rescuing musical virtue in distress.
With German maestros of doom-laden classic rock meets dark wave Mono Inc. releasing their 11th album, it felt like the perfect time to catch up with frontman Martin Engler to find out about the twenty year journey of the band, how such music is perceived in the current musical climate and where the band are... Continue Reading →
I did it again! I took one look at the band name, the artwork, the track's title and jumped to conclusions. Everything suggested that what lay beyond would be some sort of strange electro music, digital dalliances made up of synth textures and angular, programmed off-beats. Well, you know what they say about judging books... Continue Reading →
Labels are rubbish, genres even more so. I read the words “indie” and “rock” used as a handle and I immediately think of 5-piece rockers who have polished their sound off sufficiently to have a crack at the charts. I think of predictability, lack of integrity and of tried and tested formulas. I certainly don’t... Continue Reading →
Fathom, the single, was an unexpected pleasure, so much so that it made me keen to hear what else this musically astute duo had up their sleeves. With the arrival of a four-track e.p. of the same name the question is answered and alongside the title track we are offered up three more slices of... Continue Reading →
Wandering well-trodden paths and staying within comfort zones is all very well but surely life is about seeing what is around the next corner, about trying new experiences and feeling new sensations. And that is as true for those making music as those listening to it. But sometimes that feeling of being too far from... Continue Reading →
Whenever I see the term “classic rock” alarm bells ring inside of me and the reviewing pen gets all jittery. Of course some great music was made under that moniker, they wouldn’t call it classic otherwise would they? But a lot of what gets labelled such in the modern age is quite derivative, happy to... Continue Reading →
Imagine if you wanted to work in the singer-songwriter sonic playground but not merely follow the cliche lines of the battered acoustic guitar troubadour. Imagine if you wanted to play with slightly psychedelic moods and spacious indie sounds but not let those musical brushstrokes over-power the songs themselves. Imagine if you actually had something interesting... Continue Reading →
When we think of alternative rock, it is often an image of leather clad, sub-metallers who seem more concern about sponsorships, synch deals and their complicated hair than any real love for the music they make. That’s what goes on in my head anyway. And that’s why stumbling across The Pink Dust feels like a... Continue Reading →
Another interview just posted to The Big Takeover, this time with Ray Lark of Crooked Ghost, purveyors of otherworldly music which thinks big enough to take in sharp edged, visceral sound and soothing, dreamlike sonic textures. Find out all about it here... http://bigtakeover.com/interviews/AquickconversationwithRayLarkfromCrookedGhost
Even when you are making quite extreme music, and Brasher certainly does that, melody is still king. It’s where metal bands always seem to get it wrong. It’s all very well being the heaviest, loudest, fastest, most technical but if there is no hook to draw the listener in then you might as well be... Continue Reading →
The Big Takeover have just posted my latest interview with Paul Furio of Watch Clark. To find out about what's going on in, on and around his latest album Couch and what the future holds for him have a read here. http://bigtakeover.com/interviews/AquickconversationwithWatchClark
The music of Cazimi is a cleverly pieced cocktail of grunge, rock, indie rock and metal. Sure there are bands like ‘Echo and The Bunnymen’, ‘The Stranglers’ and ‘Hawkwind’ listed as soundalikes, and they are pretty on the nail but it misses out the overall vibe of the music as being a bit shoe-gazey, a... Continue Reading →
I shouldn't be writing this. I shouldn’t need to. Anyone who reads this site, who agrees with my tastes or knows that the common denominator of of this place is that if it makes the cut its worth checking out, should just take on board the fact that Tombstones in Their Eyes has a new... Continue Reading →
They say that a man is known by the company he keeps. The same can be said for a band. So the fact that Audra have been found on the road in the company of the likes of Peter Murphy, The Mission, AFI, She Wants Revenge, Gene Loves Jezebel, New Model Army and Nitzer Ebb, speaks volumes... Continue Reading →
It was about half way through opening salvo Grinding My Teeth that two thoughts popped into my head. The first was that every now and then I catch a sonic whiff of REM. The second was that there was a certain amount of Midnight Oil going on too. Easy references this early on in a... Continue Reading →
