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MUSIC CD REVIEWS : R

  • Rachael Dadd

    ‘Moth In The Motor’ (LP, Broken Records) **** • Rachel Dadd deftly weaves the melodrama of English folk with the warm gaslight glow of Americana on mid-player ‘Moth in the Motor’, eight plaintive piano songs as…
    06.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Rachael Dadd

    ‘The World Outside Is In A Cupboard’ (album, Cleaner Records) *** • Impressionistic, airy, lo-fi: Bristol lass Dadd’s songs sort of wriggle away as soon as you try to capture them, and thus exist as sort of distant mist…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Rachael Dadd ‘

    'Elephee’ (EP, Broken Sound Music) • Rachael Dadd is a songwriter in thrall to nature, and it’s not just the references to sticklebacks and elephants. Her music itself sounds informed by natural rhythms, as opposed to…
    13.04.2011 READ MORE

  • Radio Banska

    ‘The Balkan Courtesan’ (LP, Get Real Records) Who knew John Zorn was composing 13-time Balkan/Arabic tunes? Balkan-jazz quintet Radio Banska, evidently, and there’s a cracking arrangement of Zorn’s ‘Ravayan’ on this…
    14.12.2011 READ MORE

  • Radio Trip

    ‘Music Heads’ (Jalopeno Records) *** • Radio Trip is two of The Apples - Mixmonster (electronics) and Schoolmaster (turntablist) - and music heads they certainly be, cramming all kinds of references into their…
    18.07.2010 READ MORE

  • Rae

    'Era’ (LP, Dawn Chorus) Bristol four-piece Rae have found a rich musical seam to mine here. Over a free-jazz backdrop that also throws in echoes of soul, blues and rasping, string-led folk, Leonie Evans’s vocals skitter…
    21.10.2011 READ MORE

  • Ratface

    ‘Enough Ratface’ (Mini-album, Bumtapes) *** • As far from stereotypical Bristol MCs as you’re likely to discover, pleasantly named punk-hopper Ratface is more in the league of indie-rock sonic scientist Dan Deacon had…
    18.08.2010 READ MORE

  • Ratface

    ‘Down With Ratface’ (album, Bumtapes) **** • Bristol’s finest bedsit MC gives us an album of scrofulous, abrasive punk-hip-hop, bawling and fidgeting throughout. There are echoes of The Pop Group’s Mark Stewart with his…
    20.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Rattlesnake

    ‘Rattlesnake’ (album, Rockwill Records) **  • You know this sound: crunchy guitarrrs, wiggling whammy bars, a singer who refuses to clear his throat, and guitar solos - impressive but embarrassing guitar solos -…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Ray LaMontagne

    ‘Gossip In The Grain’ (14th Floor) *** • The mopey woodsman dragged himself from his Maine farmhouse to our very own Box to record this third album, once again under the baton of Ethan Johns. While not having lightened…
    20.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Red Light Company

    ‘Fine Fascination’ (Lavolta Records) *** • Rock’s eternal dilemma; the small, intimate gesture or the grand statement? Formed less than two years ago, Red Light Company nakedly admit their intent is to resemble stadium…
    18.07.2010 READ MORE

  • Red Light Go

    'Red Light Go' (album, unsigned) **  • This Bristol quartet have been plugging at the local gig circuit for the past two years while promoting their singles ‘Was It You’, ‘Take The Picture’ and ‘Writing On The Wall’ to…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Red Vein

    ‘The Thrill That Kills’ (EP, Red Vein Music) ***  • The charitable listener would say that Red Vein’s debut EP sounded timeless. Others would more likely suck in their cheeks, thoughtfully exhale and say: “Hmmm… 1984?…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Reel People

    'Seven Ways To Wonder' (album, Papa Records) ***  • Soul musicians have always sought to touch their audience's emotions, but I'm not sure if fits of laughter were exactly the response guest vocalist Darien was looking…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Reverend and The Makers

    ‘The State of Things’ (album, Wall of Sound) *** • A queer fish, this: a northern indie/club crossover - Ian Brown does ‘Saturday Night Fever’, if you will. There’s lots of bum-wiggling disco hi-hat and earthy Arctic…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Rhythmites

    ‘Stand Strong’ (LP, EyesWideShut Recordings) **** • When a well-remembered band resurfaces after 15 years the risk is they’ll simply blow away the dust and pick up where they left off. The grittily urban artwork of…
    06.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Rita Lynch

    What Am I? (LP, Angel Records) • Rita Lynch has never been one to mince her words or her music, but hell, her last album sounds positively baroque compared to the still bloody, pulsing slabs of blues-punk-howl being…
    04.10.2010 READ MORE

  • Rita Lynch

    ‘Good Advice’ (LP, self-released) **** • Passion, fear, danger and narcotics pack this new offering from Bristol’s veteran blues-punk goddess Rita Lynch so tightly you’re slightly surprised not to find blood oozing from…
    13.08.2010 READ MORE

  • Rob Phillips

    ‘Searching For Trolls’ (LP, self-released) **** • If you’ve caught local singer-songwriter Rob Phillips out and about with just his acoustic guitar, then this album will come as a lush and multi-textured surprise. Other…
    11.08.2010 READ MORE

  • Robin Allender

    'The Bird And The Word' (album, Dreamboat Records) ****  • He gets around, does this Allender chap. Not content with bass duties for Gravenhurst and being singing guitarist with the somewhat-less-than-ubiquitous Azalea…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Robot Disaster

    ‘Guitars Are Overrated’ (single, Gash Digital) * • Painfully of the moment, Robot Disaster’s origins – the Midlands, via university in Bristol and Leeds – don’t entirely add up. Only missing geographical puzzle pieces…
    11.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Robots In Disguise

