Leeds Festival Refused License
The sister festival to Reading has been refused a license due to council concerns regarding littering and noise. Organisers, Mean Fiddler will appeal. More details to follow»
Articles
athomas has written the following articles:
The Space Cowboy - I Would Die 4 U
If you've listened to daytime radio anytime in the past few weeks it will have been hard to avoid this track, an infectious club reworking of the Prince original. It stomps and struts in the all the right places, glitterballs and strobe lights in equal measure. Possibly a little lightweight by the dance stan»
One Giant Leap - Braided Hair
"I feel like life is like braided hair...", oh dear. Spoken intro aside this is an interesting second bite from the One Giant Leap project, the first being the Robbie Williams/Maxi Jazz effort. The vocalist on here is less contemporary but equally famous, one Speach from Arrested Devel»
Athlete - You Got The Style
Very much a soundtrack to sitting in the park and eating an ice cream, this is the summer's first big guitar tune. With it's ducking and diving vocals, easy going guitar strums, and occasional synth stabs this is as pleasant as a song can get before turning into bland mush like The Lighthouse Family. Ther»
Deadbeat Radicals - Little Yellow Mini
If you heard their debut single, Crazy Town, last year you may have been expecting more electro-future-rock from this slightly strange four piece. But, like Garbage, their newest release has dropped the grungey guitars and alien effects for a cleaner poppier approach. It works well for the most par»
We Start Fires release debut e.p
Following the demise of Venus In Furs - indie circuit staples and Evening Session favourites - singer/songwriter Becky and drummer Ashley are back with a new band, We Start Fires. The four-piece, comprising Becky (vocals/guitar), Laura (keyboards/synth/vocals), Ryan (bass guitar) and Ashley (drums)»
Winterlong - The Shipwreck EP
So long as friendship matters, love hurts, and sensitive men learn to play guitar there will always be bands like Winterlong. Following the well worn path of all before them, from Haven to The Smiths, the four tracks here present jangly guitar anthems dissecting the highs and lows of everyda»
Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not
Rock. Very straight forward, slightly angry, chest beating, self depreciating, rock. The soundtrack to angry teenage boy heartbreak, with a dash of GCSE Shakespeare sentence structure thrown in for good measure. Although somewhat more generic than previous singles She Loves Me Not is essentially a radio s»
Sunset Sound split
Reading's premier indiepunkpop kids, featuring ex members of Gel and The Period Pains have split up. In their brief history they played Reading Festival last year and released a single on the Velocity label. Apparently the lead singer, Jon Courtney, will be back with a new project soon»
Paffendorf - Be Cool
Last year it was Ian Van Dahl with Castles In The Sky. A few before that it was Darude's Sandstorm. Even before then Josh Wink had the burnt and pissed in Ibiza reaching a Higher State Of Consciousness. Yes, it's time for this year's summer anthem. Except it's not. Well, »
Suicide Milkshake - Too Scared To Sniff Glue
Punk rock is great. Back in the darkest seventies you weren't allowed to be in bands unless you could crowbar 96 chords and a seven minute solo into each of your songs. Then punk came along with three chords, three minutes, and no twiddly bits. The problem with this is, as anyone who owns Nevermind The Bolloc»
Rilo Kiley - Science Vs Romance
Rilo Kiley are from LA and have had their songs featured on Dawson's Creek in the past. This should give some indication of what to expect. Polite female vocals swoon over inoffensive indie strumming with the occasional "ba ba ba" vocal. Although they probably won't appreciate the compari»
indiecent-exposure.com launch night!
Having taken Kentish Town by storm earlier this year, indiecent exposure present a 19 track compilation CD showing off the best of the unsigned underground: indiecent-exposure.com. Artists featured include Ciccone, The Lollies, Hybrid Kid, Sufferkiss, and White Man Kamikazee»
The Lymes - Strange Hotel
There are some clear influences in this band. The vocal is distinctly of the Kurt Cobain school of slightly angsty american that's for certain. The music is for the most part charged up classic indierock, a less distinctive My Vitriol if you like. The three tracks here are all much of a muchness, working »
Yes Yes Harry Bonanza - Lop Sided Grin EP
Describing themselves as three individual players of indeterminable age YYHB (as they like to be known) could, judging from their press release, be assumed to be some sad old men playing in their garage. However, the reality couldn't be more different. Opening track Going After The Demotivator starts soun»
"We're all thinking of converting to radical feminism..."
