False Grails - Privilege and Consequence EP

Do your ears and soul a favour and play this as loud as whatever device you're reading this on can go. Hell, crank it up to 11. Punk, post punk, math-rock and classic rock (think Motorhead on speed) collide with more force than that Large Hadron thingy. You can catch the full on False Grails experience at Muthers Studio on June 16th too. Blood, sweat and quite possibly tears guaranteed.  

Sunday Xpress Bank Holiday Bonus Xtravaganza Thingy...THIS SUNDAY!

Attention Brum based peeps, Sunday Xpress is dishing up another slice/slab of the good stuff this Sunday featuring reggae flavoured punksters Dubrokkaz and Balaban and the Bald Illegals. And...yes...once again...it's all ruddy free. Be there or be Theresa May.

PS: Okay I won't be there sadly 'cos I live a million miles away, but I'll be there in spirit.

PPS: No, that doesn't make me Theresa May.

PPPS: Here's some Dubrokkaz to get you in the mood. For Sunday Xpress that is...not Theresa May...perish the thought.

Dogs Die In Hot Cars - Godhopping

If I had £1 for every band I'd raved about but which failed to get anywhere I'd probably have enough to pay the massive onslaught of taxes coming our way whichever of the lame duck political parties gets in. Lord help us all, what a pitiful shower of shite. Anyway, on to more pleasant things. I dug out a copy of the Dogs Die in Hot Cars over the weekend and spank me sideways if it isn't a lost classic. Formed in Scotland back in 1997 they enjoyed an all too brief period of success in the early noughties before several members left the group and they abandoned the second album at demo stage. Still, we do have the debut and highlight Godhopping, the bastard son of XTC, Talking Heads and Franz Ferdinand. Enjoy.
 

Chris Cornell RIP

Just when I was thinking that Mr G. Reaper was being remarkably well behaved this year Chris Cornell, grunge figurehead, passed away suddenly last night after a gig at just 52. My knowledge of his output is pretty slim but Black Hole Sun is an absolute 100% gem isn't it eh? RIP.

PS: Here's an equally great track from Audioslave...

PWR BTTM - Big Beautiful Day

While we're on the subject of all things queer (see Joss Stone bit below) cop a listen to current single from queer punksters PWR BTTM (quite possibly not suitable for work...). Wise words so I've posted a version with the lyrics on too...altogether now...'curse that mother fucker...'

Joss Stone @ Exeter Pride 2017

Although she only played three songs I can’t let Joss Stone’s appearance at Exeter Pride 2017 go unmarked. I’ve seen her a couple of times now, the first way back in the early noughties at Glasto when she was being hailed as a new queen of soul, the second...rather unbelievably...at The Rainbow in Digbeth. In the intervening years she’s sold the odd 14 million records or so and ditched major label backing to pursue her own thang. Whilst that’s no doubt more rewarding artistically and spiritually speaking it’s probably reduced her public profile somewhat, in turn depriving a lot of potential new fans from one of the best white female soul voices around, but there we go, you can't have everything eh? Anyway on a lovely chilled out Saturday afternoon in Exeter she was on fine form with mini set closer Right To Be Wrong (no footage sadly but the clip below gives you some idea) reaching the parts that few female (or male for that matter) reach these days.  

PS: Dodgy photo of Joss sporting pink hair taken using Lady B's mobile. 

Kate Nash - Agenda

Good grief, can it really be 10 years since Kate Nash released Made Of Bricks? Her last album, the Riot Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl-tastic Girl Talk (2013) failed to make the impact it deserved but new single Agenda brings back some of that Made Of Bricks era quirky pop gloss with a little MIA flava thrown in for good measure and, let's face it, it's pretty much made for those BBC election broadcasts. If only eh?

Anyway if you've forgotten how good Made of Bricks was here's the big single Foundations which was only denied the number one slot by that ruddy umbrella song. Criminal.

Carmel - More More More

Dug out my slightly battered vinyl copy of Carmel's classic album The Drum Is Everything last week and blow me down with a brass section it sounded amazing, even with more scratches on it than grooves. Wasn't it John Peel that once defended his continuing love of vinyl itself by saying something like "Well, life has scratches too"? If it wasn't him then it should have been.

Anyway, Carmel had a cracking voice and sound back in the 80s and this prompted me to look her up again. Turns out she released something new as recently as 2015 and she was still in fine form. Bugger all since then sadly, her website's vanished and her Twitter account has gone quiet so who knows what she's up to. Another much underrated artist though in my humble opinion.

Paramore - Hard Times

Blimey, what the hell happened to Paramore? I'd always had them down as ever so slightly angsty Emo rockers but their new single's remarkably chipper, even if it is called Hard Times (you can take the Emo out of the band...). Apparently half the group left a while ago so that might explain the pretty radical change in direction, whatever the reason the pop whore in me thoroughly approves.

PS: To utterly destroy any shred of credibility I may once have had I'm still addicted to Katy Perry's current single too. I blame old age...

Get Conn-verted

From one bunch of musical mavericks (The Day Ends) to another. Every once in a while I'll stick up some Bobby Conn in the vague hope that the rest of the world will wake up to him but so far they're clearly too busy downloading endless Ed Sheeran tracks. Anyway, seemingly out of the blue Conn released a new track last week, a typically twisted genre mashing epic that's right up there with the brooding classic King For A Day. What's that? You've NEVER heard King For A Day? Oh dear lord...



Please, please, please do your ears and soul a favour right now and get stuck in to this dude's back catalogue. You're welcome.

OM double G...The Day Ends in style

Brief clip from The Day Ends set in Kings Heath last week and it looks like they played another blinder with Miles donning not one but two guitars for the pounding panting ear melting climax. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times (probably quite literally by now) but The Day Ends really are one of the most exciting, inventive and confrontational (Miles has probably had 'run ins' with more people than I've had hot dinners...and I've had a lot of hot dinners) bands on planet earth. So there.