Glastoblog!

Top of the afternoon to ya!

As anyone who has in any way crossed my path in the past week you may know that last weekend I attended a mass gathering in the middle of a gigantic farm in Somerset to watch a load of musicians frolick around varyingly-sized fields and enjoy some well-earned merriment. This was Glasto Effing Bury and here's a little run-down of the bands I saw and the general highs and lows (there weren't actually any lows but you can't just say general highs) over the weekend.

Friday 

After a Thursday night in the dance area, experiencing sets from the 2 Bears and T.Williams along with Glastonbury's own answer to Propaganda, the morning promised our first experience of the Pyramid Stage and all it had to offer - kicking off with three Jewish sisters and a random drummer who no one really cares about, all harbouring bags and bags of sass.

HAIM - The weekend couldn't have gone off with more of a bang if you'd set off a shit load of dynamite. Haim were the BBC's sound of 2012 and this performance made it easy to understand why. Their presence is constant and uplifting and they interlink their more well-known hits with the jams and periods of hard-ass drumming which give their live shows a real standout feel. An absolute treat.

JAKE BUGG - A disappointment from start to finish. Jake was clearly nervous which is utterly fair enough from someone who consistently has the complexion of a moody teenager on the way up to his bedroom but he approached the nerves in the totally wrong way. While other evidently-nervous acts I viewed over the weekend (see Jagwar Ma) were more willing to acceept them, Jake's attempts to hide the nerves made him appear sullen and almost rude. Undoubtable tunes like 'Seen It All' and 'Lightning Bolt' prompted big sing a longs but lil' Jakey has much to learn about big performances. My advice - don't hide the nerves, embrace them.

THE LUMINEERS - I absolutely love these guys and they didn't disappoint. By no means one hit wonders livng off the proceeds of a popular E-On advert, their debut self-titled album boasts tune after tune and these were replicated beautifully on this sunny Friday afternoon as I sat at the Other Stage munching on a six pound falafel. A band perfect for festivals, the performance was replete with energy and emotion and before I knew it it was being closed off perfectly with 'Stubborn Love', my personal album highlight. There was also the chance to hear some new stuff.

TAME IMPALA - I had the pleasure of watching the Australian trip-rockers in Sheffield back at the end of 2012 and the night ranks highly in my top ten gigs list. This particular performance had all the technical capability of that night in South Yorkshire but was ever so slightly self-indulgent. Lead singer Kevin Parker took the jamming part of the set a bit too far and appeared to be almost wasting time when he could have been exhibiting one of the many many tunes the Impalas have to offer from 2010's Innerspeaker or NME's number one album of 2012 Lonerism. However closer and fan favourite 'Half Full Glass of Wine' will never disappoint for as long as I live and the intro chords are still echoing round my head as I type.

ALT-J - Attracting one of the biggest crowds the Other Stage saw all weekend, the most pretentious band in the history of pretense looked brimming with confidence and were highly impressive. Their sets remain a bit wooden and they should really start experimenting with some of their live songs in terms of both order and tempo but not too much to complain about really.

FOALS - These guys are fucking mental. My most looked forward to band of the weekend, they set their intentions out from start to finish and didn't quieten for a second. New-album highlight 'Late Night' was an especial treat but the balance of the set was perfect and highly uplifting and reaffirmed Foals status as an essentially 'live band'. Watch out for the manner in which lead singer Yannis Phillipakis nods his head forward while lost in a solo, he takes the duck walk to whole new levels. While me and my crew missed the closing couple of tracks , closer 'Two Steps Twice' (as watched by moi the day after I got home on iPlayer) looked like it had all the capabilities to bring the house down... had there been a house present.

ARCTIC MONKEYS - Not too much to say on the Monkeys that hasn't been said already. This was my fourth time seeing them (fifth coming up in October) but it never ceases to amaze me just how tight they remain as a band. They opened with a teaser of how album number five may well end up sounding in the form of  'Did I wanna Know'. Bar that, the set included one more teaser and tunes from their recent and more distant back catalogue. A symphonic version of 'Mardy Bum' was as compelling as it was unexpected and a particularly touching moment came when Alex ordered his adoring fans to sing happy birthday to his mum (who's name continues to escape me). The perfect end to a first day of what I hope will be many.