In the borough of Hackney (London's premiere crime spot) exists a place called Clapton. In Clapton there is a main road which smells of piss and looks like Beirut. On the end of this road is a community hall with a vandalised sign proudly proclaiming it to be Chat's Palace. This is where Angelica are play»
Angelica at London Chats Palace Art Centre, Sat 20 Apr
Chat's Palace is not a pretty place. Situated in Clapton, a place that makes it's neighbour Hackney look posh, amongst the piss stinking streets and derelict shop fronts the venue is an old skool community centre. Once through the bar you're into a modestly sized room with fanzine stalls lining one side and a l»
Angelica - The Seven Year Itch
Two years on from their mini-album on Fantastic Plastic and five since their debut Teenage Girl Crush single associated Deceptive with more than Elastica, Angelica present their first "proper" lp on Kat Bjelland's Universal linked indie Almaflame. Given »
The Coral - Skeleton Key
Solid boned skeleton key, opens the most intricate locks...squergle!werk!bleurgh!clatter! This is odd. Very odd. The Coral appear to have ripped the guts out of a sea shanty and broken the locking nut on their guitar. There are verses and a chorus but it's more a selection of completely opposing mo»
Alec Empire - Addicted To You
Alec is better known as the frontman of gabbajungleindustrialrockpunks Atari Teenage Riot. However, Addicted To You has neither the white noise nor breakneck pace of earlier material. In fact, it seems that DHR noticed that Marilyn Manson was about to have a big hit on his hands and saw the »
Angelica announce new album details
Angelica are set to release their first full length album this Easter and hit a few future London live dates. Pop-Indie, lets go 'The Seven Year Itch' is out on April 22nd Produced by Babes In Toyland/Katastrophe Wife frontwoman Kat Bjelland. The 10 track lp will be r»
Win limited edition artwork from The Coral!
To celebrate the release of their forthcoming single, 'Skeleton Key', The Coral are running a competition where (almost) everyone's a winner! By entering the competition at their website the first 2000 will automatically win a limited edition artwo»
Trembling Blue Stars - Alive To Every Smile
Okay, so this has been revolving round my hi-fi for the best part of a month and only now do I find myself reviewing. The reason, aside from being a lazy bastard, was that on the first listen I didn't like it. It was, well, slow. But as with lots of slow albums I thought it might be a grower so I persevered. Turns »
Pet Shop Boys - Home and Dry
Chris and Neil have been away for a while and now return with a tune that retreats from their previous dance direction towards a more classical pop song approach. Home and Dry features a dry drum rhythm, a drifting inoffensive vocal, and a radio friendly chorus. Just a shame they use a vocoda on the vocal, the effec»
Hybrid Kid - Dropped
Hybrid Kid claim to have a "desert country" feel in their music. I have no idea what this means. My interpretation is that this is indie-dance (or baggy if you prefer) with an occasional country and western lick. But we're not talking a hellish combination of Happy Mondays and Garth Br»
La Pieta - Summer
The UK, or at the very least the NME, has an obsession with New York bands. Given the size of said city it's not surprising to find that The Strokes et al are not the only ones who are based there. La Pieta are, like The Strokes, from NYC. However, unlike The Strokes, their UK review»
Alpinestars - Snow Patrol
Like a cross between Daft Punk, Add N To [X] and Eiffel 65, Snow Patrol is an instantly accessible "intelligent" dance floor filler with a enduringly shiny pop aesthetic. The robotic vocals compliment a wavering TB303 bassline and extremely distorted one string guitar riff. The Lo-Fidelit»
Trayscrape - Bring On The Noise
A three track cd from Surrey’s answer to Limp Bizkit. Trayscrape have been going since 1999 and their sound is honed if not instantly accessible to everyone. Kids in hoodies are going to accept this immediately but older rap metal fans will appreciate the able scratching, tight arrangements, and the obvio»
Antenna - On The Endless Waves
The eighties brought us many things, crap haircuts and dayglo socks being at least two. But musically there was the great divide. On one side, the outrageous bombastic synth and drum machine pop bands with taste defying fashion sense and digitally “enhanced” vocals. On the other, the indie bands. Who, incidental»
Candyheads at London Monto Water Rats, Sun 27 Jan
The Candy Heads look like and sound like a band who belong in the charts. It could be the constant pogoing of their bassist, it could be the way the girl guitarist looks like she belongs in the Dandy Warhols, it could be the way the singer doesn’t stop grinning. Then again, it could be because they play a»