Fans of snappy suits, ska-punk songs, and skanking rejoice: The Interrupters are back once again with a fresh set of Tim Armstrong-produced tunes. Fight The Good Fight is mostly intended to act as an escape hatch for those tired of the world’s trials and tribulations, and Read more…
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As the music industry slows down, its alternative end hibernating while the pop-enamoured mainstream hungrily ogles Christmas shoppers, the time has come to look back on a seriously strong year for organised soundwaves. For me, it’s been heavy, intense, and a hell of a lot of fun thanks to the releases listed below.
With so many exceptional contenders in the running for the top spot, the thought of ranking them in order of quality is plainly ridiculous. So instead, I’ve picked out three releases that had memorable impacts on me when I first heard them, and assembled the others in alphabetical order.
The Pretty Reckless’s Who You Selling For – along with previous effort Going To Hell – is conclusive proof (if it were honestly needed in 2016) that women belong in rock music, and are fully capable of kicking ass. The sexists of the music world are like Wile E. Coyote; they’ve run off the edge of the cliff, nothing surrounds them but empty air, they’ve looked down, and they’re panicking. Sonic Boom Six’s The F-Bomb picks up where that image leaves off – it’s cheeky, chirpy, happy and hard-hitting (sometimes simultaneously), addressing a wealth of gender-related issues and providing a great ska-fuelled party soundtrack as only Sonic Boom Six can.
Musically, Dissociation is The F-Bomb’s polar opposite. The Dillinger Escape Plan’s swan song is crammed with brutal and ultra-experimental mathcore – but it’s also Dillinger’s most delicate and diverse album. The Dillinger Escape Plan are living proof that you can achieve great things without compromise, by sticking to your guns and just going for it.
Beyond that point, you’re free to dive into an epic range of albums including solidly grooving rock sets, monolithic slabs of military-grade metal, and progressive masterpieces. Since I’ve not reviewed many EPs this year, I’ve also included a pair of extended-playing mind-blowers in the form of Dorje’s Centred And One and Toska’s Ode To The Author. Dorje specialise in utterly idiosyncratic rock tunes with added progressive spice, while to me, Toska (made up of Dorje’s backline, namely guitarist Rabea Massaad, drummer Ben Minal, and bassist Dave Hollingworth) represent the future of instrumental metal.
Both Dorje and Toska are bands on the rise – and they fully deserve to hit the same peaks enjoyed by the biggest names on this list.
There’s little more to say; for me, this list represents the top albums of 2016. Enjoy the full reviews linked below, follow TMMP on Twitter, subscribe to my brand new YouTube channel, and stay tuned for more world-class music next year!
1) The Pretty Reckless – Who You Selling For
1) Sonic Boom Six – The F-Bomb
1) The Dillinger Escape Plan – Dissociation
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2) Read more…
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Camden High Street is a busy place at the best of times. Bargain hunters crowd its world-famous market; tourists take selfies in front of outlandish shopfronts; alternative fashionistas strut around in their latest cutting-edge purchases.
Add in Camden Rocks, a twenty-venue, two-hundred-band music festival stretching from the vicinity of the Roundhouse down to Mornington Crescent, and you’re talking the coolest kind of chaos imaginable Read more…
When most bombs drop, they cause widespread destruction and suffering.
The F-Bomb does the opposite.
Sonic Boom Six’s latest album is creative, liberating, and above all else supportive of those who continue to endure discrimination even in the year 2016. This is made clear from the off through the feminist-friendly No Man No Right and anti-racist tune From The Fire To The Frying Pan, the latter of which shows that while Sonic Boom Six don’t approve of Britain First and co., they still understand how even the most well-meaning people can get sucked into their orbit and seduced by extremist bullshit Read more…
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Sonic Boom Six are a band with ska-toned fingers on the pulse of current politics – and they’ve never been afraid to speak their minds.
Having already taken on sexism in music with No Man No Right, this time around Sonic Boom Six are aiming at Britain’s meme-enamoured racists with a level of accuracy that the anti-EU and anti-immigration brigade consistently lack. If you’re not sure why this song is important, consider yourself Read more…
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If you’re a UK-based rock, metal, and/or punk fan, you need to be at Camden Rocks Festival this year. The lineup is fucking ear-watering, totalling 200 bands performing live and in your face over the course of one single day and multiple London venues.
