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, […]
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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 […]
Events like these remind you that the term ‘indie’ represents a very broad church, with multiple sub-genres. The good folks at Indie Daze made sure this fourth festival represented this wide spectrum; from the pop-punk of Bis to the grebo of Crazyhead, with ’90s Britpop and baggy on offer from Thousand Yard Stare. There was indie-acoustic from The Wonderstuff‘s Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls, […]
Frontman Neil Arthur is disarmingly modest about their achievements, but Blancmange were one of the most successful bands to emerge from the experimental electronic music scene of the early ’80s. Blending pop melodies with dark lyrics and avant-garde programming and recording techniques, they went on to rack up seven Top 40 hits. Don’t Tell Me and Living On The Ceiling both reached the […]
In June 1967 five musicians went into London’s Abbey Road studios to record The Zombies‘ second album Odessey and Oracle. Though not an initial success, the record came to be regarded as one of the landmark albums of the late 1960s, right up there with The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper. Half a century later the surviving members of […]
For some the thought of spending 90 minutes in the company of two middle-aged blokes, armed only with a laptop and a microphone, would be about as appetising as an office team-bonding session on a wet weekend in Nantwich. But Sleaford Mods are no ordinary middle-aged blokes.
Incredibly, OMD have been making music for nearly 40 years now and The Punishment Of Luxury is their 13th studio album. It’s a varied collection that sees them again refusing to trade on past glories, tackling complex themes with invention and not a little humour.
Canadian-Ukrainian space pop duo Ummagma have unveiled the new video for their collaboration with Cocteau Twins co-founder Robin Guthrie. Taken from their forthcoming LCD EP, Lama, features Guthrie’s trademark soaring guitar arpeggios and sound washes over Shauna McLarnon‘s cool clear vocals.
Fresh from opening for The Stone Roses at Wembley Stadium, An Ideal For Living faves The G-O-D are back with a new double-A-side single. The band, fronted by Dub Sex guitarist Chris Bridgett, have only been going for about 18 months, but were specially invited to open for the Roses by singer Ian Brown.
When Black Grape first came crashing onto the scene in the mid 1990s, they were a perfect fit for the new laddism in vogue at the time. They shot straight to the top of the UK charts with the magnificent It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah, but dropped off the radar after follow up Stupid Stupid Stupid.