Album, Single, EP and Live Reviews

Albums: Memoryhouse - The Slideshow Effect (Sub Pop)
"It's not enough to live your past through photographs" sighs camera and film enthusiast Denise Nouvion on 'Punctum'. It's an apt lyric given Memoryhouse's beginnings as a collaborative multimedia art project, which saw Evan Abeele's compositions transformed into nostalgic narratives for Nouvion's sepia toned images.
Posted on Feb 5th, 2012
Live Reviews: Explosions In The Sky / Lanterns On The Lake @ Brixton Academy 27.01.12
With a soft glow from the stage, the black ceiling and many tiers that make up Brixton Academy give the illusion of an open air venue. This, coinciding with the ambient sounds from Lanterns on the Lake, makes for an almost mystic, dreamlike show. All six members of the band look eager and ready, and genuinely grateful as the crowd praise them into their opening song. Lead vocalist Hazel Wilde is thankful, and modest without being shy, however she is more alive and animated shaking her blonde hair around on guitar than when addressing the audience. Her weightless vocals are delicate but full of passion and attentiveness, complemented perfectly with backing vocals by guitarist Adam Sykes. Making up the atmospheric sound of the evening also includes Paul Gregory on guitar, Brendan Sykes on bass, Sarah Kemp on violin and Oliver Ketteringham playing percussion, synth and piano – a very multi-talented band indeed, especially considering its members are forever switching instruments, playing each other’s instruments and playing the same instrument together.
Posted on Feb 2nd, 2012
Live Reviews: Light of Day 2012, New Jersey, USA 12 – 16.01.12
David Brown travelled to Asbury Park, New Jersey to take part in the ever-growing music-led movement to help fund a cure for Parkinson's Disease.
Posted on Jan 30th, 2012
Albums: Naughty By Nature - Anthem Inc (IllTown)
US hip-hop currently rests in arguably the strangest position it has ever found itself in. For the best part of the last decade the majority of the music that charted was the ego-inflated, testosterone soaked club anthems by the likes of 50 Cent, Eminem, Young Jeezy, Lil Jon and numerous other acts following an exaggerated version of the template set in the early-mid nineties by the likes of Notorious B.I.G, Dr.Dre, Wu-Tang and Tupac to name only a handful of the most successful. Skip forward to 2012 and the sonic landscape is an almost unrecognisable one in comparison.
Posted on Jan 30th, 2012
Live Reviews: Porcelain Raft @ Academy, Oxford 24.01.12
Sandwiched deliciously in between Chinese New Year and Burns Night, Porcelain Raft took to the stage in Oxford for his final UK appearance on the M83 tour. Mauro Remiddi, the man behind the music, opened up the show with ‘Drifting In And Out’, the opening track of his newly released record, Strange Weekend. Immediate sonic reference points emerged, with the bustling, strung out, ethereal chords evoking obvious comparisons with the likes of The Big Pink and I Break Horses. Remiddi’s drummer helps pierce this wall of noise with drums that act as sharp punctuation points to the floating guitar and synth sounds.
Posted on Jan 30th, 2012
Live Reviews: M83 @ Concorde 2, Brighton 22.01.12
French outfit M83 are really on the march at the moment. Current single 'Midnight' already boasts an Eric Prydz remix and has recently featured as one of Zane Lowe's 'Hottest Records'. With a world tour selling out fast and an ever growing live reputation, there is quite an atmosphere inside Brighton's Concorde 2 tonight as a capacity crowd eagerly await their arrival.
Posted on Jan 26th, 2012
Live Reviews: Low End Lowlife Special: Outlook Launch Party ’12 - 21.01.12
Cold as hell. Crowds of people milling about in duffle coats. A mild stench of human fluids emanating gently for the underground station somewhat like the delicate scent of apple blossom on a spring morning breeze. Apparently this is not Croatia. And it sure as hell isn't summer.
Posted on Jan 26th, 2012
Live Reviews: A Winged Victory for the Sullen @ Manchester Academy 3, 14.01.12
Whilst Ed Sheeran expels his acoustic-(c)rap combo next door, the crowd here bears witness to the beautiful A Winged Victory for the Sullen. With their recent album’s poignant symphonies tugging at heart strings, tonight’s moody surroundings could not be more suitable. Bracketing the three-piece string section with Dustin O’Halloran as circus masters, Adam Wiltzie promises “Seven pieces of music about broken hearts and dead people.” It’s a promise that could not have been delivered more captivatingly.
Posted on Jan 25th, 2012
EPs: Stevie Mac - The Cleansing Fire (self-released)
Great teaser of the work of Stevie Mac
Posted on Jan 24th, 2012
Albums: Krate Krusaders - Volume 2: When The Needle Drops (self-release)
Producer led albums can be a fickle beast. Get it right, and you may have classic on your hands; a full unified vision with consistent production levels and beats which showcase a variety of styles, hopefully alongside a diverse mixture of emcees to suitably adorn them. Get it wrong, and you are left with the sonic equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting (or a John Squire if you wish to be more derogatory) and a seemingly random selection of emcees bolted on top to really drive home the mantra of "if you throw enough shit, hopefully some sticks."
Posted on Jan 17th, 2012
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