Saturday

The weather came out to play in earnest on Saturday as thousands of slightly tubby middle-aged men and women set out their deck chairs in the front rows of the Pyramid Stage as early as midday to prepare for the coming of one of the biggest bands of the century. The Excitement was rippling through Worthy Farm.

JAGWAR MA - My day began with an Australian band in the John Peel tent who I've been keeping tabs on for a while. The lead singer looked incredibly overrawed but he worked with it, lost himself in the music and fast became a source of adulation for the crowd. This is an up and coming psych-rock duo who's music has already been touted by Noel Gallagher as 'more important than an Oasis reunion' and as I left the tent the phrase 'that was fucking fantastic' echoed round the crowd , making me feel a little as if I'd just been viewing an early set by the Gallaghers myself.

AZAELIA BANKS - I've never been a huge fan but boy does she put on a show. After the initial shock of seeing her weird contact lenses, Banks showed off a variety of tracks from her records of which I'm told she has many but there was also a certain recognition that she needed to break the performance up, allowing her sassy dancers time to strut their stuff and giving her DJ a slice of the limelight while she was taking breaks. Clad in brown spandex and a spiky green suit, Azaelia was one of the surprises of the weekend.

PRIMAL SCREAM - We had a bit of a break between Azaelia and the evenings entertainment (some in my camp took it too far and partook in a mass three and a half hour nap which spanned the entirety of the Stones set) and next up was Primal Scream. I only caught the back-end of this performance which was rich with energy and served up a slice of the album which put these moody Scotsmen on the map but what was clearer than anything was that lead singer Bobby Gillespie was utterly wankered. As the crowd moved less and less, his frustration grew more and more ending with a pleading wail of 'come on you fuckers!' Enjoyable nonetheless.

ROLLING STONES - The main event was here and boy was it worth it. All the angst of a two hour wait melted away when Jagger and co rolled on stage and launched into 'Jumping Jack Flash'. What followed was a lengthy set replete with variety and technical innovation. All the tunes were there, 'Gimme Shelter' was magnificent, 'Sympathy with the Devil' came accompanied with a fire-shooting bird and 'You can't always get what you want' proved to be a real tear-jerker. I don't confess to be anywhere near the world's biggest Stones fan but to enjoy this performance you really didn't have to be, you just had to love music.

Sunday

I awoke with a start Sunday morning in a tiny crevice of a tent pod that should fit two but was at that point harbouring four. We'd spent the evening before at Glastonbury's clubbing 'district' Shangri-La and to anyone who's been to Glasto but hasn't made it there then you need to sort yourselves out. My immediate thought was that the blister I'd slowly been developing on my small left toe was now covered in blood and somehow a small trace of urine but I put this out my mind and focused on a final day which had come around all too fast. First port of call was the reggae tent.

BLUE KING BROWNS - Whenever you get a spare couple of hours and the weather is nice, the reggae area is always a shout. At around 4 in the afternoon I happened upon this multi-insturmental Australian reggae troop and spent the next hour staring in awe. For a start the lead singer is a babe but beyond that their  blend of politically driven music and chilled-out reggae beats made for perfect listening and they were also there on a slight ulterior motive. Towards the back-end of the set a freedom fighter from a province of Indonesia called West Papua which is under autocratic rule was brought on stage and told to regale his experiences. It was a moving moment and the crowd loved it as the troupe promoted a cause incredibly close to their hearts.I hadn't heard of West Papua before the performance and so it was proof in itself that music can really bring people together and make a difference.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN - The perfect festival band on the late afternoon Other Stage slot. Plenty of hey-hey-heys and la-la-las got a tad samey near the end but thoroughly enjoyable and the female singer is an absolute darling while the male one is chubby, bearded and adorable.

