REVIEW// The Haze/ Fight To Pay EP

The Oxford quartet prove Gene Simmons wrong on their second EP 

Rock 'n' roll is dead. The debate is as old as the rock stars that spout it. The riff is dying out, record sales are plummeting, it's time we buried the genre for good. Or so they say.

Not if The Haze have anything to do with it. With a bio that simply states they want to 'bring guitar music back to the charts' the Oxford quartet sound as though they might just be the saviours of rock 'n' roll, and their second EP, Fight To Pay the Holy Grail. Maybe not, but either way their going to have a bloody good time whilst they're at it. 

The title track doesn't hold back, kicking off with an AC/DC indebt riff turned up to 11, before frontman Josh Rawle's cock rock-esque snarl of 'Alright', it's evident that they've taken more than a few cues from from rock 'n' roll's greats.

What's Your Name suggests that said cues arn't just music-related, with Rawle's whiskey-denched vocals sounding as though he's had one too many Jack Daniels.  

Look Alive proves there's more life left in the riff just yet, recalling The Rolling Stones and The Black Keys with it's rollicking blues licks.

Ride is the highlight though, it's arena-baiting chorus of 'Ride on my lover/Ride on by' tailor made to be screamed back in their faces by thousands of crazed fans at a Knebworth like peak. 

Fight To Pay isn't game changing, but that's not what the band set out to do. Instead it reaffirms rock 'n' roll's status as one of music's most important genres, with a history of selling out stadiums, breaking records and having a good time, and a future that's set to do the same.  

REVIEW// Smashing Lights/ Sounds Different Feels The Same

On their debut single Smashing Lights stake a claim to the teenage population

Earlier this year the teenage population went into meltdown after the members of The 1975 deleted their social media accounts in a flurry of ambiguous messages, leading to rumours about the band's possible demise. As it turns out it was all a publicity stunt to announce their forthcoming album, but had the rumours been true it wouldn't have mattered, not now Smashing Lights have dropped their new single.

Entitled Sounds Different Feels The Same, it draws obvious comparisons to the Manchester quartet thanks to it's fidgety guitars, shimmering synths and pulsing bassline that underpin frontman Jack's falsetto. But equally wouldn't sound out of place next to some of Two Door Cinema Club's more electronic moments.

With debut EP 1 on the horizon, you can bet your black skinny jeans that the teenage population will soon be having a very different kind of meltdown. 

REVIEW// Boys/ Ocean

West London boys may have just written the soundtrack to your summer

Ever since Daft Punk dominated the airways with Get Lucky back in 2013 critics and fans alike have begun an annual search for the song of the summer. Something that will be blasted from every corner of a festival, from the PA between bands, to a shitty speaker in the campsite- even the portaloos. 

So, who should provide this year's inescapable summer anthem? The answer comes in the form of West London quartet Boys. Their recent single Ocean is all dreamy guitar and reverb-drenched vocals, reminiscent of DIIV or Jaws at their most shoegazy, creating the kind of blissed-out, hazy atmosphere you'll want to spend long summer evenings getting lost in.

Daft Who?

REVIEW// Four Tet/ Morning/Evening

On the follow up to 2013's Beautiful Rewind Kieren Hebden looks to his roots for inspiration but finds his sound in the stratosphere 

Not many artists are capable of sounding so celestial whilst remaining so grounded, yet this is something that Kieren Hebden- better known as Four Tet- has managed on this, his eighth album. Created on his laptop using Ableton Live, VST synthesizers and found audio recordings, the producer crafts 2 tracks spanning 20 minutes each that transport the listener into a blissed-out stratosphere, that will cost you significantly less than any Virgin Galactic flight. 

The former, Morning is an hypnotic expanse of breezy synths that underpin Indian soundtrack singer Lata Mangeshkar's dreamy vocals, punctuated by electronic clicks that pierce the atmosphere like sunlight through the blinds. 

If Morning is Hebden exploring his Indian heritage then Evening is surely the sound of a continuous journey towards his techno future. Perhaps the closest the record gets to a club rave, it begins with trickling synths that warp into fuzzy, distortion-drenched bass reminiscent of early Kraftwerk. Culminating in a swirling crescendo that brings you back down to earth on a wave of extraterrestrial euphoria. 

Morning/Evening is ultimately an album of journeys. Not just the literal journey of making chappatis with his grandma to making music in an East London club, but a metaphorical journey too-from the earth to the celestial peak. 

Albums Of 2015... So Far

We're halfway through 2015, but which albums have already made it on our end of year list?

 Alabama Shakes// Sound & Colour

On their 2012 debut Boys & Girls Deep South quartet Alabama Shakes marked themselves out as blues-soul revivalists.  It's follow up builds on those influences with colossal riffs and psychedelic soundscapes, whilst still maintaining frontwoman Brittany Howard's trademark pipes.

Courtney Barnett// Sometimes I Sit And Think Sometimes I Just Think

The Australian slacker's long awaited and highly anticipated debut album didn't disappoint. Plugged in, the stream of conciousness lyrics of the likes of Pedestrian At Best and Dead Fox sound even more thrilling, channelling grunge and garage rock.  

 Father John Misty// I Love You, Honeybear

On his second album the former Fleet Fox writes the ultimate folk rom-com, his ingenious lyrics coming on like a more loved-up Morrissey "I just love the kind of woman who can walk over a man/I mean like a god damn marching band." If you're not a fan of schmaltzy ballads look away now.

 Hot Chip// Why Make Sense?

