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Padmore/English Concert
St George’s Bristol (Tue 24 Nov) • Hooray for Henry – and for Mark Padmore who instinctively knows that it’s never necessary to exaggerate anything in Purcell; everything’s there in the music. Hooray, too, for Handel,…24.11.2009 READ MORE -
Paloma Faith/La Shark
02 Academy Bristol (Fri 26 Mar) • Art school rather than stage school, La Shark are a surprising choice of support. To general crowd indifference, Sam Deschamps rolls about the stage squealing “I'm a skeleton!” as…26.03.2010 READ MORE -
Pama International vs The Mad Professor/Babyhead
Fiddlers, Bristol (Sat 9 Oct) • There are few Saturday night sights more gladdening for this grizzled old dubweiser than a proper stack of soundsystem speakers standing on a dancefloor, so Downbeat Melody’s impeccably…13.10.2010 READ MORE -
Papa Noel & Bana Congo
Fiddlers, Bristol (Thur 28 June) • The promoter shrugs off the small turnout – "They’re sold out in Gateshead tomorrow" - and neither punters nor band seem bothered if the stage was sometimes more crowded than the…28.06.2007 READ MORE -
Parrington Jackson/Drafts/The Lah De Dahs
Spring Gardens, Bristol (Sat 30 Oct) • I don’t know what Newport City Radio is or what the hell they’re doing at the Spring Gardens Tavern in Hotwells, but they played a blinder getting the Lah De Dahs on first.…03.11.2010 READ MORE -
Passion Pit/The Joy Formidable
Anson Rooms, Bristol (Fri 30 Oct) • With the 21st Century’s opening decade damn near done and still to secure a truly defining musical movement, the second wave of shoegaze appears a well-placed runner coming up on the…30.10.2009 READ MORE -
Paul Lewis
St George’s Bristol (Fri 2 Oct) • Having spent two years touring a complete Beethoven Sonata cycle, Paul Lewis must have looked on the mighty ‘Diabelli Variations’ as the mother of all laps of honour. A few days ago…02.10.2009 READ MORE -
Paul Steel / Brandon Steep
Louisiana, Bristol (Thur 29 Mar) • It all starts a bit dubiously. Venue is flanked upon entry by street-teamers armed with a king’s ransom of questionable promotional delights, mailing lists and bizarre cheer. We’re…29.03.2007 READ MORE -
Pee Wee Ellis & Fred Wesley
Thekla Social, Bristol (Sun 25 Feb) • So you’re a promoter and it’s your birthday party so, with your connections, you book a great band. Two living legends, two young hotshots, and the tightest rhythm section around.…25.02.2007 READ MORE -
Peggy Seeger
Chapel Arts Centre, Bath (Sat 2 Oct) • The average age of the audience is 63; the performer is 75; her guitar (a Martin Parlor) is 103. It is an evening of brushed cotton shirts and Scholl-shod feet tapping soundlessly…06.10.2010 READ MORE -
Pepino/Anette Berlin/Nuala
Grain Barge, Bristol (Fri 16 Oct) • There were a few men involved, admittedly, but ‘Pepino’s Night of Extraordinary Balderdash’ was really all about the girls. Onstage and in the audience, a surreal formality of dress…16.10.2009 READ MORE -
Perfect Pete / Selfservice
Bierkeller, Bristol (Thur 8 Feb) • It’s Pete from 'Big Brother'. Ah, innocent days, before the format imploded in a bloodbath of class war and racism. Still, at least 'Celebrity Big Brother' provided us with a splendid…08.02.2007 READ MORE -
Peter Green
Moles, Bath (Wed 2 Sept) • “What’s the official capacity of this place, then?” Not your usual pre-gig chatter, to be sure, but symptomatic of the teeming ranks of middle-aged men with little capability for conversation…02.09.2009 READ MORE -
Phanton Quartet/The Switch/The Fyxx
Louisiana, Bristol (Wed 7 Oct) • Not to be confused with hopelessly shit School of Pop dropouts Phixx, openers The Fyxx peddle a nice brand of punchy rock, embellished with Caleb Followill-style crooning. They’re not…07.10.2009 READ MORE -
Philadelphia Grand Jury/Born Blonde/The Haiku
Moles, Bath (Thur 26 Aug) • The Haiku open to an empty room. Oh dear, I’m going to have to do it. A band plays. No one can hear. We’ll read it later. You missed good songs from the trio, strongly sung like Glenn…26.08.2010 READ MORE -
Philharmonia
Colston Hall, Bristol (Wed 27 Jan) • Sandwiched chronologically between the concert hall-filling 4th and 5th symphonies, it’s odd that Tchaikovsky’s ‘Manfred’ gets so few outings. It needs a big orchestra admittedly…27.01.2010 READ MORE -
Philharmonia / Dutoit
Colston Hall, Bristol (Wed 26 Nov) •With two movements of Ravel’s ‘Mother Goose’ given over to ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Charles Dutoit was always going to indulge his beautiful side: the Philharmonia winds sounded…26.11.2008 READ MORE -
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PJ Harvey & John Parish/Howe Gelb
Anson Rooms, Bristol (Sat 18 Apr) • Sighing his way through a short support set, Arizonan alt.country cult icon Howe Gelb is a well-placed anti-pretension device. Dapper in jacket and The Untouchables hat, between…18.04.2009 READ MORE -
Plan B/Faith SFX/Bobby Anderson
