ALBUM REVIEW – MARK LANEGAN: SOMEBODY’S KNOCKING

What would you get if you crossed the husky deep vocals of a rock bluesman with dark synth pop, the answer is the new Mark Lanegan album ‘Somebody’s Knocking’. Lanegan stated on the press release that he’s been into Joy Division, New Order and electronic music all his life, even before his days in seminal […]

Despite the word ‘dream’ being closely associated with the music of Sir Was, the opening track of ‘Holding on to a Dream’ begins with a sense of urgency; the pop element of his ‘Dream Pop’ being most apparent. The pop that Sir Was does purvey isn’t annoying and has the right amount of reflection too, […]

ALBUM REVIEW: SIR WAS – HOLDING ON TO A DREAM

ALBUM REVIEW: KIM GORDON – NO HOME RECORD

Having sustained my first ever moshpit injury at a Sonic Youth gig in the early 90’s at The Reading Festival, involving someone else’s Doc Marten boot, squelchy mud and my head, to seeing their last ever gig in Manchester, it’s fair to say Kim Gordon’s former band, Sonic Youth, have occupied a large portion of […]

Skylark & The Scorpion have created the whole ‘Weather The Storm’ project to be enjoyed as both a film and soundtrack. The film was made in the depths of winter off the Scottish coast near Shetland, and stars the two musicians behind the whole concept Petra Jean Phillipson and Nick J. Webb as the roles […]

ALBUM REVIEW: SKYLARK & THE SCORPION – WEATHER THE STORM

ALBUM REVIEW: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – GHOSTEEN

Nick Cave announcing a new album is always welcome news in our house. After witnessing his recent ‘In Conversation’ tour, where everything was stripped back, raw, emotional, funny and a real one-off event, plus reading his brilliant responses to fans’ questions via his ‘Red Hand Files’ emails, predicting where he could go next with his […]

I’ve spent many a happy hour in a Dinosaur Jr moshpit. From Reading Festival (yes I am that old!) to Manc Academy in the 90’s, and still like to get involved in some ferocious head nodding / arms in the air kind of activity whenever I see them live these days too, although my mosh […]

ALBUM REVIEWS: DINOSAUR JR – GREEN MIND, WHERE YOU BEEN, WITHOUT A SOUND, HAND IT OVER

ALBUM REVIEW: PIXIES – BENEATH THE EYRIE

When the Pixies reformed back in 2004 I was leaping around like a deranged idiot with excitement, the gigs were great, then after a long wait, the comeback album ‘Indie Cindy’ was surprisingly good too, so fifteen years since reforming it seems like business as usual in terms of releasing new material, although no one […]

Having recently performed in a cruise ship as part of their ‘Boaty Weekender’ festival, the ever evolving Scots band release their second film soundtrack album. Sadly I didn’t take the indie rock n’ roll cruise, but apparently there were people there for the bands (Belle and Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub and tons more) plus bizarrely enough, […]

ALBUM REVIEW: BELLE & SEBASTIAN – DAYS OF THE BAGNOLD SUMMER

ALBUM REVIEW: PARSNIP – WHEN THE TREE BEARS FRUIT

It’s very rare that I start listening to something and immediately fall in love with it but that is exactly what happens when I get hold of Parsnip’s debut album ‘When the Tree Bears Fruit’ and hear the delightful opening track ‘Are You Taking Me For a Ride’. In the nicest possible way, it’s utterly […]

As anyone who knows me will testify, I can waffle on about my love for Sonic Youth all day long, so any band that has elements of the much missed soaring guitar sounds and otherworldly eeriness about them, is always going to grab my ears, however I wasn’t expecting this… Sometimes bands come along and […]