EuroSonic confirms line-up: who's on it you ask?
EuroSonic, the largest musical festival to showcase Europe-only acts has finalized its line-up.»
Articles
shain has written the following articles:
Gomez at London Forum, Tue 02 Sep
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. When it clings it’s hard to think of much else but going backwards, inside, away from right now. This is how Gomez feel tonight - forever trapped in what happened then»
Shout Out Louds, Lykke Li at London Cargo, Wed 04 Jun
Lykke Li emerges and right away something special is afoot. Some shows, like this one, seem to transcend the worst atmosphere to enter new terrain»
White Rabbits, Teenagers in Tokyo at London Borderline, Tue 29 Apr
Intimacy is not the best atmosphere for White Rabbits' music, as these intricate song structures are more suited for bigger venues, places allowing more space to explore, squeeze into and influence. I bet Koko is next»
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band at King's Cross Scala, Islington, Tue 08 Apr
The politics override the music, ultimately masking mediocrity, as A Silver Mt. Zion is just a band. Nothing else. I’m sorry I assumed otherwise»
Patrick Watson, Miracle Fortress at London King's Cross Scala, Wed 02 Apr
Miracle Fortress' Five Roses remains one of my Desert Island Discs. Based on tonight's set, though, there's no need for the Canadians to come and tour where I get stranded»
Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
Kathleen Edwards is the antithesis of popular right now. Her voice is plaintive, raspy, quite masculine, overwhelmingly Canadian and not at all stylish. She dresses conservatively, more often that not looking effort like a baker’s daughter than anything else»
The Brunettes, Shout Out Louds at London Bush Hall, Thu 10 Apr
I love The Brunettes, but right now they are overwhelmed. By the venue, perhaps, or their early support slot and its restrictive 30-minute duration. Whatever - point is they disappoint when they should excell»
DeVotchKa at London King's Cross Scala, Wed 09 Apr
Tonight is very special. It’s nearly half eleven, well past curfew, and DeVotchKa are in ecstasy, flitting between the centuries with timeless panache, surely time travel at its best»
The Envy Corps - Dwell
The Envy Corps finished this, their debut, over a year ago. But it remained unreleased, gathering dust on the shelf at home because circumstances forced the record to stay put. The wait's been worth it though»
The Brute Chorus - Chateau / The Cuckoo & The Stolen Heart
This is a very good song for all the wrong reasons. The chords are muddy, disjointed, utterly crass, as if this group of transplanted Londoners lack any skill whatsoever in quelling cogent chords from their instruments, but in this muddiness, this thick, bluesy dirt lay its brilliance»
Justice at London Astoria, Thu 14 Feb
Eyes closed, ignorant of the mass of hipsters around me, this is perfect, proof that music can trump the aesthetic. veryone looks the part, but only Justice is playing the part»
Club 8 - The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming
Club 8 has been quietly prolific for 13 years, releasing six albums, touring the world and furthering the mission of Sweden’s Labrador Records, the best indie-pop outfit on the planet. But The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Dreaming is not a perfect pop record»
Bloodgroup - Sticky Situation
Sticky Situation presents four obviously talented individuals brimming with ideas but lost on how to properly arrange them in their chosen genre. Yet, organization is only one element in the pot, and the songs display talent and a promise that, with time, Bloodgroup may be James Murphy’s next pet project»
Jim Noir at London Borderline, Thu 17 Jan
Jim Noir takes the stage – tall, aloof and chatty. But, immediately, something is off. To start, he forgets lyrics, spills beer all over the stage, chats more than he sings and misplaces the setlist. He keeps asking the keyboardist which song is next, then playing the wrong one, apologizing and starting again»
Sarabeth Tucek - Sarabeth Tucek
Sarabeth Tucek puts all the emphasis in her voice, corralling you to heeding every word she says, but the end result fails to boil, pique interest or ensconce. It goes somewhere, but I am not sure where»
The National, Hayden at Amsterdam Melkweg, Thu 29 Nov
The Dutch love The National, but they make us wait, a good half-hour before surfacing. Without a word, they launch into their set, opening with the down-tempo, minor-keyed ‘Secret Meeting’ and ‘Mistaken For Strangers’. The crowd remains silent»
O Fracas - Factfinding EP
Finally, a mess of a band free of self-indulgence and full of substance. Please take notice»
Caribou, Black Mountain and more for Dutch festival
The Canada-centric Le Guess Who Festival is going down next weekend, 30 Nov and 1 Dec at the Tivoli in Utrecht, just outside of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.»
Beirut at Amsterdam Paradiso, Thu 15 Nov
Beirut soaks melodic city squares in the sounds of both old and new. While Zach Condon’s blend of contemporary folk music, all things Balkan and waltz hark back to a town festival somewhere deep in Croatia a hundred years ago, the blend is as contemporary as it is historic»
Sigur Rós at London Southbank - British Film Institute, Mon 05 Nov
Every inch of me wants to dive into their storm, that weather-induced coma that is Sigur Rós. But this is too real. Too ordinary»
Okkervil River: questioning what's really genuine
Okkervil River’s music is meant to be grappled with, questioned and reflected upon; never to be taken at face value or with assumptions. DiS sits down with songwriter Will Sheff ahead of the band's UK tour»
Asobi Seksu - L
Regardless of what language lead singer Yuki Chikudata sings in, it is incomprehensible, and moments arise when DiS drowns in their seemingly endless expulsion of reverb, distortion and noise»
Scout Niblett - This Fool Can Die Now
Emma Louise ‘Scout’ Niblett, a chanteuse from Nottingham who now lives in Portland, Oregon, has always been one of the best in this business. So why, then, does much of her canon remain on acid folk's periphery?»
Mono - Gone
In the mountains that make up post-rock, Mono lie somewhere at their tallest peak. Yet, they often engender a confusing product; their music can be difficult to digest, distorted and delirious. But once it seeps inside the mind of the listener, much of the themes circling the melodies lack a decisive sway...»
Stars at Amsterdam Paradiso Bovenzaal, Sat 29 Sep
Every song is comforting and discomforting at the same time. I am singing along unconsciously and probably loudly, because drinking usually raises my voice...»
Dead Soul Brothers - EP 1
I wonder if DJs use some sort of industry standard checklist in the studio to mark off everything required to produce a solid dance record. If so, the following is on said checklist...»
iLiKETRAiNS - Elegies To Lessons Learnt
One recurring theme in history is that we never learn from it. Hegel proclaimed that The French Revolution marked the end of time, and since then things have been going in circles. If this is true, than Leeds’ iLiKETRAiNS will never run out of themes to expand on...»
Okkervil River - The Stage Names
On the opening track of Okkervil River’s fifth studio offering, The Stage Names, lead singer and general all-round frontman Will Sheff ponders if his pouring out of the toils of his life on record resembles that of a movie. Well, hard to say. Let us elaborate on that for moment...»
Voxtrot - Firecracker
I wonder if attractive, completely non-aggressive pop/rock is truly attractive. If so, then I see Voxtrot as captains of our industry...»