O2 Academy Bristol (Mon 11 Oct) • Bobby Anderson is in full flight as Venue pushes its way to the main bar. It’s impossible to get near the stage tonight. The place is packed with some of the sharpest elbows in Bristol.…20.10.2010 READ MORE -
Planting Claymore/Zero Pilot/Daylight Fireworks/Lights and Clockwork
The Fleece, Bristol (Thur 25 Aug) The Fleece's current marshals - Bristol pop institution The Blue Aeroplanes - have admirably stuck to their guns. Chris Sharp and co, after their acquisition of the venue last year,…30.08.2011 READ MORE -
Plug 58: Rasha Shaheen/Thud/Adam Laity/The Slideshow
The Cube, Bristol (Sat 17 Jan) • One of those brilliant, bonkers nights that make the Cube so great - someone frying feral food on a pair of upturned irons, a stall selling homemade fanzines, bands and films seamlessly…17.01.2009 READ MORE -
Polar Bear
Hall 2, Colston Hall, Bristol (Sat 2 Oct) • Their latest Leaf label album ‘Peepers’ makes it clear – Polar Bear are out there in the leftfield but it’s probably best not to think of them as jazz. This is not a problem –…06.10.2010 READ MORE -
Pop Levi / The Transpersonals
Thekla, Bristol (Wed 24 Jan) Showbiz can be cruel. Tipped a couple of days earlier by Lauren Laverne on national television as one of the top five acts for the coming year, come the Wednesday, Pop Levi is playing to ten…24.01.2007 READ MORE -
Poppy & The Friends/Doc Satori
Porter Cellar Bar, Bath (Wed 14 Oct) • Tonight’s promoter has filled the air with scented joss sticks, psychedelic oil wheels and prog on the stereo. What’s needed now is a gentle-hearted 70s-style strumming troubadour…14.10.2009 READ MORE -
Portico Quartet/Smith & Willox
The Croft, Bristol (Mon 4 May) • The room is empty when Smith & Willox launch their post-Obamaist set. Now an electric quartet (guitar, keys, bass and drums) their prog-Krautiness shouts “Yes we Can!” so loudly that the…04.05.2009 READ MORE -
Presteigne Festival Soloists
St George’s Bristol (Thur 29 Sept) What is it about Wales and contemporary music? Along with the first cuckoo of spring, Bangor New Music Festival’s sap starts to rise; in autumn there’s…03.10.2011 READ MORE -
Priddy Folk Festival
Priddy Village (Fri 9-Sun 11 July) • It could almost have been the 1960s: the sun shone, bright clothes were the order of the day, the music was wonderful and everybody was smiling, but no, this was just Priddy living…11.07.2010 READ MORE -
Pride Bristol
Castle Park, Bristol (Sat 21 Aug) • It’s odd that there’s no mention of the word ‘parade’. Everyone’s calling it a ‘walk’, or even a ‘march’, but there’s only one word for the explosion of colour and sound that makes…21.08.2010 READ MORE -
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Public Image Ltd
O2 Academy Bristol (Tue 20 July) • Rumours that J Lydon Esq has mellowed with age (and advertising income) have been greatly exaggerated. There’s nothing remotely mellow – or buttery – about the way PiL tear into savage…20.07.2010 READ MORE -
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Colston Hall, Bristol (Fri 7 May) • Portishead’s Adrian Utley and Will Gregory of Goldfrapp had quite a challenge on their hands when they agreed to compose and perform a continuous soundtrack for Carl Theodor Dreyer’s…07.05.2010 READ MORE -
The Peters
Coronation Tap, Bristol (Tue 3 Jan) Here’s a mind-boggling little collective of young jazz talent from London (but including capitalised local heroes Josh Arcoleo and James Gardner-Bateman) bringing the drawling New…04.01.2012 READ MORE -
The Pierces/Marcus Foster
Anson Rooms, Bristol (Thur 20 Oct) Hadn’t heard Marcus Foster’s ‘Nameless Path’, but knew reviews called it “close to the ground occupied by Van Morrison’s masterful ‘Astral Weeks’”. On this evidence, that’d be the…21.10.2011 READ MORE -
The Polecats/The Zen Hussies/The Graveyard Johnnys
Fiddlers, Bristol (Sat 21 Feb) • The crowd whoop. Psychobilly trio The Graveyard Johnnys have just completed an opening 30-second thrash jam. This, you swiftly realise, is one of those clan gigs where home victory is…21.02.2009 READ MORE -
The Pollinators
Coronation Tap, Bristol (Tue 14 Dec) • Standards? The Pollinators took ‘Little Sunflower’ out to the edge of the cosmos and straight through a cocktail bar en route to a 70s German rock club basement. Nothing standard…22.12.2010 READ MORE -
The Pollinators
Jazz@Future Inns, Bristol (Sun 10 Jan) • Jazz clubs like Ronnie Scott’s sit somewhere between the rigours of a concert hall and the anarchy of a pub. You go to listen to the music but you enjoy sitting comfortably and…10.01.2010 READ MORE -
The Pop Group
The Relentless Garage, London (Sat 11 Sept) Tricky things, reunions. The main risk is irrelevance: how a sound that, in this case, was wildly out there 30 years ago might have become tamer with time. For while The Pop…14.09.2010 READ MORE -
The Psychedelic Furs
Cheese & Grain, Frome (Sun 24 Oct) ● The tour manager introduces band and format: “Good evening Frome!” (rhyming it with groan). About 600 people correct him, reserving their affection for the Furs. The Cheese and…26.10.2010 READ MORE -
