A Tribute To Marilyn MansonVarious ArtistsCherry Red Records Tony Engelhart The self-proclaimed Anti-Christ Superstar, Marilyn Manson has been steadily pissing off the Christian Coalition, Parents and the Conservative Constituency from his very first recording. While many critics have dismissed Manson as an Alice Cooper clone, he is just the latest shock rocker building a loyal fan base on the sex, drugs, and Satanism platform which has been around since the 1970’s.  While his live shows are as theatrical  as Cooper Continue Reading

The voice bleeds like David Gray, but the band sound much more, gloriously, messy that anything ‘White Ladders’ could dish up – Little Plato are a Manchester band and ‘Spirals’ is their third release. The title track is a grungy waltz shot through with melancholy vocals, and filled out with scratching and stabbing guitar riffs. It’s followed by ‘Crystal Unclear’ which sounds similar, but more mellow and acoustic, that is, until the chorus kicks in, and their simple indie sound Continue Reading

It’s not really rock music – it’s pop with the guitars turned up – and while the spirit of Savage Garden hovers ominously in the background, this album nevertheless has some moments of MOR greatness. At their best, Atticus Fault combine the craft and whimsy of XTC and on tracks such as ‘My First Trip to Mars’ and ‘Too Late’, chiming guitars and strong vocals make for catchy and accessible tunes.  ‘My First Trip to Mars’ is the obvious choice Continue Reading

There is a musical heritage accredited and followed in the States that is dismissed and erased in the UK. Where most American groups, even with the eradication ethos of punk, acknowledge a rich pop inheritance and are willing to incorporate with references past-masters or have a revisionist view of ignored forebears, UK bands are more often not so readily aware of anything prior to the advent of ‘Our Lord’ Noel Gallagher. Whether it is Americana content matter or filching the Continue Reading

It has now been 10 years since Moby arrived on the scene and is once again garnering rave reviews for his latest project, 18. In addition, he remixed the song ‘Sunday’ for David Bowie’s (with whom he is currently on tour) most recent record, Heathen. While his success is unparalleled in the house/techno/trance genre, many techno fans have shown contempt towards Moby for diluting and trivializing the form. Yet, so many other artists working in this style of music -The Continue Reading

The Slow Poisoners have played with the likes of Green Day, Sophie B. Hawkins and surf guitar legend Dick Dale; their first full-length recording “Great Spiders and Diamond Powders” (PopSmear Records) sank without trace, and their latest offering, “The God that Failed” was recorded at the legendary Sun studios, Memphis. So who are the Poisoners, and what are they doing languishing so cheerfully in pop’s backwaters? Well, they sound like Weezer’s hillbilly cousins, with a disarming combination of nerd rock, Continue Reading

The seven inch single as a terrifying experience? A cool band from Leicester? What times we live in, my friends. ‘Elvis Presley Séance’ is the latest offering from Fish from Tahiti, and like a lot of their material, it mines a rich seam of spoken vocal samples. This time, we are listening to a middle-aged-housewife-from-Slough cum medium describing, with a teeth grinding banality that eventually becomes creepily atmospheric, the séance she is about to conduct. Combine this vocal with the Continue Reading

Combining the bitchiness of Liz Phair, the vulnerability of Jewel and the independence of Alanis Morissette, Naomi constructs songs of survival, individualism, and self-reliance on her debut self titled EP. Naomi grew up enthralled by the poetry of James Langston Hughes and her songs evident of her admiration of this revolutionary black poet.  The New York City singer/songwriter in-your-face approach hasn’t gone unnoticed as her experimentation with both organic and electronic sounds lead her to work with the likes of Continue Reading

I’m looking at this tour anthology now from the standpoint of both the punter and the performer. I actually played on the Warped Tour a few years ago. It was a big deal for my band, and though we were pretty out of place stylistically, we still looked forward to playing for thousands of people who had never seen us. The Warped Tour looks to be an event summarizing what is “punk“ now-at least emo, pop-punk (pop-ular), and ‘core. A Continue Reading