Newhaven Fort, East Sussex 22 September 2018 Ahhh, that relentless rain! After a blazing summer it’s great to get back to some genuine English weather, isn’t it? And boy, it rained all day, meaning a lot of the improv parade ground goodness at Fort Process‘s 2018 edition got secreted away, upping the happen-upon expectation to rise that bit higher.
live review
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London 24 September 2018 There is a buzz about tonight’s concert, a certain energy filling the air; it’s a good vibe, full of excitement and patchouli oil goodness. It was 1966 when The Pink Floyd (as they were known then) last played The Roundhouse (on the back of a truck) and it seems that some of the people who attended that benefit show for the International Times (the […]
Bristol 8 September 2018 Luckily zero nightmares on the parking front meant we only missed a small portion of Microdeform’s set, a colour-washed dronescape, needled by fractured dissidence. These tasty elasticated hues pulling you into a kaleidoscope of blistered sunsets, spreading out in grainy after-images
London 22 July 2018 With a backdrop of toy robots, Rodney Cromwell were first up to ply their wares. A solid three-piece with a rather special take on synth-led indie, they breeze through their upbeat and groovesome set.
Pompeii 19 July 2018 Pompeii, the city frozen in time, its people caught like statues in their death throes as the volcano erupted around them. The place is as stunningly beautiful as it is tragic; it is awe-inspiring as you feel transported back in time. The place has also become synonymous with progressive rock
London 14 July 2018 Ah, those summer OTO nights. It’s so hot in here that I can almost feel the electrolytes leeching from my body. With my dotage rapidly approaching, this is one of those sauna-with-the-clothes-on experiences which I really wouldn’t put myself through anymore were it not for the presence of genuine greatness.
Bristol 10 July 2018 Opening act Pip Blom shambled on to a very warm response from an already two-thirds full O2 Academy Bristol. One singing guitarist and one drummer share the stage with a fluffy bassist and a manic guitarist looking like a young Jerry Harrison. The rhythm section were taut and focussed, allowing the singing guitarist to throw the sweet but rather ramshackle songs out into the […]
Bristol 17 June 2018 Former Throwing Muses and Belly bass guitarist Fred Abong was first up, and apparently the airport had lost his guitar so Kristin had kindly lent him hers for the night. Not heard any of his solo work, so I was at a disadvantage, but I liked that Pavement-like glimmer he was plying
The Royal Albert Hall, London Saturday 26 May 2018 Hi. I’ll be conducting today’s gig review. Yeah. The Radiophonic Workshop were live at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room last week, and because occasionally somebody buys me tickets to this sort of thing and drags me off with them, I was lucky enough to get to go and see the show. Little did I know that, this time, there […]
London 24 April 2018 Back in 1982, in one week I went to both Tangerine Dream and the final concert by Japan, all within a couple of days of each other. Fast forward just over thirty-five years, and here I am sat at The Union Chapel about to soak in the atmospheres of the Dream again, this time supported by Japan’s wonderful keyboard player Richard Barbieri.
London 21 April 2018 A rather windswept Mark Pilkington (head honcho of Strange Attractor and one half of the esoteric surfing Téléplasmiste) is up first, treating us to a rare solo performance under guise of The Asterism. Getting jiggy with the interwebs reveals an asterism to be a pattern of stars or an optical starburst in gemstones, a somewhat apt title for the opalescent parade that follows.
London 7 April 8018 The Netfix TV series Stranger Things has been the go-to visual experience for all things retro 80s in the last couple of years. Set in the town of Hawkins, various supernatural and sci-fi events set off the young protagonists in the search for the truth.
Bristol 1 April 2018 Ireland’s David Colohan (of United Bible Studies / Agitated Radio Pilot) and company start things off with a few vocal improvisations. Tales full of ancient ways, chalk and bones, lost histories and weathered stone, crow-picked carrion and curses to the universal robber-time.
The Handsome Family band play in Clapton, a very recently happening neighbourhood of London. The Round Chapel is such a lovely old venue, and this is not my first time here. In fact, all my times here have always been so emotionally charged. The Handsome Family normally charges me, so let’s see if tradition holds.
Avignon 9 February 2018 As is only to be expected, a screening of selected scenes and scores from Studio Ghibli‘s extensive catalogue of films turns out to have attracted a suitably cosmopolitan audience of all ages and subcultural inclinations to this latest ciné-concert at the hiply bohemian Pandora Cinema.
Swindon 22 February 2018 The good people at the latest of Swindon’s venues, The Tuppenny, have been brave enough to unleash the might of two of the town’s finest sons on an unsuspecting public. First up is the extremely affable Tom, who when donning his magic wolf’s hat becomes sonic terrorist Grasslands, defender of the faith of the open veldt and ex-employee of the month at Safeway in Aberystwyth.
Bristol 12 February 2018 Divorcing us from context, Carter was like a travelling salesman peddling dismembered arithmetics, a volatile dance of irregularity from the inside of a wooden suitcase. That awkward caress of pipping bubble wrap and shuffling sandpaper was an intriguing proposition, a parade of mutated modulars bathed in palpitating reverses, guillotined gallop.
Bristol 23 January 2018 Loved Microdeform‘s haunted weathers. A lovely bubbling piano lighting the shadowy architectures, a trembling edifice beaming in the cross-pollination of plunging crevices and sonic apparition. Morphic memories lingering in them stretching keylines