experimental rock
Live Review: Swans – Albert Hall Manchester 12th Aug 2023
It’s over 40 years since Michael Gira’s Swans burst onto the scene. Actually, more like oozed onto the scene, a bit like that monster in Dr Who who seeped under your door, Now, 16 albums later, Gira returns to Manchester, the location for many a triumphant Swans gig, with his revolving entourage of musicians in …

News : Swans announce Albert Hall show as part of UK tour
As the sweltering start to the UK summer fizzled out just as the festival season was in full flow, its good to know that there are some touring bands still intent (pun intended) on playing indoor shows. August is traditionally a quiet month for major bands, as the university venues close their doors for the …

Track/Video: Electro-psych pioneers Teeth Of The Sea preview new album ‘Hive’ with the pulsating rush of ‘Megafragma’.
Techno doom, electro metal, dub psych, industrial prog, prog techno, doom psych, metal dub, doom prog disco…Teeth Of The Sea have been sending the genre-makers scrabbling at their combinations for a decade plus now. One reviewer once got so desperate to describe the band as ‘android kestrels’ …you know that sound? What’s more important is …

Album Review: Steve Bates – All The Things That Happen: Elemental sounds for a wild world.
Some ‘ambient music’ can often come across as ambivalent, leaving the listener floating but uncommitted, relaxed but possibly underwhelmed. ‘All The Things That Happen’, the debut solo album from Canadian musician and sound artist Steve Bates (available from Constellation 23rd September), could superficially pick up the broad ambient tag except this fine record gouges out …

PREMIERE: The Mortal Prophets make an instant impact with debut single ‘Stomp the Devil’
What do you get when you cross post-war blues with experimental rock and electronica before bringing in one-time Captain Beefheart member Gary Lucas on guitar and composition duties? Hell if we know (pun very much intended) but it’d probably sound something similar to John Beckmann’s new gig, the Mortal Prophets. It’s both a band (of …

Live Review: Holy Hell the King Street Carnival ignites Newtown
Tropical Fuck Storm blows King Street Carnival Away