Just another festival? Bestival 2006
The best of the (medium) fests, DiS headed off to Bestival last weekend, for three days of sunshine, cider, and dancing in an inflatable church to Elton John and Kiki Dee»
Articles
George has written the following articles:
The Bridge Gang - Blue Sky Grey
Thamesbeat tykes, The Bridge Gang, offer up this second single, Blue Sky Grey: a happy-sad pop song about love, life and the weather...»
Jurassic 5 at London Brixton Academy, Sat 30 Sep
DiS twists its cap to the side, lowers its centres of gravity and heads down Brixton way to get deep down and dirty with Jurassic 5...»
Hot Club de Paris - Everyeveryeverything
Second single from Liverpool three piece, and new bezzie mates of Maximo Park, Hot Club de Paris...»
Howling Bells - Setting Sun
Hauntingly beautiful but ultimately unsatisfying... »
Manic Cough - Lips and Hips
This, the debut single from London girl band Manic Cough (okay, the drummer’s a boy, but in girl band law that’s allowed, right?), is awash with proper DIY punk-rock allure...»
Fionn Regan - Put A Penny In The Slot
Disliking this track from Fionn Regan would be akin to disliking dew in the morning, shimmering rainbows and puppies in the snow, i.e. nigh-on impossible, for even the most cynical...»
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
Dancing with scissors? No thanks...»
The weekend read: DiS watches Eurovision, makes some notes, loses faith in Spanish pop...
Right. Fifty-first Eurovision Song Contest. Twenty-four songs to sit through. Twenty-four! And these are just the countries that made it through the qualifying rounds! Seriously, when did Europe stop being about eight countries? Make a short-lived vow to pay more attention to the bits of The Guardian that aren’t the magazine; listen to the Today programme; et cetera....»
1990s - You Made Me Like It
A touch of Dandy Warhols-esque shimmery summer pop. A perfect shot of 1997.»
The Like - What I Say And What I Mean
Perfectly competent all-girl rock-lite.»
Test Icicles - Totally Re-F**ked
Ah, but we’ll miss them won’t we? Although their stage shows were shambolic, their style ill-advised and their name, frankly, bollocks, it was still refreshing to have such fun erupting from often too dour East London.»
Truck Festival 2005: Highlights and Lowlifes
DiS's resident Schla la la Georgina Terry offers an artist's eye view of this weekend's Truck Festival. Expect wine, lots of it; rocking, a steady diet of; and Rotary Club members serving booze... in drag?»
Help She Can't Swim - I Don't Need You
help she can't swim are hot, cross, bunnies.»
Cherubs - Club Hoola Hoop's Walls
All the best songs tell a story. They have a beginning and a middle eight and a huge rousing end that makes you want to fight or dance or have a little cry.Club Hoola Hoop’s Walls is no exception»
Electric Six at London Metro, Tue 12 Oct
Rock fact number 54: it is all too easy to become a victim of your own success. Much as every band slogging around the toilet circuit dreams of filling Wembley (any band who tells you otherwise is a big fat liar) some bands just work better in a smaller setting: see Belle and Sebastian, The Darkness, and, we’ve learnt, Electric Six.»
The Mint Chicks - Blue Team Go
Hard Ons-lite from New Zealand...»
The Vines at London Camden Electric Ballroom, Thu 19 Feb
...sleek, confident and just a little dull...»
Belle And Sebastian - I'm a Cuckoo
Catchy, chirpy and punchy as hell.»
Ima Robot at London Metro, Sat 07 Feb
Yelping vocals, choreographed robotic moves and silver jumpsuit.»
The Rapture - Love Is All
Boozy drums, slurred riffs, soaring unselfconscious vocals and cowbell...»
The Gossip - Movement
The Gossip is a band with a big reputation. A reputation for electrifying, life affirming live performances; for pro-feminist journalist-baiting; for size glorifying, near naked on stage and in-audience ‘kiss my pussy’ attitude. Hooray! Fantastic! Go girl! For ‘gospel meets garage’ tunes. Erm, excuse me? For »
The Needs - The Motobikin EP
Offensive name. Mostly wicked demo. 'Stick Around': Pleasantly Libertines-esque which I guess means I should say it sounds like the Small Faces ripping down Carnaby Street in leathers, but this is 2003 and to me it sounds like the Libertines cos I ain’t my mum and my frame of reference tends»
Gonzales at London Astoria 2 formerly Mean Fiddler, Sun 27 Apr
The Entertainist. The Worst MC. The tri-testicled genius that is Mr Chilly Gonzales played his last ever show in London last Sunday night. Drowned in Sound will be wearing deep mourning for the next year. If you have never seen Ol’ Trilogy live then resign yourself to a lifetime of recriminations and regr»
Clearlake - Almost The Same
I want to like this single, really I do. Most of my record collection from ‘97-2000 consists of stuff that sounds like this (Scarfo, Divine Comedy, I could go on but I fear I’m losing our younger readers, and slightly embarrassing our older ones), you know, that time when indie was just starting to»
The Rain Band - Easy Rider
Look like The Strokes, sound like New Order, want to ‘kill us all’ apparently. Best think of something nice to say then… You get the feeling this single isn't as good as it could be. Coming from Manchester is second perhaps only to coming from Liverpool in terms of weighty musical heritage [a »
Olympic Lifts announce headline tour
DiS is pant wettingingly excited to report the return of the live extravaganza known as OLYMPIC LIFTS! Hailing from Belfast and described as "the Beastie Boys new favourite band and as delinquent cousins of Gonzales", Olympic Lifts have shared »
Paul Oakenfold - the harder they come
OK, so it’s a surprise, but is it starry-eyed? Err...no... You may remember at the end of last year some of the press got themselves into a little tizz over a copyright case about a song that was nothing. Zilch. Zip. No sound at all. Some joker (I forget all the details) claimed it was a copyright infringement of»
British Sea Power, The D4 at London Astoria 2 formerly Mean Fiddler, Mon 25 Nov
First lets get this out of the way. British Sea Power were incredible. At first the presence of a stuffed heron on the drum rise and what looks like soldier uniforms on the band is a little perturbing, but then it all comes together in a joyous chaotic mess of sound and lost percussionists and you re»
The Gene Drayton Unit - Due Bottoni
Groovy is a word that is excruciatingly over-used. Face it pop pickers, Austin Powers, TOTP2 et al have wrecked the 60’s for our generation. We can’t talk about Hammond, mod or swinging without overtones of a David Brent or a.n.other joker hovering over our shoulder. Well m»