best music is weird. The best music doesn't have to make sense. In fact, things are better when there is a whiff of confusion in the air. And this... Continue Reading →
The term alternative rock is as broad and unwieldy as the generic label that it offers an alternative to. Starting life as a way of defining music that stood apart from, say, classic rock, it now seems to include a broader spectrum than the thing that it used to be a subset of. That said,... Continue Reading →
MeNTaL GLooM is perhaps the perfect name for this album of ten songs, for even in its seemingly more upbeat moments the music is swathed in a sort of claustrophobic and negatively charged fug. How much of what follows is from personal experience and how much is creative narrative, we will never know, but it... Continue Reading →
It is safe to say that Erika Bach likes her own creative freedom. She has always played by her own rules, from her days as a member of Melbourne alternatives Hard Candy to recent musical musings as one of transatlantic electronic gothic duo m1nk, making the music that she wanted to make seems more important... Continue Reading →
It is easy to see why Para Lia often finds itself compared to the likes of The Mission, The Cure or any number of other bands who spanned the rock-goth divide but to focus too much on such references would be to miss the band's real charms. They have a melodic sensibility that leans into... Continue Reading →
I read recently that none other than Lou Reed said that he often didn't know what his songs were about until he performed them live. Only then, in that live environment, did they begin to reveal their true nature and start making sense to him. The suggestion that the artist isn't always the most reliable... Continue Reading →
It is safe to say that Lights of the City burst into the consciousness of the more discerning music fan in a very pleasant and unexpected way. For whilst it seems to echo with many indie and Brit-pop sonic references, it managed to do away with the theatrical swagger and laddish nonchalance that seems to... Continue Reading →
Wayne Hussey, frontman of Leeds' post-punk legends The Mission has provided further insight into his newest project ReMission International and their 'TOS2020' project, which involved re-envisioning the anthemic hit 'Tower Of Strength'. This commentary can be found in Part 1 and Part 2 of an interview based on crowd-sourced questions. Produced by Wayne Hussey and co-produced and mixed by legendary producer Tim Palmer, this EP was released to... Continue Reading →
Rock music, especially that which resides in the metal sub-category, has always shared a lot of sonic traits with classical music and so in turn the devotional and religious music from which that genre rose. It is often symphonic and majestic, sky-scraping and awe-inspiring. A new form of sonic worship perhaps but to different cultural... Continue Reading →
San Francisco Bay Area outfit KnightressM1 presents their new single 'Butterfly', the first track on their debut album 'Dreams and Devastation', an ambitious concept album that explores both the emotional depths of personal transformation and the journey of cosmic awakening. Co-produced by Palen and esteemed producer John “Lou” Lousteau (Foo Fighters, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett), it was recorded at Foo Fighters’... Continue Reading →