West of Corey raise a very interesting point on their latest single. Can you be epic without being loud? Well, let’s see. Too many bands, especially of the rock persuasion equate loudness with effectiveness, as if the louder, more technical, more amped up, the more multi-tracked a band is, the more they will get noticed.... Continue Reading →
I always feel that if you get to have a platform, find yourself in a position where you have people’s attention, then not using that elevated status to say something worthwhile is a bit of a wasted opportunity. That was one of the things about punk back in the day. Having piqued curiosity and turned... Continue Reading →
Echoglass has always proved to be very chameleon-like when it comes to genres and musical styles, equally able to deliver spacious indie soundscapes as they are R.E.M. style alt-rock. Latest single Hard not only sits towards the latter end of that sonic spectrum but pushes even further into the boisterous and rocky territory beyond. Guitars... Continue Reading →
It's tough being a teenager. No, I really mean it. You don’t know what you want but you want it all now. You don’t know where you are going but you needed to be there yesterday. You want to be everywhere at once but you don’t know how to get there, or even where “there”... Continue Reading →
Mention the term ballad and the mind conjures all manner of schmaltz and kitsch, poodle-haired would be rock deities and piano plonkers. But Case of The Tuesdays is a ballad, though one that thankfully doesn’t realise that it is and so forgets to follow the rules. Collective sigh of relief. There are no big crescendos,... Continue Reading →
Rock music might have made its name through being raw, unkempt, full of swagger and aggression but it can also be slick, built on eloquent musical lines and delivered with the sort of smooth, effortless cool that some bands could only dream of emulating. And this is the musical line that Hannan walk, a balancing... Continue Reading →
Four-piece Manchester Alt-Rock band Carnival Club are back. Their explosive new single ‘My Lady’ incorporates fast-paced, impactful guitar riffs with the powerful, wailing vocals of charismatic front-man Kai Jon Roberts. When asked about the upcoming single, lead guitarist Eddie Moxon described ‘My Lady’ as their “ballsiest single yet”, predicting that it will become the new fan... Continue Reading →
Rock music has always been a place where sub-genres have counted for a lot, in fact, far too much. More than any other area of music this fascination with labels and pigeon-holes has been an integral part of the landscape. It is the reason that such tribalism still survives, in such quarters, why classic rockers... Continue Reading →
Tombstones in Their Eyes don’t make music so much as startling soundtracks, cavernous walls of noise laced with drama, druggy haze and stygian doom, and their latest single is no exception. The vocals are deliberately set deep within the guitars intense deliveries obscuring the lyrics to the point that they also become a haunting instrument... Continue Reading →
After teasing us with the rather special sonic slice which was Sinew in Red, Crooked Ghost finally release their full e.p. and what a great quartet of songs it proves to be. Their core sound is rather unique, somehow combining dreamlike qualities with raw, visceral, rough edged, sounds, somehow both brusque and beautiful at the... Continue Reading →
Bauhaus' DAVID J has kicked off his European / UK tour in support of his new album ‘Missive to an Angel from the Halls of Infamy and Allure’ LP. Famed as founder of both BAUHAUS and LOVE AND ROCKETS, this album is unique from those projects... PAT FISH (aka THE JAZZ BUTCHER) will be David's special guest... Continue Reading →
The post-punk/indie/goth act A Projection formed in 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden, and have released two albums to date - ‘Exit’ (2015) and ‘Framework’ (2017). The band’s brand new album, ‘Section’, arrives following a period of reinvention after the departure of their original singer, with former bassist Rikard Tengvall eventually proving to be a more than adequate replacement behind the mic.... Continue Reading →
Album titles are a bit like making an entrance to a party. You can either turn up on time in sensible shoes and make small talk in the kitchen, or you can noisily burst in, wearing a fake leopard skin coat, knocking over drinks and making sure everyone notices you. The choice of title for David... Continue Reading →
Right from the start there is an urgency about this track which picks you up and carries you along. That relentless beat, the hustle of the guitar, the staccato breaks, driving energy and the build in intensity as the song pushes towards its final destination. And all of which contrasts rather wonderfully with the vocals... Continue Reading →
The remarkable thing about Ummagma is their ability to wander diverse musical pathways, soaking up influences and juggling so many disparate and different sounds yet bring it all together in music that sounds cohesive, natural and …well, Ummagma-esque. There is nothing wrong with bands having a singular vision, to want to fit neatly into a... Continue Reading →
