Great news: young West Yorkshire three-piece The Orielles have just signed to Heavenly recordings. The band – Esme Hand Halford on bass, sister Sidonie on drums and Henry Wade on guitar, are known for their lush garagey sun-drenched sound – a Californian vibe by way of Halifax (the Califax sound, perhaps). Since the band got together they’ve been gigging…
Read More
As Festival No 6 in Wales this summer descended into a major mudbath after two days of biblical rainfall, Wolf People took to the stage late afternoon (above). They were captivating and the turmoil of guitars suited the inclement weather, but I decided I’d enjoy them more sometime in the future, in the warmth, with dry clothes.…
Read More
I noticed that Lloyd Cole was sporting that slightly tricky sartorial trend, double denim. Later in the set, Cole made reference to his outfit. He related a story about a visit to Austin, Texas, where at a honky tonk bar he observed “much younger women dancing with older men… who all wore double denim”. Much of Cole’s amusing onstage patter…
Read More
Battles of Winter’s second album At Once with Tattered Sails was released (download only) on September 23. “The difficult second album?” the band announce on their Facebook page. Having given the album a metaphorical spin (actually, about ten), my answer to that is a definite no. This new offering from BoW exudes confidence – the…
Read More
Fightback! tickets went on sale at the earlybird price of £10 before any line-up was announced. About half the tickets sold out, and around 800 acts came forward to offer their services to play at the gig, which was set up by the Music Venue Trust as a protest against the recent astonishingly high number of…
Read More
Desert Trip festival, in the California desert: some of the heavyweights from my teens in one palm-tree-fringed, sun-soaked paradise. Normally I steer clear of anything of this ilk but nevertheless this sounded somewhat appealing. I reminded myself that I’d far rather hang out at my sort of UK festivals, hearing plenty of emerging artists in a friendly atmosphere, all…
Read More
The Trades, Hebden Bridge 2017. Dreary old January. Dark rainy nights, empty bank account, buddies off the alcohol… is there anything the wretched first month has going for it? Well, yes! A Heavenly weekend at The Trades in Hebden Bridge, where the esteemed venue hosts a mini fest of musical delights. Last January 2016, we saw…
Read More
If you care about live music, it’s time to put your full support behind it – which means going to as many live gigs as you can! The amount on venues which are closing countrywide is truly heartbreaking. The Roundhouse is hosting a Music Venue Trust gig at The Roundhouse in Camden on 18th October…
Read More
The good, the bad and the muddy… On a positive note, Festival Number 6 yet again had its moments of music, magic and discovery. The location is Portmeirion, the beautiful and quirky Italian village in north Wales. And it was commendable to note just how many of the artists appearing on Festival No 6’s various stages were from…
Read More
Forecasts were for gales, thunder and torrential rain. What we actually got were tantalising peeks of sun, and showers which floated down with clockwork regularity like a sprinkler system. If you’ve ever wanted a quiet word with the Met Office when they get things wrong, by fortunate coincidence there they were, at Einstein’s Garden, Green Man’s science /…
Read More