Giacomo Pope is a musical chameleon. As an axe-handler for Chronographs, this guy made a name for himself through hyperkinetic tech-metal and (in 2014) complex yet catchy math-rock. Now that Chronographs have been put (hopefully temporarily) on hold following the amicable departure of vocalist Jon Sinfield, Pope has Read more…
Al Heslop of Creative Control Studios seems to be the go-to guy for Surrey and Hampshire’s top instrumental post-rock bands. It wasn’t too long ago that For Astronauts and Satellites dropped their Creative Control-enhanced album A Homing Light – and now long-time TMMP favourites Eschar have their first full-length album ready to go, in the form of Nova. Needless to say, the production suits the music perfectly.
The Eschar name is synonymous with Read more…
As a long-time Eschar fan, I’ve been looking forward to hearing new music from said band since 2012, when their epic mini-album Elements first saw the light of day. Of course, I’m not alone – Eschar have made a real name for themselves amongst Surrey’s prog-metal diehards, thanks to 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…
Instrumental post-rock can be tough to listen to at times. Even when the vibes are cool, it can quickly become repetitive and dull rather than sublimely hypnotic. This release is definitely the latter though.
Waves Will Rise On Silent Water is an easy album to “get” and chill out to – and A Sudden Burst Of Colour know Read more…
Fuck Suzuki. Their cars are crap. My formerly faithful four-wheeler failed at completing a function even more basic than going forwards, and refused to even start. While Throatpunch City were getting through their set, I was pretty much doing this:
One train journey later, and Parachute For Gordo were, as always, goddamn incredible. Few instrumental post-rock bands infuse their music with Read more…
Given that Marco Minnemann’s EEPS was TMMP’s #2 album of 2014, the fact that I love Culture Clash Live! to pieces is probably not that much of a surprise.
For the uninitiated, the Aristocrats are one of the fusion community’s hottest tickets right now. A power trio comprising lead drummist Minnemann, lead bassist Bryan Beller, and axe-wielding maniac Guthrie Govan, the Aristocrats’ collective moniker is synonymous with Read more…
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…
I have a very strong emotional attachment to many of the releases listed below. Choosing this list was exceptionally tough; I’ve been fortunate to discover some incredible bands and artists over the past year, and it’s safe to say that outside this list lie a great many immense tunes that can be found via a quick browse through TMMP’s archives when you’re done with this lot. However, the following choices are the cream of the crop. Read more…
Some shows are born special. Although I’m relatively new to The Hell, I’ve already become hopelessly addicted to their latest album (reviewed here) – so nothing short of a bad case of death was going to stop this show (the first of The Hell’s A Shitemare Before Christmas tour) from getting featured on TMMP. Read more…