The Dandy Warhols – ‘Distortland’ [Review]
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The average band doesn’t make it past their first album. Sometimes the sophomore slump hits hard, sinking careers as that difficult second long-player either never gets released, or just blows instead of blowing up. Rarely, you’re talking three to four albums – but you’re talking really rarely.
Keeping the flame burning after ten albums is an impressive feat – and with Distortland, The Dandy Warhols have hit an all but unbelievable career landmark.
Distortland is one of The Dandy Warhols’ most focussed albums Read more…
Warming up for a guy who invented most of his own instruments – and is capable of taking over an entire room with little effort – is a tough ask. Still, Love Buzzard rose to the challenge and nailed it with a relentless tirade of pure rock’n’roll energy. Scrappy filth wrapped around a tough-as-nails core, Love Buzzard’s music managed to get the Boileroom suitably amped up for…
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.
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.
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.
I have no excuse for missing most of Gold Phoenix’s intense garage-rocking set. I’m just a bad person.
One of my favourite things about the Boileroom is the sheer diversity of musical styles that are welcomed within its walls. For this year’s DengFest, Selectric set up an appropriate air of unpredictability via 
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