Tagged: publishedarticle

About 7 months ago I went to Cape Town for the first time, for the World Cup, then returned again for a couple of days long after the World Cup had finished. I fell in love with the city, hard. I did several tours of it, official and unofficial, wandered its streets, visited its museums, drank from its waters, basked in its sun, ate its food, ogled at its beauty, danced in their clubs and visited its townships, which are still miles ahead of our local 'musseques'. Several months after that I wrote an article for my favorite independent travel [...]

Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons return to their DJ roots for album seven. For In One Ear (thanks again SG!). Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons have returned to their DJ roots for their seventh album Further. Or so The Chemical Brothers would have us believe. Ever since the name-change inspired debut Exit Planet Dust fifteen years ago, Tom and Ed have produced consistently beguiling, intriguing and wonderful music fusing electronic big beats with equally big name guest vocalists. But no album since has attempted to capture the essence and the [...]

A review for In One Ear. A really frustrating listen. The duo of vocalist Alice Glass and producer Ethan Kath became Crystal Castles in 2004 when Kath (at the time a solo musician) asked Glass to provide vocals for a collection of instrumental tracks. He was looking for the 'missing ingredient' and appeared to find it when a secret recording session turned into the debut single 'Alice Practice'. The band's debut is an astonishing mix of vibrant 8-bit computer electronica, punk and dance that sounds like it was formed within the twisted [...]

A review for Altsounds. Great to find this and even better that the album was better than I thought it would be. Engaging stuff. Not a person but a band (well, a person and a band - Lisa 'and more'), Lisa O Piu is a Swedish six-piece led by singer, song writer, guitarist and flautist Lisa Isaksson. The band's debut album When This Was The Future is deliciously paradoxical and ironic, sounding for the most part like Kate Bush in her 1970s folk phase. This could also be a new take on [...]

A great new review for AltSounds (the album is great, whether the review is another matter :S). I've not been a huge fan of Chris Wood but I am now. This is his best album so far and he is a prolific song writer and musician. The big problem with folk music is a lack of accessibility. It is a double-edged sword faced by musicians who have two choices: traditional songs in a traditional style, or new songs in a traditional style. Some get away with a third, often avoided, approach: to [...]

A review for Altsounds. I really like this guy and I was a big fan of his debut album Faces Down in 2001. Then he disappeared but has made five albums since then (which I will check out). Sadly his sixth meanders along, lost in its own world. A few gems but a lot of dull lifeless pop. Norwegian singer songwriter and guitarist Sondre Lerche has come a long way since his debut album Faces Down in 2001. Now, eight years on and five albums (including a movie soundtrack) later, Lerche releases [...]

A quick single review for Altsounds... Tim Crompton, Stuart Peck and Alexia Hagen are London trio The High Wire, whose sound is best described as dream-pop, a bit Maps, a bit Slowdive, but a lot of guitars and harmonies. And this is the band's strength which is proved to great effect on the single Odds And Evens, taken from the album The Sleep Tape. The song's opening distorted buzz, drums and Crompton's vocals instantly draw you in. As the swinging guitars and hypnotic vocal arrangement reveal the sweet tones of [...]

Another for Altsounds. Great promise but failed to deliver ultimately. Shame. Hope they do well and get some better songs. The High Wire are London trio Tim Crompton, Stuart Peck and Alexia Hagen and in another time and another place the band could be described as Shoegazers. They make the kind of dreamy pop that brings together the gorgeous twin vocals of Crompton and Hagen, coupled with layered guitars and keyboards; not so much a wall of sound, more a pile of marshmallows. So a concept album centred around sleep (or lack [...]

Now a fully fledged five piece, Scottish indie band Frightened Rabbit follow up The Midnight Organ Fight with a much bigger third offering. Originally just a solo project for Scott Hutchison, the band became a trio in 2005 and now, in an attempt to become Selkirk's answer to Arcade Fire (or maybe The Polyphonic Spree), has added two new members to the ever increasing line-up. The result of this is The Winter Of Mixed Drinks, an album layered with swathes of guitars, keys, strings and backing vocals, sitting somewhere between the gloom and dirt of fellow kinsmen Glasvegas and the [...]

Another single review for AltSounds . From Dublin but now based in London, the Irish quartet of Gorey, O'Mahony, Wyer and O'Brien are edgy guitar band Black Soul Strangers. They are like that sexy boy band it's ok to like because they play their own intruments and write their own songs. Lies is the band's debut single, a drum and guitar driven modern mood-fest of a love song. The single has both the 'radio edit' and 'original version', of which the latter is thirty one seconds longer. Why the need for two cuts of the [...]

