romanisbetter has written the following articles:
Easy to enjoy, if not adore. Next time, we’d just like a little less 2:54-by-numbers.»
An album with overwhelming potential, which often aches with sadness, but which is ultimately uplifting, and sometimes that’s just what you need to make it through the night.»
A songwriter this unique and talented shouldn’t be standing in anyone’s shadow.»
For some people, the biggest event in Sheffield’s social calendar starts this week, when the World Snooker Championship begins another year at the Crucible Theatre. For the rest of us though, there’s Tramlines. The first bands for this year’s festival have been announced and the list, as ever, includes tons of DiS-friendly acts.»
There’s undoubtedly some clever stuff going on under Beware and be Grateful's surface, but when it makes you feel nothing you have to wonder, what’s the point?»
A timely reminder of what it was that set The Futureheads apart from their peers back in 2004.»
For a lad who got kicked out of school with no qualifications, Aidan Moffat has an impressive CV. He started out shaping the future of Scottish indie with Arab Strap, and last year he and Bill Wells released the remarkable album Everything’s Getting Older, to what seemed like unanimous acclaim.»
Prepare to bow down to the new Queen of Singing Sad Piano-Based Songs.»
Entertainment On Foreign Grounds, the debut album by London duo Straylings, sadly, is only half-decent. You’ll listen to it. You won’t turn it off. At times you’ll even like it. But you won’t love it.»
Jeremy Barnes has nothing to prove. Not only did he play drums in one of the most significant indie bands ever – Neutral Milk Hotel – forging close links to the highly influential Elephant 6 collective, more recently he’s made a name for himself with A Hawk And A Hacksaw, his rigorously studied and richly authentic celebration of Eastern European music.»
Local readers will no doubt already be aware of the devastating blow that MuseumSheffield has been dealt by the Arts Council’s decision to turn down its £1.4m funding application. While not strictly linked to the city’s music scene, MuseumSheffield is still a vital cog in the South Yorkshire’s wider cultural machinery, and you have to wonder what the knock-on effect will be for other venues and institutions when there’s simply a lot less money around.»
With Young & Old, Tennis have built on the default indiepop repertoire they performed on Cape Dory, exploring more soulful, sassier sounds to give their songs much-needed colour and energy.»
We Have Band are at their best when they give their songs the arrangements that they’re worth, instead of piling extra melodies and samples on top.»
What’s clear from The Lion’s Roar, is that not only do Johanna and Klara Söderberg know their banjos from their bagpipes, but they have a strong set of songs which makes them more than your average, all-purpose folk duo for hire.»
Boy & Bear sound more like a personality-free replica of a radio-friendly sub-genre of the folk tradition, and fall way short of convincing us that they’re the real deal. »
The fact that it’s possible to compare the same Trailer Trash Tracys song to both Animal Collective and Van Halen says a lot about the amount of ground the band cover on Ester, in spite of the sonic limits they’ve set.»
Last time this column went online, we were pleased to hear that The Leadmill had bagged itself a prestigious industry award. Well, now every other venue in Sheffield can celebrate too, because this year’s Tramlines festival, which they all helped to make happen, has won a gong of its own.»
Now that frontman Roddy Woomble is off being a full-time folk singer and hillwalking enthusiast, the burden seems to fall on Rod Jones and The Birthday Suit to provide that next great indie-rock album that Idlewild never quite made. »
Somehow She & Him turn your whole world into tinsel for the half hour you spend listening to this album.»
Last time Dutch Uncles played in Sheffield, at this year’s Tramlines festival, the venue was well and truly rammed. People were queuing round the block to try and catch sight of the five math-pop mavericks from Marple.»
The Moth & The Mirror have spent enough time with some of Scotland’s best songwriters to have learnt a thing or two about making a great record.»
In case you’ve heard any different, it’s not actually that grim up north. It’s in that spirit that DiS is bringing you a bill of some of the best musicians that northern England has to offer.»
Listening to Tosta Mista won’t be the worst 23 minutes of your life, but that’s not to say the time can’t be better spent. »
The sound of a very good band becoming a great band.»
Everyone’s got their favourite music venue, whether it’s a grotty local pub, a swanky, poorly laid-out bar or a sprawling, sparse warehouse...»
Hey! You! You like noisy guitar-pop that’s as fuzzy as it is fun, right? Well, might I suggest you brave the advancing winter weather and come out to see Mazes, courtesy of DiS?»
Era Extraña is neither one thing nor the other – it is not quite a masterclass in cutting-edge contemporary pop, nor does it set any radical new standards in electronic music. It has a lot to offer around the edges, but is difficult to truly connect with at its core. »
The Witch And The Robot may borrow from the past, but the way they do it makes them a frantically exciting band. »
The sound of a moustached Californian playboy fooling around in a recording studio. »
A set of energetic pop songs, this certainly isn’t. »
