Rock
Track: Ming City Rockers – Chic and the Motherfuckers
I have this friend. we went to University together. Just two ordinary slackers – when it was cloudy/rainy we played Snooker, when it was sunny we played golf. On occasion we actually went into University to see what it was we were supposed to be doing. Not terribly often though. He’s one of those …
Album review: The Lonely H – The Lonely H
This is good-time music. It’s got everything that you need: bendy, blues- and rock’n’roll-infused guitars, confident brass, an unobtrusive but muscular rhythm section, a strong and soulful vocalist, and a good understanding of how to write coherent, tuneful, ass-shaking, country rock. This five-piece, who have been together for around a decade, hail from Port Angeles, …
O Emperor – Vitreous: Album Review
Back in April I got lost on bandcamp and wandered into O Emperor‘s house. They had facial hair so it was a pretty happy accidental meeting plus, as you could not doubt tell from my breathless review of the video for “Holy Fool” I also liked what I found. Now they’re releasing albums, and it’s …
The Watermelons – Dance Strange Together
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but there’s a certain amount of indie guitar rock on our blog. Toby, David, Sam and Matthew make up The Watermelons and hail from Brighton, which is a long way from my favourite indie city of the last two months, Portland, Oregon. Still, it’s a well-established-indie-pedigree town and I …
New Music: Firesuite – Red World EP
When I was fairly young, about 18 I think it was (actually I don’t think, I know because I can remember it so well) my college mate and I went over to Manchester one cold December night. It was, at that time, the biggest gig I think I’d ever been to. Manchester G-Mex had sold …
Track: Steel Trees – Attack of the Stoner Zombie Killer Kids (plus Tour news)
Picture the scene, the Mafia family boxing day celebrations and the brethren gathered from the four corners of the earth (well, Sheffield and London). Various offspring running riot, off their heads on chocolate. All adult males asleep in armchairs with jauntily angled paper hats on. And me, fearlessly tackling my second bottle of red. It’s …
Preview: Detestival (curated by The Wet Nuns)
For me it wasThe Elephants. It was somewhere in Denmark, and they were Danish. They were (outrageously) below the bill than the band I was in, and so I wandered out to watch them, and was instantly blown away. On my return, the first things I did was buy their album, bang onto everyone I …
Past lives: John Lennon assassinated – December 8th, 1980
Its December 8th today, and exactly 32 years ago to the day Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon in the back four times, on the steps of his apartment building, The Dakota in New York. Doctors said no-one could have lived for more than a few minutes with the scale of injuries Lennon sustained, and …