    ‘We’re In The Music Biz’ (album, President) ** • Ladies about celeb-town (as seen on ‘The Mighty Boosh…’) Sue Denim and Dee Plume unleash their third lo-fi electro-pop album of musical tales about excess and partying.…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Rock In Your Pocket

    ‘The Ugly Face Of Rage’ (EP, self-released) *** • There’s an admirable determination to jam genres together here, so the title song mixes up satisfying heaviosity with inventive guitar textures and heads-down grind…
    06.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Rock In Your Pocket

    ‘Gutterdub’ (LP, Artscare Records) There are Riot Grrrl-invoking essays to be written about Charlie Beddoes’s subverting of oohing, cooing, doe-eyed girlie charm (think Marilyn, birthday cake, extra sugar) with angry,…
    15.02.2012 READ MORE

  • Rogue Dolls

    ‘Roguish Behaviour’ (album, self-released) ***  • A five-piece all-female blues rock band is an immediately intriguing prospect. With nice tough riffs and slide, the guitar playing has the fastidious precision of…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Roni Size Reprazent

    ‘New Forms II’ (album, Universal) ****  • The almost overwhelming reaction to hearing these tracks again is to award this album the full five stars - even allowing for the nostalgia factor, this remains the pinnacle of…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Rose Kemp

    ‘Unholy Majesty’ (album, One Little Indian) **** • Never was an album’s title more apt: this is ice-queen strutting, black-vaulted and towering - I’m tingling all over and we’re still only 90 seconds into the first…
    20.01.2010 READ MORE

  • Rose Kemp

    ‘Golden Shroud’ (LP, 12 Year Stretch) • Owing a little to Scott Walker, Diamanda Galás and occult ritual music like Coil’s ‘How To Destroy Angels’, these three long tracks all open with ornate multi-tracked madrigals…
    09.02.2011 READ MORE

  • Ross Edwards

    ‘Tonight Is Your Night’ (Single, self-released) • “Tonight tonight tonight tonight tonight is your night,” sings Ross Edwards about three minutes and 40 seconds into his plodding acoustic ballad, the lead single from…
    13.08.2010 READ MORE

  • Rossanne Hamilton

    'Attic Tapes/Live At The Thunderbolt 09’ (Double EP, self-released) Classically trained Bristolian pianist-singer Rossanne Hamilton here offers a beautifully packaged (black lace-bound booklet, original illustrations…
    27.08.2011 READ MORE

  • Roxy’s Wardrobe

    ‘Chemicals.Perfume.Burn’/‘Pins & Needles’ (Single, The Animal Farm) *** • It’s not to the credit of ‘Chemicals.Perfume.Burn’ that you can practically predict its entire running length in the opening seconds. The…
    06.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Royworld

    ‘Man in the Machine’ (Album, Virgin Records) ** • In which a man with a voice like a backing singer for Sepultura roars emo for dads. Oh joy. It is apparently inspired by singer Rod’s parents’ music collection. It…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • RSD

    ‘Good Energy’ (LP, Punch Drunk) **** • I understand why, but… it really doesn’t help record reviewers when Stephen Hawking in drag regularly interrupts a ‘promo’ recording to tell you not to copy it. When the music has…
    11.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Ruarri Joseph

    'Tales of Grime & Grit' (album, Atlantic) ***  • On which Cornish troubadour leads us through 12 homely ditties of smalltown life, passing on righting the world's wrongs in favour of tales of family and relationships,…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Ruckus Collective

    ‘Stop Drop Dance!’ (LP, self-released) **** • There’s a bit of history here - this debut recording from 2008 ended up mothballed shortly after release as the band went their separate ways. Now they’re back together and…
    06.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Rufus Wainwright

    ‘Release The Stars’ (album, Geffen) *****  • In which the Wainwright boy goes to Berlin (the “town that has already been burnt down” of Randy Newmanesque single ‘Going To A Town’) and discovers his inner King Ludwig.…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Runrig

    'Everything You See' (album, Ridge Records) **** • I loved early Runrig, with their exuberant mix of Gaelic energy and power pop, so much that I was instrumental in promoting their first gig in Bristol many years ago.…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Rush

    ‘Snakes and Arrows’ (album, Atlantic) ****  • They’ve sold more records than The Police and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, but NASA’s favourite prog-metallers probably rank as the most popular band to be ignored by the…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Rusty Springfield

    ‘Fist ‘n’ Shout’ (LP, Motorsounds Records) ***** • If you loved the ‘Sonic Mook Experiment’ compilations issued by Mute documenting future leftfield rock and roll in 2002, here’s a worthy contender for any fourth…
    06.09.2010 READ MORE

  • Rusty Springfield

    ‘Please Don’t Dance Whilst Holding Drinks’ (album, Motor Sound Records) **  • If the name of this Bath three-piece sounds like a poor joke made by your dad (except he’d say ‘Springboard’), then their sound is something…
    25.01.2009 READ MORE

  • Ryan Inglis

    ‘Ryan Inglis’ (Album, self-released) *** • Weston-super-Mare lad Inglis - who deservedly won a place in the national finals of this year’s Live and Unsigned competition - here presents his beautifully-artworked debut.…
    20.06.2010 READ MORE

  • The Raconteurs

    ‘Consolers Of The Lonely’ (album, Third Man/XL Recordings) ***  • Think The White Stripes crossed with one of those biker bands that are always playing in a less than salubrious pub where the solos go on forever and…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • The Rascals

    Rascalize (album, Deltasonic) *** • Driving, 60s-flavoured jangle pop with a ghoulish undertow, from Last Shadow Puppet Miles Kane and his other band. There’s a nice, snarling malevolence to Kane’s vocals, and The…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE

