Posted in Cd Reviews

After the releasing his last studio album “Doctor Faith“, Christopher Cross embarked on one of his biggest tours in Europe in the last 15 years. His show at the Theatre Le Trianon in Paris, France was filmed by nine cameras in HD and recorded, and it is now being released as his first live album. It’s surprising that it’s taken him 34 years since the release of his first studio album to release a live album, but it’s good that he’s chosen to release one now. The album will be released on April 8th, 2013 via earMUSIC.

For the ‘Doctor Faith’ tour Christopher Cross has expanded his band to include a more classical “rock line-up“: Andy Suzuki (keyboards, sax), Dave Beyer (drums), Chazz Frichtel (bass, vocals), Kiki Ebsen (keyboards, vocals), Richie Gajate Garcia (percussion).

The...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Latin Grammy-winning band Bajofondo release their new album, Presente at the start of April. The album’s title refers to what the band is at the present moment – ”a stirring mix of tango, milonga, folklore, rock, hip-hop, electronica, jazz, classical, and a world of sounds from the Río de la Plata, the river that separates and unites Argentina and Uruguay”. That’s certainly an unusual list of sounds to lend together, and it’s that interesting mix that made me keen to listen to and review the album.

Brief comments on a few tracks..

The album opens with ’Intro’, a gentle string instrumental. Next up comes ’Codigo de barra’ which ramps up the pace and power with a strong Tango flavour. Again this is an instremental track, one of several on the album. It’s a lovel piece of music.

’Oigo...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Black is singer and songwriter Colin Vearncombe. Released in 1987, ’Wonderful life’ is best known for the title track which reached number 8 in the singles charts and stayed in the charts for 9 weeks – indeed it’s a song you still hear on TV or radio now. A second single, ’Sweetest smile’ had similar success – spending ten weeks in the charts and reaching number 8. The album had great success reaching number 3 in the album charts and selling well over 1.5 million copies.

This deluxe edition includes the original album on one CD plus a second CD containing 14 bonus tracks, including the original Ugly Man version of the Wonderful Life single plus a selection of B-sides and four songs from a 1986 Janice Long session.
The album’s liner notes come complete with a specially commissioned inter...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Faustus evolved in 2006 from the band Dr Faustus and released their debut album in 2008 and following this were nominated as the Best Group in the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The three members of Faustus have a strong folk background, having been in well known bands before – the members are Saul Rose (Waterson:Carthy, Whapweasel), Benji Kirkpatrick (Seth Lakeman Band, Bellowhead) and Paul Sartin (Bellowhead, Belshazzar’s Feast).

After a two year break, the band returned to touring in Autumn 2012 and worked on finishing their new album, Broken down gentlemen which has just been released, and the band will be on tour in April.

I’m certainly not an expert in folk music but one thing I do know is that Folk music is such a diverse range of sounds (a day at the Cambridge folk festival will...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Metal Female Voices Fest, October 2012

Late October once again saw thousands of fans of female fronted metal descend on the Belgian town of Aalst for the Metal Female Voices Fest, which is held at the Oktoberhallen in Wieze, on the outskirts of Aalst. This year was the tenth MFVF, and as with the past few years was to consist of a Friday evening followed by long days on Saturday and Sunday.

Normally the friday night see’s three bands performing, but this year we were in for something special – the Eve’s Apple group of singers putting on a one-off show. The evening started later than normal which gave fans chance to shop for merchandise, enjoy a few beers and meet friends from around the world...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

If there was ever a band to single handedly represent Australia’s “pub rock” scene over the years it would undoubtedly be The Angels. Amidst there Australian tour promoting their new album “Take It To The Streets”, the group hosted a buzzing Acacia Ridge Hotel to create a remarkable 70’s rock vibe that could only be felt to be believed. The audience were covered, their faces with smiles and most of their bodies with tattoos. The venue itself was generous, ignoring the need for a crowd barrier to host a truly personal experience.

Combine these attributes with some ‘old-school’ guitar tones and the constant anticipation for the string of hits to come, the atmosphere was set and ready to take even new fans right back to a night of pub rock in 1974 when The Angels were formed...

Posted in Cd Reviews

You know those haunting and eerily beautiful songs you need to hear during those moments in the late hours of the night when you are contemplating life? Well, I believe we have just found the perfect track for that!

Mishkin Fitzgerald, from Birdeatsbaby, is releasing her latest single ‘I Want This’ from her upcoming solo record ‘Perfect Company’ to kick off her solo career, and what an amazing start.

With a slow synth piano melody accompanied by the soft, seductive, echoing voice of Mishkin Fitzgerald, ‘I Want This’ enraptures you in an ethereal journey that invokes feelings of subjugation that need to be overcome...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Lisa Hannigan has the amount of shyness and feminine charm one would expect from a rising star who is relatively inexperienced on the stage. But in truth, she is not a ‘rising star’. She already rose to fame with the Damian Rice band in Ireland then began her solo career in 2008. However, she has a new face when in New Zealand and most people in the audience had probably never seen or heard of her until this evening, myself included. We were in for a treat. Dressed in a peach dress and high heels, she was very formal in thanking everyone and dedicating each song to someone or group in particular in her soft and distinctively husky, young, Irish voice...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Wolfsblood gör sin absolut första spelning i Malmö en fredagskväll på Möllevången och det passar så bra. Många av oss i publiken är gamla Möllan-människor som hängt i kvarteren under många år och en del är nya som refererar kanske bara ett decennium tillbaka. Och de som inte bor i Malmö fattar ingenting just nu. Det gör ingenting för det som är viktigt i samanhanget är att vi skriver ett nytt inspirerande metal-kapitel. Wolfsblood kommer att sätta Skåne på kartan inom den brutala thrash-speed-black-fåran och med coola artister som Divina Nova på sång, Richard Lion och Stefan Elfgren samt Sanna Rönngård blir det här bandet att räkna med i stil med Mongo Ninja och Blood Tsunami.
Ok, Så här ser det ut. Vi sitter i en soffa...

Posted in Press Releases

Det är med största möjliga ära vi har fått chansen att presentera en mäktig bokning av en legendarisk artist till Bråvalla Festival.

Han står bakom genredefinierande band som Ebba Grön och Imperiet, några av vår tids mest välskrivna och insiktsfulla musiktexter samt en solokarriär som ständigt legat i framkant med sina mörka, bombastiska arrangemang.

Thåström kommer till Bråvalla Festival i sommar för sin enda spelning på svensk mark i år!