EDITORS - Had wanted to see these guys for absolutely ages. While new album The Weight of Your Love is coming in for an unnecessary ton of stick, they dug into their back catalogue a la Arctic Monkeys and pulled out some absolute bangers. Lead singer Tom Smith is as erratic as he is baritoned with his self-hugging dance move one to definitely look out for. Another ultimate festival band, this was the fifth time they had played Glastonbury!

THE xx - We made the ever-so-slightly controversial decision to give baffled pyramid headliners Mumford and Sons a miss and instead opted for something a bit softer. What followed was anything but soft. The xx's live performances are an absolute spectacle. Each song is given its own mini-makeover by head DJ Jamie xx and the resulting creations are both soulful and ambient. Not one member of the crowd wasn't having a good time and the joy which the band were so obviously gaining from their own performance was great to watch. Couldn't have chosen a better way to end.




That's it then, we returned to the campsite, lit a fire and made a toast to the end of our first Glastonbury in as clicheed a style as we possibly could. I leave you with the man who makes all the shit happen.

Till next time,

Max

The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life... and Fossil Collective

Afternoon,

Exams are over and with that the end of my time at the University of Sheffield is sadly nigh. Thought I'd talk a bit about one of the bands who really got me through what is always a gruelling and consistently dull period.

Firstly though I've in the past couple of days had to face the nagging realisation that what will in all probability be the best period of my life has reached its conclusion. University is everything it's cracked up to be and more and this should never be over stated. Faced with the grave question of what's coming next, some are as clueless as the next person while others are self assured and readying themselves to enter the world of full time work. Personally I would consider myself one of the inbetweeners - back off to mummy and daddy's to get what will in all honesty probably turn out to be a highly unstimulating job for a year before I return to the grind of full time education at Cardiff completing an MA in Journalism which will in no way guarantee me an immediate job. It's both exciting and panic-inducing.

For us history students our final semester consisted of a new and largely pointless module dubiously dubbed 'The Uses of History'. This module consisted of us questioning the entire releveance of our degree and how  history as a subject can be 'applied' to the wider world. It's been a constant source of frustration to hear talk of the 'transferrable skills' aspect of the degree rather than just being left alone to pursue our own interests and we've constantly been fed the idea that history is most definitely not the be all and end all and that there are a variety of career options open to us which have absolutely nothing to do with History.

 Looking back though, there has not been a single day in the past three years when I've questioned the 'usefulness' of what I'm doing and it's something which I will always look back upon with a smile.As pointless a musing as ever but one which I really felt I wanted to get down in some form.

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Anyone whose seen the delightful French comedy The Intouchables (sitting comfortably in IMDB's top 100) will have heard a track called 'Red Lights' by the oddly-named Leeds music collective Vib Gyor (so named as it's an acronym of the colours of the rainbow). Vib achieved moderate success including airtime on BBC Radio's 1 and 6 but had difficulties and in 2010 two members Dave Fendick and Jonny Hooker broke away and formed Fossil Collective. Anyone who's been lucky enough to come across their music up until now will no doubt have been taken in by the lilting guitars and Fleet Foxes-esque vocals but to anyone unfamiliar, I speak of them in high terms.

Debut album Tell Where I Lie was released in April but their music had been doing the rounds for quite a while, an EP with lead single 'Let It Go' being issued in July of last year.While the album has yet to propel them to anything near the heights of the likes of Fleet Foxes, it has helped them achieve a solid following in the UK, two of which are friends of mine who went to see them play at Sheffield's Harley a number of weeks ago and were full of praise for the duo. These two even got a chance to speak to support act Joe Banfi, subject of the blog a couple of months back (plugging my blog on my own blog, who the hell do I think I am). I've linked 'Let It Go' along with another crowd-favourite, 'On and On'. These songs exhibit some of the finer strengths of the duo but the whole album is worth a listen and is great for annoyingly long periods of study to act as background music.

This album cover has to be the definition of epic.Cracking beards.

Away from Yorkshire, Birmingham's finest mood-rockers Editors are readying a fourth LP and I was shown a little sample of it the other day. This new track 'Honesty' is vintage Editors - soulful, emotional and a return to their guitar-led sound of albums one and two. The synths appear to have been ditched.

