Two Gallants - (LIVE REVIEW) Leeds Brudenell 23rd February 2015

It was with a shiver I ventured out into a bleak and rainy night to witness San Franciscan duo Two Gallants swing by the Brudenell, admittedly knowing very little about them except for their reputation for being perhaps bleaker than the evening. With a capacity crowd queuing long before doors opened, my interest was well and truly piqued.

February Beer52 Review And Music Pairing

This month as we delve into February's Beer52 box of goodies we'rel taken on a beer fueled journey across England, Belgium, Spain and Wales. Some delicious golden and blonde ales are nestled nicely  alongside IPA's, Chocolate ales and more. In return for Beer52's generosity we'll take you along on our trip and give you a quick rundown of the beer, it's brewery location, the taste, strength and so on.

Corbu: Artist feature and interview

For a musician, Jonathan Graves is incredibly preoccupied with the visual. The multifaceted, many-layered and hauntingly beautiful sounds he conjures in the name of Corbu – the band of which he is the undisputed leader – will, more often than not, start and end with images.

Drawing inspiration from his dreams, Graves writes from a picture inside his head, trying to craft a song which transmits that image through the listener’s ear and into their mind’s eye. It’s an ambitious approach, the success of which is impossible to gauge, but it is easy to quantify the sheer quality of the mesmerising music Graves uses as a vehicle, which swoops through lush soundscapes in a movie-sampling, brain-spinning, eye-opening Technicolor world sitting on the far side of indie pop.

Public Service Broadcasting 'The Race For Space'

PSB created quite a stir 18 or so months ago with their unusual debut album ‘Inform, Educate, Entertain’, a unique blend of indie and electronica put to soundtracks from old newsreel films. Their 9-track follow-up is concept album ‘The Race for Space’, dealing with the Cold War period when the USA and Soviet Union went toe to toe in their quest to explore the heavens. 

Little Lapin: Artist Feature and chat

During this cold snap it’s always handy to have either something to look forward to when the weather picks up, or some music to act as a comfort blanket, giving the listener a reminder of endless warm summer days (all the more rare if you’re talking about Yorkshire). Fortunately, the hauntingly fragile rootsy compositions put together by singer songwriter Lucy Cioffi, aka Little Lapin, are more than able to provide just the midwinter musical antidote we need.

The Wave Pictures 'Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon'

Averaging an album a year since their move to the Big Smoke in 2006, The Wave Pictures have certainly made up in longevity and proliferation what they have lacked in commercial success. Produced by their hero Billy Childish, on entirely vintage equipment, this longplayer may be the one that changes the pattern.

Duke Garwood 'Heavy Love'

Duke Garwood is the multi-instrumentalist genius that has graced our blues scene for years: with four albums down and a new one in the midst, Garwood is one of those diamonds in the rough that is only just coming to surface. 

Clemency 'You've Got The Fire' EP

Sunny piano-led indie-pop doesn’t sound like the most exciting thing in the world, and that’s because, well, it isn’t. Depending on who you talk to, anything from a Deal or No Deal marathon to finding an extra gherkin on your Big Mac is more exciting, but that’s sort of the point; it’s a straightforward genre which in its way might be just as resistant to change as classic punk. But with less spitting.

Hawk Eyes 'Everything Is Fine'

It doesn’t seem 5 minutes since I was interviewing the supremely affable lads in what was then ‘Chickenhawk’, in the run up to the band’s first (and if memory serves me correctly, somewhat problematic) recorded release. During the intervening 6 years, lead singer/guitarist Paul Astick and guitarist Rob Stephens have tinkered with the line-up, changed their name to ‘Hawk Eyes’ and knocked out a couple of belting records, ‘Modern Bodies’ and ‘Ideas’, leaving them on the verge of breaking through to wider acclaim.

January Beer52 review and music pairing

Welcome to January's edition of our craft beer review courtesy of Beer52 and our music pairing feature. Each month we review a case of eight different beers sent to us by the beer discovering adventurers at Beer52.com  This award winning beer delivery company is the most popular and fastest growing craft beer-to-your-door service out there.