As we saw last December, Dani Rosenoer thinks differently. So, for this review, so will I. I’m going to attempt to sum up each track on Basement Jams 2 in a single sentence. Let’s see how it goes… Read more…
I’ve said this many times before, I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen, and I’ll say it again: The Boileroom is my favourite independent live music venue. The same statements apply to this sentence too: Genrebomb know how to put on a show. Read more…
Now, this is what it’s all about. Serious musical eclecticism is one of my favourite things in the world; it’s why I love bands like Falsense, Signals, EaglePrawn, and The Fierce And The Dead (the latter being Matt Stevens’ home band). It’s also why I love Steve Vai – and although Lucid is rougher around the edges than Vai’s trademark productions, it is no less masterful. Read more…
Incubus are a rare breed. Whether we’re talking about their seven studio albums or each individual member’s own solo projects (my favourite of which has to be Time Lapse Consortium, an Einziger / Pasillas / Kenney collaboration), that band has never recorded a note I didn’t love.
Until recently, Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd has remained relatively quiet on the solo project front, preferring instead to focus upon a wide range of visual and literary art projects. The release of his debut solo album The Wild Trapeze, intended to slake his creative lust during an extended Incubus hiatus, changed all that. Now, Boyd returns with If Not Now, When? producer Brendan O’Brien and a brand new album created in collaboration with said legendary hitmaker. Read more…
This is an instrumental math/noise EP, and the collective name under which its creators work references anime (either this TV show or this movie – or perhaps both?).
No matter what the mainstream magazines might have you believe, it just doesn’t get any cooler than this. Read more…
A common accusation levelled at those whose core beliefs revolve around science and humans is that they are little more than logic-driven robot people, cold and emotionless, utterly devoid of the ability to feel ‘real feelings’. Their favourite music is assumed to consist of late-Seventies robot pop (Kraftwerk / The Normal / Giorgio Moroder / etc.) and the various electronic music styles birthed since that era, while their favourite activities are presumed to be a) watching Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens videos on YouTube, and b) arguing with Creationists and Christians in the comments.
Bats are very different. Read more…
The last couple of months have been a little quiet on the live review front – but this show marked the ideal moment to get back into the swing of things. As the Boileroom’s contribution to Independent Venue Week, it was guaranteed to be a stunner before the doors even opened; and it really goes without saying that the night was incredible, from start to finish. Read more…
Deep in my iTunes library sits a humble two-track EP by a long-dead band called Strobe 45. That band, when it was around, was completely insane. It was common for their detractors to dismiss them as either being unable to play or sounding so bad that it made no difference – but the truth was, Strobe just didn’t give a fuck. That singular quality made them a quality band. Once you were accustomed to their raw-as-a-Dirty-Sanchez-episode noise, tiny sparks of genius made themselves permanently known, enabling you to listen to something most would deem unlistenable not just out of some misguided musical masochism but rather out of genuine, ecstatic appreciation. Read more…
Without Luciana Caporaso, The Musical Melting Pot would probably never have existed. Until my early twenties, I struggled to come to grips with the fact that my significant others were rarely into the endlessly intricate prog-metal I loved so dearly. I suffered through many nights soundtracked by mind-numbingly rubbish trance and dance mix CDs, all in the name of love, until the day I discovered this track. Overnight, it changed everything. It was the quickest acquired taste I’ve ever experienced, and it converted me almost instantly into an electronic music lover. Finally, I had a secret weapon in the musical battle between the sexes. Read more…
Well, fuck me. These kids are pretty angry! Hardcore prog-punk’s been a fairly trendy genre since the rock world wised up to the genius of The Dillinger Escape Plan, and few bands following in Dillinger’s wake have made a serious, crystal-clear-obvious effort to escape their heroes’ back-flipping, ceiling-walking, onstage-shit-flinging shadow. But on Tell-Tale Hearts Now, Voyager do precisely that. Read more…