As a music blogger, I get through a lot of songs over the course of a day. Very few make it through to the point where I feel compelled to write about them – and 99% of the time this is because the songwriters and performers in question are either too afraid to really open up and express themselves, or haven’t developed to the point where they’re capable of getting the point across in the manner they obviously intend. Read more…
Sublime. Infinitely cool. Near-impossibly effortless. Building fragmented non-sentences made up of adverbs and adjectives can be seen as bad writing, but it’s also an effective method when it comes to describing Trickster. Carefully chosen notes flow through strangely-tuned strings and warm tones to arrive in the ears fully formed and deliciously seductive. I love this track – and if you’re into the likes of Mike Dawes, Andy McKee and company, you definitely will too. Read more…
This track broke my brain, in a good way. By all rights, rapping and flowing over Dillinger’s hyper-complex mathcore insanity should be as impossible as taking flight by flapping your arms really quickly – but on Rage Jarren Benton proves that assumption wrong with style, panache, and still more style. Math-rap should be a thing, especially considering a) how hard this track wins; b) that being able to rap over something that’s not in 4/4 is as worthy a thing to boast about as the size of your bank account and/or cock; and c) that Jarren Benton’s only current competition (see YouTube below) are missing the point entirely. Read more…
Opening like a bouncier version of Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s Re-Foc album and strutting confidently through ten tracks of cool and elegant gypsy punk, Carniphobia is party music par excellence. Put down that Ibiza compilation CD and step away from the ‘Urban/RnB’ section of your local record shop – Buffo’s Wake have all you need to get happy, horny, and everything in between. Fans of the Cat Empire, Caravan Palace, Lunatrix and the Zen Hussies will love Carniphobia – but even those unaccustomed to sexy music that’s not performed by machines are sure to find themselves seduced. Read more…
Good things come to those who wait. At least, they do if you’re a music fan; for musicians, good things only come to those who put in endless hours, days, weeks, months, and years of gruelling and brutal hard work. Bearing this in mind, Crooked Trees‘ emergence from the often precipitous world of Kickstarter crowdfunding is a very good thing indeed. Read more…
One thing’s for sure: Surrey-based indie label Failure By Design have great taste. For evidence, just give this split EP a metaphorical spin. Read more…
Haunted guitars, rhythms on the edge of giving up the ghost, and lyrical themes of abandonment and loss permeate the latest offering from TMMP favourites Chronographs. The Tallest Peak is yet another track in an increasingly long line of speedily yet masterfully written songs that demands your full attention before rewarding your patience with a rare level of generosity. I’m really looking forward to seeing Chronographs’ hard work paying off in spades within the not too distant future. Read more…
As a Cornish native, I most closely associate my home county with farms, surfers, retired people, and bored kids causing trouble. Super-chilled and super-awesome reggae would never make the list – at least, not until now. Read more…
“I remember that I first hated you/But you needed money and I wanted to fuck you,” sounds like a line of dialogue from Neil Strauss’s infamous pickup artist memoir The Game, and introduces three minutes of what Complicated Men Of Leisure’s press release describes as “Depressing cockatil-time reggae.” Read more…
As someone who’s already interviewed Marmozets, preordered their debut album (previewable here), seen them kick seven shades out of a wildly ecstatic live audience at Guildford’s own Boileroom, and ranted and raved personally to anyone who’ll listen about how goddamn awesome this math-happy quintet is and how far they’re set to go in the months and years to come, I see no reason to take an understated and polite path when it comes to Born Young And Free. Read more…