Call Upon The Author

Nick Courtney brings us the Porters Bar stage this year and, as always, it’s Southsea Fest’s free entry venue… if last year is anything to go by the audience will be spilling onto the street and enjoying a mixed bag of local performers. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT? All manner of things, opening with the venue [...]

Long time coming is an understatement, Ark is the second solo album from the former Dead Can Dance man and is the follow up to 1999’s ‘The Eye Of The Hunter’. This is truly a solo album in every respect, recorded in his own studio and written and performed solely by him this is both liberating and limiting in the overall results.

So, the time is almost upon us once again… Our favourite one day festival returns on 18th September and once again grizzled Cap’n Josie Curtis and her scurvy ridden crew of expert promoters have booked their favourite acts to entertain at venues up and down Albert Road in Southsea. Who can you expect to see? [...]

Well, let’s be frank and jump straight in by saying I don’t see what the fuss is about. Maybe its because I’m not used to the sort of music this band plays.
Whilst Mojo pronounced them one of their top bands of 2009 and they received a nomination for the Best Breakthrough Act with in the Mojo Honours (needless to say I don’t think they won), it might be clear that they are meant to be something really breathtaking.

To read the accompanying press release it would seem The Hundred In The Hands pretty much cover everything from punk to hip-hop with a little French Disco for good measure… oh good.

I have to admit, I really struggled with this album. After the first listen I was left without any real impression of the record, it just seemed to entirely pass me by unnoticed. After giving it some more time however, the album really starts to unveil itself. This may be due to the simplistic style of the music, with the vocals taking centre stage whilst the instrumentation plays on quietly in the background.

Canadian alt-Country types The John Henrys return with their third album White Linen. Not being massively up on the Canadian music scene myself (apart from all abiding love of The Arcade Fire), I was not familliar with these guys – but did instantly approve of their splitting their track listings on the back of the album into ‘Side One’ and ‘Side Two’. So what does this particular offering sound like? It’s a winner!

Yes, it is a great name. It comes from his friend calling him a shark, he has blue eyes, and this album is his experiment…

A couple of weeks back we reviewed Violent Soho’s album. We thought it was a breath of fresh air amongst the wealth of stale music that pops through our letterbox. We thought we’d catch up with the band to find out more about them, so we fired our questions at drummer Michael Richards and here’s what he had to say!

I’m sure everyone is very much aware of Pendulum’s debut album – Hold Your Colour – including the famous tracks ‘Tarantula’ and ‘Hold Your Colour’. I’m also sure that many thought they would not be able to top that, but with their next album – In Silico – going platinum just like their first, they did. Now they are back to blast our eardrums once more with their new album – Immersion.