  • The Refusal

    ‘The Refusal’ (Demo, self-released) ** • One glance at Bath/Frome foursome The Refusal’s collective hairlines confirms they’re no jumped-up young pups, a fact that at least lends credence to claiming influence from “any…
    11.09.2010 READ MORE

  • The Relay Rips

    ‘Oh Touché’ (Album, Club Bang Records) • Retro can be a comfort blanket for people with nothing new to say, but there’s more to this debut than old-time party music. While its songs of romance, jealousy and 24-hour…
    14.09.2010 READ MORE

  • The Relay Rips

    ‘Oh Touché’ (Single, self-released) *** • Well, shave my sideburns and call me Susan! This short ’n’ sweet single’s rambunctious, likeably lo-fi party rockin’ title track barrels us into the Rips’ high-kicking,…
    11.09.2010 READ MORE

  • The Rifles

    ‘The Great Escape’ (Album, Sixsevennine) **** • “There’s nothing like a full-time job to put out your fire” goes a line of ‘Out in the Past,’ a glockenspiel-speckled ode to “the times we had and now we don’t.” Though…
    20.06.2010 READ MORE

  • The Ruby Suns

    ‘Sea Lion’ (album, Memphis Industries) ***** • Backpackers who insist on recounting the minutiae of their journeyings are invariably shitboring; so a whole travel-influenced album must be even worse, right? Wrong. ‘Sea…
    25.01.2010 READ MORE


THE BIG GIG

  • Joymask

    For a tiny pub without a stage the Coronation Tap punches way above its musical weight, figuring on the nation’s gig-going map and attracting bands from ever farther and wider. Happily it means the pub can be picky, insisting on…
    23.05.2012 READ MORE

  • Gary Numan

    Mike White muses on the missing link between Kraftwerk and NIN. The same year as ‘Alien’, three years before ‘Blade Runner’, awkward, acne-ridden 21-year-old Gary Webb wrote a song called ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’. It sounded…
    23.04.2012 READ MORE

  • Philharmonia/Ashkenazy

    You have to feel sorry for any young pianist braving a Chopin concerto under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Poacher turned gamekeeper, Ashkenazy’s glittering career as a pianist was kick-started by success at the Warsaw Chopin…
    23.05.2012 READ MORE

Live Reviews

The Handsome Family

The Fleece, Bristol (Mon 21 May) There's a warmth about The Handsome Family, a kind of…
23.05.2012 READ MORE

Classical Opera

St George’s Bristol (Fri11 May) An opera by an 11-year-old … in Latin. Talk about a hard…
13.05.2012 READ MORE

OAE

St George’s Bristol (Fri 4 May) The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment was making much…
07.05.2012 READ MORE

Dave Stapleton

St George’s, Bristol (Thur May 5) There are eight players on stage – and great ones at…
04.05.2012 READ MORE

Simone Felice

Colston Hall, Bristol (Sat 28 Apr) The Felice Brothers came out of New York State with an…
01.05.2012 READ MORE

Dan Baird and Homemade Sin

Beeses Tea Gardens, Bristol (Sun 29 Apr) I used to think I was the sole person who'd ever…
30.04.2012 READ MORE

Neil Cowley Trio with the Mount Molehill Strings

St George’s Bristol (Thur 26 April) It’s the last night of a national tour and Neil…
27.04.2012 READ MORE

Tracer

Tunnels, Bristol (Wed 25 Apr) One of the "god, we're getting old" gags in the new…
27.04.2012 READ MORE

Cher Lloyd

O2 Academy, Bristol (Tue 10 Apr) It's a struggle-to-get-through-the-door sell-out…
24.04.2012 READ MORE

Alabama 3: Acoustic and Unplugged

Trinity, Bristol (Fri 20 Apr) The blues came down to Trinity... and blew it away. Alabama…
23.04.2012 READ MORE

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Chorus: ‘Carmina Burana’

Colston Hall Bristol (Thur 19 Apr) Time was when the definition of an intellectual was…
23.04.2012 READ MORE

Filthy Six/Benny Sensus

Mr Wolf’s, Bristol (Fri 20 May) Mr Wolf’s on a Friday night and it’s a bit slow to fill…
23.04.2012 READ MORE

Empty Pools/Schnauser/Glis Glis

Louisiana, Bristol (Wed 18 Apr) The three Glis Glis members repeating crystalline,…
20.04.2012 READ MORE

Ceu/Curumin

St George’s, Bristol (Wed 18 Apr) Electronic bands rarely sound good in St George’s and…
20.04.2012 READ MORE

Meshuggah/Animals as Leaders

O2 Academy, Bristol (Thur 12 Apr) Animals as Leaders are the missing link between The…
16.04.2012 READ MORE

Orange Goblin/Church of Misery/Grifter/Dopefight

Fleece, Bristol (Sun 8 Apr) It's Easter Sunday and a sweaty, sold-out Fleece is…
09.04.2012 READ MORE

Tinariwen

Colston Hall, Bristol (Sat 7 Apr) A decade ago Tinariwen emerged from the Malian desert…
09.04.2012 READ MORE

The Magnificent Seven

Coronation Tap, Bristol (Sun 1 Apr) OK, it’s the usual suspects, but the discerning…
03.04.2012 READ MORE

Spiro/Cliff Stapleton/Katey Brooks

Fleece, Bristol (Sat 31 Mar) It’s very satisfying when your local heroes get national…
02.04.2012 READ MORE

Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet/Robert Mitchell 3io

Colston Hall 2, Bristol (Tue 27 Mar) “We don’t have much time,” announces pianist Robert…
29.03.2012 READ MORE

Black Stone Cherry/Rival Sons

O2 Academy, Bristol (Mon 26 Mar) Even when the Academy is sold out, as it is tonight,…
29.03.2012 READ MORE

