Review
by Ben Chandler
Neenor are melodic. They're also from Brighton (although to be fair they have moved from Yorkshire). But what path of melodica/post-acoustica do the band actually take? They are part of a local scene in which originality is so paramount that it creates sumblimity and ridiculousness in equal me»
Review
by Ben Chandler
There is a type of record which exists where a jangly riff and soprano/near-falsetto male voice, after initially sounding gorgeous and very often angelic, ends up being quite clammy and unenjoyable. Especially when, like in ‘Flying At The Sun’ (the first song here), the very male vocalist unleashes a chorus »
Review
by Ben Chandler
Put yourself in the place of a really drunk person. What are you going to want to listen to? I can bet you that you wouldn’t choose any of the tracks on this compilation, apparently for ‘post-club grooving’. Jesus. Since when did style matter at three o’clock in the morning, discussing at great length the in»
Review
by Ben Chandler
The Harpies are working on trust here. Because, for the first twenty seconds of 'Deep,' I am absolutely convinced that the singer isn't actually articulating any words at all. Hardly the greatest gimmick in the world when the whole wretched genre of 'metal' is going down the tubes. Yet anoth»
Review
by Ben Chandler
Music For Nations, Stabb's label, are the people responsible for Sugacoma, and to hear a band who sound so much like them is a little insulting.The quiet sections of these three songs are pleasant, even evoking comparisons to PJ Harvey at one point, as a rich female voice escalates up the»
Review
by Ben Chandler
This is the first night of the tour, and we are succumbed to the legend of the first night buzz.
The illusion of the band having just flown in on their luxury private plane just a few hours ago, with chaotic roadies and flipped-out wives battling it out against drugged-up groupies is an alluring one, and drifts »
News
by Ben Chandler
Grindcore metallers Labrat have announced that they are to play two dates in Israel at the beginning of this February, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, making them the first band from Britain to make the trip to the troubled country in over four years
The political struggle and instability o»
Review
by Ben Chandler
"I don't wanna talk about... I don't wanna talk about it... I don't wanna talk about it..NO!"
This is the refrain that Andy Falkous sings for a whole minute flat on the (quite brilliantly titled) 'Rice Is Nice'. And he's lying. For there is no one that wants to talk about it mor»
Review
by Ben Chandler
Aaah, the first great ‘chill-out’ single of the year. Most people wont give this one a chance. I mean, it's hardly pounding. As a dance anthem it ain't exactly a mover either. But if you thing of Robert Sanchez's 'Another Chance,' and how many times it took you to really, properly get i»
News
by Ben Chandler
Organisers of V2003, the UK's premier commerical rock festival (where everyone gets loads of free try-outs and perfume supplements and stuff) has announced it's two headiners...
They will be Coldplay and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. The event will take place on August 16th and August 17»
Review
by Ben Chandler
The first two bands tonight put on very promising shows. Both having been featured
on Truck Records’ excellent compilations, both last the distance in a
half hour slot. Black Nielson, with a lead singer bearded and lanky,
play as chaotically and roughly as they look, often using the traditiona»
In Depth by Ben Chandler
As of the New Year, Radio 1's Evening Session with Steve Lamacq was no more. Instead, the show was replaced by the 8pm-10pm Show with Colin Murray. Critics have come as thick and fast as the plaudits in this instance as they always do with the extinction of something with such seeming longevity.
»
News
by Ben Chandler
And Steve Albini's First Big Producing Job This Year Is....
One of the rather hyped and very hyper bands for 2003, Your Enemies Friends, are to release an album in the summer, entitled 'You Are Being Videotaped', on Buddyhead Records
Significantly, Steve Albini, of the ba»
News
by Ben Chandler
Nick Cave is to play a rare solo gig..
Nick Cave has a show all on his own at the Tate Britain on the 13th March as part of The Tate & Egg Live series of events between January and September 2003.
The live date follows the release of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' brand new album on Mute »
News
by Ben Chandler
UK Charts rocked by people in leather..
Electric 6's stomping anthem 'Danger! High Voltage' became the Highest New Entry in the UK's Official Top 40 singles chart yesterday...
Electric 6 with their re-re»
News
by Ben Chandler
Sean Mclusky's 'Sonic Mook Experiment' continues rocking into 2003. 2002 proved a fruitful year for the 'Mook, with the two compilations that have so far been released, exposing some of the finest talent of the underground rock scene, and contributing to the successes of bands such as »
Review
by Ben Chandler
Just A Minute. This Melys record got no publicity whatsoever. I heard it a month ago. The album's out in January. But these guys just havn't taken their chances. They won John Peel's Festive Fifty. And it takes them 11 months to release something new. This is ridiculous enough. But it's the fact that musi»
Review
by Ben Chandler
The Levellers, even though they are headliners, act as a tragic footnote
tonight, because while they make you jig, and it's good to have a singer with
as reedy a voice as Neil Finn still around (well, for posterity anyway),
they were always going to get eclipsed by Goatboy tonight.»