Princess Slayer – ‘Passion Alley’ [Re-Review]
Last week, I expressed a few reservations about this track. As predicted, they’re all gone now. Passion Alley is officially cemented in my mind as a Read more…
Princess Slayer – ‘Passion Alley’ [Review]
Although I’m a big Princess Slayer fan, and I’m used to instantly loving everything they come out with, this track will take a while to grow on me. Passion Alley has been a PS live set mainstay since I first came across these guys – and this latest on-record version is a lot more Read more…
Man Without Country / Princess Slayer / Tusks [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 1/3/2015]
This show may have been a hard sell for a Sunday, but a sizeable portion of local music fans still made it down to the Boileroom for this show. Earlycomers were treated to Tusks (aka Emily Underhill), a recent discovery who is fast becoming Read more…
Naomi Scott / Fifi Rong / Geovarn / Princess Slayer / Jungle Doctors / Bella Figura [Live Review – Under The Bridge, London, 26/2/2015]
As a music venue embedded into Stamford Bridge (the stadium called home by Chelsea F.C.), Under the Bridge was an appropriately unique venue for this unique show. An industry showcase set up by trade paper Music Week, networking hub MusicConnex, promoters ILUVLIVE, and south coast music school BIMM, it goes without saying that the high-profile nature of this show inevitably brought its own special set of performance pressures. A quality showcase set has the potential to push an act to the next level, while a duff performance can see a band crossed off “Ones To Watch” lists in the blink of an eye.
On top of the potential for mind-freezing attacks of performance anxiety, this was not Read more…
Beardyman [Interview]
Imagine you’re a beatboxer. You’re pretty good, so you enter the UK Beatbox Championships. You win. You eat, breathe, sleep and sweat beatboxing for a solid year before returning. You win again. Things get a bit crazy. A comedy video you made in a kitchen gets uploaded to YouTube (as freshly purchased by Google). In time, it will attract over 5 million views.
Over the next several years, you take solo beatboxing as far as it can possibly be taken. You play underground comedy clubs, TV shows, festivals. Your YouTube presence grows. You begin experimenting with live looping technology, battling not rival MCs but inefficient circuitry and user interfaces in the name of getting the ideas in your head into other people’s earholes. You find yourself in a studio, recording an eclectic collection of tracks that takes in everything from dubstep and hip-hop to almost every international folk music style recorded by history. Your debut album gets released; it sells nicely.
Finally, you hit on a pair of serious problems. Read more…
Wicked City – ‘So Good (Vocal Mix)’ [Review]
Some tracks just leave you stunned. This is one of them. Deadly-sexy, funky, deep, and gorgeously bass-heavy, So Good is…well… Read more…
Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith – ‘La La La’ (Princess Slayer Cover) [Review]
I don’t normally review covers – but fuck me, this track is the perfect excuse to break the rules. Princess Slayer have been consistently bettering themselves since I first discovered them back in 2013 – and this version of La La La is still another positive step into the future for this Guildfordian EDM duo. Casey Lim’s vocal on this track is Read more…
Enter Shikari – ‘The Mindsweep’ [Review]
Bands capable of speaking out intelligently about political issues are few and far between these days. Most seem set on insisting that it’s all about the music and having a good time, rather than encouraging their audiences to educate themselves and act on issues that mean so much to so many, but are often ignored in the age of cheap flatscreens and Xbox Live.
TMMP’s ultimate highlight Read more…
Eliza Doolittle & THOS / Bat and Ball / Tweed & Hyenas / Tusks [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 9/1/15]
The fact that this show even happened is a true testament to the strength and indomitable passion of its organisers. Few life experiences are as devastating as losing a friend or family member to cancer; when that happens, most of us would become too overwhelmed to function, and with good reason. Nobody would have blamed Tom Morley and the team behind Smile For Hatti (a campaign set up to support the courageous and inspiring Hatti Sandall, who sadly passed away only three days before this gig) had they rescheduled or cancelled this fundraiser – but they didn’t. For that, they deserve all the respect in the world – not to mention the sheer success of this awesome event, which raised over £2000 for Smile For Hatti (which is in the process of becoming a new charity, to which future donations will be directed) and Sarcoma UK.
As far as opening acts go, Read more…
TMMP’s Top Albums Of 2014
The “death of the album” has been declared many times in recent years – but nonetheless, musicians keep making them and are showing no signs of stopping (and thank God for that!). Almost a decade and a half into the twenty-first century, there still exist bands and artists capable of composing immersive, engaging, and fully satisfying collections of songs that stand up to repeated, unshuffled listens. Here are fifteen of them. Read more…