‘How you been? Have you told your mother about me?’, sings Rex as he opens his set at The Barfly in Camden on Sunday. I’ve been well thanks, and yes, yes I have. In fact I’ve told pretty much everyone I know about you since you dropped your album last month. Rex, also known as Alex, released his first track back in June, ‘Corduroy Dreams’. It’s a croony lazy love song full of wit and…
I first heard Aquilo about 6 months ago with the track ‘Part Of Your Life’. It was part of a delicate EP released shortly afterwards, which shows exactly how pop melodies can be crafted into a soundscape of unadulterated bliss. I was immediately excited after hearing this and since then have been looking forward to the time I would see them live. Coming from the Lake District, this was their first London show, which they…
Alex Turner and co have, over the last few years, made the transition from great rock band to true artists. With their most recent album, AM, going straight to number 1, their headline Glastonbury set alongside the Rolling Stones last summer, and now their sold-out 45,000 capacity shows at Finsbury Park in London, Arctic Monkeys have made sure they won’t be forgotten about any time soon. www.gigwise.com The Finsbury Park shows took place on the…
I caught Duncan Brookfield at The Troubadour Club in Earls Court the evening after what had been a warm but cloudy day in the city. Please excuse my weather forecast, but the mood of the day captured Duncan’s sound perfectly. He began with ‘Hurt’, a song which started slowly and immediately showed off the warmth of Duncan’s voice and the poignancy of his songwriting, however as the song progressed and the rumble of the drums…
On February 12th, 2014, Frank Turner played his biggest headline show to date, accompanied by the Sleeping Souls, at the O2 Arena in London. To say he looked at home on such a huge stage would be an exaggeration, but he absolutely knew how to handle it. After support from Beans on Toast and Flogging Molly, the crowd were more than ready for Frank to start his show, a near 2 hour set combining all the classics,…
As part of her first tour post-prison release, Ms. Lauryn Hill returned to Washington, DC last night for a sold-out show at the Lincoln Theatre. From the sound of it, if nothing else, her musical talent is certainly rehabilitated. If what you wanted was to be transported to 1998, tough luck. From the moment she sang the first note of her opening number- some two-and-a-half hours after doors opened- Ms. Hill made it clear she was…
While walking into of Montreal’s show at the Plaza Orlando this past Friday night, a bevy of cruiser bikes tethered to a stop sign confirmed my suspicions: this is hipster country. Against my instincts, I proceeded into the venue and was greeted my no less than 50 horn-rimmed glasses. These flannel beasts chirped, chatted, and handed out business cards featuring their Tumblr account. My stomach turned each time I heard the word “Pitchfork”, and the…
It’s nighttime in Paris; 600 lucky fans packed into the tiny La Trabendo rock club after paying $20 for a “secret event”. Definitely the best spent $20 in their lives, as they were treated to a royal surprise: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood aka The Rolling Stones, in case you come from another planet. The crows went wild as the Stones jumped right in and played their well known hits, including…
Album title: Neck of the Woods Release date: Tuesday, May 8, 2012. Tracks: 11 (you can find the tracklist here) Rating: 9/10 After a good three years and some odd weeks, Los Angeles alternative band Silversun Pickups has released its third true studio album to date, Neck of the Woods…which does just about everything but disappoint. In all honesty, I had no doubt this album would be quite tops,…
I had the good fortune to see the ska-punk band Mustard Plug play in Toledo, OH recently, at Frankie’s Inner City. They’re a Grand Rapids, MI-based band, so it was odd for me – a Michigan resident – to see them out of state. One of the people I went with has seen them six times in the past, once only 30 minutes away from our podunk little town, so it felt a little foolish…
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