Previous experience has taught me that the addition of anything resembling a string section to a live show can only ever be a very good thing. In fact, just a single violin can do the trick, and luckily for me,…
Category: Reviews
Live: Polly & The Billets Doux @ The Living Room, Cambridge
The Living Room is a brilliant little evening of music that occurs (usually) on the first Friday of each month in the basement of a bistro in the less glamorous end of Cambridge town. It’s probably the city’s best-kept musical…
Album: Regina Spektor – Live In London
Throughout Regina Spektor Live In London you can hear one girl squealing madly at the start of every song. Like the audience do at the Xfactor, when they realise Olly Murs is about to murder Killing Me Softly or somesuch.…
Album: Eels – Tomorrow Morning
Being a devoted Eels fan can be pretty hard on the heart. The bitter, lonesome, near-despairing End Times was the eighth album in Mark Oliver Everett’s discography, and bore witness to the tearing of sinew and bone that comes at…
Live: The Mariner’s Children & Tristram @ The Cellar, Oxford
“Hi there, big empty room,” announces Benedict Rubenstein, lead singer and guitarist (and banjo and mandolin player) of The Mariner’s Children, as the seven-strong group carefully position themselves on The Cellar’s relatively small stage. Indeed, the previous three bands of…
Live: Standard Fare @ The Wilmington, London
They sneaked onto the stage in the most inconspicuous of ways, which, in The Wilmington Arms, is a pretty fine achievement, and that set the tone of the night for Standard Fare. Previous gigs supporting Allo Darlin’ and at Indietracks…
EP: Benjamin Francis Leftwich- A Million Miles Out
A Million Miles Out is the first EP from Communion compilation alumnus Benjamin Francis Leftwich. The opening line of first track ‘Atlas Hands’ is ‘take me to the docks there is a ship without a name there, and it is…
EP: Shambles Miller Sails the Clockwork Sea
Shambles Miller’s Shambles Miller Sails the Clockwork Sea is a collection of four direct, glass-swinging ditties. The EP lacks refinement, but makes up for it with plenty of chutzpah. The opener, ‘Strike!’, is another volume in the proud tradition of…
Album: Snowblink – Long Live
Snowblink’s Long Live is a threatening album. That is to say, this completely superb album threatens to surprise the listener with unexpected and appropriate moments. It is clear from the beginning — a track called ‘Rut and Nuzzle’ — that Daniela…
Live: Lissie @ Heaven, London
Lissie played a sold out gig at London’s Heaven, but not without the help of her trusty superglue. She followed a storming set from Brighton four piece Ramona, who were first to take to the venue’s lofty stage. They provided a…