Cheers to all for reading and let's hope this hangover cures itself soon before death becomes a more readily available option.

Max

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NO JAZZ JO!

Good Afternoon,

A mixture of exams, revision and what me and my course mate have termed 'post-dissertation mania' (#postdissertationmania) have provided 'valid' excuses for my lack of blogging over the past month. But now I'm back with a vengeance and was provided with the perfect blogging topic last Friday night in Sheffield's homely West End pub.

The 18-year-old me would have been terrifically disappointed with the 21-year-old me last Friday. I arrived at the West End at 9pm sharp, ordered myself a small lemonade (all the while sighing with gratitude at the lowly £1.05 price tag) and had my bag all ready and prepared for a late-night trip to the library whenever it was deemed acceptable for me to take my leave. The 21-year-old me, however, was unprepared for what was to come as two and a half hours later I remained rooted in the same spot, enthralled by one of the rangiest and most captivating free live performances I've ever had the pleasure of  witnessing.

No Jazz Jo are a group of friends from Sheffield Uni (the bassist of which is a good friend of mine and a genuinely all-round good bloke) who formed with the simple intention of getting people moving. They play majority covers infused with a dash of funk and a drop of soul but do have some of their own stuff which is well worth a listen - I've linked my personal favourites 'How It Was' and 'Brace Yourself' below. They're unique in the simple range of artists and genres they cover, their lengthy yet never-a-dull-moment sets and also the nature of their instrumental make-up - a singer, two guitarists, a bassist, keyboardist and the recent inspired edition of a saxophonist. In sadder news, last week's West End gig could be NJJs last for quite a while with the majority of them graduating and moving on to greener pastures or possibly shitter pastures if their expectations of post-uni life are anything like mine.

For now this post can leave you in no doubt that they were a joy to watch. Remembering the entirety of the set-list is tricky but some of my personal highlights included The Killers' 'Jenny was a Friend of Mine', RHCPs 'Dani California' and an old-school cover of Chuck Berry's signature tune 'Johnny B.Goode'. I was assured before the gig this was one of NJJ's finest and it didn't disappoint. While the first half of the set was greeted with mostly-nodded heads, following a quick interval and opportunity for all in attendance to return to the bar (I stingily clung to the last remaining morsels of my lemonade throughout) part two was met with a flurry of dancing and smiles with the room appearing to half in size and double in population.

All in all, a good night had by everyone and I strode to the library just before midnight with the spirit of NJJ right behind me, all the while being hounded by good old 18-year-old-me and his outspoken desire to drink the night away.

Don't they look friendly:

Will be back sporadically this month with the usual format. As usual if anyone has suggestions as to decent music in Yorkshire from whichever genre then you can just give me a shout on twitter, @goldbart1.

Cheers to all readers,

Max

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The Dust Has Settled... and Thatcher Protest Music

Dear Readers,

With dissertation duty reaching its nadir I haven't had the chance to blog for a while but that's out the way now and with almost two weeks having passed since the death of 'Baroness' Thatcher, I thought I'd have a little look back at how she's been received on both the social media end of things and in the news.

First of all I want to discuss what I believe to be my own role in her death. So strangely enough the subject of  my dissertation  was the media's role in the defeat of the unions during the 1984 miners strikes. On the day of Thatcher's death a course mate was proof reading it for me and uttered the words, 'Right I'm going to move on to Max's third chapter, 'Thatcher's Army', this should be fun'. A few milliseconds later (I kid you not) another course mate on my other side was to utter the resounding statement, 'Thatcher's fucking dead'. It was hard to believe at first and we in fact point blank refused to but the BBC News home page never lies and slowly the realisation set in that I had doomed our ex-PM. I should write dissertations about tyrants more frequently (and yes I am describing her as a tyrant). Maybe Gadaffi could have been brought down way earlier if I'd chosen the topic of British Foreign Policy in Libya.

