music

Spotlight!: Scout Killers

/ James Fenney

scout killers

This Bath based band have a clear idea of who they want to be. With the Eddie Vedder-esque vocals of Scott Cox and the duelling guitar interplay of Julien Morrez and Beau Stevens, they were destined to create masterful, hard hitting alternative rock. Though for the most part they channel Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, they drift into heavy metal territory on ‘The Rains’, manage to blend indie rock with a hint of Tool on ‘Between the Lines’ and create great atmospheric build on ‘Honey’. They draw from all the right influences and certainly have the talent to go far. With each new release they edge closer to defining their sound and with new material ready to unleash it won’t be long until they are snapped up by a major label.

Scout Killers release their latest single ‘Rip Me Apart’ on 28th March and will be touring the UK in the beginning of April. Be sure to check them out!

Restricted Access Albums: A worrying trend

/ James Fenney

tidal

These days more than ever music is all about business. Less about the art and more about the money, which has sadly gotten far worse since the advent of streaming services. A world where all music is readily available to everyone at the touch of a button is a music mogul’s worst nightmare. As such the industry has been coming up with more and more nefarious ways to squeeze some extra pennies out of us, the latest of which involves making albums only available to an exclusive group. Continue reading →

Must Own Albums: American Alternative

/ James Fenney

surfer-rosaPixies – Surfer Rosa

In the same way that The Stone Roses acted as a catalyst for Britpop in the UK in the 90s, the Pixies kickstarted alternative rock in the US. Though their debut album had modest sales, most of the people who purchased it seemed to forever changed by the experience. They were on of the biggest influences on the exploding alternative scene and Kurt Cobain used this album as a template for Nirvana’s Nevermind.

SonicYouth-DaydreamNationSonic Youth – Daydream Nation

For their final album before signing on with a major label, Sonic Youth decided to give it their all. Writing and recording in long and often improvised jam sessions to try and capture their live sound, the end result was an innovative and enthralling double album. It stunned critics across the globe and was a revolutionary masterpiece that helped define a generation.

Mellon-Collie-and-the-Infinite-Sadness-by-the-Smashing-PumpkingsThe Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

One of the most ambitious albums in rock music; a double album (triple album in vinyl format) that lasts over 2 hours. With growing tensions in the band and everyone sensing the end, they tried to cram every single idea they had into one album. Rather than being almost solely written and recorded by frontman Billy Corgan like their previous albums, the band struggled to work together to create something special.

jeff-buckley-graceJeff Buckley – Grace

Even with such a short career spanning just this one album, Jeff Buckley is considered one of the greatest singers of all time. His rendition of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ is one of the most famous pieces of music ever recorded. He tragically drowned before releasing a follow up, and so Grace remains his lasting legacy. One can only wonder what more amazing music he could have created if he was still with us.

NME Awards 2016

/ James Fenney

NME Awards 2016

Britain’s premier music magazine has held the most riotous awards ceremony of the year thus far. Foals kicked off proceedings with an electrifying performance of ‘What Went Down’, the title track of what turned out to be album of the year. Belwood favourites Wolf Alice won best live band and best track for ‘Giant Peach’. Coldplay somehow won the Godlike Genius award but had little time to celebrate as Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes trashed their table during his live performance. There were surprises to be found as The Maccabees won best British band and Run The Jewels won best international band, each having faced some stiff competition. The girls reigned supreme in the solo categories with Charlie XCX and Taylor Swift winning best British and international solo artists respectively.

Coldplay to headline Glastonbury

/ James Fenney

coldplay

Following on from their performance at America’s superbowl, Coldplay have been announced as the first Glastonbury headliner. The band, who will close the festival on the Sunday night, will now become the first act to headline 4 times having also topped the bill in 2002, 2005 and 2011. Coldplay have received a rather cold reception with the band being described as too boring and as a lazy choice by the festival organisers. The other headliners are said to also be British bands although they, along with the rest of the line-up, have yet to be announced.

Grammy Awards 2016

/ James Fenney

Grammys-2016

The Grammy awards have been and gone for another year and what an utter shambles they were. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars won Record of the year for ‘Uptown Funk’, Ed Sheeran won Song of the year with ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and Taylor Swift won Album of the year with ‘1989’. Between them they also won all the pop categories. Swift and Sheeran should not have even been among the nominations as their albums both came out in 2014, which is downright disrespectful to the people who actually released new music this year and are more deserving of recognition. Especially considering they had already been nominated last year. Appalling pop monstrosity Meghan Trainor picked up best new artist and Muse picked up best rock album despite Drones being hands-down the band’s worst album.

There were a couple of silver linings amongst the multitude of dark clouds: Alabama Shakes had a successful night picking up best rock song, best rock album and best alternative album. (Although strictly speaking they shouldn’t have been in both rock and alternative categories!) There were a number of fitting tributes to musicians that we have lost including Lady Gaga’s frantic Bowie medley with Nile Rodgers and Alice Cooper’s supergroup The Hollywood Vampires performing ‘Ace of Spades’ in tribute to Lemmy. As a whole though it has been one of the worst awards in recent years ever since the nominations were announced. The Grammys need to buck their ideas up for next year.

British band killed in car crash

/ James Fenney

All four members of the upcoming indie band Viola Beach and their manager have died in a car crash in Sweden. The band was travelling after performing at the Where Is The Music? festival in Stockholm when their vehicle fell 80ft through the gap in a drawbridge. Eyewitnesses state that the car seemed to ignore or fail to notice all warnings and barriers. The band had released their debut single last year and had performed at Reading and Leeds. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the band and their manager.

Spotlight!: Spring King

/ James Fenney

spring king

Manchester based indie project Spring King are part of an exclusive club. Few other bands can lay claim to being part of history before they have released their debut. The band’s spirited song ‘City’ was the first track ever played on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station by none other than Zane Lowe. That quite an honour for a band with such humble origins. It started out as a side project for drummer, vocalist and songwriter Tarek Musa, who recorded tracks in his mother’s old sewing room with the drum kit in the bathroom.  With such a massive platform to help spring them up into the limelight, and now with the backing of a major label, all eyes are on Spring King to see if they can live up to the hype.

Fans of Gengahr, Blossoms, FIDLAR and Catfish & the Bottlemen should check out their latest single ‘Rectifier’.