XTC fans have been rather spoiled with new product of late, after years of relative inactivity since the band ground to a halt in 2006, there have been a wave of re-issues, a feature-length documentary and, at the end of last year, the first EP from TC&I. For the benefit of anyone not living in the XTC universe, TC&I […]
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Words Matt Catchpole, Pictures Sam Wells The Damned’s place in history is secured as one of the triumvirate of London bands that kick-started the punk rock revolution. And yet despite being first out of the traps with a bona fide punk single, New Rose in 1976, they’ve often been dismissed as the jokers in the pack. For the sheer effrontery of […]
Emerging from the Bristol Party scene of the late 1980s, Massive Attack have been hailed as one of the most original and influential groups the UK has produced. Now a new book seeks to lift the lid on the band, their home city and the network of artists and collaborators that broke through alongside them. Massive Attack Out of the […]
The pale hordes who descend on Whitby for the biannual Goth Weekend may just have found the perfect soundtrack for their journey. With esteemed Cocteau Twins/This Mortal Coil producer John Fryer at the controls, York-based duo Mary and the Ram have come up with a modernist take on coffin-rattlers like Bauhaus, Love and Rockets and The Sisters of Mercy. Fryer is also famed for his […]
Father-daughter combos are as rare as hen’s teeth in the music industry, but for London-based duo SPC ECO, it’s clearly a formula that works. The pair recently celebrated their 10th anniversary as a band with the release of Calm – their 9th full studio album. Dad Dean Garcia is a seasoned veteran having formed one half of indie band Curve in the 1990s, before […]
REM have unveiled a new mini-documentary to mark the 25th anniversary re-mastered release of Automatic for the People. Featuring new interviews with Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills, along with co-producer Scott Litt, the film charts the making of what many consider to be the band’s finest album “Culturally, 1992 in America was not an easy place to be,” Stipe remarks on the background to […]
Robert Plant has been enjoying a late career renaissance since 2007’s excellent Raising Sand collaboration with country/bluegrass singer Alison Krauss. Carry Fire, his 11th solo studio album, sees the Led Zeppelin frontman backed once again by The Sensational Space Shifters – a quartet of multi-instrumentalists – who clearly share his enthusiasm for finding new approaches to music. Produced by Plant himself, the album covers similar territory […]
When I was about nine or 10 and just starting to take a serious interest in music, my elder brother, in a rare show of fraternal indulgence, took it upon himself to introduce me to the delights of indie synth-pop. To my great surprise and eternal gratitude he presented me with a cassette tape (ask your parents kids!). On […]
Anyone familiar with the work of Matt Bailey‘s Salient Braves will know what to expect from this their debut crowdfunded LP. Bailey’s sardonic, often laugh out loud lyrics, mercilessly turn the microscope on Brexit Britain and the notion of national pride. The tramp on the cover is an abiding metaphor for many of the lowlife characters who lurk within, […]
I was lucky enough to catch Suzie Stapleton opening for Boss Hog at the Hackney Oslo earlier this year. Playing for someone else’s audience is never easy but, despite wrestling with some recalcitrant loop pedals, a solo Stapleton secured a great reception. The Sydney-born singer-guitarist won over the crowd with her smoky, rasping voice and full bodied swamp-blues playing style and she’s been […]