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Brothers In Arms: PAWS Talk 'No Grace' And Communication Through Music
Rock 'n' roll has always been the preserve of the young, for obvious reasons. We get more of a kick from music that is wild and energetic than our parents’ generation currently do, just as they once did. And so on. What’s less readily acknowledged is that bands recognise this and shape their writing accordingly.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 28 June 2016
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Restless Creativity: Inside The World Of Rat Boy
Rat Boy’s frayed, scuffed aesthetic results in a distinctive air of nonchalance. Wandering aimlessly through his lyrics, investing little care or effort in impressing anyone, the Chelmsford native is a realist.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Friday, 24 June 2016
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Life Imitating Art: Nashville In Concert
They say the whole world’s a stage, and that’s definitely the case for the cast of Nashville. Over the course of four seasons, the glitzy soap opera - set in the world of Music City, USA - has featured performers whose musical talents equal their acting chops, allowing the them to breathe life and character into the show’s original country songs. Fresh from touring those tunes across America, four of Nashville’s biggest stars are currently treating UK and Irish audiences to the drama’s much-loved repertoire.
Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Friday, 17 June 2016
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Weird Pop: Trust Fund's Basement Experiments And 'We Have Always Lived In The Harolds'
Ninety seconds after it starts, the Beach Boys’ Wake The World simply stops. There's no crescendo and it could only loosely be described as fading out. One moment it's there, the next it’s not. It's an anomaly among anomalies on the band’s 1968 album, ‘Friends’, and a reminder that pop music often has no designs on doing what we expect it to.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 17 June 2016
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Heartbreak And Frustration: Inside The Immersive World Of Aquilo
Photo: Harvey Pearson
There is an epic sadness that subtly underpins Aquilo’s cinematic sound. Clicking play on any one of their soothing, orchestral tracks instantly reveals an atmosphere of delicate, poignant melancholy.
Written by: Milly McMahon | Date: Monday, 13 June 2016
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Noise Not Music: Head Wound City, Ancst, Gnod, Puce Mary And More
Welcome back (after far too long a break) to the realm of Noise Not Music. The column has been revamped a bit to incorporate an ever-changing Spotify playlist, which I will update every couple of weeks with stuff that I like but haven’t necessarily found time to give the full treatment here. That, of course, will operate in tandem with the usual round up of all things heavy, weird and wonderful. Happy ear bashing!
Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 07 June 2016
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Darkness Remains: Katatonia See In 25 Years With 'The Fall of Hearts'
Few bands have become synonymous with darkness quite like Katatonia. A lot of metal records sit on the gloomy end of the spectrum, but there’s a pervading melancholy to Katatonia’s music that has endured through line up changes and revised stylistic approaches.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
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The Beach Boys: Many Happy Returns To 'Pet Sounds'
When classic album polls roll around, the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ is invariably not just near the top but sometimes sitting pretty at the summit. Now 50 years old, it emerged at a time when there was no shortage of future classics on the shelves. It was released the same day as Bob Dylan’s ‘Blonde on Blonde’ and in the same year as a defining statement by the Beatles, who often appeared as both admirers of and creative antagonists for Brian Wilson. John, Paul, George and Ringo certainly had something to do with the Beach Boys’ masterpiece.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 25 May 2016
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Slam Dunk Festival: The Pop Punk Paragon
We might stare at the withered carcasses of the UK's rock festivals and weep for the future. Sure, the big boys are still doing business, but just have a think about that. Download’s leaning on the old reliables and Reading and Leeds have opted for co-headliners, hoping to forge future behemoths only two years after the market took a hit with the death of Sonisphere.
Written by: Alec Chillingworth | Date: Tuesday, 24 May 2016
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Forgotten Pasts, Uncertain Futures: PUP's 'The Dream is Over'
Stefan Babcock first met Norman on the day his friend Mabu died. They became pretty close. Afterwards, in the right light, he saw something of Mabu still burning in Norman’s tiny chest. Stefan plays guitar and sings in the Toronto punk band PUP. Norman was a chameleon. Mabu was a ‘97 Toyota Camry.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 20 May 2016
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Andy Shauf: An Observer On The Edge Of 'The Party'
All that's left of the evening are its embers. It’s a heavy-lidded scene; certainly not a sober one. His glass is filled, he tosses it back. He dances to the radio with Martha, who’s pretty just like his ex. All too easily he slips into reminiscing. Martha spins, he catches her hand. Her laugh pulls him back into the room. Back to ‘The Party’.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 17 May 2016
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Tacocat: The One Stop Guide To Your New Favourite Band
Summer is finally here, so you’ll be needing a new favourite band to be getting on with. Look no further than Tacocat. Since getting together just under a decade ago, the Seattle pop-punks have put out three albums, four EPs and two tapes, culminating in the recently-released ‘Lost Time’.
Written by: Laura Johnson | Date: Thursday, 12 May 2016
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Older/Wiser: Vinnie Caruana And The Bruised Optimism Of 'Survivor's Guilt'
Vinnie Caruana is a nostalgic person. He’s cool with that. So are the fans yelling along to each word of the Movielife’s set at the Dome in north London. It’s 13 years since the band first split, leaving images from a harrowing van crash in North Dakota tattooed across their final album, ‘Forty Hour Train Back To Penn’, and there’s a new energy at work.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Friday, 06 May 2016
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Foy Vance: Embracing Creative Freedom On 'The Wild Swan'
Photo: Sarah Barlow and Stephen Schofield
Foy Vance isn’t yet a household name. But there’s a good chance you’ve heard his bluesy rasp as a guest on a track from another artist, or even heard it bubbling up on a TV show. The Northern Irish singer-songwriter has been releasing beautiful music for a decade, but this is perhaps the year that his will be a name on everyone’s lips.
Written by: Katie Territt | Date: Wednesday, 04 May 2016
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White Lung: Love, Death And 'Paradise'
Things change. And we get it, you fear change. You liked it when they weren’t a name on anyone’s lips. You liked it when you could drop them into a conversation and receive a blank stare in response. You liked it when their distribution was a few hundred LPs and a Bandcamp page. You liked it when they had one speed: getthefuckouttaourway. But with ‘Paradise’, White Lung don’t care what you used to like about them. They care about what the band is today and what it might become in the future.
Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Tuesday, 03 May 2016
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Into The Wild: Evan Weiss Clears His Head On Into It. Over It.'s 'Standards'
Writing or recording an album in the wilderness has become an indie staple in recent years. The theory is that artists seeking to create raw work, or learn about themselves, should retreat to a remote location, deny themselves internet access – apparently the ultimate sacrifice in this day and age – and solely focus on writing stripped down music.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Wednesday, 27 April 2016
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Mogwai: Living With The Gravity Of 'Atomic'
Photo: Brian Sweeney
Mogwai remain in a somewhat unique position; labelled as elder statesmen of a genre that they’ve often renounced. The influence of their colossal debut, ‘Young Team’, has been enduring, triggering dozens of the floppy-haired, crescendo-based, four-chord-a-minute post-rock bands that emerged in the mid-2000s.
Written by: Jonathan Rimmer | Date: Friday, 15 April 2016
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Ocean Colour Scene: Many Happy Returns To 'Moseley Shoals'
To mark the 20th anniversary of ‘Moseley Shoals’, Ocean Colour Scene will play their second album in its entirety on a tour of the UK, including two hometown shows at Moseley Park in Birmingham. The record, released in April of 1996, is of course where the band took off, despite achieving a level of success with their eponymous debut four years earlier.
Written by: Graeme Marsh | Date: Wednesday, 13 April 2016
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