The Pushy Doctors
(Fri 19 Aug, The Grain Barge, Bristol) “That …” the grinning guy next to me said, as the last bars of ‘Je T’Aime, Moi Non Plus’ faded away. “That was some special shit!” And he was not wrong. Formed some six months ago,…22.08.2011 READ MORE
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THE BIG GIG
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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
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Classical Opera
St George’s Bristol (Fri11 May) An opera by an 11-year-old … in Latin. Talk about a hard…
13.05.2012
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Dave Stapleton
St George’s, Bristol (Thur May 5) There are eight players on stage – and great ones at…
04.05.2012
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Simone Felice
Colston Hall, Bristol (Sat 28 Apr) The Felice Brothers came out of New York State with an…
01.05.2012
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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
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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
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Cher Lloyd
O2 Academy, Bristol (Tue 10 Apr) It's a struggle-to-get-through-the-door sell-out…
24.04.2012
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Alabama 3: Acoustic and Unplugged
Trinity, Bristol (Fri 20 Apr) The blues came down to Trinity... and blew it away. Alabama…
23.04.2012
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Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Chorus: ‘Carmina Burana’
Colston Hall Bristol (Thur 19 Apr) Time was when the definition of an intellectual was…
23.04.2012
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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
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Empty Pools/Schnauser/Glis Glis
Louisiana, Bristol (Wed 18 Apr) The three Glis Glis members repeating crystalline,…
20.04.2012
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Ceu/Curumin
St George’s, Bristol (Wed 18 Apr) Electronic bands rarely sound good in St George’s and…
20.04.2012
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Meshuggah/Animals as Leaders
O2 Academy, Bristol (Thur 12 Apr) Animals as Leaders are the missing link between The…
16.04.2012
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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
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The Magnificent Seven
Coronation Tap, Bristol (Sun 1 Apr) OK, it’s the usual suspects, but the discerning…
03.04.2012
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Spiro/Cliff Stapleton/Katey Brooks
Fleece, Bristol (Sat 31 Mar) It’s very satisfying when your local heroes get national…
02.04.2012
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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
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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
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Tall Ships
Thekla, Bristol (Wed 21 March) Tall Ships, originally from the harbourside town of…
29.03.2012
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UFO/Heavy Metal Kids
O2 Academy, Bristol (Sun 25 Mar) There are two things every rock trivia freak knows about…
27.03.2012
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The Cardinall’s Musick
St George’s Bristol (Sat 24 Mar) When not directing The Cardinall’s Musick, the…
27.03.2012
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Earth/Mount Eerie/Ô Paon
Arnolfini, Bristol (Sat 3 Mar) Ô Paon opens with a set of slow burners; her clumsily…
21.03.2012
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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
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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
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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
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Gabrielle Aplin/Hudson-Taylor
Thekla, Bristol (Mon 12 Mar) Still only 19 but nevertheless managing to rack up 1.3m…
14.03.2012
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The Tender Trap
Southbank Centre, Bristol (Fri 24 Feb) The Southbank has many guises and tonight it’s…
12.03.2012
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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
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Field Music/Stealing Sheep
The Fleece, Bristol (Thur 23 Feb) A timid ‘hello’ from Stealing Sheep’s Lucy…
28.02.2012
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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
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Mouse Deer
The Old Bookshop, Bristol (Thur 16 Feb) Lord knows US coffee shop culture took a long…
20.02.2012
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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
