When all the strains and stresses of the modern world get on top of you, few entertainment options leave you really relaxed. I’m totally into the intense and hectic end of the musical spectrum – but even I’ll admit that sometimes it’s not the right thing at the right time. When I’ve just about had enough, dub and reggae do Read more…
New Kingston are a band on the rise right now – and it’s safe to say they’ve earned it. From Brooklyn basements to an album (their third, Kingston City, reviewed here) released on New York’s own Easy Star Records, New Kingston have poured everything they have into their band, and are Read more…
Although my heart is forever torn between London and Brighton, the Skints are pulling me firmly in the direction of the capital with FM. A passionate paean to the Big Smoke, FM is a long-playing set of incredibly fine reggae-related tunes – and a must for audio-adoring culture tourists everywhere.
Although personal highlights are too numerous to list in full here (special mentions go to the sublime vocals on This Town (feat. reggae legends Tippa Irie & Horseman); the 8-bit blips on Come To You; and the hilarious episode of Dancehall Dilemmas that opens Friends & Business), the most important parts of the FM experience are Read more…
Weekends were made for relaxation – and in Kingston City, reggae fans worldwide will find a fantastic addition to their core chillout collections. Behind the righteous grooves and regimented, funky instrumentation lie a trio of Read more…
With very few exceptions, Christmas music is terrible. Fortunately, the Boileroom team have good taste in tunes – and so this show was the perfect antidote to the overwrought saccharine pap that’s been unavoidable for the past few months. Read more…
When I first discovered Half Crown at a secret Sofar Sounds show in a beautiful Brighton basement, I was struck by how comfortable they were in such an exposed and intimate environment. On Everything Goes, Half Crown manage to achieve that same sense of fearless liveness and meaningful connection without any face-to-face contact whatsoever. This is a rare and valuable feat in today’s increasingly digital and digitised world.
Fusing gritty blues-ridden rock’n’roll with elements of hip-hop and reggae, Half Crown have developed an energising and exciting sound that retains enough familiarity to ensure accessibility while pushing a collection of idiosyncratic personalities to the forefront. While many rock-oriented acts talk the talk and look the part but put out a self-consciously studious, even bookish vibe on record and onstage, Half Crown have not only done their homework but also twisted their tastes into something more suited to getting their plaintive and heartfelt message across. That message changes from song to song, spanning the spectrum from the personal to the political, but you cannot doubt the passion behind the playing or words for so much as a microsecond. Read more…
For many of us, our comfort zones lie outside the physical world. Face-to-face conversations are bring replaced by IMs, text messages, tweets, and comments on Facebook statuses that drop off your news feed after you’ve scanned over them once. From this social evolution, a profound sense of disconnect is gradually emerging.
Vivien Goldman’s Punky Reggae Party Show explores the meeting of two groups for whom deep connection and active communities were paramount: Reggae musicians and punk bands. As a talk named after a Bob Marley single penned in appreciation of the Clash’s cover of reggae artist Junior Murvin’s tune Police and Thieves and hosted by a respected NYU professor, writer, and music journalist, Goldman’s Punky Reggae Party Show might sound to some like a stuffy, overintellectualised snoozefest entirely out of sync with the attitudes and ethos behind the actual musical movements being discussed – but the reality is very different. Goldman speaks from first-hand experience of the front lines of reggae and punk at the time of their very first meeting, and her enthusiasm for music with deep meaning and intent is both boundless and infectious – making the Punky Reggae Party Show an exciting and engaging experience. Read more…
Although Guildford’s alternative music venue is called the Boileroom for a reason, few bands heat it up as quickly as Bare Jams do. For band and crowd alike, this show was very sweaty. Read more…
One of the Dub Pistols’ most popular tracks is called Mucky Weekend – and the crowd at this show were definitely eager for one, despite it only being a Thursday night. Fair play. Read more…
This five-minute single tune captures MoCara’s lazy and loose live vibes incredibly effectively. Rough-edged vocals, scratchy guitars, languid basslines and excellent drum work cooperate in an appropriately love-sharing manner in the name of sharing a shoulder-untensing song. Awesome work. Read more…