Music
From an old record box: Tori Amos – Winter
‘Winter’ is one of the most gorgeous songs I will ever hear. You might think that a little strong, perhaps ? I hope to have many years yet and many, many songs, after all. But it’s been two decades already and if anything it only grows greater as the time passes. In a sense it …
Album Review: BC Camplight – How to Die in the North
Okay, confession time. Prior to hearing How to Die in the North, I was utterly ignorant of the work of BC Camplight. Simply put, his was not a name that I was familiar with and it was the fact that he was signed to Bella Union that caught my eye more than anything else. Home …
Album Review: The Krayons – Ready, Steady, Nuke!
The original ‘angry young men’ were, as you may well know, a group of lower middle/working class writers from the 1950’s. Disillusioned by society, they weren’t afraid, and in fact went out of their way, to make criticise and attack the establishment. In more recent times, the term has been applied, for much the …
Live Review: Laura James & The Lyres, Captives On The Carousel & Genevieve Carver, The Shakespeare, Sheffield – 9.11.14
It’s not often I end up being so completely captivated by a whole evening but this was one of those rare events where each performance captured the entirety of my attention. A gig headlined by Laura James this may have been, but add to that performances from folk group Captives On The Carousel and poet Genevieve Carver …
From an old record box: Ian Brown – F.E.A.R.
Verdict: just-about-listenable hokum. Let’s be honest – the lyrics are complete hogwash. I’m sure at the outset Ian Brown thought it was a great idea to flesh out the acronym in every line, but he was wrong; not even the early ones justify this cod-philosophical balderdash. Quite why I bought this (catalogue number Polydor 587 284-7), and …
Say Psych: Album Review, Create and Consume by The Love Dimension
The thing that strikes me about the opening to this album is how it manages to sound both hot and cold and the same time. There is an icey tingle infused by the warmth of the Californian sun as the West Coast melody kicks in. Thereafter, this opening track (the beginning of ‘Side X’), ‘And …
Track: Cedie Janson – “Light Curve”
There’s something mesmerising about this new release from Brisbane’s Cedie Janson – layers upon layers of complex percussive beats with a bubbling bass and a distant voice massage your ears. It is pure electronica – maybe not my usual listening preference – but very nicely done and impressively atmospheric:This track is off Janson’s debut EP cassette due …
See: ¡Forward, Russia! release Live at the Brudenell Film
What do you get when you cross a (increasingly) legendary venue in Leeds with a band (also from Leeds) that have been much loved and much missed. Well, step forward one of the genuine ‘alternative’ bands from the last few years, four piece ¡Forward Russia! and celebrations for the centenary of the Brudenell Social Club. …
From an old record box: R.E.M. – Nightswimming
‘Nightswimming’ is unassailable. This beautiful song is a rarity in R.E.M.’s back catalogue in terms of arrangement and features a relatively straightforward set of lyrics, at least for Michael Stipe. Whether or not you skinny dipped as a teenager, and whether or not you did so poetically isn’t really the point. Anyone who ever experienced …
LIVE: The Defiled, Avatar and Killus, The Key Club Leeds
It’s time for another show that was moved from the now deceased venue of the Cockpit to the Key Club and tonight is a celebration of all things European as Leeds is treated to a night of bands hailing from the UK and Sweden with support in the form of a Spanish band.Support band Killus …