athomas has written the following articles:
Miss Bromley’s fans are indie kids. Indie kids in the classic c86 style. Sexless boys, feather boas, poor limb co-ordination, and an appreciation of (seemingly) harmless songs played nicely. They probably own all the Belle & Sebastian albums. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. Okay, so t»
First rule of making a "multimedia" demo, do not put the data track on first so what sounds like a ZX Spectrum crashing greets your ears when you press play. Secondly, make sure your data is cross platform compatible, otherwise snobby Mac based journo’s like myself get cheesed off watching the cd that has just deafened»
Guitar, bass, drums, and a passionate male vocal. Musically they sound more like Young Person’s Guide To Being A Rockstar spoof band Jocks Wahey than Oasis, but this is no bad thing. It’s classic guitar rock that strikes at Stereophonics territory and thankfully misses by several miles. Lead»
Quirky indierock it is then. Lead track on this three track demo (since when did 3 tracks constitute an EP, re: the press release) Class is a strong poppy blast with comedy yelping from the backing vocals. Aphilia is more considered, an introspective ska tinged lament which a good chorus and none too subt»
According to his press release Philip has not been a lucky man, loved by reviewers and signed to several labels he’s never got further than his own bedroom in terms of being a star. And it’s not all that surprising really. This is a man who writes okay songs about okay things. His skill is not in doubt, his inspiration»
He has an acoustic guitar and he knows how to use it. Plenty More Fish In The Sea is a downhearted tale of breaking up, augmented by the world’s worst drum machine (well the label is run by an ex member of Carter USM) and some tinkling piano. It’s pleasant enough and no doubt one or two people will use it»
Teenagers with fuzzy guitars and girly harmonies, Suicide Milkshake sound like a band who could soundtrack any teen flick in the last five years. Poppy yet substantial this is Symposium, Blink 182, and Green Day fronted by a more tuneful Shampoo. Old people may talk about The Ramones or Blondie, but it?s unlikel»
Evening Session listeners should be aware of at least two songs by Chirs T-T. The first, released last year was call Can’t Stop Dreaming Of Injured Popstars, which conjured up grisly ends for everyone from Cliff Richard to members of Steps. The second, Drink Beer, is a lo-fi anthem to that which»
Angelica are taking to the road to support the release of their new album "The 7 Year Itch", out in mid November
November Tour Dates:
Thur. 15th - LONDON LA 2 (+ Babes In Toyland)
Sat. 17th - BRIGHTON Concorde 2 (+ Babes In Toyland)
Wed. 21st - EDINBURGH Liquid Rooms »
There’s a lot resting on the third album from Garbage. After the enormous success of their self titled debut and 1998’s follow up Version 2.0 Shirley, Butch, Steve, and Duke (don’t you just love rock names) have taken their time over number three. The sample and synth rock blueprint remains but there i»
This is how indiepop should sound. No lamentable male voice dithering over Simon & Garfunkel riffs here. No. This is a rousing guitar and horns work out with a bouncing bassline and truly hummable chorus (that’s probably been written by a thousand other people but we’ll ignore that for the while). The b-side sounds lik»
Lady (Hear Me Tonight) was a cool dance classic, Chillin’ wasn’t bad either. However, in a bid to prove how diverse they can be Modjo have opted for a somewhat sloppy pop ballad as their third release. Arguing it to be an accompaniment to summer lounging this roughly translates as sou»
On the first listen it sounds like primitive Echobelly with a drum machine. A few listens later and you find yourself waiting. Specifically, waiting for the chorus. The verses are just too empty, too slow, and accordingly too dull. But wait, the chorus is a rushing uplifting blast of strumming and cooing, positive a»
Plastik sound like they should have stylish haircuts. It’s the blend of indie cool vocals, hysteric subject matter, funky guitar lines, and pseudo techno keyboard bloops and blips. Lead track, Neon sounds like a cross between Coming Up era Sueda, Muse, and My Life Story. Not a bad collection of influ»
Recently the NME rather meanly commented that it didn’t matter how much money Richard Branson’s label made with The Stereophonics when he wasted it all on bands like Mo-ho-bish-o-pi. To be fair they will never be more than a niche band for a niche market, their slightly eccentric indierock sounding like it could»
