Tags: Hit Club Records, Is Tropical, When O' When

Ever been lulled into a false sense of secruity? Cue, Is Tropical! Everything’s going along quite ambiently until a little shift in ethics, then you get a true introduction into Is Tropical signed to Hit Club Records. Just bloody check it out for God sake….

Tags: Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Reading Festival

It’s finally arrived, the DVD/CD combo that every bloody buggers going to have on their Christmas list. Cobain at his arguably creative peak and destructive saw Nirvana step up to the plate with this quite shambolically exquisite best. Check out the trailer below to the DVD;

Tags: Courtney Love, Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Reading Festival

Record Label: DGC Records

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Oh my, how the jealousy intensifies of the thought of missing Nirvana’s headline slot on the Friday night at Reading ‘92. But, as a mere spotty adolescent at the time, the chances were derisorily slim that the immeasurable impact they had that night would have had a significant premise in my think tank at that tender age. However, due to the release of this climatic DVD/CD combo, a joyous wa hey, yes indeed, wa hey is bellowed out! We get to relive Cobain at his most spasmodically enchanting, fronting the primal instigators of grunge music of the early 90s. The campsite that year was rife with rumours that year that Cobain was AWOL, rumours citing anything from an overdose, to marriage difficulties or that he was compelled to shun the show due to his displeasure of the limelight. That aside, the set was filled with mind-blowing grunge and sloppy indie-rock that came accustomed to Nirvana’s shows. Filled with most of ‘Nevermind’ and ‘Bleach’ their set was that of a greatest hits ensemble. The inclusion of bootleg gems ‘D7’ and ‘Spank Thru’ whetted the appetite further. But, nothing resonates as profoundly as their classic cuts, such as ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit, ‘Lithium’, ‘School’ and set closer ‘Territorial Pissings’. This showing came a year after ‘Nevermind’ an album that reset the aesthetics and expectations of modern pop music. And delivered Reading a Nirvana arguably at their artistic peak. Nirvana you live on in our hearts!

Tags: Fucked Up, Gay For Johnny Depp

Erm…Gay For Johnny Depp’s new video is exactly what it says on the tin, ‘Fucked Up’. Take a look for yourself, it is to say the least, very amusing! Anyway, got to go, time for the fifteenth play in a row.

Tags: 1997, Flood Of Red, Home Run

Airdrie sextet Flood Of Red have had quite an industrious internship into their musical education this year. In the video below we see the band perform their current single ‘Home Run, 1997′ acoustically. We hope you enjoy it!

Tags: Ghostrock, The Hope Of The States, The Northwestern

‘The Red, The White, The Black, The Blue’…ring a bell? Well, thank you Lord! Rising from the defunct, yet still smouldering ashes of Hope Of The States, those concerned seem to have got the ‘I wanna make music feeling’ again in the pit of their stomachs once more. And if you were a disciple of the indie smoozing HOTS don’t worry, its all very much the same musically. The Northwestern’s ‘Ghostrock’ EP is out now, so we thought we’d grab the guys for a quick chat about what we are to expect from them in the coming winter months…

What have you guys been up to since the days of Hope Of The States?

Writing songs, walking dogs, selling records, shifting stadium rock bands gear around, moving a few tonnes of dirt around, arguing.

Could we have a little background on The Northwestern and how it all started please…

We started recording a couple of weeks after hopeofthestates split up. Made a record over a couple of years, got bored with it, wrote some more songs, went out on tour.

First gig as The Northwestern?

Winchester Railway Inn. Was amazing to be playing again and to have people show up to see what we were doing after so long away. Did have to play after possibly the worlds worst ever sub limp bizkit style abomination though which sucked.

What’s your situation with labels at the minute, signed? Unsigned?

Unsigned but we are putting things out on Bloodbank, our label. Hopefully we will be putting out some of our other bands stuff at some stage too.

Describe The Northwestern’s sound in four words for our readers…

Fuzzy, guitar, disaster, nonsense…

The musician that made you pick up your instrument?

None really, I suppose Nirvana made me want to be in a band.

The music your parents used to listen to?

Everything apart from the Beatles. Beefheart/syd Barrett era pink floyd/Bruce Springsteen.

What influences outside of music have an impact on your songwriting?

Books and movies. Possibly more so in the past, I think I’m more insular in my influences these days, more stuff from when I was younger than new stuff. A lot of those slightly dark 80s kids films, Darkcrystal/The Goonies. Mainly for the weird atmospheres not anything specific.

What shows are the band looking forward to playing on your upcoming UK tour?