Tall Ships

Thekla, Bristol (Wed 21 March) Tall Ships, originally from the harbourside town of…
29.03.2012 READ MORE

UFO/Heavy Metal Kids

O2 Academy, Bristol (Sun 25 Mar) There are two things every rock trivia freak knows about…
27.03.2012 READ MORE

The Cardinall’s Musick

St George’s Bristol (Sat 24 Mar) When not directing The Cardinall’s Musick, the…
27.03.2012 READ MORE

Earth/Mount Eerie/Ô Paon

Arnolfini, Bristol (Sat 3 Mar) Ô Paon opens with a set of slow burners; her clumsily…
21.03.2012 READ MORE

All Tomorrow’s Parties curated by Jeff Mangum

Butlins, Minehead (Fri 9- Sun 11 Mar) It’s a different line-up almost every time they…
21.03.2012 READ MORE

The Answer/The Union

O2 Academy, Bristol (Fri 16 Mar) Let's hear it for the return of the big-value rock…
19.03.2012 READ MORE

Get The Blessing/Pops Parker/The Liftmen

Arnolfini, Bristol (Thur 15 Mar) Like their seething soup-pond visual backdrop, there’s a…
16.03.2012 READ MORE

Gabrielle Aplin/Hudson-Taylor

Thekla, Bristol (Mon 12 Mar) Still only 19 but nevertheless managing to rack up 1.3m…
14.03.2012 READ MORE

Lambchop

The Fleece, Bristol (Wed 7 March, 2012) Lambchop simmer with an intensity which underlies…
12.03.2012 READ MORE

The Tender Trap

Southbank Centre, Bristol (Fri 24 Feb) The Southbank has many guises and tonight it’s…
12.03.2012 READ MORE

Ugetsu feat. Damon Brown and Yutaka Shiina

Colston Hall 2, Bristol (Tue 6 Mar) Yutaka Shiina heads straight for the piano as if he…
07.03.2012 READ MORE

Field Music/Stealing Sheep

The Fleece, Bristol (Thur 23 Feb) A timid ‘hello’ from Stealing Sheep’s Lucy…
28.02.2012 READ MORE

High Places/The Hysterical Injury/Hesomagari

The Cube, Bristol (Fri 17 Feb) If the idea of a boy/girl duo-themed night makes you feel…
21.02.2012 READ MORE

Mouse Deer

The Old Bookshop, Bristol (Thur 16 Feb) Lord knows US coffee shop culture took a long…
20.02.2012 READ MORE

OAE: The Glory of Venice

St George’s Bristol (Sun 19 Feb) With Vivaldi’s ‘L’Olimpiade’ about to be unleashed up…
20.02.2012 READ MORE

James Morton & Friends

The Prom, Bristol (Fri 17 Feb) Lately, alto sax player James Morton’s career’s demanded…
19.02.2012 READ MORE

Rich Robinson

Fleece, Bristol (Wed 15 Feb) With the Black Crowes on apparently indefinite hiatus, the…
17.02.2012 READ MORE

Justice

O2 Academy, Bristol (Thur 9 Feb) As Justice step into the divine lights of the 02 Academy…
13.02.2012 READ MORE

Shinedown/Halestorm

O2 Academy, Bristol (Sun 12 Feb) It demonstrates considerable confidence to take a band…
13.02.2012 READ MORE

Just Jack

Motion, Bristol (Sat 4 Feb) Just Jack, the mischievous local chap (club night) with great…
07.02.2012 READ MORE

Roots Manuva

Anson Room, Bristol (Fri 3 Feb) Having seen Roots Manuva take to the stage in riding…
06.02.2012 READ MORE

Gannets/Tamco Trio/Three Cane Whale

St George’s Bristol (Fri 3 Feb) Can you have a game of three halves? It’s a Zen question…
05.02.2012 READ MORE

Nigel Kennedy/Orchestra of Life

Colston Hall, Bristol (Wed 18 Jan) Telephone-hold to elevator music, ‘The Four Seasons’…
25.01.2012 READ MORE

Bristol Acoustic Music Festival

St George’s Bristol (Fri 13-Sun 15 Jan) Who'da thunk it: some folk are dancing – dancing…
25.01.2012 READ MORE

M83

Trinity Centre, Bristol (Tue 17 Jan) Tonight, any attempt to identify a song by its intro…
24.01.2012 READ MORE

Howler/Man Made

Louisiana (Mon 23 Jan) Support act Man Made arrives on stage wearing the kind of gold…
24.01.2012 READ MORE

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

St George’s, Bristol (Thur 19 Jan) ‘Sir Henry’  distilled and squandered the late Viv…
22.01.2012 READ MORE

Arabella Sprot Quartet

Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 6 Jan) Given the styereotype of the lazy, time-wasting student,…
09.01.2012 READ MORE

Denny Ilett plays Led Zeppelin

Coronation Tap, Bristol (Thur 5 Jan) There’s an inevitable sense of laddishness about…
06.01.2012 READ MORE

The Peters

Coronation Tap, Bristol (Tue 3 Jan) Here’s a mind-boggling little collective of young…
04.01.2012 READ MORE

The Hook 'Em Boys

The Croft, Bristol (Wed 21 Dec, 2011) It’s the longest night and it’s slipping by very…
22.12.2011 READ MORE

Mike Willox Quartet

Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 16 Dec) Mike Willox has long been master of the element of…
20.12.2011 READ MORE

La Nuova Musica/Messiah

St George’s Bristol (Sun 18 Dec) Anyone nervous about the one-to-a-part line-up promised…
19.12.2011 READ MORE