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James Morton & Friends
The Prom, Bristol (Fri 17 Feb) Lately, alto sax player James Morton’s career’s demanded…
19.02.2012
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Rich Robinson
Fleece, Bristol (Wed 15 Feb) With the Black Crowes on apparently indefinite hiatus, the…
17.02.2012
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Shinedown/Halestorm
O2 Academy, Bristol (Sun 12 Feb) It demonstrates considerable confidence to take a band…
13.02.2012
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Roots Manuva
Anson Room, Bristol (Fri 3 Feb) Having seen Roots Manuva take to the stage in riding…
06.02.2012
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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
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Nigel Kennedy/Orchestra of Life
Colston Hall, Bristol (Wed 18 Jan) Telephone-hold to elevator music, ‘The Four Seasons’…
25.01.2012
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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
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Howler/Man Made
Louisiana (Mon 23 Jan) Support act Man Made arrives on stage wearing the kind of gold…
24.01.2012
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Sir Henry at Rawlinson End
St George’s, Bristol (Thur 19 Jan) ‘Sir Henry’ distilled and squandered the late Viv…
22.01.2012
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Arabella Sprot Quartet
Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 6 Jan) Given the styereotype of the lazy, time-wasting student,…
09.01.2012
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Denny Ilett plays Led Zeppelin
Coronation Tap, Bristol (Thur 5 Jan) There’s an inevitable sense of laddishness about…
06.01.2012
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The Peters
Coronation Tap, Bristol (Tue 3 Jan) Here’s a mind-boggling little collective of young…
04.01.2012
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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
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Mike Willox Quartet
Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 16 Dec) Mike Willox has long been master of the element of…
20.12.2011
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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
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Oxford Philomusica/Schiff
St George’s Bristol (Thur 8 Dec) Intriguing to see Andras Schiff in front of an orchestra…
19.12.2011
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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
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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
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Get The Blessing
(Thur 15 Dec, Canteen, Bristol) They’ve clearly been missed. Get The Blessing’s 2011…
16.12.2011
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Little Dragon/White Hinterland
Thekla, Bristol (Fri 2 Dec) Despite the name, ‘White Hinterland’ is not a right-wing…
14.12.2011
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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
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The Magic Band
Thekla, Bristol (Sun 4 Dec) When rock visionary Captain Beefheart passed away in December…
07.12.2011
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Bleeding Heart Narrative
The Cube, Bristol (Sat 26 Nov) Watching Bleeding Heart Narrative at The Cube, it's…
07.12.2011
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Uriah Heep
O2 Academy, Bristol (Mon 5 Dec) When a band has been around as long as Uriah Heep, it's…
06.12.2011
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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
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Wire/Talk Normal
Thekla, Bristol (Tue 29 Nov) At the merch stand, sales of the Wire shopping bag appear…
02.12.2011
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Zappa Plays Zappa
Colston Hall, Bristol (Wed 30 Nov) This is weird. There's a biggish band on stage – two…
01.12.2011
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In:Motion – RBMA & Futureboogie
Motion, Bristol (Sat 26 Nov) Tonight sees two of Bristol’s biggest dance music beacons,…
01.12.2011
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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
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John Cooper Clarke
The Fleece, Bristol (Sun 27 Nov) Like a wizened stick-insect love child of 60s-era Bob…
29.11.2011
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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
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Claudia Aurora
The Folk House, Brisrtol (Fri 26 Nov) It’s packed down in the Folk House’s hall basement…
28.11.2011
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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
