rescuing musical virtue in distress.
We mainly think of cellos as being part of the engine room of an orchestra, driving along under the surface, essential, sweeping, often striking but mainly sitting back out of the limelight happy to be a team player whilst the likes of the violin or piano bask in the limelight. The sort of instrument which... Continue Reading →
Although music is something which should be universally celebrated all-year round, some of it makes more sense at certain times in the calendar. You wouldn’t sing carols in the middle of summer nor Auld Lang Syne before sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner. And although there is so much to love found on this gorgeous... Continue Reading →
If you ever you hear Canada’s band, West My Friend‘s music described as ‘folk’ feel free to storm away in disgust at such a mention because although folk lies at the heart of the trio’s sound, there is so much more. It’s a little like saying Pablo Picasso was a painter, or Muhammed Ali was... Continue Reading →
By and large pop music tends to follow some pretty tried and tested templates. Most chart bound offerings fresh off the music industry production line seem to have more in common than the things that instead make them stand out from each other. Homogenisation thy name is modern pop music. But even if the creative... Continue Reading →
Music can mean different things to different people, we all remember the song that was popular or was playing when we had our first kiss or our first dance at a disco, and music, be it good or bad, becomes intertwined with the good times and, sadly, the bad times. Music we heard in our... Continue Reading →
Gothic music all had a touch of the melodrama and theatre about it, even those embryonic bands like Bauhaus who held the keys to the musical crypt revelled in a filmic, widescreen persona. By the time you get to the likes of The Mission and The Nephilim and the lines are completely blurred. Church of... Continue Reading →
A message can be a powerful thing, connecting and resonating far beyond its intended destination. And so this debut album from Forest Robots may have started as a love letter to the daughter of the man behind the music but now it is out in the wider world it is sure to reach and effect... Continue Reading →
The artist himself describes his music as sad and epic, and to be fair, those are exactly the right words. His brand of orchestral music is build on dark swathes of classical grandeur, a bristling nervous edge which occasional spills over into outright terror and wonderful dynamic highs and lows. It broods and bristles, shudders... Continue Reading →
Some of the most interesting music comes out of nowhere, bowls you over, is gracious enough to help you back on your feet and then races off in random directions whilst you are still flicking the dust off of your jeans. The RPM Orchestra is just such a band. Its difficult to describe what they... Continue Reading →
Shaun Buswell and 100% Swedish Erik Nyberg have made a name for setting themselves unnecessarily difficult musical challenges, ones which normally see them forming scratch orchestras from random but generally musically adept strangers, teaching them new, uniquely scored sets and then performing for public delectation and amusement. Well, like a couple of musical Dave Gorman’s, they... Continue Reading →