Jamie Lenman – ‘Muscle Memory’ [Review]

As regular readers will know, Jamie Lenman is a big deal where I’m from. My Facebook feed literally blew up with the release of the double-A-side Fizzy Blood/Pretty Please, news of his secret set at The Boileroom in Guildford, and the dates for his Heavy / Mellow Band’s recently completed tour. On top of all that, of course, there is this album. Not just a standard-length LP, but a 70-minute double album that takes in so many styles that I felt compelled to delay this review and let it all sink in and mature for a while. Now, however, it’s ready to go. Read more…

Posted on 07 January 2014

Dials – ‘A Pounding Headache’ [Review]

One of The Musical Melting Pot’s Six Artists To Watch In 2014, Dials have followed through on their promise to kick the New Year off with a brand new video. And here it is. The EP to which A Pounding Headache belongs was previously reviewed here – and although I was quite critical of the production in that review, it’s definitely grown on me, and also fits the video extremely well. As for the video itself, check it out below and keep Dials on your radar. These guys are going places… Read more…

Posted on 06 January 2014

Caravan Palace – ‘Panic’ [Review]

Opinion

When you come across an album whose cover depicts a robot clinging to the Eiffel Tower like a French King Kong and swatting at flying saucers as they lay waste to Paris, you can be sure of one of two things. Either the music behind the art is going to be incredible, or it’s going to suck harder than anything you’ve heard before. Read more…

Posted on 02 January 2014

Dani Rosenoer – ‘Whoa Whoa Yeah’ [Review]

Opinion

Given his day job as live keyboardist and backing vocalist for alt-metal titans Three Days Grace, it’s safe to say that Dani Rosenoer is a busy guy. It’s equally safe to say that he can hold his own as a world-class musical talent; and Whoa Whoa Yeah, despite its (ironically?) clichéd title, simply serves to cement this assumption as a stone cold fact. Read more…

Posted on 18 December 2013

Rouge – ‘Wilderness’ [Review]

Opinion

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: If you write a song that would fit perfectly into a Tarantino soundtrack, I am going to like your song. Although Rouge’s new single Wilderness would fit a little better behind something by Robert Rodriguez, I’m still going to apply the same rule here and tell you that this track is downright awesome. Read more…

Posted on 16 December 2013

Shlomi Cohen – ‘Breather’ [Review]

Opinion

Although I hail from Britain – a place where so much musical originality originally originated, and a country firmly considered as part of the West – I’ve never been a big fan of the label ‘world music’. Read more…

Posted on 13 December 2013

High Cross Society – ‘Every Time I Look’ [Review]

Opinion

I’m going to be honest here: I’m not a big hip-hop guy. I got into NWA briefly, during my stereotypically adolescent “Fuck  you grown-ups, I never asked to be born” phase, but over the 15 years that separate then from now my awareness of hip-hop has been patchy at best.

Artists like High Cross Society, however, make me want to change that. Post-haste. Read more…

Posted on 11 December 2013

Hazlitt – ‘Battlecat’ [Review]

Opinion

One of London’s best-kept secrets, Hazlitt is an artist with a very unorthodox history. Following a decade-long stint as part of experi-punk outfit Tiger Force came Requiem For Little Bird – a complete 180-degree creative turn encompassing classical influences, lyrics in Latin, and a violin in place of her formerly treasured guitar. Since that gutsy debut Hazlitt has attracted a wide variety of followers, including eclectically inclined Strapping Young Lad frontman Devin Townsend,  shared a stage with said legend, and thrown herself into a range of collaborative projects.

Battlecat – Hazlitt’s second solo album – has its own unconventional tale to tell. For the past year Battlecat has only been available to the people who paid for it to be made – an arrangement facilitated by crowdfunding platform Pledge Music, and necessitated by the destruction of Hazlitt’s home and studio in the 2011 London riots – but as of now it is up on Bandcamp to be enjoyed by the rest of the music-loving world. I’ve lived with this album for twelve months, and it still sounds as fresh and invigorating as it did on that hotly-anticipated first listen. Read more…

Posted on 09 December 2013

Dials – ‘Dials’ [Review]

Opinion

Since Paris, nothing has been quite the same. Despite my silence here, the last few weeks have been extremely productive – the novel project that originated with this post has occupied almost every spare moment I’ve had (bar a visit to the Boileroom to check out the excellent Wilde Eyes supporting The Computers) and as a result I’ve been neglecting The Musical Melting Pot a little bit. Hopefully those of you who enjoyed those fiction-flavoured posts will forgive me for this. For the rest of you, let me introduce you to an EP by one of Guildford’s hardest-working bands: the most excellent Dials. Read more…

Posted on 25 November 2013

Princess Slayer: ‘Life and After EP’ [Review]

Opinion

Princess Slayer – a Guildfordian producer-vocalist duo known by day as Vince Welch and Casey Lim – have managed to bypass the usual first-release jitters and put out a five-track EP jammed with slick and ultra-sexy electronic tunes. Read more…

Posted on 06 November 2013