Call Upon The Author

Here it is, our top albums of the last year as compiled by our editor. We’re proud to have featured each of them and think they all deserve a place in everyone’s collection!

They’ve been compared to both Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Arcade Fire, but neither is really an accurate way to understand the music of The Strange Death Of Liberal England. What is easy to understand is that this album of frenetic, alt.rock sea shanties is that rare breed – a collection of songs that both hit you immediately and also grow with each listen!

It may be the most iconic landmark along Albert Rd, but The Kings theatre has never hosted astage at Southsea Fest before!

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? [...]

It’s fair to say, going into tonight’s gig, that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Editors, but thankfully I had my better half with me who loves them. If nothing else, with the dreary grey skies and drizzling rain as we waited in Guildhall Square, surrounded by the regal Guildhall itself and the dreary concrete and glass of the civic offices, we were setting a perfect scene for the Birmingham bands tunes…

THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND – Flagships tsdole.com Magisterial, strangely timeless, this track from TSDOLE comes on like the national anthem of a small but very cool country that you’ve not come across before. As always Adam Woolway’s unique vocal is right up front, but there’s instrumentation aplenty, before the track breaks down into [...]

The Strange Death Of Liberal England return after an 18 month hiatus punctuated by a sole theatre show in their native Portsmouth. Their debut mini album, ‘Forward March’ and live shows saw the band heralded by NME ‘for the chiming elegance of their kaleidoscopic post-rock’, whilst The Guardian praised ‘music that roars and sighs, swoops [...]

I have to hit the ground running this evening as the moment the barmaid hands me my Jack Daniels & Coke than local post-rockers Aeroplane Attack take to the stage built on the rock solid foundation of Rusty Sheriff’s drums and K.O. Desai’s throbbing bass, their three guitarists overlap, supporting each other one moment and [...]

I Like Trains are a band reborn, well known for their unique brand of forlorn and world weary music, this Leeds based collective have discovered a ray of light as evidenced by their new single ‘Sea Of Regrets’. It’s not exactly a happy track, but gone is the despair of the past, replaced with a [...]

      Here is the first of our reports from Southsea Fest, but keep checking back for other people’s views of the day and some brilliant photos of the goings on       Many people mark down Bestival as the end of the summer festival calendar, but for those of us who dwell [...]