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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
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WNO: Don Giovanni
Bristol Hippodrome (Tue 8 Nov) Hearing Leporello’s ‘black book’ aria (in which he lists…
22.11.2011
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St. Vincent
The Fleece, Bristol (Fri 11 Nov) There’s always been a tension about St. Vincent’s live…
22.11.2011
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Benn Clatworthy Quintet
Bebop Club, Bristol (Fri 18 Nov) It’s a quintessentially Bebop gig, this, as club mainman…
21.11.2011
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Gillian Welch
Hippodrome, Bristol (Tue 15 Nov) “I learnt this from Doc Watson,” she says, before…
17.11.2011
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The Melvins
The Thekla, Bristol (Fri 4 Nov) Just when you thought The Melvins couldn't get any more…
11.11.2011
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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
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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
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WHY? Acoustic Grand Piano Tour
Colston Hall 2, Bristol (Sun 23 Oct) There is usually something jarringly civilised about…
01.11.2011
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Anna Calvi
Trinity Centre, Bristol (Mon 31 Oct) Anna Calvi released her self-titled debut album at…
01.11.2011
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Alice Cooper
(Colston Hall, Bristol, Wed 26 Oct) Considering that this was billed as Alice's Halloween…
27.10.2011
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The Union/Fighting Wolves
Fleece, Bristol (Sun 23 Oct) The huge cheer that greets Fighting Wolves' announcement of…
27.10.2011
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Oxjam Takeover
Various venues, Bristol (Sat 22 Oct) It may well be an overcast Saturday afternoon, but…
27.10.2011
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Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes
O2 Academy, Bristol, Sept 25 2011 New Jersey r’n’b stalwarts Southside Johnny & The…
27.10.2011
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Laura Marling
Bristol Cathedral (Tue 25 Oct) Spotlit columns vaulting to the heavens, a stage backed by…
27.10.2011
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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
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The Duval Project
The Bell, Bath (Mon 10 Oct) “There are some people that, when they tell you they have a…
21.10.2011
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The Pierces/Marcus Foster
Anson Rooms, Bristol (Thur 20 Oct) Hadn’t heard Marcus Foster’s ‘Nameless Path’, but knew…
21.10.2011
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CD Reviews
Kid Carpet
‘Kid Carpet & The Noisy Animals’ (LP, self-released) // Few things are more intoxicating…
20.04.2012
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Million Way
‘Your Circuitry’ (EP, self-released) // Dream Continuum release the ‘Reworkz’ EP and,…
20.04.2012
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Paul Garry
‘With Love Comes Rescue’ (EP, BMS Records) // Offensively inoffensive and supremely…
18.04.2012
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Dave Stapleton
‘Flight’ (LP, Edition Records) // Dave Stapleton's Cardiff-based Edition Records is fast…
17.04.2012
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Hello Lazarus
‘Hello Lazarus’ (EP, Scylla Records) If there's a theme for this EP, it's that it implies…
26.03.2012
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Lady Nade & The Silhouettes
‘All I Am’ (EP, unsigned) Lady Nade’s deep-hued voice adds archaic credibility to…
22.03.2012
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Caroline Martin
‘For All That I Do Not Know’ (LP, Smalldog) Second album ‘proper’, and still like being…
22.03.2012
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Island Audio
'The Drift' (Single/Sink & Stove) It's early days for glam-y, knife-edged post-punkers…
15.02.2012
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Rock In Your Pocket
‘Gutterdub’ (LP, Artscare Records) There are Riot Grrrl-invoking essays to be written…
15.02.2012
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Get The Blessing
‘OCDC’ (LP, Naim Jazz) Bish bash bosh, here they come, but there’s a sparkling new…
14.02.2012
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Experimental Pop Band
'Little Things' (Single, Wear It Well) Since 2007 EPB have written, recorded and scrapped…
13.02.2012
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Phantom Limb
‘The Pines’ (Album, Naim Edge) The title could’ve been swiped from a new-build…
19.01.2012
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Josh Arcoleo
