Trystero and Prangers live at the Golden Lion
Mar 21
Green and pleasant: festivals for 2014
Dust down the sleeping bags and camping stove, the start of festival season is only a couple of months away. These days, music festivals are working harder to attract a following, offering debating sessions and workshops, banquets and ballooning, hoping to carve out a unique and identifiable image from a sea of formulaic events. Here…
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Mar 11
Review: The See See – psychedelia with attitude at The Lexington
The See See were part of a swirly psychedelia night at The Lexington on Pentonville Road two years ago, and they particularly caught my attention. (Also memorable were Canadian band Elephant Stone whose music is enriched with Rishi Dhir’s mesmerising sitar playing). Fast forward two years and we were back at The Lexington last week for The…
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Mar 5
Vinyl memories released: tell your Stylus Story at Earl Haig Hall
The intro of a song is all that’s needed for special memories to come flooding back. Just a bar or two and you find yourself catapulted back to a particular moment in time: whether funny or joyful, romantic or melancholic, it’s the music that will take you there. Many of us possess some of our favourites as…
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Feb 19
Review: Courtney Barnett at ACE hotel, Shoreditch
The Aussie-accented, country-tinged tones of Courtney Barnett’s songs have been floating over the Radio 6 music airwaves of late. Last Thursday was her second London appearance, this time at Ace Hotel, Shoreditch. Courtney takes keeps things minimal, walking on stage to plug all the leads in before she’s joined by her bass player and drummer. With no…
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Feb 12
The Earl Haig Hall revival in Crouch End: music and more
UPDATE 2019: Earl Haig Hall has now closed. Antic sold it on, it is now boarded up and its future is under review. Latest plans are for the building to become a children’s nursery. I will keep this post here as a memory of what was a much-needed and loved community bar/restaurant and venue for…
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Jan 30
Focus on folk music: Pete Seeger; Inside Llewyn Davis
There is a certain poignancy to the death this week of the great folk hero Pete Seeger, the singer and songwriter of protest songs who helped define the folk music landscape of the last century. There are several of his compositions that I remember from my childhood and they feel like traditional songs passed down through…
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Dec 31
The best French band right now: no, not Daft Punk. It’s Chinese Man
There’s a trip-hop Dixieland jazz-loving collective based in Marseilles in the south of France who I have been a big fan of for the past couple of years. Somewhat elusive and under the radar in the UK, the intriguing posse go by the name of Chinese Man. So who are they? To quote from their website:…
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Nov 22
The Orb 25th Anniversary, The Trades Hebden Bridge
The Trades in Hebden Bridge I decided would be the right place to experience The Orb for their 25th Anniversary Show. It felt appropriate to be somewhere intimate and immediate, friendly and just a bit off the wall. The Orb are scheduled to play near me at The Forum in Kentish Town, which is a…
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Nov 14
Review: 3 Daft Monkeys at the Half Moon, Putney
While some people play air guitar, I confess to air violin moments. Ideal material for this innocuous pastime: The Levellers, Peatbog Faeries, and Cornish trio 3 Daft Monkeys. I first discovered them at Towersey in 2011, followed by an autumn gig at the Half Moon pub in Putney. And here they are back again, two…
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Oct 14
Review: Crosby, Stills and Nash play Manchester Arena 2013
There’s a feeling of warmth and unmistakable pride here in Manchester as we await Crosby, Stills and Nash to make their entrance. For Graham Nash, it’s his homecoming gig – the Blackpool-born, Salford-raised kid who helped create hippy history. Carry On is the opener, and it’s those distinctive, urgent vocals of Steve Stills, rising and breaking…
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