You wouldn't normally associate five geeks with making dancefloor fillers, yet on their sixth album Why Make Sense? London quintet Hot Chip continue to defy convention with their brand of house and funk in-debt electro-pop.

 Jessica Pratt// On Your Own Love Again

Recorded over 2 years at home in LA and San Francisco, there's a certain nostalgic charm to the 27 year old's brand of ethereal folk that's reminiscent of Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, tape hiss included.

 Jim O'Rourke// Simple Songs

Simple Songs is Jim O'Rourke's first pop album since 2001 and he certainly milks it. A melting pot of classic pop elements and more hooks than a butcher's kitchen, all backed by the Chicago producer's trademark dark humour and wit.

 Sufjan Stevens// Carrie & Lowell

Don't be fooled by opening track Death With Dignity's gently picked guitar, the follow up to the Detroit singer-songwriter's sixth album, 2010's Age Of Adz is his darkest yet. Without it's predecessor's fanfare it's both a haunting and melancholic listen, punctuated by raw emotion. 

 Sleater Kinney// No Cities To Love

In January the Olympia trio returned with the long overdue follow up to 2005's The Woods, and if you were in any doubt that they'd lost their feminist energy whilst away, you needn't have worried. No Cities To Love is full of the kind of riot grrrl angst that made them the cult concern they are today.

Jamie xx// In Colour

The London producer's debut solo album complies over seven years worth of material, calling on grime, D&B samples and The XX-esque minimal beats to provide eleven chilled-out dance anthems just in time for the festival season.  

LIVE// Patti Smith

Manchester Apollo// 08/06/15

On December 13th 1975 Patti Smith released her debut album Horses, 40 years later she celebrates it's legacy

A flash of silver grey hair from the side of the stage and the whole audience erupts into applause. 40 years on from the release of her seminal debut album, Horses, and Patti Smith is as compelling as ever. Tonight we're gathered to celebrate said album and Smith is in a celebratory mood- over the next 2 hours the punk poet jams, screams and commands her way through her 4 decade long back catalogue like it's 1975.

Gloria's opening cry of "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" sound as incendiary as it did 40 years ago. Patti Smith's voice hasn't aged, infact it's become even more powerful, and the audience hang on to every "G,L,O,R,I,A"

Smith introduces Redondo Beach as "a beach where woman love other woman", it's syncopated rhythms never failing to get the audience moving.
Birdland follows, and whilst she missed her queue at yesterday's Field Day festival in London, she perfects it here. The whole audience is silently transfixed for the song's entire 9 minute and 16 second duration, hypnotised by it's poetry making watching Smith akin to embarking on a spiritual journey.

Land is introduced as a "Mr Wiggle story" she tells her grandson, "disguised as a song from the album." Even if it really was a children's tale the audience would be none the wiser, it's commands of "do the alligator" provoking frenzied dancing from the front row, before Smith and her band launch into a sonic jam that ends with the final chorus of Gloria that's even more enthralling the second time around.

The closing song from Horses, Elegy, is dedicated to many legendary, late musicians- Joey Ramone, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed, with Fred 'Sonic' Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe generating the biggest cheer from the audience. It's an emotional moment serving as a reminder to the lost talents of a generation of which Patti Smith is a survivor. Many audience members call out their own additions of Ian Curtis, Janis Joplin and Elvis whilst Smith nods in approval.


The band retake to the stage for part 2- the hits. Dancing Barefoot, Because The Night and Power To The People act as a direct contrast to the experimentation of Horses showing Smith's flexibility as a songwriter.


Her backing band- featuring original member Lenny Kaye- take the reins for a run through of Velvet Underground hits whilst Smith personally greets everyone in the front rows. She may be a living legend of sorts but she's delighted to be here, and it shows.


In fitting circular style Smith returns to her punk roots for the encore, a particularly dynamic rendition of My Generation which concludes with Smith ripping the strings off her Fender Strat. And, just as it looks as though she might smash the thing to pieces in a burst of exuberant, youthful energy, she's gone.   


Tonight we were reminded that at 68 Smith is no spring chicken, but whilst she's invented punk rock, outlived her contemporaries and become a grandmother since the release of Horses, ultimately nothing has changed, except, maybe the colour of her hair.

LIVE// Alabama Shakes

Manchester O2 Apollo// 16/05/15

The Alabama quartet bring a taste of the Deep South to Manchester 

"AAAAAHHHHH" The first sound to leave Brittany Howard's mouth is a lung-busting scream, a powerful opening gambit that captures the audiences attention before she's even sang a lyric - Don't Wanna Fight kick starts the quartet's final date of their UK tour with raw finesse.

The dummer lead Dunes follows, but it's Brittany's pipes- backed by three backing singers- that takes centre stage, most noticeably on the chorus' refrain "Oh I think I'm losing it."  

New cuts Future People and Gimme All Your Love are amongst the raunchiest the band have ever written, with the latter boasting the kind of riffs Jimmy Page would give his Les Paul for. Proving they're not just super-charges soul revivalists Miss You- introduced as 'a song for a man who can't stay out of jail'- slows down proceedings, well at least until the chorus.

The set is primarily made up of material from the band's second album Sound & Colour, occasionally punctuated by by highlights from 2012 debut Girls & Boys (Rise To The Sun, Hang Loose.) Breakthrough Hold On is one of the night's surprising omissions, a testament to the strength of the band's new material. Rather than relying on sure-fire singalongs the band aim to simply stun instead, ending their set with two emotion-soaked slow burners Gemini and Over Your Head, leaving the audience in pin-drop silence, only to be broken by the cheers that follow every one of Howard's trademark "AAAAHHHH"'s.