Named after the beauty queen contest in their home town Miss Bromley are the kind of band that sing about everyday things in an everyday way yet work so well you find yourself humming every song. Taking influence primarily from Belle&Sebastian Up The Creyke starts with the violin backed I Need A Holida»
With Reading Festival next weekend those of you going may be thinking about how you’re going to feed yourself without either falling ill or getting ripped off. But worry no more for I, Andy (quirk), king of festival food will now show you how to survive for less than the price of an undercooked burger and chips (that’s»
Part of the Ladyfest tour this gig was as political as it was musical. Rammed to the walls with empowered girls and shy looking boys the rhetoric may have been bouncing off the converted but musically it was a strange mix. The Gossip are from Washington and feature one sixties looking girl drummer, a shagg»
On first and playing to a huddle of teenpunks Lamina are an angry bunch. The all male teenage three piece ignore the nu-metal cliches for the most part though, taking influence from Nirvana and the grunge movement instead. However, unlike Cobain’s incendiary group Lamina often trade melody for powerchord »
If you aren’t a regular record buyer then it is highly likely your brush with pop will come courtesy of the scary clown’s burger bar. An inspired move some think, stick a music sampler cd in with your burger and you might just consume, enjoy, and seek out more manufactured pop (who’s seeing the somewhat unsubtle c»
Five years ago I published an interview with this duo in one of my first fanzines. The experimental crunching guitar, emotional vocals, and clunking drum machine were a breath of fresh air to a fanzine scene saturated in "teen-c power". Who would have thought that of all the unsigned bands of the time (hands up who rem»
The venue may have all the atmosphere of a jumble sale in it's last half hour but Plastik come on cheering to the crowd as if it were Wembley. It's straight into the music, strong rhythms, edgy guitars, and a chopped up glam indieboy vocal. The frontman has the moves too, looking like Matt Bellamy possessed by B»
"aiiiiiiii here the air moooooving...", V2 plump to rerelease the most hummable tune in the Mo-ho's back catalogue in a commercially uninspired effort to draw attention to the eventual release of their debut album. It still sounds pretty good of course, 100mph guitar, constipated pre-pubescent scream»
Emap Performance have axed nu-metal mag Kingsize after just four issues. Speaking to Music Week, it was confirmed that sales had never beaten the debut issue's 30,000 when Emap had hoped for at least a 5-15,000 gain within six months.»
French powerpop from a protege of Air. Consequently it’s squelchy, jazzy, and has a breezy vocal skipping over the top. Towards the end the rhythm completely changes to something that would probably be used in a manga bike chase sequence. Of the two versions here the second sounds better, slapping on a chunky be»
I was clearing out my wardrobe today and found a little pile of A5 booklets stacked neatly at the back. At first I was confused, what were they? Then I realised, fanzines. 2001 has been the official death of fanzine culture. On it's knees in '99, coughing up blood in 2000, this year there are officially no fanzines. Ok»
Mr Ed is better known as the guy who rapped on Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood". And don’t you just know it. "Who?", unashamedly takes the same vocal rhythm and drum pattern from said single. It’s a good slice of new-ish dance music but with "I’ve got sunshine in a bag…" constantly creeping around the back of your mind the ov»
"Now! That’s What I Call Indie Volume 10" is out at long last and the world cheers. Bluefire Records have been breaking new music and resuscitating missing - presumed dead careers for over five years now. An example of the second type appears on track one, Jims Super Stereoworld contribute a minimalist po»
Another day another mix cd of other people’s music plus someone name checking themselves constantly. Stanton Warriors are allegedly great innovators in the UK dance scene. However, most of this cd recalls the better times for underground house using samples and loops common around 1990. Their remix of "Doomsnigh»
As double cds of Latin American crossover music mixed by DJs called Carlos go this isn’t bad. What we have here is 30 tracks split between those to relax to and those to dance to. Convenient. Barrio Latino is a bar in Paris apparently, where "good food, beautiful people, and sultry summer evenings" are the order»
