Photo: wenn
"If ever there was a track that oozed smoothness and an hallucinogenic quality that would have Dr Timothy Leary slapping on his beats headphones whilst being ‘scientifically’ over indulgent, this is it. This is nothing more than what is to be expected to come from the stock that is Fierce Panda, who have brought the likes of Helsinki and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart to the creative table. There isn’t a sub-genre of music by theme of ‘cool fun’ but there should be…"
Velcro Hooks - Wow
"I love the cinematographic quality at the beginning of the track. It for me had the same sense of exploration as did Nathan Johnson’s attempt to transcribe the movie Looper into the realms of audio listening. Then with a hop skip and jump you have the cacophony of noise guitars ranging from Sonic Youth to MBV (My Bloody Valentine) with a little bit of The Horrors thrown in for good measure… This was brave no holds barred rock n' roll with a good measure of individuality thrown in as well. Oh and in the video they look like hill billy’s, one of my neighbours says I look like a 'hill billy' when ever I am out cleaning the frontyard of the homestead…"
Purity Ring - 'Heart Sigh'
"On the eve of the re-boot of the biggest ever movie franchise it seems fitting that we do a review on Purity Ring, with their own interpretation of sci-fi and visual arts at the centre of their live performance. What’s good about this, is that there is ‘no’ centre piece amongst the overall delivery of the music. Most artists rely on one of the elements, a great riff, or a ‘catchy’ hook, a believable vocal delivery or a great rhythm track, the truth be said Purity Ring seem to have all those elements covered in spades. This, coupled with a ‘glitch-esque’ track and an interesting soprano vocal - lest we forget the great production (NI Maschine by any chance?) this is a great track that will open the door to future sync possibilities - and we all know that’s where the money is…"
Lawrence Rothman - 'Users'
"From a soprano to a great tenor, there is nothing new about Lawrence Rothmans vocal approach, but that is not to say that it isn’t intensely enjoyable. The video was shot in Joshua Tree and 29 Palm 0 the home of the Gram Parsons cult (The Joshua Tree Inn) and may be a little but too Natural Born Killers for my taste, the over magnification of the guns may have been used to exploit the state that the U.S is in at the moment with it’s gun controlling policies being under the worlds microscope (and rightly so) or maybe it was just a way to show the disassotiated life style of those escaping conventional American life (I’m sure there’s a lotta very naughty people living out their days in the desert), none of this removed the fact that the track had a groove like a good book; it had a beginning that intrigued you, the body of it was compelling enough to keep you reading and the end, quality enough for you to wanna tell people to read this book. Just remember I am talking about a song though not a book. (I do go on don’t I?)"
Submotion Orchestra - 'Kimono'
"I was happy when I went onto Submotion's Soundcloud site to realise that I follow them. Sometimes in this age of digitalism and streaming it is hard to fathom what you already know, from what you think you need to… Did that make sense? I digress. Kimono is a great track and perfectly exemplifies the difference between the old, and the knew - being bands of my era have to work with producers to find ‘their sound,’ but with the advent of technology and kids being like the punks of old, or if you would prefer, more ‘DIY’ than ‘SMTY’ (show me the way) new artists are more likely to find their way creatively regarding issues of production and this track perfectly exemplifies artists creating dynamic electronic music."
DIIV - 'Under The Sun'
"Now I loved this track for it’s purely over indulgent retro-vibe. It reminded me of Ian McCulloch and Echo and the Bunnymen and great films like Pretty in Pink (yeah, I liked the film pretty in pink, what are you gonna do about it?) and Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything. Great track and errr, great errr, track!"
Trampolene - 'Poundland'
"Hip hop can be said to have sprouted from roots based on the East coast of the U.S, with artists such as Afrika Bombaata, Curtis Blow and Fab Five Freddy, paving the way for the many sub genre’s of hip hop that are around today, but the strand of poetry that has been executed by Trampolene has it’s roots based firmly in England. With execution akin to the likes John Copper Clarke, on community issues that Benjamin Zephaniah may tackle, Trampolene has turned what would normally be deemed as ‘the mundane’ , and turned it into the romantic. It’s a thoroughly convincing heartfelt delivery and this coupled with the visual rhetoric makes for enjoyable listening and viewing."
Archy Marshall - The Sea Liner MK 1
OH MY DAYS, love it. nuff said.
Watch our Libertines documentary below
Dates are below for The Libertines' 2016 arena tour. For tickets and more information, visit here.
21 January - GLASGOW, SSE Hydro Arena
23 January - MANCHESTER, Arena
25 January - NOTTINHAM, Capital FM Arena
26 January - CARDIFF, Motorpoint Arena
27 January - BIRMINHAM, Barclaycard Arena
29 January - BOURNEMOUTH, BIC
30 January - LONDON, The O2
.jpg)
