The first thing that needs to be said is this: Takedown Festival 2015 was really well-run. Organising an event that takes in over 40 bands across five stages, runs to schedule, and delivers a smooth, hassle-free and fun experience for punters is a serious ask – but the Takedown crew rose to the challenge and did an awesome job. Even the security were nice guys. Or maybe paid actors.
The second thing that needs to be said? Fuck Read more…
Late one night during a week-long road trip, a former female friend and I stopped at a petrol station and bought a copy of a men’s magazine, from which she recited the following “Real Life Confessions” tale in the style of a BBC newsreader:
“Last year, I discovered that my now-ex husband was cheating on me. The day I found out, he Read more…
Xenophobia is experiencing a real renaissance in the UK right now. Anti-EU attitudes seem to be a real talking point around these parts – and frankly, I think they’re fucking stupid. European people are badass – and if you need proof of that fact in musical form, this album should do the trick.
Although Read more…
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As one of the UK rock scene’s most hotly-hyped bands of right now, Black Peaks are a band you’ve probably at least heard of, and definitely need to hear. Talked up with huge enthusiasm by Jamie Lenman during a recent TMMP interview, behind the praise and acclaim Black Peaks are more than a mere “hype band”. On record and onstage, Black Peaks have Read more…
Prog is, at times, a strangely divided world. On one side are the true progressives, fiercely determined to push music forward into the future. On the other side stand the stuck-in-the-mud individuals whose primary objective is to cling tenaciously to the ways of the past.
Cheating the Polygraph is guaranteed to ruffle the latter camp’s feathers. A collection of Porcupine Tree songs reworked using Read more…
Planning a quiet night in this Saturday? Considering lighting some scented candles, taking a bubble bath, and listening to some light jazz?
The hell you are!
If you’re a serious UK rock fan, you’re doing one of two things this weekend. You’re either heading to Southampton for Takedown Festival and getting sweaty in the pit for an immense lineup of epic bands, or Read more…
Although I enjoyed Red House Glory‘s Foo Fighters-esque radio-friendly rock songs and decent vocal harmonies, and Bridges deserve recognition for their frontman’s emotive vocals and their unorthodox harmony guitars, I have a few things to get off my chest not only about Cavalier, but bands who come from a music-school background in general.
First off, I should say that I come from that background too – I did four years at ACM, and although when I put it that way it sounds like a prison sentence, it really Read more…
Nine Inch Nails. Tesseract. You Me At Six. Strange stylistic bedfellows maybe, but Grumble Bee (aka ex-PaperPlane man Jack Bennett) has succeeded in welding them all together and creating something you absolutely have to hear immediately.
Two of my favourite TMMP genre categories are “Genre Terrorism” and “Complete Batshit Insanity” – and few acts fit those labels quite as snugly as Read more…
Tuesday was a good day until I got to this show and realised it had started earlier than predicted, and I’d missed not only openers Sutek, but also one of my favourite new bands of math-metal maniacs, Let’s Talk Daggers. Sad face indeed. Still, Swim Good soothed my cravings for complex tunes with a loose but still awesome set. These guys can do no wrong, even when beset by technical issues. They really are that goddamn good. Happy face: restored for the rest of the night.
Yearbook (think a pop-punk Reuben augmented by the occasional bit of fancy guitar work) never fail to Read more…
Although The Tens do possess plenty of heart, balls, and swagger, they’re currently still at the stage where their instruments own them, rather than the other way around. With more practice (as in “Spending more time beating the living crap out of their instruments” rather than “Studiously woodshedding a path to NoSoulVille”), the Tens will eventually become serious hard-rocking badasses. For now, though, they still need more time to develop.
Kagoule started off sounding like Placebo’s musical test-tube baby (a really cool move) before Read more…