rock/metal
News: Gary Numan announces new album Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind), plus tour dates
My first gig was seeing Gary Numan (with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark as support) at a sold out Birmingham Odeon on his first major tour in 1979. He was riding high with his Pleasure Principle album at number one and the accompanying single, Cars in the top ten after having already hit the top …
Meet: Evile, and news of their new album, Skull
Huddersfield. The home of Rugby League, One of the most successful football teams of the 1930’s. The birthplace of Harold Wilson, twice the prime minister of the country. After that though, you start to struggle. But it’s a town that I love, that I studied in, worked in and lived in. And yes, it …
News: Wet Nuns announce album release and tour dates
Names. It was the thing that caused the most consternation in our house upon the birth of my daughter. I liked the flowery names; Daisy, Poppy – stuff like that. My wife, however, like very traditional names like Elizabeth and Rachael, and needless to say, we hated eachothers choices. In the end, after a browse …
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 …
Feature: David Bowie is… exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
It was with some excitement, and a little trepidation, that I took the first train down to London for the David Bowie exhibition at the V&A. To start with I did not have a ticket and hoped that the queue for the daily release of tickets would not be too well formed when I got …
Album Review: Deafheaven-Sunbather
Deafheaven’s Sunbather is one of those anomalies that happens every so often in metal music where you’re moved to your core listening to the aural violence. Singer George Clark sounds like Deftones’ Chino Moreno having some sort of attack as songwriter/guitarist Kerry McCoy creates transcendent -albeit bludgeoning- music that sweeps you up in the drama …
New Music: In My Restless Dreams – Single Release – ‘Suck It Jabroni’
Whilst most bands would release an EP teaser and just leave it at that, keeping the fans on a hook, IMRD have always had their fans best interest at heart and so here we have the first full release from their upcoming EP ‘Bury The Past’ titled ‘Suck It Jabroni’. This is only a small …
Track: Reznor and Nine Inch Nails Return with Come Back Haunted – Hesitation Marks Out in September
So the retirement didn’t last as long as you’d think(you’d think retirement lasts forever, at least in my neck of the woods it does). We’re the better for it if “Came Back Haunted” is any indication as to what NIN 2.0 is offering. This song seems to encapsulate all the best bits of every NIN …
Track: Splintered in her head – 女の子
I’ve been to Japan twice. I think it is possibly the greatest, most mystifying and brilliant place I’ve ever been. We wandered around all day, and it feels (at best) both weird and (at worst) frustrating that pretty much nobody understands what you say, and vice versa. At one point, we took to pointing at …
Meet: Capsize interview
Always searching for the new and the exciting, Jim F interviews exciting Californian Melodic Hardcore band Capsize about, well, being new and exciting.. I’ve always liked new music. John Peel said something to the effect of always trying to discover something he hadn’t heard before – Similarly Gilles Peterson, at the other end of the …