Anyway, in 2013 whenever an event like this happens out of the blue the twitter feeds erupt and should probably be recorded for examination in 20 years time or so. Examining twitter after the Boston marathon bombings my feed looked something like this:

First ten minutes- Basic news reports.

Next twenty minutes- Sympathy for the victims/sympathy towards runners who'd put in such maximum effort for 26 miles and had their day ended in nightmare (there were reports of some of the participants going straight to the blood banks to help the victims. To call them legends would, if anything, be a bit of an understatement).

Next half hour- Journalists get involved. Start informing us of how this is 'of course a tragedy' but tragedies such as this one are happening daily in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria etc.

Following hour- Others jump on the 'this is happening elsewhere daily and no one knows anything or gives a shit' bandwagon. My feed has now been transformed from basic news coverage to wild conspiracy theories and everything in between.

It is indeed fascinating. With Thatcher's death, Facebook and Twitter were alight with arguments over whether the death of a frail old lady should be celebrated. Personally, I don't believe it should. Margaret Thatcher did some terrible things which are still impacting us today but the times to have celebrated have passed and as much as I despise her offspring (Carol is an idiot and Mark is as crooked as the leaning tower of Pisa) it wouldn't be fair on them to see such public hate towards their recently-deceased mother. The time to celebrate and demonise may have been 1990, the year the Tory Party decided enough was enough and ousted her, or possibly it was 1997 when the Tories as a whole were ousted by that wily old fox Blair. Either way, 2013 is definitely way too late to be burning model witches and drinking Maggie's own weight in beer as a form of send-off.

A couple of objections I have however. Firstly, what on earth gives the older generation the right to tell students they can't form an opinion over Thatcher. This is something I've seen on Facebook way too much in the past week. Most of the people I know at University are intelligent and intuitive enough to have formed rounded opinions on Thatcher's reign and you don't simply need to have lived through an era to have formed an opinion on it (see the 'I hate Hitler but wasn't alive in 1930's Nazi Germany' line of argument). Secondly, I have to say that I've in general objected to what the media have been saying about the woman. Her achievements have been broadcast above her failures and yet her failures were far far greater. She let us become a divided nation while doing little to solve an economic rut and was tyrannical in her dealings with anyone who objected. While headlines such as this one from the Sun are simply amusing and not worth writing about, what's more of an issue is decent establishments like the Times writing neutral obituaries of the woman which cloud the events of the 1980's. Coming across phrases such as 'she achieved so much for women' are ever-so-slightly stomach-churning. Make no mistake, Thatcher did absolutely nowt for women's progression in society. She viewed herself as a gender-neutral human being and wiped out any advancements being made in the second-wave of feminism. It wasn't until she left office that feminism gained speed again. History will undoubtedly forget this fact and in 20 or 30 years time she'll be seen as one of the most important women for the advancement of feminism in the 20th century. This is an untruth.

So there you have it. My final thoughts are that now she's been laid to the rest we can move on and consign her to the back pages of the dustiest history books. After a three-month dissertation and two weeks of non-stop broadcasting, I for one am all Thatchered out.

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Below are a few Thatcher protest songs from bands around England, Billy Bragg's 'Between the Wars' is particularly powerful. On a totally unrelated note The Crookes (subjects of my first ever blog) have released a new single and it's a good un'.Anyone who lives around the Broomhill area in Sheffield may have caught their acoustic set outside The Record Collector on National Record Store Day. It was a rare moment of sun and they greeted the good weather by playing a thrilling half-hour set while the lead singer even found time to halt the journey of a number 52 bus.

Hope you all enjoyed.

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Bastille... and To Kill A King

Hello and Happy Easter/Passover,

Been a while. Being home for Easter, I went to see Bastille at Shepherds Bush Empire the other day so thought I'd shape this blog as a bit more of a gig review, tying in nicely with the fact that the support band formed at Leeds Uni.

