Mike_Diver has written the following articles:
Black Thunder is the record those moved to devil-horn high-fives by recent Relapse releases – Mastodon, High On Fire – will throw on while chugging back chilled beers and rocking the f*ck out for no reason other than that they can...»
I'm in a pub waiting for a Pee Pee. Seriously. Only this Pee Pee has two legs and has cut her feet walking around in inappropriate footwear. She's also one-fifth of The Chalets, and was up until 9 o'clock this morning; it's now nearly 5 in the afternoon and, credit where it's due, she looks like she got her head down at 6, latest. I joke, of course...»
An Emergency, while never absolutely unique of sound across these nine tracks, are the fresh-of-face future of a scene swimming slowly towards irrelevance, saturated by the twin evils of pop sensibilities and integrity-testing pay packets...»
The skies might be clouded and moods dulled by the onset of dark and damp mornings, but Check In is almost certain to brighten one's horizons for a wee while...»
This is deep nourishment served aurally, a banquet of riffs and double drum kit bombast, forever bound in subtle beauty. This is a rock that stands freely of post or prog prefixes. This is a rock that requires a wider audience, today...»
This is reactionary: the necessarily retaliation following a siege of soundalike critical responses intent on sucking the individuality from Constantines' previous albums, most particularly their last, the rapturously received, if commonly one-dimensionally analysed, Shine A Light...»
We love Wives. Totally. Absolutely. With everything we have. We love this band - three men from LA playing the most furiously intense punk rock you'll see/hear all year - so much that we're giving YOU the chance to come dance with us at the band's London show on October 11th...»
'Two More Years' sees the cycle go full circle: this is the pioneers reclaiming their birthright from the pretenders that've grown strong in their absence...»
Coming like Reggie and the Full Effect fronted by Siouxie Sioux recorded in a butcher's basement, this debut double A-side from Bristol quartet You And The Atom Bomb might not possess never-before-heard thrills, but it packs more energy and intelligence into its two songs than many acts manage across an entire album...»
Probably - okay, definitely - the finest pop song from Death Cab's sadly lackluster Plans full-length, 'Soul Meets Body' is an obvious lead single...»
Pay attention now, kids: Panthers’ aren’t your easy-fix fashionistas raping a quick buck from the decaying corpse of the mainstream-straddling funky punks we’ve (mostly) come to abhor. They know their rock, and they know they’re rock; all that’s required now is for you to think likewise...»
The formula that's seen Bianchi turn Her Space Holiday from a bedroom hobby to a professional occupation hasn't changed particularly - the beats remain primitive and the occasional flourishes of swooning strings are splendidly executed, and the lyrics are, again, absolutely key to The Past Presents The Future's appeal...»
It was last Saturday, September 24. I’d never seen anything like it on my tellybox: Ian Brown and Miss Dynamite-tee-ee taking tea for Popworld’s pleasure. She asked he questions; he answered like he didn’t know she from ‘ee or ‘er...»
DiS climbs a Hammersmith high-rise to find Jónsi Birgisson, singer and guitarist in Icelandic quartet Sigur Rós, ready and waiting on the phone from Canada...»
This is savagery made safe for public consumption, where hostility breaks after one-minute-thirty firework bursts into broad smiles and handshakes, backslaps and hair ruffling. The buzz in the air, even post-performance, is as think as John Carpenter’s Fog; the anticipation for the band’s next capital appearance, positively raging...»
Million Dead’s penultimate show always promised fireworks; when they came, retinas were scarred in seconds and ears popped like crisp packets...»
...this slice of mega-chorused, absolutely over-the-top, super-riffed pop-rock is factory designed for airing in stadia across the globe...»
It begins with a disclaimer, of sorts: “I’ve just had tonsillitis,” says drummer Steve, a chest-bearing throat-shredding front man in a former musical life. We’re to forgive him if his vocals crack under the strain of recent illness. As it happens, they go the distance fine...»
The second of Mudhoney’s Don’t Look Back shows follows the exact same trajectory as the previous evenings’, i.e. they play Superfuzz Bigmuff from start to finish straying not once from the predetermined route...»
Dear Franz Ferdinand,
The least you could do is pronounce "want to" properly.
Yours,
DiS x»
'Thanks For The Simulacra' is the greatest punk-funk single to hit shelves this year...»
‘C I AM 15’ does very little for the majority of its duration but hang in the air like a proverbial bad smell; problem is that once you’ve taken a shine to it, it’s as hard to dislike as it is to ignore...»
These Bones Will Rise To Love You Again is booze-soaked blues stir-fried in some fiery southern rawk, one eye on the doting wife and another on the dollar whore. It's brilliantly bipolar and deliciously decadent; it's considerably more 'authentic' in feel than a million others masquerading as 'punk'...»
The underground rumble’s been approaching slowly and steadily for some years; now, with this second album, Sunderland’s This Aint Vegas should blast forth from chalky sediment and gritty topsoil and into the homes and hearts of every post-punk aficionado countrywide...»
From the pre-listen outset, the concept is fairly flawed: the word ‘remix’, forever synonymous with the field of dance music, is an unnecessary suffix to many a Bloc Party song, such is the toe-tapping immediacy of much of the original Silent Alarm...»
The air is alive with positivity, with joy and celebration; one can only hope that Pit er Pat’s next visit to our capital is sooner rather than later...»
He leans in - "Anyone want a drink?" - and swaggers forth to the bar. Yep, swaggers. Like a rocker should; a punk rocker, even. Only, haven't we - the collective DiS identity - always thought of Steve Lamacq as Mr Indie? As it happens, Punk Rock Karaoke's creator isn't quite as we'd imagined...»
Dearest DiSsers...
It’s with great, great pleasure that we can announce to you our quite, quite remarkably rocking line up for this Saturday’s DiS Does RoTa extravaganza. While last week attracted introspective moths to the flame of understatement and soul-bearing songwriting, this week we present to you... THE ROCK»
With 11 tracks in just 24 minutes, Tales Told By Dead Men - a two-way split of zombie-core hostility - offers the listener not one minute of respite: this is tough, talented, and utterly terrifying...»
Neatly packaged and well produced, this four-track EP from Cheltenham-based trio Nurse can hardly be called a demo; indeed, many a rock single has passed through DiS's collective earshot and struggled to make half the impression that lead track 'Days Of Incredible Greatness' does...»
