A timely reminder from Surrey, Hundred Reasons are still alive and kicking. Hundred Reasons have had a turbulent few years, since an early rise to fame with 2002’s Ideas Above Our Station the band have fallen off many people’s radars. This show was the tour’s finale and marked something of a comeback. →
Firebug White Noise Festival
Three Day Music Festival in Leicester, 29th-31st May This coming weekend Firebug in Leicester is hosting three days of music for the princely sum of £4 (with profits going to LOROS Hospice). The organisers claim the event is ‘designed to celebrate the best of the East Midland’s musical talent. It aims to showcase those →
Jeniferever – Spring Tides (Monotreme)
ENDEARING SWEDES EBB AND FLOW: CREATING A STUNNING AURAL LANDSCAPE. FROM SPARSE melodic beginnings does ear-splitting noise emerge. Jeniferever delicately craft melancholic slow-burners that crescendo into uplifting cacophony. Their textured sound has a physical presence, an ambience that’s easy to get lost in. A mood laced by Kristofer Jönson’s hushed vocals. Sporadic but poignant, he →
Fake Problems – It’s Great To Be Alive (Sideonedummy)
Fake Problems couldn’t be from anywhere but Florida, the area is a hotbed for artists that blend punk rock and folk music. Straddling the line between the genres, Fake Problems add their own unique twists. One minute they are bathed in synth, the next there are hand-claps and strings. Such an eclectic mix of instrumentation →
Nigeria 70 – Lagos Jump (Strut Records)
This album is dead weird. Its a compilation from late 70s Nigeria, capturing the range of sound they had around then. And they had a weird range of sound. I’ll try and compare it to some bands you might know. Imagine Streetlight Manifesto weren’t from the west, but had, in fact, grown up in a →
The Low Anthem – ‘Charlie Darwin’ (End of the Road)
American folk is evolving and The Low Anthem are a case in point.Their first UK release shows quiet restraint and soothes in the face of adversity. Bluesy, mostly acoustic folk, The Low Anthem deal in textbook Americana. Through last years ‘Oh My God, Charlie Darwin’ album and some stellar instrument swapping live performances, the Rhode →
The King Blues – ‘Save The World, Get The Girl’ (Island)
Picking up yet more radio airtime, The King Blues are a real rarity. They are a success story born from the UK punk scene. The band has gone from playing squat parties to repeat appearances at the Reading and Leeds festivals and have recently graced the cover of a well known weekly music magazine. New →
Morrissey – Years of Refusal (Decca)
We are still interested! Morrissey has such a dedicated following that he could peddle out any old rubbish. Many fans and critics would still lap it up as if heaven sent. Each album is hailed as a return to form. However this implies that the previous effort had been somewhat of a let-down. We see →
Bruce Springsteen – ‘Working On A Dream’ (Columbia)
The track was first performed live at a democratic rally last November; unsurprisingly it was dedicated to Obama himself. ‘Working on a Dream’ is a song about hope, more specifically, American hope. Once more Springsteen offers us the same blue collar character with rough hands, toiling in the rain, reaching out for something more. It →
Fall Out Boy – Folie à Deux (Mercury)
Inevitable; the album is exactly how you would have imagined. Brimming with massive choruses, glorified in slick production and with just enough lyrical nous to keep their aficionados interested. That’s not a bad way to approach the follow up to a similar record that sold well over 1.5 million copies. Fall Out Boy have the →