‘Beginnings’ (Album, Edition Records) It takes practice and inspiration to become a…
19.01.2012
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The Hysterical Injury
‘Dead Wolf Situation’ (LP, Crystal Fuzz) Yes, Hysterical Injury brandish nothing more…
19.01.2012
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Silent Tides
‘Silent Tides’ (EP, self-released) This is Silent Tides’ debut EP and, as such, serves as…
19.01.2012
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The Liftmen
‘Troubled Teens’ (Single, Twisted Nerve) It’s disappointing that the first pressing of…
19.01.2012
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Francois & The Atlas Mountains
'E Volo Love’ (LP, Domino) Whilst the minutiae of the human condition might not present…
19.01.2012
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Mouse Deer
‘The Mouse Deer EP’ (EP, self-released) Girl-group harmonies forged from a single vocal…
14.12.2011
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Radio Banska
‘The Balkan Courtesan’ (LP, Get Real Records) Who knew John Zorn was composing 13-time…
14.12.2011
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Sarah Menage
‘In A Mood’ (LP, Independent) Just ‘a’ mood? There’s a range on offer in Sarah Menage’s…
14.12.2011
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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
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Bleeding Heart Narrative
‘Bison’ (EP, Brainlove Records) As opening gambits go, 'Shoals' has to be one of the…
07.11.2011
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The Hit Ups
‘Unforgivable'/'66 Sexy’ (Free download, self-released) The Hit Ups: ‘parties, death,…
21.10.2011
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Follow The Sun
'The Evening Light’ (EP/self-released) Pushed just beyond ambient loveliness by gentle…
21.10.2011
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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
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The Bad Joke That Ended Well
‘The Meteors Are Coming’ (LP, Little Paradise Records) Zips in on an express banjo…
30.09.2011
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Smile, LOOKALIVE!
'Ringside Seats’ (EP, self-released) Smile, LOOKALIVE! (or SLA, for those with…
30.09.2011
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Centrefolds
'Fresh Air’/’Jennifer’ (Single, self-released) Fiercely mixed to fizz with high end,…
30.09.2011
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Call The Doctor
‘Riots.’ (EP, Fear of Fiction) Patti Aberhart’s living the dream: black bob, lip gloss…
30.09.2011
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Chatterbox & Samuel Otis
‘Hard Graft’ (Killamari Records) Hip-hop is always at its most convincing when you can…
30.09.2011
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Curse You Damn Kids
‘Sorta Like An Epiphany’ (EP, Screamlite Records) There’s much to admire in this youthful…
27.08.2011
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Echo Park Orchestra
'Hymns of the Black Flag’ (LP, self-released) Echo Park Orchestra mainman Peter…
27.08.2011
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Rossanne Hamilton
'Attic Tapes/Live At The Thunderbolt 09’ (Double EP, self-released) Classically trained…
27.08.2011
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Baobinga & Co
‘Joint Ventures’ (LP, Build Recordings) DJ, producer and blogger Sam ‘Baobinga’ Simpson…
27.08.2011
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The Weary Band
‘Office Doodles’ (LP, self-released) At last! We’ve waited almost a decade – and a couple…
29.07.2011
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Planting_Claymore
‘Re-Gen’ (EP, self-released) Not, as the name suggests, a Clifton estate agent but a…
29.07.2011
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Electric Contradiction
‘Gold Mind EP’ (EP, self-released) This Bath-based five piece describe themselves as an…
29.07.2011
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The Minke Whales
‘Turncoat’ (LP, Tandem) The Minke Whales – possibly named in honour of that doomed…
29.07.2011
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The Divided Circle
‘The Divided Circle’ (LP, Lonely City Records) • Why isn’t everyone talking about The…
30.06.2011
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Edenheight
‘Peaceboy’/‘Trouble’ (Single, Breakin’ Bread Records) • One of Bristol’s…
30.06.2011
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Hi Fiction Science
'Hi Fiction Science' (LP, self-released) •A lass with a high, folksy voice ponders aloud…
30.06.2011
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Zero Pilot
‘XY’ (EP, self-released) If ‘Ice Road Truckers’ were a record, it’d be this ballsy,…
27.05.2011
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James Hollingsworth
‘Two And Two’ (EP, self-released) Awful cheesecloth rock channelling mawkish Chris De…
27.05.2011
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Oxygen Thief
