CMAT - Leeds Stylus, 21 November 2023 (LIVE REVIEW)

Continuing the trend of women taking over as the driving force in pop music, behold the sudden emergence of the inordinately talented Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson. CMAT (for short) is a sharp-witted flame haired Irish singer songwriter fast becoming one of the hottest live tickets in town. The Dubliner is behind a string of startlingly accomplished country-tinged pop singles including the beautifully expansive ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy Baby!” and ‘Where Are Your Kids Tonight?” the latter featuring John Grant on backing vocals. 

Bob Vylan - Leeds Stylus, November 13th 2023, (LIVE REVIEW)

Fiercely DIY and independent driven, London duo Bob Vylan have chosen their own supports for this tour. (First on are fellow Londoners ‘Kid Bookie’ - seething metallers, champion swearers and besties with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. Rap-rock and nu-metal will never totally be eradicated judging by this display. Cardiff’s ‘Panic Shack’ are the antidote. Four fifths female, an authentic punk snarl mixed with a keen sense of fun and most importantly, a breath of piss-taking fresh air on stage.  

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard 'Therapy' (SINGLE REVIEW)

PHOTO: Charlie Harris

Powered by an infectious pulsating groove, ‘Therapy’ is the latest single from Cardiff power pop outfit ‘Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard.’ Continuing the quartet’s migration from their Pooh Sticks influenced sun-drenched pop to an edgier, meatier, more industrial sound, first heard in previous single release ‘Chew,’ the new song’s cathartic subject matter influenced by lead singer Tom Rees’s personal experience. 

Lambrini Girls share new video for ‘Boys In The Band’

Lambrini Girls share new video for ‘Boys In The Band’ 

video here

Heavy Lungs, Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, October 12th 2023 (LIVE REVIEW)

Bad-timing and life’s general shit-show threatens to stand between me and a date with Bristol’s Heavy Lungs at Hyde Park’s Book Club, but with minutes to spare we are united and the band are primed and ready. You’ll quite possibly know the name of their singer - Danny Nedelko, yes he of that IDLES song fame. But Heavy Lungs are so much more than that as tonight proves. 

Blonde Redhead ‘Sit Down For Dinner’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

It is 30 years since claustrophobic New York three-piece Blonde Redhead appeared kicking and screaming (and that is just what went on between the band members) and almost a decade since their last release ‘Barragán’, almost proved the nail in the coffin for one of North America’s more daring experimental outfits. 

Slow Pulp ‘Yard’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

 

Remember when albums used to be just 10 tracks long and lasted just over half an hour? Windy City groovers Slow Pulp are of the opinion that less is more on their expertly crafted, melancholic yet simultaneously throwaway new release ‘Yard’. 

Anna Erhard - Leeds Brudenell Social Club, Sep 25th 2023 (LIVE REVIEW)

 

Joining the post-gig queue at the merch table, waiting for my turn to grab a minute with tonight’s headliner Anna Edhard, I listen in as the 6music Dads before me politely purchase their records and shirts and thank her for coming to Leeds. 

Nation of Language ‘Strange Disciple’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

 

Sometimes the sound of a penny dropping can ring as loudly as a firework in certain ears. For Nation of Language, a lightbulb flicked on as the New York trio looked out over the crowds gathering to see them play in 2021, the post-pandemic giddiness which brought live music back with a bang. 

Minor Conflict ‘Bright Lights, Dead City’ (EP REVIEW)

 

 

Unconventional West Country alt-pop quartet Minor Conflict are yet another one of those bands fusing pop with avant garde with quirky additional instrumentation thrown in for good measure. 

Locate S, 1 ‘Wicked Jaw’ (Album review)

Despite slithering away from any consistency of genre, there’s no sense of a blindfold-and-dartboard approach on Locate S,1’s third album, which careens from bossa nova to psych-rock with a grace so impressive you quickly stop noticing it at all.

Osees - Leeds Brudenell Social Club, May 31st 2023

Formerly Thee Oh Sees and Oh Sees plus numerous other incarnations, the legendary California outfit now simply go by the moniker Osees. Which is to the point, as are the twenty plus songs in a set tonight that is electrifying from start to finish. 

Billie Marten - Leeds Brudenell , May 20th 2023 (LIVE REVIEW)

Having experienced hundreds of live shows over the years, in all that time, I could probably count on one hand the number of occasions a band or performer failed to return stage front for an encore. That was until, the spiteful armoured bollock Covid wreaked its havoc, with every post pandemic gig I’ve attended since, suddenly bereft of an encore. 

Quasi - Leeds Brudenell, May 1st 2023 (LIVE REVIEW)

It’s a quarter century since I first tripped over Quasi, a formerly husband and wife duo peddling a slightly cartoonish yet strangely alluring Rock-Si-Chord powered indie-pop, the instrument in question producing a phat-as-phuq sound, somewhere in between Wurlitzer, Rhodes and Harpsichord. Their superb break-up track ‘I Never Want to See You Again’ graced many a late 1990s music magazine compilation although I have absolutely no recollection of their support set before Elliott Smith’s unforgettable 1999 Manchester University show which I was supremely fortunate to witness, funny that.  

boygenius ‘the record’ (album review)

“Supergroup” feels like one of the most loaded terms in music. It’s a statement of fact, but one which carries a potent subtext of inevitable creative differences and clashing egos, underwhelming output and bitter recriminations – in a word, disharmony. But boygenius, the collaboration between Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, is the very definition of harmony and respect, a united front against the concept of “women with guitars” as a genre. 

Fidlar ‘That’s Life’

Four years can feel like a lifetime, and in few places are 48 months so keenly felt as in punk rock. You can do a lot of growing up in that time, could end up drinking a lot less alcohol and, at least in terms of this particular genre, get a lot more boring. 

Quasi ‘Breaking The Balls Of History’ (album review)

Quirky West Coast duo Quasi have been intermittently ploughing their cerebral psyche pop furrow for three decades now. Their 10th long player, the eagerly awaited ‘Breaking the Balls of History’, sees the former spouses Janet Weiss (Drums, Vocals) and Sam Coomes (Keys, Guitars, Vocals) reunited in the studio after a decade or so, the intervening years spent doing a million and one other musical projects, most notably Weiss’s involvement with Sleater-Kinney.