Venn

El Rincon, Bristol (Fri 9 Dec) Tonight El Rincon is a place of two halves, with a large…
19.12.2011 READ MORE

Oxford Philomusica/Schiff

St George’s Bristol (Thur 8 Dec) Intriguing to see Andras Schiff in front of an orchestra…
19.12.2011 READ MORE

DJ Shadow

O2 Academy, Bristol (Mon 28 November) He left the stage smiling, and so he should have –…
19.12.2011 READ MORE

Holy Stain at Festive Fest

Thekla, Bristol (Sun 18 Dec) It’s Holy Stain’s second to last ever show, so we can…
19.12.2011 READ MORE

Hawthorne Heights/The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus/Failsafe

Thekla, Bristol (Wed 14 Dec) Golly, when Thekla say ‘early show’, they mean it. Failsafe…
19.12.2011 READ MORE

Get The Blessing

(Thur 15 Dec, Canteen, Bristol) They’ve clearly been missed. Get The Blessing’s 2011…
16.12.2011 READ MORE

Little Dragon/White Hinterland

Thekla, Bristol (Fri 2 Dec) Despite the name, ‘White Hinterland’ is not a right-wing…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Ginger Wildheart and Friends

Fleece, Bristol (Tue 13 Dec) Ginger's guitar is out of tune and the drum monitor isn't…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Amplifier

Fleece, Bristol (Mon 12 Dec) What strange beast is Amplifier? The name suggests a metal…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

The Magic Band

Thekla, Bristol (Sun 4 Dec) When rock visionary Captain Beefheart passed away in December…
07.12.2011 READ MORE

Bleeding Heart Narrative

The Cube, Bristol (Sat 26 Nov) Watching Bleeding Heart Narrative at The Cube, it's…
07.12.2011 READ MORE

Uriah Heep

O2 Academy, Bristol (Mon 5 Dec) When a band has been around as long as Uriah Heep, it's…
06.12.2011 READ MORE

Emily Wright & The Royals

The Old Bookshop, Bristol (Sat 3 Dec) A nice new band in a nice new venue - Christmas has…
06.12.2011 READ MORE

Wire/Talk Normal

Thekla, Bristol (Tue 29 Nov) At the merch stand, sales of the Wire shopping bag appear…
02.12.2011 READ MORE

Zappa Plays Zappa

Colston Hall, Bristol (Wed 30 Nov) This is weird. There's a biggish band on stage – two…
01.12.2011 READ MORE

In:Motion – RBMA & Futureboogie

Motion, Bristol (Sat 26 Nov) Tonight sees two of Bristol’s biggest dance music beacons,…
01.12.2011 READ MORE

Billy Bragg: Left Field In Motion Tour

The Fleece, Bristol (Nov 28, 2011) Typical of Billy Bragg: he didn't just show up for a…
01.12.2011 READ MORE

John Cooper Clarke

The Fleece, Bristol (Sun 27 Nov) Like a wizened stick-insect love child of 60s-era Bob…
29.11.2011 READ MORE

Blakeley's Messengers

Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 25 Nov) These days there’s so much going on in the name of jazz…
28.11.2011 READ MORE

Claudia Aurora

The Folk House, Brisrtol (Fri 26 Nov) It’s packed down in the Folk House’s hall basement…
28.11.2011 READ MORE

John Pearce & Mike Willox Classical Duo

El Rincon, Bristol(Sun 20 Nov) I ring Mike Willox shortly before this lunchtime gig is…
23.11.2011 READ MORE

C.W. Stoneking & The Primitive Horn Orchestra/Howling Lord

Trinity, Bristol (Tue 22 Nov) It’s a remarkable crowd both in numbers and style, and the…
23.11.2011 READ MORE

WNO: Don Giovanni

Bristol Hippodrome (Tue 8 Nov) Hearing Leporello’s ‘black book’ aria (in which he lists…
22.11.2011 READ MORE

St. Vincent

The Fleece, Bristol (Fri 11 Nov) There’s always been a tension about St. Vincent’s live…
22.11.2011 READ MORE

Benn Clatworthy Quintet

Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 18 Nov) It’s a quintessentially Bebop gig, this, as club mainman…
21.11.2011 READ MORE

Bon Iver

Colston Hall, Bristol (Fri 11 Nov) If Justin Vernon were an animal, what would he be? On…
21.11.2011 READ MORE

Gillian Welch

Hippodrome, Bristol (Tue 15 Nov) “I learnt this from Doc Watson,” she says, before…
17.11.2011 READ MORE

The Beat

The Fleece, Bristol (Sat 12 Nov) When The Beat formed back in the late 70s we were in the…
15.11.2011 READ MORE

Fish

The Tunnels, Bristol (Sun 13 Nov) It's not hard to detect a bit of the old Pink…
15.11.2011 READ MORE

The Melvins

The Thekla, Bristol (Fri 4 Nov) Just when you thought The Melvins couldn't get any more…
11.11.2011 READ MORE

Adam Ant

Cheese and Grain, Frome (Thurs 10 Nov) Christmas is coming, and trip down memory lane…
11.11.2011 READ MORE

Balkanarama feat. The Destroyers

The Fleece, Bristol (Fri 4 Nov 4) It's an inspired way to start proceedings: they've put…
07.11.2011 READ MORE

This Is My Normal State/Tomorrow We Sail

The Cooler, Bristol (Sat 5 Nov) A wrapt, standing-down-the-front crowd for a support act?…
07.11.2011 READ MORE

WU LYF

Thekla, Bristol (Tue 25 Oct) In the end, the truth always outs. Back in April, The…
01.11.2011 READ MORE

WHY? Acoustic Grand Piano Tour

Colston Hall 2, Bristol (Sun 23 Oct) There is usually something jarringly civilised about…
01.11.2011 READ MORE

