Live Review
Say Psych: Live, Destruction Unit, Liverpool PsychFest, 25/09/15
I dare you to play a Destruction Unit album quietly. 2013’s effort, ‘Deep Trip’ was the sort of full on assault that leaves you pinned to the back wall screaming for more; and it sounds like the band’s new Sacred Bones album, ‘Negative Feedback Resistor’ might just have upped the game even further This is …
Live Review: Mallory Knox At Manchester Ritz 29.09.15
Set It Off are part of the newest wave of pop-punk bands to grace the rock scene. While far from ground-breaking, their saccharine spirit provides the most energy this stage will see all night. The pace picks up from the very beginning, and stays there as Cody Carson stands on the barrier and puts his …
Live Rview: LoneLady, Gorilla, Manchester, 01.10.2015
For years, I had a vague feeling of musical dissatisfaction. Sure, The Heartbreaks tried their best to make me happy and, briefly, I was in love with The Slow Show. But deep, down inside, a still, small voice kept whispering to my middle-aged complacency, “Simo, Simo—. You’re more into Post-Punk than all of this Indie-schmindy …
Live: The Lemonheads – Birmingham, Institute 01.10.15
In the early 90’s, and in particular 92, it was hard to miss The Lemonheads fun cover version of “Mrs Robinson.” So having never seen The Lemonheads live during their hay-day on the Alternative Rock scene, I was very curious to see what was about to happen as I entered the excellent Birmingham Institute Library …
Live: Sleaford Mods, Leeds Irish Centre
Last time I saw Sleaford Mods it was in a much smaller venue and it was visceral as Jason Williamson stalked the stage like a caged animal spitting out his explicit lyrics laying bare the lives of Britain’s dispossessed. But something has been lost in this cavernous venue as all that pent up anger just …
Say Psych: Live Review, Dead Sea Apes, Liverpool PsychFest, 26.09.15
Dead Sea Apes are a favourite band of mine who have released a series of ever developing albums on the Cardinal Fuzz label, the latest of which ‘Spectral Domain’ has apparently been flying out of the Cardinal’s lair. The opening track ‘Universal Interrogator’ has, in my view, already become a cornerstone of their live set, and …
Say Psych: Live, Pinkshinyultrablast, Liverpool PsychFest, 25/09/15
St Peterburg’s Pinkshinyultrablast have been causing quite a stir amongst shoegaze fans, and beyond, over the last year or so. Taking their name from an album by the relatively obscure American shoegaze project Astrobrite, the band instantly reveal how much they are embedded into the genre. This could be seen both positively and negatively, something …
Say Psych: Live, Radar Men From The Moon, Liverpool PsychFest, 26/09/15
Radar Men From The Moon (RMFTM) are named after a 1952 series of 12 shorts, directed by Fred C. Brannon who was responsible for a whole string of these low budget movies – and his rapacious output tells you something about the quality of the films themselves. The same could not be said for this …
Say Psych: Live, Dreamweapon, Liverpool PsychFest, 26.09.15
The Portuguese label ‘Lovers and Lollipops’ is one of those that seems to be able to put out a seemingly endless supply of interesting and unusual acts. My two favourite acts from the first day of 2014’s PsychFest, Black Bombaim and Jibóia, were both from that label. So when I saw that another ‘Lovers and …
Say Psych: Live, The Underground Youth, Liverpool PsychFest 25.09.15
Backseat Mafia favourites The Underground Youth made the short trip from Manchester to get things underway on the Camp stage at this year’s Liverpool PsychFest. The post-punk psychedelic band, who at times sound like a mid-era Depeche Mode (and I mean that in a good way), delivered a set that was heavy on drama, a dark and …