There will always be a special space reserved in my heart for bands who make me nostalgic for my years at Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music. Soul-fuelled vocals, rock solid musicianship, a touch of The Funk, a few cues taken from the pop-rock world, and a few tastefully non-distracting flashy moments are all common key ingredients to look out for if you’re looking to spot an ACM-related band – and Sonder include them all to great effect. Read more…
Opening like a bouncier version of Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s Re-Foc album and strutting confidently through ten tracks of cool and elegant gypsy punk, Carniphobia is party music par excellence. Put down that Ibiza compilation CD and step away from the ‘Urban/RnB’ section of your local record shop – Buffo’s Wake have all you need to get happy, horny, and everything in between. Fans of the Cat Empire, Caravan Palace, Lunatrix and the Zen Hussies will love Carniphobia – but even those unaccustomed to sexy music that’s not performed by machines are sure to find themselves seduced. Read more…
With Guildford venue the Boileroom facing the possibility of closure, TMMP caught up with quirky gypsy-swingers Lunatrix to discuss the Boileroom and the state of the UK’s live music scene.
This interview is part of a larger TMMP feature which can be read in full here.
What is your general opinion of the Boileroom?
We all consider the Boileroom to be a fantastic venue. Extremely friendly staff who always have a smile for people, a wicked garden, and last but not least they go out of their way to put on consistently good nights of music. When you see a venue that caters for as many music tastes as the Boileroom does, you have to Read more…
Sometimes the old ways are the best.
Over the past fifteen years, the music world has been revolutionised by digital technology. There have been many positive developments facilitated by the Internet, from social media sites to digital music stores and crowdfunding platforms. Smart and savvy musicians now have access to a wealth of tools that previous generations could only dream of – but the physical world still holds the key to a thriving, successful career.
The ease with which a band can break through barriers previously manned by a handful of power-hungry gatekeepers represents the bright side of digital music – but there is also a widely recognised and heavily debated Read more…
Andrew Ford is a man of many talents. He’s a multi-instrumentalist able to turn his hand to almost any musical situation imaginable; a meditation and mindfulness expert; and a fantastic teacher who keeps on giving and giving. His latest musical project, Inner Pieces, also inspired the very first short fictional piece to be featured here on TMMP.
I got in touch with Andrew to discuss meditation, happiness, the past, present, and future, and many more topics besides. Let’s get stuck in: Read more…
If one asks the average person on the street to picture an alternative music venue, each individual visualisation will be found to share certain commonalities with all of the others. The venue will definitely be hosting a band playing ear-splitting rock music; the audience will all be about 18 years old; and the general atmosphere will be hostile, obnoxious, and proudly antisocial. If one compares this imaginary alternative music venue to those that exist in real life, one will find that in many cases imagination and reality overlap with almost pinpoint accuracy.
If one compares the standard stereotype to The Boileroom, however, there will never be a 100% match. And on The Guildford Fringe Festival’s opening night, that percentage would be no greater than zero. Musically, skiffle and folk were as extreme as it got – and let’s be honest, you could only find skiffle scary if you’d just woken up from a century-long coma. The crowd was definitely old enough to be served alcohol without needing ID, and the atmosphere was one of merriment, a celebration of the charmingly eccentric; hence the unusually flamboyant verbiage that peppers this review. Read more…
Describing music as ‘soulful’ is so common these days that it seems to have lost all meaning. But sometimes, you just have to do it. And when considering By The Rivers’ eponymous debut album, this is definitely one of those times. Heavy yet weightless, By The Rivers‘ humanity drifts lightly into the ears, having been filtered through your speakers and distilled from the raw power of a fantastically talented creative collective. Read more…
Opinion
When you come across an album whose cover depicts a robot clinging to the Eiffel Tower like a French King Kong and swatting at flying saucers as they lay waste to Paris, you can be sure of one of two things. Either the music behind the art is going to be incredible, or it’s going to suck harder than anything you’ve heard before. Read more…