Anna Calvi

Trinity Centre, Bristol (Mon 31 Oct) Anna Calvi released her self-titled debut album at…
01.11.2011 READ MORE

Erasure

Colston Hall, Bristol (Sat 29 Oct) Ron and Russell Mael. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.…
01.11.2011 READ MORE

Alice Cooper

(Colston Hall, Bristol, Wed 26 Oct) Considering that this was billed as Alice's Halloween…
27.10.2011 READ MORE

The Union/Fighting Wolves

Fleece, Bristol (Sun 23 Oct) The huge cheer that greets Fighting Wolves' announcement of…
27.10.2011 READ MORE

Oxjam Takeover

Various venues, Bristol (Sat 22 Oct) It may well be an overcast Saturday afternoon, but…
27.10.2011 READ MORE

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes

  O2 Academy, Bristol, Sept 25 2011 New Jersey r’n’b stalwarts Southside Johnny & The…
27.10.2011 READ MORE

Laura Marling

Bristol Cathedral (Tue 25 Oct) Spotlit columns vaulting to the heavens, a stage backed by…
27.10.2011 READ MORE

Christian Wallumrod Ensemble

St George’s, Bristol (Mon Oct 24) He’s all in black at the piano and there’s a general…
25.10.2011 READ MORE

The Duval Project

The Bell, Bath (Mon 10 Oct) “There are some people that, when they tell you they have a…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

Enablers

The Cube, Bristol (Sat 15 Oct) There’s a surge of energy as Enablers open their encore…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

The Pierces/Marcus Foster

Anson Rooms, Bristol (Thur 20 Oct) Hadn’t heard Marcus Foster’s ‘Nameless Path’, but knew…
21.10.2011 READ MORE
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CD Reviews

Kid Carpet

‘Kid Carpet & The Noisy Animals’ (LP, self-released) // Few things are more intoxicating…
20.04.2012 READ MORE

Million Way

‘Your Circuitry’ (EP, self-released) // Dream Continuum release the ‘Reworkz’ EP and,…
20.04.2012 READ MORE

OLO Worms

‘Image’ EP(Coffin/Download, self-released) // The clued-up few will already own this…
18.04.2012 READ MORE

Paul Garry

‘With Love Comes Rescue’ (EP, BMS Records) // Offensively inoffensive and supremely…
18.04.2012 READ MORE

Jag Harps

‘Theta Waves’ (EP, independent) // Amidst this shadowy collective of session musicians,…
17.04.2012 READ MORE

Dave Stapleton

‘Flight’ (LP, Edition Records) // Dave Stapleton's Cardiff-based Edition Records is fast…
17.04.2012 READ MORE

Hello Lazarus

‘Hello Lazarus’ (EP, Scylla Records) If there's a theme for this EP, it's that it implies…
26.03.2012 READ MORE

Lady Nade & The Silhouettes

‘All I Am’  (EP, unsigned) Lady Nade’s deep-hued voice adds archaic credibility to…
22.03.2012 READ MORE

Caroline Martin

‘For All That I Do Not Know’ (LP, Smalldog) Second album ‘proper’, and still like being…
22.03.2012 READ MORE

Termites

'Termites' (LP, Sink & Stove) Oh, YES! It fizzes, bucks, weaves, bounces, is whip-crack…
22.03.2012 READ MORE

Island Audio

'The Drift' (Single/Sink & Stove) It's early days for glam-y, knife-edged post-punkers…
15.02.2012 READ MORE

Rock In Your Pocket

‘Gutterdub’ (LP, Artscare Records) There are Riot Grrrl-invoking essays to be written…
15.02.2012 READ MORE

Get The Blessing

    ‘OCDC’ (LP, Naim Jazz) Bish bash bosh, here they come, but there’s a sparkling new…
14.02.2012 READ MORE

Spiro

'Kaleidophonica’ (LP, Real World) Spiro tunes unfold from little elements, patterns…
13.02.2012 READ MORE

Pinch

'Fabriclive 61’ (Mix CD, Fabric) On this timely contribution to the prestigious mix…
13.02.2012 READ MORE

Experimental Pop Band

'Little Things' (Single, Wear It Well) Since 2007 EPB have written, recorded and scrapped…
13.02.2012 READ MORE

Phantom Limb

‘The Pines’ (Album, Naim Edge) The title could’ve been swiped from a new-build…
19.01.2012 READ MORE

Josh Arcoleo

‘Beginnings’ (Album, Edition Records) It takes practice and inspiration to become a…
19.01.2012 READ MORE

The Hysterical Injury

‘Dead Wolf Situation’ (LP, Crystal Fuzz) Yes, Hysterical Injury brandish nothing more…
19.01.2012 READ MORE

Silent Tides

‘Silent Tides’ (EP, self-released) This is Silent Tides’ debut EP and, as such, serves as…
19.01.2012 READ MORE

The Liftmen

‘Troubled Teens’ (Single, Twisted Nerve) It’s disappointing that the first pressing of…
19.01.2012 READ MORE

Francois & The Atlas Mountains

'E Volo Love’ (LP, Domino) Whilst the minutiae of the human condition might not present…
19.01.2012 READ MORE

Mouse Deer

‘The Mouse Deer EP’ (EP, self-released) Girl-group harmonies forged from a single vocal…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Radio Banska

‘The Balkan Courtesan’ (LP, Get Real Records) Who knew John Zorn was composing 13-time…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Sarah Menage

‘In A Mood’ (LP, Independent) Just ‘a’ mood? There’s a range on offer in Sarah Menage’s…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Onestate

‘Migratory Patterns EP’ (EP, self-released) Class war and consumerist angst fuel the…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Big Joan

