DiSvsMatt has written the following articles:
Buzzsaw guitars shoot around the room, howling at a fearsomely bloodthirsty pitch; bass notes scrummage underneath, chasing their tails to wildly erratic rhythms; short, punctuating screams bounce off the ceiling while psychotic drumming patterns splash out in all directions at once whilst pulling everyone along with it. A calamitous din to the bemused barman, no doubt, but to trained ears this is art at its most extreme...»
It can’t be that hard, can it? Find a field, book some bands, keep everything low-scale and independent, and hope it stays warm enough to relax in the sun drinking quality cider in your shirt and sandals. At least, that’s possibly what Sophia and Simon, the organisers behind the very first End of the Road Festival, had running through their minds last summer...»
Harking back to a time pre-Beatles when a flick of an eyelash or nifty hip-swing could leave a young gent with permanent heart palpitations, these are the pretty girl-next-doors doo-wopping to the radio with dance moves choreographed in front of the bedroom mirror...»
It may have taken a few years but the Mystic Megs among us have foreseen the ascension of punk-rock’s political arm for a while now. With the world’s super-powers and their cozening military campaigns descending into near-chaos and absurd religious bickering tearing the heart out of our societies, it seems there’s more than ever for these bands to sink their teeth into - and an ever-growing legion of inquisitive young minds desperate for some direction, too... »
On Tuesday 29th August, after their show in Brooklyn, NY, Dinosaur Jr became the latest in a growing list of bands to have their trailer broken into and much of their gear taken... »
“If you think times are changing, it’s anywhere but here,” saunters Slackers vocalist / organist Vic Ruggiero in ’86 The Mayo’. But while that may be cause for criticism in the chameleon-like fickleness of our rock and pop climate, for The Slackers it can only be a very good thing. »
There was a way in which Johnny Cash carried himself that accompanied his all-black dress code curiously well; world-weary, beaten, guitar slung across his back clinging like a shell to a snail it was a demeanour that became an enduring part of his character and legacy... »
So then, this is it: Lacuna Coil’s chance to finally break through to the mainstream. The budget’s in place, some well-placed tongues have been wagging their rhetoric, and now it’s up to this first single to be lifted from their greatly anticipated new album to prove whether the ‘Coil have got what it takes to jostle alongside Miss Clarkson and Girls Aloud in an unfamiliar unit-oriented pop terrain.»
Clearly, the concept of the ‘difficult’ second album has cleared the collective heads of Matchbook Romance by a country mile: Voices is quite simply a stunning sophomore album, an exceptionally accomplished piece of work that should place them at the forefront of the cutting edge, POST-emo scene... »
Dave Wyndorf is currently recovering in hospital following a drugs overdose in LA. Monster Magnet have cancelled their entire European tour.»
An envelope-splicing cocktail of sounds, styles and beats, Sounds to Consume is a lethal, dexterous romp through the future sounds of the underground, where genre boundaries are nothing but historical relics from a bygone age and inter-scene squabbling nothing more than childish message-board immaturity. »
The militant Straightedge hardcore scene may be as laughable as corduroy tank tops in this day and age, but those looking for a glimpse into the movement at its peak would do well to give this a look. »
In what could be seen as a blessing for our nation's youth, the entire UK shipment of Tommy Lee's new album 'Tommyland: The Ride' was stolen last weekend from their Germany record distributors SPV. »
Delivering a much more rugged, rowdy, accelerated batch of songs than the hook-laden pop-punkery of their debut, 'Can of Worms' is an admirable advancement, marking 3dBs Down as a band that, well, might actually go somewhere.»
They may have helped ferment the Californian punk sound we know and love but whether it makes these early demo recordings from The Adolescents any better to listen to is a matter of subjective opinion.»
Think of it as a rock opera of sorts, your narrator/protagonist Smith a born storyteller with an apparent personality disorder. Along with fellow Airhammer Aaron Elvis he tells each tale with the wild-eyed enthusiasm of a young Rik Mayall, entirely fictional to everyone but himself, adapting the music with a peculiarly proficient flair.»
While we're under no illusions that this could match the greatness of their earlier Tooth & Nail releases, there still appears to be a renewed vigour and bite to this album, a familiar urgency that'll warm the hearts of old fans enough to see this through the summer...»
As predictable as they are dependable, Pennywise return with their eighth studio album. While it may be a case of same-old-same-old it's still remarkably fresh in a scene full of 3rd rate schmemo clones...»
A sickeningly over-produced, meticulously engineered, big-budget, cash-raking device that confidently neglects their underground appeal under the illusion that the grass is greener on the other side, those who prefer something a little less greener, less artificial and more organic would do best to stay away.»
Whilst it varies little from their usual style: meandering instrumentation, stark, out-of-focus screams, depressive lyricism and similarly evocative artwork, it's 'The Underdark's lack of focus makes this yet another screamo record to pass on by.»
No less intense than last year’s offering but then not as spastic-crazy as we might have expected, 'Dead Rhythm Machine' is still a fast-and-furious 31 minute lesson in quick-shot rock ‘n’ roll punk.»
Demonstrating a much more streamlined sound, with very little of the propensity that fuelled their earlier mid-nineties classics this is a middle-aged Millencolin, one which executes their pop-rock in a measured, relaxed, equable form.»
The hype surrounding These Arms Are Snakes seems to have had a domino-like effect as they (ahem) snaked their way around the country, and rightly so. Their performance is nothing short of electrifying and watching vocalist Steve Sneer bolting about the stage, clearly struggling to dodge the post-Botch bullets of crushed melody and wayward syncopation, it’s a sight that roots you right to the spot.»
Make no mistake, Anomalies is something very special indeed. Now the rest of the scene had better sit up and take note.»
Occupying the well-trodden middle ground between the tuneful guitar hooks of The Movielife and the unabashed fury of Ignite 'Wake The Dead' takes the energy levels to the absolute limits.»
Once the distortion dissipates none of us are really quite sure how to react, as if the stage was somehow a time portal into the future of punk rock and, now it’s finished, makes the prospect of scrolling through our ipod library on the train home an outdated, mind-numbingly dreary experience in comparison. If this really is the future of punk who knows what they’ll be capable of in a years time!»
An astoundingly accomplished release as spirited and well-crafted as you’d expect from any of the big punk daddies.»
A beautifully fragile return from Boston’s Emetrex, pulsing with an understated mid 90s cool yet beholden of some truly huge indie-rock tunage.»
It’s not well-polished technicality that drives Hey Colossus to make the suffocating racket that they do. It’s the ability to collapse your mind. And their second album ‘II’ acheives this only too well.»
Promising an evening of candlelit music, comedy, poetry, art and more 'SONGS IN THE DARK' is a band new night operating from London's Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon and taking place the second and fourth Tuesday of every month.»
