Since their inception in 1999, and across ten albums Japan’s Mono have been an enlightening creative force, one that is never afraid to usher in new textures and layers in to their sound and adopt experimentation. Rarely sitting still in one straightforward sound, Mono have dabbled with a range from greater orchestration to more experimental and ambient aspects, and are a much beloved treasure as a result.Continue reading
It’s a name that will be unfamiliar to many but London-based Alex ‘A.A.’ Williams is destined to rise above the radar before too long. With YouTube comparisons with Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle already boosting her reputation, the fact that Holy Roar Records are releasing eponymous EP A.A. Williams is a testament to the growing sense of expectation.Continue reading
Putting together a good bill is a difficult task. Sometimes the stars can align, schedules are free and the world gets Trivium with Code Orange, Power Trip and Venom Prison. Other times you get Dizzee Rascal supporting Muse. Yes, that did actually happen. When a band as fluid with genre boundaries as Enter Shikari announces a tour, wild speculation breaks out about who will be joining them, or indeed, why a certain band is on the bill. Tonight is no exception as a varied line up graces the frequently gig-bereft Leicester City.Continue reading
Confession time: I came late to the letlive. party. So late, in fact, that the band were just about to call it a day when I decided that they were, you know, more than just pretty good. Yes, that kind of late. Despite the break-up, and whatever the reasons and rationales behind it, you always had a sense that an artist as talented and inquisitive as Jason Aalon Butler would soon return to the music scene in some form or another. And so it has proven with Fever 333, his latest project and passion.Continue reading
It has been three years since Scandinavian-based duo A Swarm Of The Sun released the critically acclaimed album The Rifts. The time taken between records serves them well, with each release being more absorbing than its predecessor. The Woods (both self-released/Version Studio) is no exception, taking the band down a distinctly bleaker path, with a slow and menacing atmosphere that evokes a sense of unease akin to the feeling being watched by something unseen and malevolent.Continue reading
Concluding our 2018 In Review guest posts from some of the UK’s rock/metal/alternative music publicists is Becky Laverty of Pioneer Music Press and Cappio Records. Not only does Becky work with a fine selection of the finest alternative, progressive, dark, occult, doomy and, primarily, artistic bands, her work with Damnation and The Roadburn Festival are the stuff of legends. In addition, she also takes time to write advice pieces for bands and others involved in the music industry. She is, indeed, the goodest of eggs and future pub quiz champion of the UK (2019)… Continue reading
Jarboe, or Jarboe La Salle Devereaux as she is known to her accountant, is also the other founding member of the legendary Swans. So, no pressure there, then. She’s also shockingly busy, with a looooong discography, and a new ambient/experimental rock album, Cut Of The Warrior (Translation Loss Records) out this month. But is it her swan song, or will it break this reviewer’s arm?Continue reading
Ulver’s Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (House of Mythology) stands as a kind of unofficial conclusion to the vision set out in 2017’s The Assassination of Julius Caesar, comprising a selection of cuts from the final draft, and select live recordings.Continue reading
And so concludes a very interesting approach to releasing an album, one that, I believe has serious merit to it. Released in four instalments throughout the year as a quadrilogy of EP’s In The Future Your Body Will Be The Furthest Thing From Your Mind (Failure Music/Pledge), Californian alternative rockers Failure has come up with a way to appeal to the immediacy of today’s playlist culture while also getting material to their fans as soon as it is ready, with no long lead-ins, no convoluted or extended marketing campaigns, just “here’s some new material” at regular intervals throughout the year.Continue reading
It’s long past the time of day when Thomas Giles (aka Tommy Rogers of Between The Buried And Me) began being able to do whatever the hell he wanted. To be fair, to say his day job band has moments of eclecticism is like saying that Brexit negotiations have been a little bit difficult. And that diversity of spirit, of zig-zag, is absolutely at the core of fourth solo offering Don’t Touch The Outside (Sumerian Records), a record that is everything and nothing, and that is laissez-faire in respect of genre while being incredibly focused in trying to keep the listener moving.Continue reading