Bastille are a bit of an anomaly. Before gaining ludicrous mainstream success over the past month due to the success of new single 'Pompeii', they had a highly-established cult following. Listening to 'Pompeii' and new single 'Flaws' (a song which gets the award for most times the title is infuriatingly repeated in the lyrics (When all of your FLAWS/ and all of my FLAWS are laid out one by one)) this would be a difficult idea to grasp. However if you wind back to way before the release of debut no.1 album Bad Blood, Bastille had a mix tape Other People's Heartache which contained such gems as quirky little dance covers of 'Rhythm is a Dancer' and City High's 'What Would You Do' (that one about the prostitute). These covers are still included in their live sets and undoubtedly received the warmest receptions of the night. Bad Blood is good but definitely not great and there are enough fillers which could have been ditched for some of these original mix tape tracks but their live performance was pretty much faultless. While incredibly ill at ease when attempting crowd banter, lead singer Dan Smith comes into his own when singing and the climax of the show whereby he wondered around seating areas the performing a well-received 'Flaws' was really quite impressive.

Also present at Shepherds Bush on the night was Dan Smith's doppelganger Radio 1 DJ, Nick Grimshaw. Someone in the standing area spotted him sat at level 1 seating just before Bastille were to take to the stage and what followed was ten minutes of extreme neck-craning. Celebrities turning up to watch other celebrities is always enjoyable, especially when they're pretty fucking identical to each other. When Dan Smith went for a wonder up to the stalls during 'Flaws' I definitely felt there was a connection. Anyway, I've got no idea what I've been trying to say over these past three paragraphs but basically whatever your take on Bastille, they are definitely worth a watch. Here are the said doppelgangers:











In true pretentious music-blogger fashion, and despite Bastille's quality showing, the group I was really excited for on Friday night were support act To Kill A King. These guys are currently based in London but formed at Leeds Uni where their fantastically named lead singer Ralph Pelleymounter was best buddies, and shared a flat with, none other than Bastille's Dan Smith (they can be seen collaborating below for TKAK's epic single 'Choices' in what I must describe as one of the most beautiful YouTube videos I've seen in a good while) . However, if you think they were chosen as support acts purely through nepotism then you'd be very much mistaken.

TKAK are undoubtedly the best new band I've heard this calendar year. They mix the soulful vocals and lyrics of Editors with a more upbeat indie feel (think early non-shit Coldplay mixed with early non-shit Cribs), the two of which combine to form recent LP Cannibals with Cutlery  which should really be gracing most of the 'Best of 2013' lists come December. The album has been described by Q as dressed in beautiful epic indie and new wave threads while Artrocker referred to is as A broad stroke of an album- all jaunty guitars, massive choruses and intimate moments of romance, and the best news is that they're yet to catch the watchful eye of NME; the 'Sauron's Eye' of the musical world. 

Previous to Cannibals with Cutlery, TKAK released two EP's. One, Word of Mouth, contains four tracks off Cannibals along with two older songs in 'Howling' and 'Let It Die' while the other, My Crooked Saint, was released a year previous and contains the mightily impressive 'Bloody Shirt' which is one of the tunes linked below.

A Support slot with Bastille will undoubtedly increase the mainstream support of this humble quintet and it will all be thoroughly deserved. Within minutes of Bastille's closing song, Pelleymounter had taken to the Shepherd's Bush sidewalk outside the venue in order to promote his band and advertise their newly-announced headline tour (they're playing London's Scala next week and I'm thoroughly pissed I can't make it). In a brief chat with him I ascertained that humble is definitely the word. He has no idea how much TKAK are liked and critically appreciated but spent most of our conversation talking up Dan Smith and co. Pelleymounter has also developed a compilation album recorded in his flat and affectionately referred to as Ralph's Balcony- The Collection. All proceeds were donated to Great Ormond Street and features collaborations with none other than, yep, you guessed correctly, Dan Smith from Bastille.

Listen to the tracks linked below with all your heart while simultaneously admiring the decor of this room.

Away from this one random gig in Shepherds Bush, I've been listening to Birmingham indie whizz-kids Peace and their debut In Love released last Monday and it's a corker; highly recommended.

Cheers as always for reading.

