Kassassin Street are a band on the up. They come from a revitalised Portsmouth music scene that is producing a whole wealth of new and young exiting talent. The band consist of Rowan Bastable, Nathan Hill, Ryan Hill, Andy Hunt and Tom Wells who come together to throw an energetic…
Recently, there's been an extraordinary outpouring of love for the music of Adam Granduciel and his The War On Drugs project. Q, The Times. BBC 6 Music and Uncut all voted Lost In A Dream album of the year in 2014, while The Guardian made it number two. Not bad…
The Wave Pictures could be one of those bands that you have let slip through your musical radar. They are prolific with their releases, having made 14 studio albums since 1998 when the band formed. Not only has the most recent album (Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon released 13th February…
Tonight's support were an uninspiring Dad rock ensemble, old before their time. I only caught the last song but the chorus of "my messiah, my messiah, my messiah: rock'n'roll." was in equal parts meaningless, pointless and derivative: an overtly obvious attempt to re-model The Stone Roses 'Love Spreads'. In their…
What makes a good cover version? Is it a case of putting a new slant on the original, like emphasising a lyric, bringing a minor part to the fore, or simply singing the Bejeezus out of it? I don’t know if I’ve ever stopped to really ponder this, but I…
About 10 minutes before The Decemberists are due on stage, the house lights harshly illuminate, accompanied by a distant voice, “This is a fire alarm… please calmly make your way to the exits.” A few people start to edge their way to the doors, but with no visible flames, the…
I’ve been to lots of gigs that felt like someone just picked 3 or 4 bands out of a hat, then rolled the dice on who should play when. However, a cohesive set of bands can turn a simple gig into a complete and immersive experience, so when a promoter…
As I made my way to the Concorde 2 on a chilly February evening to see Kate Tempest, I genuinely had no idea what to expect – I was pretty sure however that it was going to be a decent live performance at least due to Tempests’ involvement in the…
I arrived at the newly refurbished Martha Gunn for round one of it's bout to decide whether or not to host regular live music nights – it's not often a potential new venue opens it's doors in our city, despite the vibrancy of the scene, so I was keen to…
It has been at times a cold and bleak winter but this was all forgotten as soon as you entered The Haunt, when you are hit by the warm all-encompassing sounds of afro electro funk. London based Ibibio Sound Machine comprise of a multi-cultural line up of 8. They are…