Any and all. I just really like playing shows. Oftentimes the ones I look forward to suck and the ones I’m dreading are sweet so…

Some quick ones;

Best band/artists you’ve had the pleasure of performing with or before?

A band called Inouk who supported hopeofthestates in the US were pretty cool.

24 or Lost?

Both, DVD boxsets are the worlds greatest achievement

Elvis Presley or Bob Dylan?

Bob Dylan always

Your favourite homecoming venue?

London Astoria (RIP)

Fresh Prince or Carlton Banks?

The butler dude

Night Rider or A-Team?

Airwolf

Vinyl or CD?

CDs because I can play them in my car.

The worst song on your iPod?

One of my old demos

The worst band name you’ve ever heard?

Think About Life

The tear jerking song in your collection?

Tom Waits- ‘Tom Trauberts Blues’

Tags: Brett Anderson, Hymn, Slow Attack, Suede, The Hunted, The Swan

Record Label: BA Songs

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Brit-pop icon and ex-frontman of Suede, Brett Anderson has somewhat gone from iconic winsome fella to forgotten elder statesmen singer/songwriter. ‘Slow Attack’ is his third studio album in as many years. And the former penning partner of Bernard Butler is no closer to resurrecting the toff-pop Suede were oh so good at. It’s a sombre, reflective insight into Anderson’s life  like in ‘Pretty Windows’ but one that could be a closing statement rather than a new beginning for him. With lashings of strings and plangent piano sections, Anderson’s armoury is reflective on how deep he digs in this swooning baste. The woodwind abound ‘The Swan’ and opener ‘Hymn’ is anything but the refulgent Bit-pop that pulsated through his veins at one point. With age, Anderson has entered into a lyrical demise with songs like in The Hunted, as he sings “She is the hunter, you are the hunted” a far cry from the days of ‘Animal Nitrate’ and ‘Beautiful Ones’. I’m afraid the glory days are disappearing rather rapidly amidst a thick smog of grey clouds. Less a ‘Slow Attack’ more a heart attack!

Tags: Enya, Kasms, Kate Bush, Rachel Callaghan, Zambri

Record Label: Unsigned

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NYC synth-pop five-piece Zambri are fronted by a swathe of beauty. It comes in the form of sisters Jessica and Cristi Jo Zambri on vocals. Where some may liken them instantly to Siouxsie for their spasmodic wails, a more immediate representation springs to the fore in Kasms Rachel Callaghan with her doomed bellows, which hunch neatly over the sisters vocals (refer to title track ‘Bang For Changes‘). However, their vocal versatility points frantically like a speedometer of a car accosted for a joy ride, pointing to many various other artists. This, their debut EP is formed upon a montage of industrial drums, sporadic rhythmic structures and an underlining pop sensibility amidst their punk proficiency. And as you stalk further into the EP, the influences gush out; Kate Bush and Enya-isms in ‘Let It Said’ and ‘Somebody’. The more electro enthused ‘Get Dressed’ adheres to the contemporary mass electro pushers out there. With the Zambri sisters enthusing their music with sometimes angelic, sometimes yowling vocals on a bed of apocalyptic synths, its a blend that may not seem palatable on record, but these sisters have an action plan and works better live. It’s not startlingly brilliant music but a mere introduction into NYC’s latest sister act nonetheless.

Tags: Gliss, Martin Klingman, Morning Light, Sleep, Victoria Cecilia

Record Label: Rykodisc/Cordless

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It’s all so fuckin’ bleary-eyed, in the world of LA trio Gliss’ devotion to aching, lingering fuzzed shoegazing and it’s wholly reminiscent of My Bloody Valentines ear shattering clamour. Yet this, floats along a little less raucously. Although they could hardly be dismissive of their musical roots either! It’s shoegazing ethics are primal, distorted and fuzzed up guitars bellow out municipal noise but maybe it’s worth considerably more admiration that has currently been tossed their way- this being Gliss‘ third studio album. The torment is obvious in the fractured structures and thwart lyrics, the effects pedal worn to the metal, languid purrs by Martin Klingman and Victoria Cecilia of broken souls- no more than in their crackingly hazy onslaught opener ‘Morning Light’. And for you bleary-eyed post rock/pysch mongers out there ‘Sleep’, like the title, may induce just that, exhibiting innate soothing riffs, it has a backbone of a mellower Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. ‘Beauty’ submerges itself in a little more affluence than the morbidity of the other aforementioned walls of sound that immerse any flicker of vocal prevalence. ‘Lovers In The Bathroom’s toned down, and sublime guitar parts, culminate in the bands best album to date. Simply no implosion here.