A review for AltSounds ... Formerly the front man of Ottawa indie band Andrew Vincent and the Pirates, Canadian singer Andrew Vincent is now a solo artist. Opting for a more stripped down 'acoustic' approach that his previous incarnation, Vincent is now his own soul free to explore the world around and his own mind in equal measure. Rotten Pear is Vincent's fifth album, a year old in Canada, but now released in the UK to gain exposure in the international market. Opener Hi Lo immediately exposes the listener [...]

A review for AltSounds ... Universes is the second album from Australian indie band Birds of Tokyo. They are huge in native Perth, nominated for and winning many WAMis (Western Australian Music Industry Awards) but the band is yet to have any impact around the world. Formed in 2004 and grafting a trade touring and headlining shows, Birds of Tokyo now put their international fate in the hands of MGM. But how will a home-grown album, produced by the band's guitarist and song writer Adam Spark, fare in the big scary [...]

A new review for AltSounds ... Sometimes two people are all you need to make a band. The Brooklyn duo Eric Ronick and Than Luu have been making music and touring (with an extended line-up) since 2006 and now release the debut album Rush (possibly a tribute to the Canadian rock powerhouse, but more likely to be a simple way of summing up the euphoria of making your first record…). Made during various tours, when the band took breath to form a solid collection of songs, Rush is a seemingly random, [...]

A single review for AltSounds ... Breakdown is the third single from Black Gold's debut album Rush. The Brooklyn pair of Eric Ronick and Than Luu excel on the album which is impressive, if inconsistent, throughout. Breakdown is far from the best song on the album but after hearing the whole of Rush it is clear that this is simply part of the band's six song marketing campaign. The biggest problem with Breakdown is the subject matter. Essentially lyrics about mental illness and losing control would be perfectly acceptable if they were delivered with the [...]

As an example of how on top of things I am not, I wrote an article about the African Cup of Nations that was published by the Matador Network even before the competition started, but am only posting it here at the Lounge now. And while we are on the subject, here are some photos of that fairy tale opening night here in Luanda that the Palancas Negras had the misfortune of ruining with their 4-4 defeat , because draws like that aren't draws. However, they redeemed themselves with their [...]

Great to hear from these guys again even if they are playing it safe and predictable. For The Music Magazine... Swedish doom-metal is not everyone's idea of an easy listen. But Katatonia, the five-piece from Stockholm has thankfully evolved from the early days of grinding guitars, growling vocals and a distinct lack of tunes. This all changed in the late nineties with the band transforming from doom to gloom and more importantly from melancholy to melody. As the music got heavier, it has become more diverse; breaking away from the old formula. The best example of [...]

I tried so hard to like this, but I don't. Another for The Music Magazine... Ah Lily Allen, you have a lot to answer for. How were you to know that your unique sound and image would be saturated by swathes of pretenders all scrambling for a chance to sit on your perky, cheeky cockney-pop throne..? For yes, Eliza Doolittle (that cannot be her real name - an obvious pseudonym if ever there was one) is another Allen clone. Like Kate Walsh, Doolittle is trying desperately to do something different but unlike Walsh she shows very few musical [...]

For The Music Magazine... Supergroups are nothing new. But when a former member of Led Zeppelin and Nirvana form a new collaboration with Josh Homme, you really have to take notice. Love him or loathe him, Homme is like Jack White. He just attracts and exudes musical talent. Fresh from production duties for Arctic Monkeys, he is now a full-time member of three bands and actively involved in other side-projects and collaborations. The third of these is a new venture: Them Crooked Vultures, formed with Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. An interesting idea in theory but can [...]

For The Music Magazine... Crazy Love is the fourth album from Canadian crooner Michael Bublé. As you might expect, it is packed with predictable cover versions, more brass than a Mark Ronson wet-dream and plenty of Bublés sleek vocal swagger. Collaborations are kept to a minimum with Sharon Jones and Ron Sexsmith; a smart and credible move, and the swing formula is rarely diluted, in spite of Bublé's attempt to add his own unique charm. Why expect anything else from a singer who continues to show everyone else how it is done? [...]

For The Music Magazine : the debut album from Dead by Sunrise, Chester Bennington's side project. Sometimes a side project seems like a great idea. Jack White has made an art form out of the practice, as the successful figurehead of The Raconteurs and now The Dead Weather while remaining one half of The White Stripes. Over the years, many well established bands have endured schism and disagreement; staying together but 'doing their own thing' for a while. Chester Bennington, lead singer of American rock band Linkin Park has now fronting [...]