‘The Long, Slow Death of Big Joan’ (LP, Blood Red Sounds) Well, the title’s a misnomer…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

The Short Life of Gracie

‘The Short Life of Gracie’ (EP, self-released) There’s a moment on opener ‘How to Kill…
14.12.2011 READ MORE

Bleeding Heart Narrative

‘Bison’ (EP, Brainlove Records) As opening gambits go, 'Shoals' has to be one of the…
07.11.2011 READ MORE

The Hit Ups

‘Unforgivable'/'66 Sexy’ (Free download, self-released) The Hit Ups: ‘parties, death,…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

Rae

'Era’ (LP, Dawn Chorus) Bristol four-piece Rae have found a rich musical seam to mine…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

Follow The Sun

'The Evening Light’ (EP/self-released) Pushed just beyond ambient loveliness by gentle…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

Turbowolf

‘Turbowolf’ (LP, Hassle Records) Chris Georgiadis: looks like a hunger-striking Zappa,…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

The Groove Farm

‘I Know It’s Only Indie Pop… But I Like It’ (LP, Big Pink Cake) From ’86 to ’90, South…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

FeNN

‘Faces and Places’ (LP, Coda Productions) FeNN is the latest identity of…
21.10.2011 READ MORE

The Bad Joke That Ended Well

‘The Meteors Are Coming’ (LP, Little Paradise Records) Zips in on an express banjo…
30.09.2011 READ MORE

Smile, LOOKALIVE!

'Ringside Seats’ (EP, self-released) Smile, LOOKALIVE! (or SLA, for those with…
30.09.2011 READ MORE

Centrefolds

'Fresh Air’/’Jennifer’ (Single, self-released) Fiercely mixed to fizz with high end,…
30.09.2011 READ MORE

Call The Doctor

‘Riots.’ (EP, Fear of Fiction) Patti Aberhart’s living the dream: black bob, lip gloss…
30.09.2011 READ MORE

Steve Day

‘Song Of The Fly’ (LP, Leo Records) Drumming poet Steve Day has long experience of…
30.09.2011 READ MORE

Chatterbox & Samuel Otis

‘Hard Graft’ (Killamari Records) Hip-hop is always at its most convincing when you can…
30.09.2011 READ MORE

Gouranga

‘Keep Your Colours’ (7-track EP, self-released) Chunky melodic rock, paint-stripping…
27.08.2011 READ MORE

An Axe

'Love, My Evil'/'Let Law Be Upheld' (Single, self-released) Despite being a download-only…
27.08.2011 READ MORE

Curse You Damn Kids

‘Sorta Like An Epiphany’ (EP, Screamlite Records) There’s much to admire in this youthful…
27.08.2011 READ MORE

Echo Park Orchestra

'Hymns of the Black Flag’ (LP, self-released) Echo Park Orchestra mainman Peter…
27.08.2011 READ MORE

Rossanne Hamilton

'Attic Tapes/Live At The Thunderbolt 09’ (Double EP, self-released) Classically trained…
27.08.2011 READ MORE

Baobinga & Co

‘Joint Ventures’ (LP, Build Recordings) DJ, producer and blogger Sam ‘Baobinga’ Simpson…
27.08.2011 READ MORE

The Weary Band

‘Office Doodles’ (LP, self-released) At last! We’ve waited almost a decade – and a couple…
29.07.2011 READ MORE

Pressplay

‘The Switch Room’ (LP, self-released) You could dismiss Pressplay’s music for its blatant…
29.07.2011 READ MORE

Planting_Claymore

‘Re-Gen’ (EP, self-released) Not, as the name suggests, a Clifton estate agent but a…
29.07.2011 READ MORE

Electric Contradiction

‘Gold Mind EP’ (EP, self-released) This Bath-based five piece describe themselves as an…
29.07.2011 READ MORE

The Minke Whales

‘Turncoat’ (LP, Tandem) The Minke Whales – possibly named in honour of that doomed…
29.07.2011 READ MORE

Toyface

Dust & the Shadows Calling (EP, self-released) A door creaks open. In comes Tamsyn…
29.07.2011 READ MORE

Juey

‘Before the Devil Catches Me’ (EP, self-released) • Cheltenham-based singer-songwriter…
30.06.2011 READ MORE

The Divided Circle

‘The Divided Circle’ (LP, Lonely City Records) • Why isn’t everyone talking about The…
30.06.2011 READ MORE

Neo Ritmo

‘Experience Precedes Essence’ (LP, self-released) • “Believe in yourself – that’s half…
30.06.2011 READ MORE

COI

‘Word of Mouth’ (EP, self-released) •  COI are freshly reformed and, crikey, we’ve missed…
30.06.2011 READ MORE

Edenheight

‘Peaceboy’/‘Trouble’ (Single, Breakin’ Bread Records) • One of Bristol’s…
30.06.2011 READ MORE

Hi Fiction Science

'Hi Fiction Science' (LP, self-released) •A lass with a high, folksy voice ponders aloud…
30.06.2011 READ MORE

Zero Pilot

‘XY’ (EP, self-released) If ‘Ice Road Truckers’ were a record, it’d be this ballsy,…
27.05.2011 READ MORE

James Hollingsworth

‘Two And Two’ (EP, self-released) Awful cheesecloth rock channelling mawkish Chris De…
27.05.2011 READ MORE

Talisman

‘Dole Age: The 1981 Reggae Collection’ (LP, Bristol Archive Records) Hot on the heels of…
27.05.2011 READ MORE

Oxygen Thief

‘Destroy It Yourself’ (LP, Broken Tail Records) Bristol’s Barry Dolan, in-your-face raw…
27.05.2011 READ MORE

