Here in the UK, two underground festivals stand far above the rest. Every July, 2000 Trees hosts a wealth of alternative bands whose music collectively tends towards the more commercial end of the non-mainstream spectrum, while a month or so later, ArcTanGent ushers about 5,000 people into its grounds for three days of niche acts – especially those fond of Read more…
Beach Slang’s James Alex could have taken the easy, lazy route when reimagining the above band’s songs as Quiet Slang. He could’ve called in a bunch of reasonably able Ableton jockeys and let them warp his songs into a quaking mass of depressingly shit EDM and R&B tracks. There would be four-to-the-floor beats, obligatory guest rap vocals, and factory-preset synths all over the place, and the resulting criticism would have been fast, brutal, and merciless 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…
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…
Incubus are one of my favourite bands of all time – and so this review is subject to a certain level of overexcited-fanboy bias. Oh well. One of my favourite things about Incubus is their willingness to challenge Read more…
Noel Gallagher scarcely needs an introduction – but given that some people out there are unaware of Paul McCartney’s existence, maybe he will soon. Gallagher has a well-deserved and hard-earned reputation as one of the best songwriters of an entire generation – a phenomenon who emerged as a Read more…