In which we discover how The White Stripes’ story was foretold by Journey’s Classic AOR hit “Don’t Stop Believin’”
Indie
New Sounds From This Is The Kit: at Rough Trade East
There are many things to like about This Is The Kit. There’s the relaxed and easy way singer and songwriter Kate Stables has with the audience and her band members, typified by the way she walks onstage in a Jeremy… Read More ›
A Ray of Sunshine Pop: The Junipers
Leicester has had a pretty good run of it of late. It had previously been a source of fun for Londoners being asked for directions by tourists trying to pronounce the famous London square of that name (“Can you tell… Read More ›
The Secret Behind The Flaming Lips’ Success
It’s difficult to know where to start with the story of The Flaming Lips, but a good starting point is this van… Before we do that, however, there’s much to consider. We could mention the time Wayne Coyne’s enthusiasm for… Read More ›
Why A Record Company Destroyed (Almost) Every Copy Of One Of 2016’s Best Albums (Or, The Story of Car Seat Headrest)
You know those people who effortlessly appear to be on top of the music scene? You’ve probably met one… “The Brilldeloes? Yeah – great band from South Wisconsin – like a young Lou Reed mixed with Jess Glynne and early… Read More ›
How Asylums and South Record Shop Are Making Southend Rock
On a day when that august (and indeed August) celebration of the best albums of the year, the Mercury Prize nominations list, was released, a small part of Southend-on-Sea was showing what a bit of DIY spirit and grit and… Read More ›
Parquet Courts – Human Performance at Rough Trade East
It was in the sedate-sounding surroundings of The University of North Texas at a record listening club that one of New York’s noisiest exports was first spawned. Andrew Savage was the host at the grandly titled “Knights of the Round… Read More ›
The Story of Pulp’s Different Class
Pulp’s defining album, “Different Class” reached the top of the charts twenty years ago, in a move designed solely to make us all feel rather old. In a year when the rest of Britain was deciding whether Blur’s “Country House”… Read More ›
How Cambridge Punks Inspired The White Stripes. Meet The Fire Dept.
It’s funny what you unearth sometimes in the most unlikely places. I was checking through the list of artists that have recorded “You Left The Water Running” for this series of articles. In between all the R&B stars from Detroit… Read More ›
Sweet Billy Pilgrim Reveal Brilliant New Songs. Audience Breathes Collective Sigh Of Relief.
Sweet Billy Pilgrim, as regular readers will attest, are a band worthy of much attention, but are – unfathomably – not yet at the stage where stadia and arenas sponsored by phone companies and chewing gum manufacturers are pleading… Read More ›
Why You Should Hear Drenge’s New Album, Undertow
It’s easy to get complacent sometimes. It starts with a War On Drugs album. It has a bit of guitar, you’re a little uncomfortable that it sounds a lot like that Don Henley record from the eighties or Dire Straits,… Read More ›
Why You Should Hear The New Courtney Barnett LP…
2015 looks like being a big year for Australian singer songwriter Courtney Barnett, with her laconic, grungy, stream-of-consciousness style attracting strong reviews with debut album “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit”. Barnett brought a three piece… Read More ›
Irrefutable Facts About Two Piece Bands – Plus Hear Two New Songs By Drenge
Adding a third person to a two-piece isn’t always a smooth transition. The day Brad Pitt tentatively sidled up to Jennifer Aniston and suggested that the addition of Angelina Jolie might, in some ways, add to the fun they were… Read More ›
Want To Host A Gig At Your Home? Sweet Billy Pilgrim Can Make It Happen With New Album
The music industry might be on it’s last legs, resembling something that has been dragged backwards through a hedge in a particularly unsavoury part of town, but it isn’t all bad news. If there is a silver lining, it… Read More ›
The Best Records of 2015 So Far #3: Natalie Prass
Rock n roll may never die, but there’s a time and a place for the more extreme varieties. Not every wedding party dance floor, to take one example, would find itself filled were a DJ to “drop” Slayer’s “Angel of… Read More ›
