The news today: Just a Ride and Tofu Boy reviewed
April 17, 2021
Tofu Boy – Shark Attack
Indie rock is to pop music what postmodernism is to literature. Frankly, the term “indie” has long ago lost its meaning, with groups making records on a cassette player in their bedroom and Imagine Dragons all sharing the same…
Guitarmy of One – Overtones of Hercule and Holmes
The sound of the guitar is at the very foundation of popular music in all of its varieties. Perhaps, as a consequence of having heard it so often, we have forgotten how to honour some of the musicians blessed with…
I am not much for nostalgia. In fact, I loathe the attempts of big corporations to sell audiences the comfort of something that they used to love, in a repackaged form, as a quick ploy to earn a buck.
Even so, inevitably, I also end up being one of them ol’ men…
Love Ghost – Shine Like Gold
The worst crime rock ever committed was getting fat, boring, and indebted to a corporate world that never cared which of the latest trends it needed to support in order to get a buck. We have to forgive rock for getting old, but not for…
Sandwiched anguish: Lost At Sea and Mutes reviewed
March 27, 2021
Mutes – Modern Waste
There are hundreds of millions of pounds of garbage out there in the world, with the average person producing 4.9 pounds every day. What’s more, we are not inundated by things that could be easily classified as garbage at the present time…
Brutal honesty: The Roof and The Mark Inside reviewed
March 26, 2021
The Mark Inside – Whatever Doesn’t Kill You Can Still Leave You Crippled
Rock trends seem to go in cycles. Duh! If we were to identify the two main trends, though and believe me, this is oddly something I spend an inordinate amount of time on, are miserabilism…
Max and the Martians – Please Remember
When things start going badly, I start wishing I was a character in an American movie or song made pre-1980. There’s a bubblegum heartbreak to that kind of work. It’s pop-art. It’s something that…
No distance left: Odakota and The Cherry Pies reviewed
March 17, 2021
The Cherry Pies – What Have I Got
It’s quite a shame that people don’t share mix-tapes any more. Like Rob Fleming, the main character of Nick Hornsby record-centric novel High Fidelity might claim, creating a great mix-tape is a very delicate exercise.
Cynically yours: Forever X2 and Black Lung Lucy reviewed
March 14, 2021
Black Lung Lucy – Thousand Men
Jeff Buckley, one of the greatest singers of the modern era, was once asked how he acquired his operatic voice. He told the reporter that it was nothing special. Everyone has a unique voice, he said. You can’t fake the honesty of…