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Pope Francis; The Facts... and Feral Brood

Hello again,

I'm slightly pushed for time and high on stress as I've just had to spend the last hour power-walking to a desolate Royal Mail Sorting Office to pick up a laptop charger and I'm still 8,000 words away from completing a dissertation so thought I'd throw out five fun facts about our new Catholic saviour. Yes, it will be forcibly dry, and yes, it will be forcibly witty.

1. He's from South America, pretty fucking cool, nothing to criticise on that front. It also means...

2. He's not a former member of the Hitler Youth. Anyone who read my blog from about a month ago, the old Pope was actually a child Nazi. Good on Francis for having shaken off those particular shackles.

3. He's the first ever Pope Francis so the hipsters should love him, he don't take shit  from no man. Picking a papal name for yourself must be literally the most fun thing in the world, it would be like being able to pick your own name from birth rather than having one unknowingly forced upon you. I'd love it if we had a British Pope some day and he went for a proper old-school British name... Pope Keith IV, Pope Stanley VII etc.

4. Apparently he's a pretty humble guy. Rather than taking a private car from the Sistine Chapel to the Vatican once he'd been announced the victor, he told his security guards to piss off and got on the bus with the rest of the papal lads. Some call it being humble, I call it being media-savvy (ouch).

5. He actually came second to the previous Pope in 2005. I'm immediately  making comparisons with the Blair/Brown scenario but with this guy being Blair and the old guy being Brown owing to his having all the charisma and charm of a grizzly bear. Francis had obviously been lying away for eight years stewing up a big plan to overthrow Benedict, although his remarkably short reign has made things a hell of a lot easier, it's all a bit 'Angels and Demons'-esque.

That's your lot. For more information, consult someone who actually knows something about the Catholic Church and hasn't had to solely rely on Google searches. Amen.

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When I blogged about Blue Lip Feel about a month ago, they were kind enough to both Re-Tweet me and recommend me some new and fresh up-and-coming bands from Yorkshire. These were Bang Bang Romeo, The Twin Bears and Feral Brood. While the first two will undoubtedly be mentioned in the next few weeks, this week I've been focusing on the Brood.

With a supporting slot at Sheffield's Plug tonight with Downtown Roots (another band to look out for), I thought this would be the best time to promote Feral Brood's dazzling mix of old-school guitar riffs and penchant for exciting vocals and lyrics. 

Forming as late as January 2012, these guys have already made waves in the Yorkshire scene with over 1000 Twitter and FB followers indicative of a growing cult-following. Unfortunately, they have very little released music but this only means there's way more to come and EP Into The Woods, released a few weeks back is already available on iTunes. Into The Woods is one of those records that I like to describe as a breath of fresh air for the music industry. It's widely influenced by a number of high-class outfits, including amongst others The Raconteurs and Zeppelin, and the interchangeable vocals of Phil Goodwin and Dan Williamson give it a consistently fresh feel. First single 'Machine' is the most fast-paced and introduces the Brood with a decent bang, there's also a happy reminder about how to spell Machines in the middle of the chorus if anyone had forgotten or struggles with spelling. 'Cold' is up next and is undoubtedly my favourite. It's a love song reeking of desperation but kind of in a good way if anyone knows what I'm on about and the closing riff is just fantastic, lowering itself to an acoustic ballad before rising back into crescendo and a final chorus, they are 'hiding in the eyes of frost bite' apparently. 'You Are The Sea' is the closer and exhibits a softer side to their sound but with an equally compelling riff.

That's the EP covered, now the important thing is to try and catch a live performance,described on their FB page as leaving crowds, 'discombobulated in a hurricane of inexorable guitars and efficacious vocals'. Whomever wrote this is great with words. Now go forth and enjoy..

Cheers as always for reading,

Max.

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Happy International Women's Day... and Joe Banfi

Hello Again,

Another two-week absence which again I can only apologise for, dissertation reading and the general stresses of life have consigned me to the continuous 'putting-off' of blogging. However, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, a new life, for me etc etc.

Yesterday was International Women's Day and I first and foremost wanted to wish everyone a good one. Looking through the FB and Twitter feeds yesterday I gauged a mixed reaction to the event, some of which came as a surprise and some slightly less so.

