Every Record Tells A Story
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The Best Records of 2014 So Far: Augustines
In August 2013, We Are Augustines announced to the press they were changing their name, after the successful conclusion of a legal dispute. “From henceforth, we are Augustines, not We Are Augustines”, they said. There then followed a certain amount of confusion. “Isn’t that what you were called already?” asked the world’s press. “Are you…
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The Best Records of 2014 So Far: Beck – Morning Phase
Back in 1999 Beck Hansen released the funky Midnight Vultures. Songs like Sexx Laws and the fantastic “Debra” with its chorus of “I want you / only you…. / …and your sister / I think her name is Debra” were as much clever pastiche as anything. Beck’s one-liners, it seemed, were as good as his…
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The Best Records of 2014 so far: Bruce Springsteen – “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
Whilst the class of albums such as “Born To Run” and “Darkness on the Edge of Town” leap out like an over-enthusiastic Ant and Dec at the end of one of their celebrity “japes”, Springsteen’s later albums are perhaps more of a mixed bag. It’s like opening a second bottle of Dom Perignon.* You know…
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The Best Records of 2014 so far #3: Elbow – The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
You probably want to know about Elbow’s latest release, so here’s a review: It has a slight American influence, whilst remaining distinctly British. It’s better than their last one. It’s bittersweet. It’s also amber coloured and 4.25% by volume. Well, you didn’t think I was talking about the new album did you? When there’s a…
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The Best Records of 2014 So Far: #2 Tom Hickox
It’s day two of The Best Records of 2014, and this one is an album that is released today. A long way removed from the blood and thunder of yesterday’s pick, Royal Blood, Tom Hickox is a singer/songwriter I have kept an eye on since I heard his single “Pretty Pride of Russia” waaaaay back…
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The Best Records of 2014 So Far: #1 – Royal Blood
You know those music blogs that keep you up to date with all the latest releases and introduces you to fledgling indie bands that are going to be the next big thing? Well, as my regular readers know, this is not that kind of blog. I’m pretty hopeless at spotting trends, as anyone who has…
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The Top Ten Spinal Tap Quotes You Haven’t Heard Before: The Out-Takes
David St Hubbins (about Marty DiBergi): “He decided to do a hatchet job. We heard that people saw this film and laughed….” It’s thirty years this week since legendary documentary film-maker Marty DiBergi released his groundbreaking movie This Is Spinal Tap having followed one of Britain’s greatest, and loudest, heavy metal bands, Spinal Tap, as…
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Led Zeppelin: A Vinyl Buyer’s Guide
The “Do What Thou Wilt” inscription on Led Zep III Want to know why some Led Zeppelin vinyl LPs sounded better than most other rock LPs? Read on… It is received wisdom that the earliest Led Zep UK pressings – with a plum and red label, rather than the later green and yellow label –…
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Midlake Joined Onstage By Gaz Coombs At Shepherd’s Bush Gig
Midlake played a terrific show on Wednesday at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire as part of their European tour in support of their latest album “Antiphon”. If Midlake has passed you by, let’s have a quick recap: Hailing from Denton, Texas, they play a harmonious brand of occasionally complex (even prog-y) folk rock. Imagine Fleet Foxes…
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A Look At Led Zeppelin’s Covers
The forthcoming reissues of Led Zeppelin will probably cost, oh, at least a few pounds. Or something. So before we all trample over London’s tourists like brainwashed consumers in a desperate panic to buy new vinyl in whatever is left of HMV in Oxford St, let’s reflect on whether this is Actually A Good Idea.…
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Drenge – Live at The NME Award Show: The Scala
It was somehow fitting that Drenge should play their biggest headline gig so far, in the week that the country watched the Reverend Alex Turner at The Brit Awards musing in a stoned statesman-like way “That rock’n’roll, eh? That rock’n’roll, it just won’t go away. It might hibernate from time to time, sink back into…
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The Brit Awards 2014
It’s the highlight of the UK pop music calendar. No, not the moment that X-Factor finishes. No, it’s nothing to do with Bieber being arrested, or that satellite link up with the Doctor Who studio and One Direction that had a delay longer than the time it takes for someone to tell a joke and…
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How George Michael Had Help With Young Guns, Macca Dislikes Wrinkly Front Rows and Other Quite Interesting Stories
“The 120 Greatest Stories in Rock n Roll” proclaims the latest issue of Q Magazine, promising tales of debauchery more extreme than an episode of Celebrity Big Brother. Almost. Claiming to have Rock n Roll’s Greatest Stories is a pretty punchy boast, and as it happens, what they were really compiling was “Rock’s 120 Most…
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New Radiohead App #PolyFauna – The New Future of Gaming or A Bit Rubbish?
After Bjork released her last album Biophilia via an app, and the likes of Blur, Noel Gallagher, David Bowie and Rush all making songs available via this means, Radiohead are the latest band to embrace the medium. The new Radiohead app, or “video game” as some of my more ancient readers may prefer, was released…
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Temples – Live at Rough Trade East
With February well underway, thought it might be about time we had something new to listen to. I mean, it’s all very well digging through loads of old songs, but what about the new guys? Can’t have them playing to empty rooms just because bloggers like me are too lazy to give them a mention.…
Every record tells a story 