A Quick Saturday Post – Fanfarlo and James Yuill

I’m one of those people who can’t just knock up a quick blog post in ten minutes. I need time. Usually a couple of weeks, which makes doing live reviews a bit of a bind, as there’s really not much point posting a review of a live gig three weeks after it happened and everyone’s [...]

Back to the 80′s with Hot Vampire Chip Weekend

So, in yet another of my hopelessly behind-the-times posts, those two darlings of the MP3BlogOSphere, Hot Chip (From Putney!) and Vampire Weekend (Not From Putney!) have new songs out, as musical outriders to their new albums which will come tearing over the horizon at some point in the New Year. First off, the new Hot [...]

Frightening Rabbits In East London

“Ah, The Troxy, we meet at last”. After two aborted attempts to get to London’s newest swish venue, The Troxy, in the past two weeks – missing The Flaming Lips due to a prior engagement (hey, Kate!), and Monsters Of Folk due to illness – it was nice wandering down Commercial Road to see Frightened [...]

New And Old Music – Color Radio and Canyon

Don’t you just love it when a new band come along who sound oddly like a band you used to love, but disappeared pretty much without a trace after doing just one proper album? Those bands are Canyon and Color Radio. Canyon appeared in the early part of the decade, released one LP with a [...]

New Music – Aerial

At the moment, I’m reading Tom Holland’s “Millennium”, which concerns itself with the history of Europe from the Dark Ages through the millennium (at 1000AD, not the one nine years ago). One of the fascinating little nuggets of information that he’s so good at peppering his books with was about the Viking invasion and settlement [...]

Happy 25th to Let It Be (With High On Stress)

One of the overriding themes of this blog is the fact that, quite frankly, I’m getting on a bit. Yeah, sure, I’m not quite reading Q or Mojo yet, but I’ll be 40 in a few years and that mid-life crisis is going to start gnawing at my toes soon. If I start doing posts [...]

Am I Live? Yes – Mew at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Going to a concert whilst wearing a suit is an interesting experience, especially after previously being at a do at the Polish Embassy (yes, really). Ignoring the puzzled glances from my fellow gig-goers at the Shepherds Bush Empire, I settled into the capacity crowd, sadly not at the front. What, you think I’m going to [...]

Hatherley’s Done Well?

I still remember the fuss when Charlotte Hatherley joined boyish Irish indie-popsters Ash. “What’s that girly doing up there playing guitar?” whined all the indie-boys. “Ooh, wish that was me” said all the indie-girls. “Couldn’t give a shit, me, as long as she can play guitar like a mean funky devil” said I. And lo, [...]

London Grizzly Orchestra

The concept of a band playing their material with a full orchestra has a long and not necessarily glorious history. When the band has songs that make the most of a full orchestra, it can work rather nicely. Think of Elbow’s show this year with the BBC Concert Orchestra, or Tindersticks playing at the Bloomsbury [...]

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 191 other followers