 It was great to see people praising the event, both males and females talking about particular people who've inspired them as, while this may sound a tad cliched, it was raising awareness which is basically the point and although I forgot to check I'm hopeful that #IWD was trending at some point- these things are important today.

Now the real cliches of the day that were literally making me tear my fucking hair out were the, 'Why should it only be one day. Doesn't this defeat the point of feminism' and even worse still, 'Does this mean we should get an international men's day... or is 'IMD' just the other 364 days of the year' (Imagine me saying said cliches in a whiny imitative voice of no one in particular). And why should these make me tear out my hair in said fashion... well what critics of IWD need to understand is that raising awareness of the basic issues which underlie our society is the sole goal of IWD and other events like it. We're going through a transitional phase as we push for equality in what is still a pretty damn unequal society (unequal pay, lack of representation in politics, everyday sexism in the media, the list goes on). If the next generation can start appreciating the struggles women have experienced, even just in the 20th century, then maybe we can go just a little further in understanding the plight of women and building towards closing the gender gap. It's happening with Black History Month in the same manner and I believe vast improvements are being made in that respect. Positive discrimination is important.

Suzanne Moore, writer for the Guardian, makes a decent point in this article that IWD feels a little bit 'cupcakey' and has recently become de-politicised with talks of the dangers of female circumision mixed with the celebration of an obscure female singer from the Far East. However, I don't really believe it need be overly political. Once you get politics into the mix, the next generation immediately loses interest. How about maybe we focus the other 364 days on the political side of things?

#rantover

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I fully appreciate the fact that I really should have covered a woman today in this section but it's Saturday morning as I'm writing this and I've found an absolute gem so that'll have to wait. I also appreciate just as much for any fans of Joe Banfi that he's in fact from Northwich in Cheshire but that's not too far a cry from Yorkshire and I refer you to the previous sentence on said time of day, apologies all round. Anyway, Banfi played the Sheffield Harley the other day and while I missed out on the gig, I heard wonderful things.

Joe Banfi's done a pretty remarkable thing and mixed in traditional folk with a dark layer of grunge. On his illustrious FB page, he cites influences as far-reaching as Bruce Springsteen, Nirvana, Nick Drake, and strangely enough the Deftones, who's 'Cleverness... influences his songwriting to date'. A fine mix, and one which has contributed to his uniqueness. I suppose all great artists are born from many.

With two EP's out on Communion (Ben Howard, Gotye, Michael Kiwanuka), Banfi seems destined for bigger things. First EP, 'Iron' came out in September of last year and did brilliantly on the review front, Ben Dorey of Now Then Magazine referred to it as, 'Providing a raw emotion that makes his work so captivating'. It's hard to disagree, lead single 'Guts and Bones' is soulful and deeply fulfilling and his cover within a cover in the form of Nirvana's, 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' gives the traditional American folk song a further twist.

With 'Iron' an undoubted success for Communion, new EP 'Nomads' was released six weeks ago and, even in the limited time offered to Banfi to develop, there is a definite progression in both the vocal ability and the lyrical prowess of a record which has been occupying my headphones all week. The title track is an epic and has been linked below while 'Olive Green' is definitely a goosebump-inducer with the personability of the lyrics making the listener pause for thought- 'Only the green boots by the back door make me feel safe'. Also hang on until the final minute of closer 'Oarsmen' to hear the full extent to which Nirvana have had an influence over him.

Don't know if he'd take this as an insult but I reckon if Alt-J did purely folk-grunge rather than 'folky, poppy, psychedelic, punk, indie, grunge' then they'd sound just a little bit like Joe. The unique croaky twinge of his vocals definitely draws parallels with his namesake in Alt-J Joe Newman. Hope he's a fan.

Joe Banfi's currently midway through a mini tour of the UK and if you get a chance to see him then take it hands down, although I'm assured that he's a regular tourer. Keep on doing what you're doing Joe and keep on looking just a little bit like the ex-Doctor Who actor Christoper Eccleston.

Cheers to all for reading. Back next week,

Max

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