Raynor Sessions hit Steel City
Tired of hearing about all the musical talent coming out of Sheffield at the moment? Better not read this, then...»
Articles
dionisio has written the following articles:
Club NME at Sheffield Plug, Tue 05 Dec
I've heard a lot of melodic, urgent guitar bands this year, but few make me smile like this...»
Crash Club at Sheffield Hallam University, Tue 07 Nov
If you class Sonic Youth's more accessible moments on Daydream Nation as pop, Fury Of The Headteachers might just be the Sheffield band for you...»
Patricians at Sheffield West Street Live, Tue 07 Nov
Patricians aren't just the most fun band in all of fair Sheffield, they're also one of the most likely to escape it on their own terms...»
Graham Coxon @ Sheffield Leadmil 18.10.06
I'd say Graham Coxon is easily one of contemporary indie's greatest songwriters. Take tonight's set: even though it's packed with stuff from his latest long player Love Travels At Illegal Speeds, each and every tune sounds like it's already an established classic...»
Plans and Apologies - Wirez, Man!
Plans & Apologies have this fantastic tendency to start off playing quite serene, almost twee, indie-pop that's remarkably easy on the ears before unleashing something instantly beguiling...»
The Rumble Strips - Cardboard Coloured Dreams EP
The Rumble Strips' singer Charlie Waller's voice is potently soulful, there's a high brass quotient and the melodies are as immediate as you like, but over the course of these four songs the quality control is somewhat debatable...»
Fuzz Club at Sheffield Fusion & Foundry at Sheffield University, Thu 02 Nov
It's perfectly possibly to stumble across an act who look like they should be serving you chips or fixing your car, but bowl you over with a fantastic live show. Tonight's headliners, electro-dance rockers Hiem, are one such beast...»
AFI - Love Like Winter
Here, the angst gives way to polished synths on a track that sounds like White Rose Movement covering Busted...»
The Gossip, Comanechi at Sheffield Plug, Mon 06 Nov
Few bands can boast a frontwoman who combines charisma with a show-stopping voice like hers. She doesn't just have a fantastic pair of lungs, though, she has range: from gospel-soul through punk yelping, straight out screaming and back again to sweet croon, there's nothing she can't handle tonight...»
Koop - Koop Islands
Elsewhere, 'Beyond The Son' is notable for Zinger's spoken word delivery set against luscious brass and strings – incongruous maybe, but, like the rest of the record, it somehow works. An unexpected treat, then...»
Fuzz Club at Sheffield Fusion & Foundry at Sheffield University, Thu 12 Oct
For all the brooding intensity of 'Setting Sun' and 'Wishing Stone', tonight's set falls some distance short of the ridiculously high standard this band have set for themselves...»
Badly Drawn Boy - Nothing's Going To Change Your Mind
As it is, what we have here is something traditional, a semi-classic piece of songwriting and, as we all know, you'll get nowhere doing that these days. There is a Hot Chip remix, though, and if that were the A-side then Scissor Sisters might well be quaking in their stilettos...»
The Needles - In Search Of The Needles
This is an alright start, but if The Needles succeed in finding themselves then LP #2 could be so much more than just a grubby one night stand...»
Viva Voce - Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Viva Voce's passion for innovation remains untainted by the pressure to sell records or produce an album that fits with prevailing trends. This is an organic, homegrown creation that sounds as though it's had a lot of time and love invested in it; lend an inquisitive ear and find yourself instantly besotted...»
KEITH - Mona Lisa's Child
With a ebullient, insistent bassline and funky, Latino percussion, this is certain to get feet stomping across indie clubland, and with the radio edit clocking in at 3.30 airplay shouldn't be a problem either. All that's missing, to these ears, is a little bit of soul; something to make me love it rather than like it...»
The Rolling Stones - Biggest Mistake
You might not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, and it goes without saying that this pales in comparison to anything from their '60s and '70s songbook, but of the top 20 singles this week I can count less than a fistful that I'd rate higher...»
The Transmissionary Six - Radar
If the Howling Bells LP is the perfect soundtrack for a full moon in the outback, Radar must be Americana's equivalent - an atmospheric accompaniment to starry nights spent gazing to the Arizona sky in search of answers to life's incomprehensible questions...»
DiS at the Festivals: Summer Sundae
“The grandson of Glastonbury” according to the venerable Steve Lamacq, Leicester's Summer Sundae festival celebrated its sixth birthday this year and DiS was there to help cut the cake, as well as take in scores of great bands over the course of the weekend…»
The Spinto Band - Oh Mandy
Propelled by a deceptively simple mandolin riff and featuring one of those delectably repeatable choruses you can't help but provide your own backing vocals to, 'Oh Mandy' is a tune bearing all the quirky hallmarks of the Spintos but packs its own pop punch...»
Joan As Police Woman - Eternal Flame
Though her range won't trouble fellow New Yorker Regina Spektor, Wasser plays a more soulful, laid-back game that has more in common with divas from a bygone age and might just lend her slightly more crossover appeal if this slickly produced number is anything to go by...»
Alfa 9 - Deadman
Remember the first time you got taken up and away by the 'Floyd's blissful psychedelia? That's what the verse of 'Deadman' sounds like, which would be a good enough recommendation for buying this single on its own...»
Stoney, Neil McSweeney at Sheffield Plug, Sat 22 Jul
How on earth Mark Stoney's face isn't already plastered all over national music magazines is a mystery to me, but with the new record receiving some notable press plaudits that could change sooner rather than later. What's certain is that this young multi-instrumentalist oozes star appeal, and, for once, possesses enough talent to back up the bravado.»
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
Paroxically, the first seven tracks of the record could happily soundtrack a children's TV show with their playful melodies or provide the script for a post-watershed episode of Eastenders...»
Giant Drag at Sheffield Plug, Tue 11 Jul
It's clear that Hardy is in cantankerous mood tonight. She informs us that her time of the month is fast approaching and warns the front row that they risk being "splattered with blood"»
The On Offs - Wrong Upstairs
A catchy, energetic mod-tinged number with some pre-chorus riffage that sounds like Supergrass covering Led Zep.»
Young Knives - She's Attracted To
Once derided (fairly, some might argue) for looking like tweed-clad kiddy-fiddlers, The Young Knives have the last laugh here and finally deliver on all their kooky promise with a single that takes a quite ridiculous premise and turns it into alt-pop gold.»
Radio 4 - Enemies Like This
With the genre oversaturated beyond belief, bands need to produce something special and original to stand out from the crowd. Radio 4 fail to do that, and though they'll make few enemies from this record you can't imagine them picking up many new friends.»
Noisettes - Scratch Your Name
At its most potent, Shingai's Skin/Karen O howl is a weapon in its own right, maintaining the interest levels even when the music lapses into relatively standard fare. It doesn't happen often, though, and if The Noisettes can carry on churning out tunes of this calibre the hype will be well and truly justified.»
The Rumble Strips - Hate Me
Rejoice in some gorgeous brass, particularly the sax (a most underused instrument in modern pop) that kicks things off before Waller tells a tale of domestic disharmony against a deliciously ska inflected backdrop.»