Oxo Foxo – Disguise EP
Legal Disclaimer: This is 85% a true story.
“Let him loose.”
I’m sitting in a cold room and a burlap sack has been removed from my face. Behind two floodlights, two lanky fellas are striking a menacing pose, cracking their knuckles. The silence is deadly and then they put on hunting caps. (more…)
Review : Live at Leeds 2013
“It might be too early for this” I say to a friend whilst opening a Foster’s Ladler (2% ABV, with lemon) with my keys “but I guess it’s an industry thing.” (more…)
Review: Counting Crows @ Manchester Apollo
It’s weird how life works. The one band that means so much to the book that your life becomes sometimes waxes and wanes in your attention, but when it’s back, it hits hard and fast.
In the case of Counting Crows, my interest waned once but when they came back, they never left. Heck, even revisiting the albums where I decided to let go, it became clearer that it was a question of not being the right age. (more…)
Invite: Mudcats Blues Trio + The Payroll Union + Canyon Family @ The Harley
Hey, you! Don’t listen to that, listen to this… wait, no, that’s Madness‘ ‘One step beyond’.
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
Now, what this rambling post is actually aiming for is to invite you to a special gig we have curated with the people of Xray Horse. On May 11th, at The Harley, for just 4 quid, you can see this rather dashing bands:
Canyon Family – Dreamy Americana, in the tradition of Mazzy Star, Ida and Red House Painters. Utterly wonderful.
The Payroll Union – Proof positive that history can be both informative and entertaining, their bold show is always a sight for sore eyes. We’ve seen them before.
Mudcats Blues Trio – Simply Biblical in both strength and stage presence. Proper Blues. We reviewed them, too.
Wake up to Mazes
I think I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy this pretty nifty band and it’s been a while (2 months) since I’ve written about them. Since the cheque has cleared, I thought about re-posting this video.
Just kidding about the cheque. We won’t sell out. Not because of principles, but because nobody wanted to bribe us.
But back to Mazes. They are currently touring the continent with Veronica Falls (add Fear of Men and you’ve got a match made in Heaven) and this track, ‘Skulking’, gets much love from us (okay, me) at Sloucher HQ.
Follow the band on Twitter (they are nice fellas), give them a like on Friendface, get a lovely vinyl and keep an eye out for a more in detail feature about them soon. How good is that solo? Supergreen good, that’s how good.
Singles Review: Owen, Hey Sholay, Wampire, Black Moth, Witch Hunt, Olof Arnalds, Wax Fang, The Crimea
Greetings, readers who appreciated the nods to the classic G.I. Joe* cartoon in G.I. Joe Retaliation! Welcome to another edition of our “reviewing releases late again” single reviews column.
In honour to our recent re-obsession with Sigur Ros‘ ( ), we are nicknaming our reviewers after each track. If this doesn’t make sense, then you xylo no fi lo, you so, so no filo.
Ah, singles, right:
Wake up to Menace Beach
There’s a point in the Tampico-Mante highway in México where the suburban wasteland disappears in a haze of red streetlamps and the sempiternal, eerie glow of Madero’s Refinery is just a red spot in your rearviewmirror. (more…)
Live at Leeds – The Unconference & Gig recommendations.
It’s almost upon us. We’ve mentioned it before and now the clock is about to strike midnight. No, wait, that sounds ominous.
Anyways, Live at Leeds 2013 is upon us and Friday kicks the proceedings with Unconference. (more…)
Gig: Scaramanga Six, Cut Your Wings + Great Deeds
I swear I’m not making this up, but I had a feeling this gig was going to be something weird. It wasn’t the fact that I made a rather good pollo con mole for tea (see above picture) but the fact that a few minutes before I left the house, a horse-drawn carriage just passed by my house. Standard. (more…)
Tales from the other side
Typical ‘Record Store Day’ get up (or so I’ve been told) of 5am, get dressed, throw (quite literally) on some make up and BAM. I’m ready to say hello to the world. May I add, this lasted a mere 30 seconds… (more…)
An open letter to Innocean and Hyundai
Dear Hyundai and your advertising agency, Innocean,
This is my dad.
His name is Geoff. He married my mum in the eighties and had two little girls, by all accounts the loves of his life.
This is the note he left when he committed suicide in his car:
And this is your new ad.
As an advertising creative, I would like to congratulate you on achieving the visceral reaction we all hope for.
Amongst marbles and memories
I arrived and the city was alone, I mean alone, alone. Like that intimacy of a static shock, that emerges from the centre of silence to the very tip of each hair on the body. Like when you touch the cold toe of your father to realize that he is dead. No turning back, his first day as a dead person. (more…)
Was this your celebrated summer? – RSD 2013
Single section at Vinyl Demand
“A record store, like Jesus and a puppy, are for life, not for a one day celebration.” So texted my associated editor, Orestes P. Xistos when I asked him if he’d join me in filming the people queuing outside Record Collector, a shop smack in the heart of the now dying Broomhill area of Sheffield, England. (more…)
Gig: Low Duo album launch (support from The Hudares & David J. Roch)
Funny thing, album launches. Especially when Low Duo is involved. Merely a month ago, I saw them open the night for Screaming Maldini‘s album launch (a rather loud and splenderous affair) and now it was their turn to offer us a regal spectacle in the only place in Sheffield that does a decent Reuben sandwich, The Great Gatsby. (more…)
Blog : Top 10 Crap Number One hits
When the news reached me I just shook my head in despair: Ant and Dec had grabbed the number 1 spot in the UK charts with ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’. The track wasn’t good in 1994 when it only climbed to number 9 in the UK charts and it still isn’t good now some nineteen years later. All this aside, the duo sold an incredible 84,000 copies of the single in just a week, out selling other chart toppers The Saturdays, P!nk and Justin Timberlake. (more…)
Interview – Various Cruelties
Meet the London based trio concocting charming tunes made up of punchy pop and nostalgia. (more…)
