It’s early 1986 in the ski town of Mammoth and a major snowstorm has hit. Not very interesting in itself, nothing very remarkable. Add to this a half-dozen or so members of a frankly dubious but well intentioned alternative college rock band and a four-track recorder and the story gets kind of interesting. Add to this a camper van low on gasoline and a deserted cabin house and some imbalanced individuals and you have the makings of a modern myth. Continue Reading
If you’re sitting comfortably then he’ll no doubt begin. Though if you’re not, and we understand your reservations, fact is you’re likely to be soon. The sun-starved wastes Nick Cave has generally roamed as master for many many years, currently with his Bad Seeds and formally with his Birthday Party, may evoke more despair than ease, but as with any compendium of tales the true test is always in the telling. The beholder’s eye can always be lulled. He is Continue Reading
It has been way too long. And they say you only recognise the true value of something when it’s gone, but that’s not quite true. You can only miss something once you’ve realised it’s gone. And sometimes to realise you need to be reminded. Like receiving a postcard or seeing a painting or a video of a place full of memories – but memories consigned by the years to the archives of your mind – is like opening a door Continue Reading
A Scottish Clearlake? Surely he means a ‘loch’? James Berry laments the passing of the separatist approach for Mull. There is a fucking chandelier in our line of sight! Actually there are six of them hanging over the whole of this plush interior. There is carpet! White plaster moulds of babies in the buff, clinging for dear life to shields around the upper perimeter of the room! Individually lit sunken wall spots for portrait paintings (!), replaced in this instance Continue Reading
It’s often those that need no introduction that require it the most. Why? Because it’s tragically endemic that the brightest and the best are overlooked in favour of the fickle and often featureless faces of fashion. We live in an era were the original and the true plays second billing to the illegitimate hyper model: Bjorn Again, The Bootleg Beatles, The Clone Roses, Oasis.. For those of us unfamiliar, Manuel Galbán is something of a guitar legend. As guitarist for Continue Reading
Regrouped in the studio under the pretence of rehearsing for a New Year’s Eve show, and some two years since the release of last album Farmhouse, Phish return with Round Room. Produced in a 4 day stint after only 2 weeks of rehearsal (and to be fair, it shows) Round Room – looser and more relaxed perhaps than its predecessor – still offers up a staggering 78 minutes of shuffling, tangential fibres and threads. Kicking off with the 10-minute song, Continue Reading
German production trio plus vocalist Sophia Larsson Ocklind. Top 3 material in their homeland no less. Formed in 1993, the production trio has been responsible for the likes of DJ Rush and Moonraker and were voted ‘best newcomers’ and ‘critics choice’ in the 2001 German Dance Awards . Some will assert they’ve more in common with the old, run-of-the-mill continental dance pop than anything like Ladytron, Fischerspooner or Adult – but this would seriously ignore the sheer playfulness of the mix. It’s pop, Continue Reading
As a side project for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s guitarist Judah Bauer and his brother Donovan, 20 Miles is more blues influenced then Jon Spencer. However, this is no traditional blues group. The brother’s draw from the late 60’s early 70’s Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart’s Faces, as well as R.L. Burnside and the Grateful Dead. With a jam band foundation, 20 Miles could be compared to such contemporary bands as Phish or Blues Traveler. The bands first studio effort, 1998’s Continue Reading
With the buzz of static and the whirring of sounds of unknown origin, we enter the lofty and epic world of Dredg’s second concept album to date: El Cielo. Stirring Zepplinisms, and ad hoc prog aplenty it’s hardly a very cautious follow up to the recently re-released, Leitmotif album (Interscope). Together for nearly a decade, Dredg’s often intense yet strangely melodic sound is something of an acquired taste. Fluid, though endlessly tangential, fans of the band are becoming well accustomed Continue Reading
Released in the UK on 9 December and featuring a typically innovative and contentious tracklisting of Pop, Fan, Remix and Live selections by journalists Miranda Sawyer and John McReady, former Hacienda DJ Mike Pickering and Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, New Order’s ‘Retro’ looks set to keep those pub arguments fresh and alive if nothing else. Everyone has their favourite and everyone always appears to align themselves with one particular order: the ‘singles’ New Order, the ’12 “’ New Order, ‘Early’ Continue Reading