At the time of writing, 80 bands still have yet to be announced – but of those we do know about, here are seven of my personal favourites:
SikTh
As any self-respecting tech-metal fan knows, SikTh are absolutely sick. Returning to shatter minds after an extended split via a series of rapturously received reunion shows and last December’s awe-inspiring Opacities, SikTh are continuing to Read more…
Since May 7, 2015, Britain’s been so fucked that it’s hard to know where to begin criticising the Tories.
Faintest Idea sum up the general feelings of the UK’s younger generation on track one of Increasing The Minimum Rage. Circling The Drain sees Faintest Idea marry two classic ska-punk elements – cheeky-chappy rhythms and cathartic aggression – while taking on governmental mismanagement, and it’s full steam ahead into a raucous, entertaining, and provocative thrill ride.
With eleven tracks total to play with, Faintest Idea take full advantage of Read more…
As we saw yesterday via TMMP’s Top Albums Of 2015 feature, the last year has seen some absolutely amazing music released into the world. In case the 50 albums on yesterday’s list weren’t enough, here’s the cream of 2015’s shorter-form releases. TMMP’s Top EPs & Songs Of 2015 is a little less hefty, but no less inspiring.
Considering the meteoric rise of Catalyst, Dorje’s none-more-hench slab of riff-rocking audiojoy – not to mention the fact that it’s been my wakeup music since the day I downloaded it – it ultimately had to come out on top. But that fact does nothing to detract from the awesomeness of the bands, artists, songs, and EPs who’ve all been given second place since you’d need to nitpick to an insane degree if you were to try to rank them in some kind of chart-style order.
Every moment of music this list contains is top-notch. For further explanation, click the relevant links for more words and music – and follow TMMP via Twitter and my brand new Facebook page for more from the world of world-class music in 2016!
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2) Arcane Roots – Heaven & Earth EP
2) Black Peaks – Glass Built Castles / Crooks / Saviour
2) Maxi Curnow – If We Make It
2) The Hyena Kill – Blisters / Still Sick
2) Plini – The End Of Everything
2) Project RnL – Twisted Truth
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As a straight white guy who spends a lot of his life around music, I get a lot of stick for standing up for anyone who doesn’t fit that same template. But it’s worth doing – and it’s also awesome to be able to point to bands like Sonic Boom Six and say “Look – they’re doing it right!“
No Man No Right – a fun but equally powerful pro-woman ska track, complete with tongue-in-cheek video and infused with that inimitable Sonic Boom Six style – is right on the money. But there’s a question lurking out there – “But you’re a man. So why do you give a shit anyway?”
Here are a few experiences that answer that question:
1) Seeing countless women at rock / punk / metal shows getting leered at, harassed, and/or subjected to the sadly-classic and none-more-creepy “Mystery Grope”;
2) Listening to assorted tossers at shows pointing out to their mates that a female performer is “…pretty good for a girl!” (especially at acoustic shows, where chatting over the performers marks you out as a prick to begin with);
3) Watching female performers “grin and bear it” through sets punctuated by enthusiastic requests that they Read more…
Without bands who mix punk rock with horns, summer is incomplete. Be glad, then, that Ghouls are here to save not just the day, but a whole season. Here, TMMP chats to Ghouls about 2000 Trees, dodgy promoters, and the girl who tried to cheat on her boyfriend with the whole band – while they were onstage…
You’re playing a set at 2000 Trees this year. What thoughts and feelings are going through your heads right now?
We’re genuinely stoked to be playing. A couple of us have been as punters in previous years, and its been on our radar of festivals we’d like to play for a little while – so it’s great we get to do it this year.
We’re gonna really get into the festival spirit and do some acoustic sets as well as playing the main stage on the Friday, which makes the whole thing even cooler. So yeah, amped for it.
How did Ghouls come to be? What’s your origin story?
Originally, Ghouls formed in 2011 – but we didn’t become the band we are now until early 2013. We all met through each moving to London from various places around England, and mainly got to know each other through music – going to shows, playing shows, etc. Well, everyone except for Maz (sax) who we met through Gumtree…
What’s the story behind the first gig you ever played?
Our first show was a typical “London” show, where the promoter puts on naive bands and tells you to Read more…