Category: Indie
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The Story of Pulp’s Different Class
Pulp’s defining album, “Different Class” reached the top of the charts in 1995 nearly thirty 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” or Oasis’ “Roll With It” should be number one, Pulp slipped out…
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Liam Gallagher and The Super Deluxe Edition From Hell
Of all the many lead singers that the Britpop era gave us, perhaps Liam Gallagher was the most gifted at swearing. And coat-wearing. Opinion may remain split as to Liam’s many other achievements, with critics pointing out for every “Rock ‘n Roll Star” or “Wonderwall” there’s an entire Beady Eye album. But credit where credit…
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The Oldest Teenagers In Town: Ash Celebrate 25 Years
In which we discover how Ash went from being a twelve year old Iron Maiden tribute act to world domination, well, almost.
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New Music, New Battles
One of the juiciest new sounds of 2019 comes from quite an unexpected source… Drummer John Stanier used to be in a nineties metal band called Helmet. Remarkably, the name was a blessing, given one alternative band name given serious consideration was “Tuna Lorenzo”. Helmet were dubbed a “thinking man’s metal band”, which, at a…
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“He got stabbed and didn’t know it!” – The Making Of Primal Scream’s Give Out But Don’t Give Up
“We recorded a couple of demos, but most of the time we got wasted, you know…” Primal Scream lead singer Bobby Gillespie on the initial recording sessions of “Give Out But Don’t Give Up” To understand just how hard drinking Primal Scream were, let’s ask ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, who happened to be in…
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Meet Your IDLES…
If pithy song titles and smart lyrics were all the five-piece Bristol punk band IDLES had, they would still be a very good band indeed. You have to love an album with a song title as good as “Never Fight A Man With A Perm”, or one that boasts a song (“Gram Rock”) with a…
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Arcade Fire: So Good, They Can Make Even Wembley Arena Shake
Arcade Fire have overcome many obstacles in their path over the years. Grabbing the attention of the world through their indie-released debut LP Funeral; delivering credible follow ups to one of the decade’s most critically acclaimed albums, and then dealing with inevitable backlashes. “Are Arcade Fire their own worst enemy?” asked the New York Times…
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Jen Cloher: An Album Of The Year…
Album of the year lists are both a blessing and curse. As a way to demonstrate your discerning taste there are few better ways to impress your friends. On the other hand, there are fewer more effective ways for your friends to demonstrate how much greater their taste is than yours, and how mundane and…
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Can Dream Wife Hit The Top 40 UK Album Charts?
There are many plagues of the modern world. Internet passwords. Staying over at a friend’s house and waking up first. The shrinking of the Toblerone bar. But most of all, Dry January. If ever there was a miserable, overly-long, grim, sleet-and-rain-ridden month of the year to drink your way through and forget, it was January.…
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Can You Really Improve Your Hotel’s TripAdvisor Rating By Having The Libertines Run It?
The first big name casualty of the Music Industry’s collapse in revenues has been revealed. Instead of retiring into a life of tripping over supermodels on Caribbean beaches, The Libertines are having to make ends meet by moving into the hospitality industry. Peter, Carl, John and Gary have announced they will be opening a hotel…
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Belle & Sebastian And The Horror Of Spotify Playlists.
In a world where people consume music through pre-determined streaming service playlists with grim titles such as “Cinematic Chillout”, “Music for Concentration” and “Songs for Sleeping”, how does a band that is already nine albums into a career spanning over twenty years grab the attention of the zombified masses? Masses moreover, who willingly listen to…
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A New Year, A New Band: Shame
2018. A new year, a fresh start. A chance to shed the winter coat that you unwittingly piled on when you bought, and then consumed, those second and third tubs of Heroes and Quality Street over the festive season. It’s a chance to move more, eat less, make resolutions, quit things, start other things, fix…
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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 Corbyn t-shirt, slips off her shoes, and stands there in her fawn socks, whilst wrapping…
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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 me the way to Ly-sess-ter square?” we would be asked whilst stifling a smirk). Aside…
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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 J Geils… Yeah, super band – their debut album comes out next week.” There’s a…
Every record tells a story 