Anyone familiar with the work of Matt Bailey‘s Salient Braves will know what to expect from this their debut crowdfunded LP. Bailey’s sardonic, often laugh out loud lyrics, mercilessly turn the microscope on Brexit Britain and the notion of national pride. The tramp on the cover is an abiding metaphor for many of the lowlife characters who lurk within, […]
Monthly archives: October 2017
8 posts
I was lucky enough to catch Suzie Stapleton opening for Boss Hog at the Hackney Oslo earlier this year. Playing for someone else’s audience is never easy but, despite wrestling with some recalcitrant loop pedals, a solo Stapleton secured a great reception. The Sydney-born singer-guitarist won over the crowd with her smoky, rasping voice and full bodied swamp-blues playing style and she’s been […]
Events like these remind you that the term ‘indie’ represents a very broad church, with multiple sub-genres. The good folks at Indie Daze made sure this fourth festival represented this wide spectrum; from the pop-punk of Bis to the grebo of Crazyhead, with ’90s Britpop and baggy on offer from Thousand Yard Stare. There was indie-acoustic from The Wonderstuff‘s Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls, […]
In no particular order some of my favourite music moments. No37 O Superman by Laurie Anderson. Eight minutes long and performed by a then little known American street artist, Laurie Anderson‘s O Superman is perhaps one of the unlikeliest UK chart hits of all time. Written in response to Operation Eagle Claw, a disastrous 1980 attempt by the American military to rescue hostages […]
Frontman Neil Arthur is disarmingly modest about their achievements, but Blancmange were one of the most successful bands to emerge from the experimental electronic music scene of the early ’80s. Blending pop melodies with dark lyrics and avant-garde programming and recording techniques, they went on to rack up seven Top 40 hits. Don’t Tell Me and Living On The Ceiling both reached the […]
Judge Roughneck is back and about to lay down the law at a venue near you. Ska great Neville Staple revived the character, first heard on The Specials‘ Stupid Marriage, for his latest double album The Return of Judge Roughneck. Now the Jamaican-born vocalist is heading out on the road to promote the record with a backing band featuring his wife Christine ‘Sugary’ Staple. Arriving in […]
In June 1967 five musicians went into London’s Abbey Road studios to record The Zombies‘ second album Odessey and Oracle. Though not an initial success, the record came to be regarded as one of the landmark albums of the late 1960s, right up there with The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper. Half a century later the surviving members of […]
Tucked away down a side street across the road from Ealing Broadway tube station lies a tiny, London night spot, widely credited as the birthplace of British rock. Hot, sweaty and damp, The Ealing Club, became a focal point for a new generation of fans and musicians inspired by American Blues artists like Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and […]