‘Destroy It Yourself’ (LP, Broken Tail Records) Bristol’s Barry Dolan, in-your-face raw…
27.05.2011
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Maps and Legends
‘Maps and Legends’ (EP, self-released) Perhaps appropriately given their name, M&L…
27.05.2011
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Hello Lazarus
‘All Alliteration’ (LP, self-released) • It whizzes. It buzzes. Noisy and precise guitar…
29.04.2011
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The Short Stories
‘Small Mercies’ (LP, The International Lo-Fi Underground) • A lo-fi thrum of songs…
29.04.2011
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Cemlyn Jones
‘All These Dreams’ (LP, Kargo Records) • Clevedon-based singer-songwriter and former…
29.04.2011
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The Carny Villains
The Carny Villains (EP, Unsigned) • The seven-piece band from the heart of Bristol’s…
29.04.2011
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Narco Lounge Combo
‘Music for Ice Rinks’ (LP, self-released) • “She got freckles and a blow-job nose, kitten…
20.04.2011
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The Cheaterslicks
Rev Up, Burn Out’ (LP, Western Star) • Here’s a blistering debut mixing up rockabilly,…
20.04.2011
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Heg Doughty
‘Little Red’ (EP, self-released) • Ah, the sadly defunct Dartington College in the green…
20.04.2011
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Centrefolds
'Is Anyone There?’ (EP, self-released) • All hail Centrefolds for their unashamed pursuit…
13.04.2011
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Okus Dolphin
‘Spiritual’ (LP, self-released) • With its Glastonbury candle shop sleeve, ham-fisted…
13.04.2011
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Rachael Dadd ‘
'Elephee’ (EP, Broken Sound Music) • Rachael Dadd is a songwriter in thrall to nature,…
13.04.2011
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Elliot Hall
‘Adults Are Stupid’ (LP, self-released) • The title is just one affable feature of this…
06.04.2011
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James Brewster
‘As a Hovering Insect Mass Breaks Your Fall’ (LP, Make Mine Music) • Now living in Malmö,…
06.04.2011
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The Naturals
‘Gifthorse’/‘He Has An 80ft Tarantula’ (double A-side single, self-released) • The thing…
06.04.2011
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Principal Participant
‘Principles’ (Download LP, self-released) • “Minotaur Shock is my regular outlet for…
30.03.2011
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Emily Teague
‘Emily Teague’ (LP, self-released) • Bristol’s folkies have some bad habits – ‘spiritual’…
30.03.2011
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Pat Nicholson
‘Roll With It’ (LP, Pan Records) • Australian Pat Nicholson’s debut arrives with some…
30.03.2011
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The Egret Seacrow
‘Imaginatively, A Silk Wasp’ (LP, self-released) • A slight, delicate release – our copy…
23.03.2011
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Tony Harris
‘Choices’ (LP, self-released) • There is something of the madrigal about these simple,…
23.03.2011
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Color Of The Sun
‘Solong Suckers’ (LP, self-released) • Multi-instrumentalist Aron Ward is a Californian…
16.03.2011
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Honour Your Pain
'Between Blood and Pride' (EP) • Metal's such a crowded marketplace these days that you…
16.03.2011
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The Get-Outs
‘Exit’ (LP, Kitchen Rock Records) • The Get-Outs, currently celebrating their tenth year…
09.03.2011
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The Zen Hussies
‘Troubled Feet’ (LP, Musique DaDA) • If you’ve ever stumbled across a Zen Hussies gig the…
09.03.2011
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Badgertrap
‘Agony of Choice’ (EP/download, Kangaroo Kourt Records) • Product of Hal Camplin/Barry…
02.03.2011
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Central Spillz
'Space Travel' (LP, Durkle Disco) • In the increasingly boundary-bereft territory between…
23.02.2011
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TwoManTing
‘Legacy’ (LP, self-released) • Formed from Afro-dance outfit Le Cod Afrique, duo…
23.02.2011
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David Britton
'The Oldland Commoner Album’ (LP, self-released) • David Britton is a gent from Bristol’s…
23.02.2011
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Caricatures
‘Fire In The Womb’ (Single, Anticreation Productions) • Down-tuned strings, irregular…
16.02.2011
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Secret Shine
‘The Beginning and the End’ (LP, self-released) • Hard to believe these passionless…
16.02.2011
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