music

Bomb attack outside German music festival

/ James Fenney

ansbach bombing

Twelve people have been injured after an attacker detonated a nail bomb outside an open air music festival in the Bavarian town of Ansbach. The attacker was a 27 year old Syrian man who was denied asylum and faced deportation. He detonated the device after being denied entry to the festival for not having a ticket. Following the blast the public were evacuated from the area. Details are yet to emerge about the man’s motives and intentions, but this has been the latest in a string of attacks that have taken place in Germany and across western Europe.

Spotlight!: Trickster Guru

/ James Fenney

trickster guruThe brainchild of multi-instrumental singer/songwriter and producer Christopher Caplan, Trickster Guru is one of the most refreshingly eclectic projects to emerge in recent years. Originally conceived as a garage rock band it has now evolved beyond recognition thanks to it’s diverse melting pot of influences. ‘The Reminder’ combines the garage origins with a sizeable helping of glam, ‘Ghosts in the Night’ is a likeable slice of upbeat synthpop, ‘Little Butterfly’ is an indie experiment with hints of Peter Gabriel and ‘Problem Child’ blends R&B with electronica. A lesser artist would be swamped by all these different musical atmospheres swirling together but Trickster Guru rises above chaos and bends it to his will, making all these disparate elements become part of a bigger picture. Impossible to be tied down or pigeonholed, here we have an artist talented, ambitious and indeed just the right amount of crazy to make people of all walks of life sit up and pay attention.

Fans of Jack Garratt, Paolo Nutini, Everything Everything, Yeasayer and Little Scream should check out the new EP Problem Child out now

Top Tracks: Hannah Grace – Mustang

/ James Fenney

One of our Spotlight artists Hannah Grace is on a fast track to the top with her latest single. This wonderful Welsh singer/songwriter gives an electrifying performance with the furious blues anthem ‘Mustang’ which carries a message of being yourself and breaking free of the expectations that weigh you down. ‘Mustang’ is the title track of her latest EP which has been released ahead of her first ever headline UK tour. The music video features Irish actor Ferdia Walsh-Peelo who starred in the standout music movie of the year ‘Sing Street’, and needless to say these two rising talents are a perfect match. Hannah’s stunning and addictive vocals make this one of the best tracks of the year and it marks the next step of her meteoric rise.

Temple Of The Dog reunite for first ever tour

/ James Fenney

Grunge supergroup Temple Of The Dog, composed of members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, have announced that they will tour for the very first time to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of their one-off eponymous album. The project originally came about to honour the memory of Andrew Wood of Mother Love Bone who was a close friend and collaborator who died of a heroin overdose in 1990. As well as a five stop tour of the US the band will also be releasing a reissue of their album.

Must Own Albums: Alternative Rock part 2

/ James Fenney

the boatman's callNick Cave & The Bad Seeds – The Boatman’s Call

This marked a major change for Australia’s darkest and most influential music icon. Moving away from the fanciful character driven post-punk of his origins, Cave instead adopted a more minimalist approach with more intimate and personal lyrics. The sombre piano balladry of tracks such as ‘Into My Arms’ and ‘People Ain’t No Good’ resulted in the album received universal critical acclaim.

ManicStreetPreachers_TheHolyBibleManic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible

This was the band’s final album before the mysterious disappearance of lyricist and guitarist Richey Edwards. As he was dealing with severe depression and various complications at the time the subject matter is suitably dark, including serial killers, consumerism, fascism and the Holocaust. It remains one of the boldest albums ever made and is a lasting legacy to Richey’s memory.

VerveUrbanHymnsThe Verve – Urban Hymns

To this day Urban Hymns remains one of the UK’s best selling albums, thanks in part to it’s hit singles ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’. Boasting some impressively complex sonic textures in dabbles with everything from orchestral balladry, feedback fuelled rock and vivid psychedelica. It stands as one of the best British albums of the nineties and regularly appears in lists of the best albums of all time.

pj harveyP J Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea

With an impressively eclectic back catalogue, multi-instrumental singer/songwriter P J Harvey remains one of the premier figures of the genre. Stories is often considered the high point of her career and earned her the 2001 Mercury Prize. She also won the prize in 2011 for Let England Shake making her the only artist to have won the prestigious Mercury Prize twice!

Stageit: A new music revolution?

/ James Fenney

stageit logo

The music industry is well known for being averse to change, but despite this in the course of a few decades the way we listen to music has constantly evolved. From the heyday of vinyl, through tapes, CDs and downloads, all the way up to the advent of streaming which provides a vast vault of music at the push of a button. However in all that time the way we experience music in a live setting has changed very little. But now one pioneering company called Stageit has set in motion an idea that potentially could change the music industry using the wide reaching power of the internet. Continue reading →

Polaris Prize shortlist announced

/ James Fenney

polaris prize

The Polaris Music Prize, Canada’s equivalent of the Mercury Prize, has announced it’s shortlist of the best albums of the year from Canadian artists. The winner of the award and the $50000 prize will be decided by a panel of 196 music journalists and announced during the award gala on 19th September. The shortlist is as follows:

  • Black Mountain’s IV
  • Basia Bulat’s Good Advice
  • Grimes’ Art Angels
  • Carly Rae Jepsen’s E•MO•TION
  • Kaytranada’s 99.9%
  • Jessy Lanza’s Oh No
  • PUP’s The Dream Is Over
  • Andy Shauf’s The Party
  • U.S. Girls’ Half Free
  • White Lung’s Paradise