IT'S FRIDAY, I'M IN LOVE....WITH GREAT SCOTTISH SINGLES (5)
Here's what my encyclopedia says:-Formed in Glasgow in 1991 as Dove by Applied Biochemisttry student/graduate Dorothy 'Dot' Allison, along with Ian Carmichael and former...
Although this is the blog’s fourth edition of Spotted Dick this is my first contribution to a feature which has unarguably taken the music world by storm since it’s conception and put a previously little known music application firmly on the map. Recently blogging has been part of my life that has been severely neglected and I’m sorry to say, dear readers, there’s no narcotics addictions or short lived love affairs for me to blame this on. In fact I have little to no excuse for leaving the fate of INFTC almost entirely on the very capable and far more consistent shoulders of Mr. Gavin Williams who I sincerely thank for taking the role of a pushy mother and not letting a day go by without leaving a nagging post on my facebook wall.
Radio Over Moscow- Battletech
7/10
This album doesn’t sound like any of the bands mentioned in the press release, well Gary Numan perhaps but definitely not Nirvana, The Beatles, Primal Scream or The Smashing Pumpkins. Radio Over Moscow is the solo assignment of Aucklander Dan Satherley (KittyHawk, Vetox, Luna Spark) and Battletech is his first solo release. Bringing ’90s pop-punk into the twenty-first century, Battletech covers common ground with just a subtle pinch of unfamiliarity; synthesisers and drum machines. Imagine if Blink 182 went electro or Placebo ditched the dark make-up, Radio Over Moscow brings the two together in a mechanical blender, adding slices of metallic sounding synths and sci-fi rhythms. Sprouting multiple seeds of futuristic punk, alien grunge, contorted new-wave and geographically nondescript Brit-pop, Battletech provides a moderately eclectic genre fix and is well structured, allowing the songs to merge together without sounding disjointed. Opener ‘The Purpose Of Man’ is an electro sherbet hit echoing The Faint and flows directly into ‘Anti-human Nous’ which utilises similar synth techniques but puts a vocoder effect on the vocals.
As last year, I will not be able to attend the music lover’s paradise, South by Southwest, and will have to explore the roster of artists from the swivel chair in front of my laptop (if I spin around fast enough every so often, I can attempt to simulate the dizziness brought on by wanting to see so many bands at once).
Possibly the best British song-writer of our generation, but that might be a bold statement that many of you might scoff at. Babyshambles first album Down In Albion is one my favourite albums of all time and pretty much everything Pete Doherty creates sounds absolutely perfect to my ears. His latest work is no exception; with work on his first solo album complete, the first single has surfaced. Titled ‘Last of the English Roses’, it captures Doherty at his brilliant best, with his English accent giving the song a poetic charm and clearly displaying his ability to structure the perfect Brit-pop song. For fans of Babyshambles, the song is in the vain of ‘There She Goes’ or ‘The 32nd of December’.
The track comes from his upcoming début solo album Grace/Wastelands, which has a release date of March 24. Work on the album has been taking place for a while now, in between Babyshambles, and live solo gigs around London. Doherty’s hired help on the album includes former Blur member Graham Coxon, who plays on most of the tracks, Scottish singer Dot Allison, poet Peter Wolfe (who co-wrote and plays guitar on ‘Broken Love Song’) as well as Babyshambles members Mick Whitnall, Drew McConnell and Adam Ficek.
Pretty Rhymes and Perfect Crimes
Or in other words, the world’s first totally online music festival!
"You only get to appreciate what you do when you're not doing it," says bassist Rob Canning, slurping on a tea. "and now we're back, we're buzzing to go."
PART ONE: WELCOME TO 2008
ARTROCKER:...
Legendary rock photographer Steve Gullick has a retrospective at Manchester’s KRAAK Gallery running from March 12th til March 27th, featuring shots taken for NME and Melody Maker as well as his...
To accompany the review of Tune-yards’ Monday gig at Cargo, a few tasty shots of Think about Life, Trash Kit and New England native Merrill Garbus aka tUnE-yArDs.
Read the review of the night...
We have collected some truly heinous examples of recent album covers, from Empire Of The Sun’s Star Wars travesty to the banal evil that is Razorlight’s Slipway Fire. Discretionary...
Album art in this gallery was selected based on several simple traits: strong concept, fine graphics including creative typography and general lushness. The first three of ‘The Best Record...
Placebo pictures: just in - some photos of Placebo and Brian Molko from last week’s gig at the Glasgow SECC.
Also check out the review here
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