Maps and Legends

‘Maps and Legends’ (EP, self-released) Perhaps appropriately given their name, M&L…
27.05.2011 READ MORE

Bashema

‘Liberty’/‘Love Is A Verb’ (Double-A single, Jelli Records) We didn’t rate Bashema’s last…
27.05.2011 READ MORE

Hello Lazarus

‘All Alliteration’ (LP, self-released) • It whizzes. It buzzes. Noisy and precise guitar…
29.04.2011 READ MORE

The Short Stories

‘Small Mercies’ (LP, The International Lo-Fi Underground) • A lo-fi thrum of songs…
29.04.2011 READ MORE

Bass 6

‘Ascension’ (EP, unsigned) • Is it that time already? Bass 6 are an enterprising bunch of…
29.04.2011 READ MORE

Cemlyn Jones

‘All These Dreams’ (LP, Kargo Records) • Clevedon-based singer-songwriter and former…
29.04.2011 READ MORE

The Haiku

‘Life After The Bomb’ (LP, Nine Records) • The sleeve’s fancy packaging promises much,…
29.04.2011 READ MORE

The Carny Villains

The Carny Villains (EP, Unsigned) • The seven-piece band from the heart of Bristol’s…
29.04.2011 READ MORE

Narco Lounge Combo

‘Music for Ice Rinks’ (LP, self-released) • “She got freckles and a blow-job nose, kitten…
20.04.2011 READ MORE

The Cheaterslicks

Rev Up, Burn Out’ (LP, Western Star)  • Here’s a blistering debut mixing up rockabilly,…
20.04.2011 READ MORE

Heg Doughty

‘Little Red’ (EP, self-released)  • Ah, the sadly defunct Dartington College in the green…
20.04.2011 READ MORE

Centrefolds

'Is Anyone There?’ (EP, self-released) • All hail Centrefolds for their unashamed pursuit…
13.04.2011 READ MORE

Okus Dolphin

‘Spiritual’ (LP, self-released) • With its Glastonbury candle shop sleeve, ham-fisted…
13.04.2011 READ MORE

Rachael Dadd ‘

'Elephee’ (EP, Broken Sound Music) • Rachael Dadd is a songwriter in thrall to nature,…
13.04.2011 READ MORE

Elliot Hall

‘Adults Are Stupid’ (LP, self-released) • The title is just one affable feature of this…
06.04.2011 READ MORE

James Brewster

‘As a Hovering Insect Mass Breaks Your Fall’ (LP, Make Mine Music) • Now living in Malmö,…
06.04.2011 READ MORE

The Naturals

‘Gifthorse’/‘He Has An 80ft Tarantula’ (double A-side single, self-released) • The thing…
06.04.2011 READ MORE

Principal Participant

‘Principles’ (Download LP, self-released) • “Minotaur Shock is my regular outlet for…
30.03.2011 READ MORE

Emily Teague

‘Emily Teague’ (LP, self-released) • Bristol’s folkies have some bad habits – ‘spiritual’…
30.03.2011 READ MORE

Pat Nicholson

‘Roll With It’ (LP, Pan Records) • Australian Pat Nicholson’s debut arrives with some…
30.03.2011 READ MORE

The Egret Seacrow

‘Imaginatively, A Silk Wasp’ (LP, self-released) • A slight, delicate release – our copy…
23.03.2011 READ MORE

Tony Harris

‘Choices’ (LP, self-released) • There is something of the madrigal about these simple,…
23.03.2011 READ MORE

Wires

‘To Conquer The Waves’ (EP, self-released) • Wires’ debut EP is a conundrum. It starts…
23.03.2011 READ MORE

Color Of The Sun

‘Solong Suckers’ (LP, self-released) • Multi-instrumentalist Aron Ward is a Californian…
16.03.2011 READ MORE

Honour Your Pain

'Between Blood and Pride' (EP) • Metal's such a crowded marketplace these days that you…
16.03.2011 READ MORE

ANTA

'The Tree That Bears The Equine Fruit’ (LP, Diogenes Recordings) • Best played…
16.03.2011 READ MORE

Skjølbrot

‘Maersk’ (Ltd edtn LP, self-released) • The man behind Skjølbrot is Dan Bennett,…
09.03.2011 READ MORE

The Get-Outs

‘Exit’ (LP, Kitchen Rock Records) • The Get-Outs, currently celebrating their tenth year…
09.03.2011 READ MORE

The Zen Hussies

‘Troubled Feet’ (LP, Musique DaDA) • If you’ve ever stumbled across a Zen Hussies gig the…
09.03.2011 READ MORE

Badgertrap

‘Agony of Choice’ (EP/download, Kangaroo Kourt Records) • Product of Hal Camplin/Barry…
02.03.2011 READ MORE

Organic

The Right Thing (Self-released) • The retro feeling starts with the ‘stereo’ label on the…
02.03.2011 READ MORE

Malachai

‘Return to the Ugly Side’ (LP, Double Six Records) • The second album from Scott Hendy…
02.03.2011 READ MORE

Central Spillz

'Space Travel' (LP, Durkle Disco) • In the increasingly boundary-bereft territory between…
23.02.2011 READ MORE

TwoManTing

 ‘Legacy’ (LP, self-released) • Formed from Afro-dance outfit Le Cod Afrique, duo…
23.02.2011 READ MORE

David Britton

'The Oldland Commoner Album’ (LP, self-released) • David Britton is a gent from Bristol’s…
23.02.2011 READ MORE

Caricatures

‘Fire In The Womb’ (Single, Anticreation Productions) • Down-tuned strings, irregular…
16.02.2011 READ MORE

Secret Shine

‘The Beginning and the End’ (LP, self-released) • Hard to believe these passionless…
16.02.2011 READ MORE
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