Fri 31 Jul – Kendal Calling
Night 1
With what can only be described as predictable irony, as I set off to see the one band I quite fancied of the night (Fight Like Apes) we stumbled across a drugged-up punter, and by the time I'd sorted him out the "We are calling" stage had concluded for the night. So, musical highlights were fairly slim pickings I'm afraid.

Couple of bands worth a mention though - first of all Out from animals. I knew from hearing them away from the tent that it was the sort of…

Wed 11 Feb – The Joy Formidable, The Common Empire, Room full of Owls

Well, it took a wee while, but I finally got there. Carlisle
Brickyard is a 'proper' venue - small, intimate, and with a decent history. Quite a few bands have performed there 'before they were famous', so it's a good place to keep your eyes on things. And, when I heard that up-and-coming band The Joy Formidable were due to perform, I decided that if I didn't go I'd regret it. Most unfortunately, there was not bitter on tap from the start of the evening, but…

To those that have been wondering where I've been, apologies - but TOTW has been continuing on the main blog throughout the year. As a special treat though, here's the "big" post of the year duplicated where it should be…

Everyone has the standard charts at this time of the year, and I'm no exception. It gives me something to post about at any rate. 12 months ago, I picked some random criteria to decide who was going to be "Tune of the Year". I decided to limit the list to TOTWs. However, in the interests of fairness, I did…

Asp Bites' Tunes of the Week #34

Apologies to regular last.fm readers for a distinct absence here - it's all holiday related. Standard posts will rejoin soon, but remember you can always read the TOTW plus extra features at the Musical Bites blog itself.

When I started with TOTW a significant number of months ago, it was less a look at singles around and about, but more the tunes that were stuck in my head. They might not necessarily have been good songs, but they were sticky - and I spent far too long in the course of the week…

Asp Bites' Tunes of the Week 2008

… when tunes are made popular because of TV talent shows (which I've mentioned elsewhere that I hate). Often, when a song is featured in a TV advertisement, it's jet propelled up the charts. Strangely with Mint Royale's remix of Singin' in the Rain, I can't remember it doing exceptionally well in the charts after advertising a VW Golf. Since a teenager with nothing better to do has spun on his head under a bucket of water to it, it's at the top of the charts. Go figure. Still, it's an interesting…

Sun 15 Jun – KT Tunstall - Asp's Musical Bites

Final night of the Delamere Forest Tour, and from the previous reviews I think you'll have found a common theme - that you might not know all the songs performed.

For Tom Baxtersupporting KT Tunstall, it was worse - with only really one known song. Miracle is (I think still) on various radio station playlists, and thankfully is a very good song.

Other than that, it was a total voyage into the unknown. Which perhaps made it even more pleasing. The entire concert was at a totally different pace…

Sat 14 Jun – Elbow, I Am Kloot - http://musical-bites.blogspot.com/2008/06/in-concert-elbow.html

The number of people in advance of Saturday's concert, when talking to them, had no idea who Elbow were. And, in all honestly, I've only really heard of them in the past 6 months - and started to like the music within the past couple. It's a problem - they've been recording albums (under that name) since 1997 - but of the four albums released none have really had mass appeal (despite all being top 5 in the charts). I suppose it makes them more of a niche band -…

Fri 13 Jun – The Zutons, Thea Gilmore, Noah and the Whale - Asp's Musical Bites Review

Delamere Forest is one of the Forestry commissions venues for their "Forest Tour" of live music from the unique location of - well - a forest. Delamere's part of the tour is three nights in June, starting on Friday 13th June with The Zutons.

Noah and the Whale are supporting the Zutons throughout all their performances of the tour, and opened proceedings. They're a band I've heard on the past, but I can't really say much more than that. Shape of my heart…

Asp Bites' Tunes of the Week - #24

It's a case of getting straight on with the show today. There'll be plenty of introduction and waffle in my gig reviews from The Zutons and Elbow (that I'll try and write today before I forget to publish over the week) and KT Tunstall (which I'm going to this afternoon, reducing time a bit then…). So:

Black Kids are a previous TOTW, and Hurricane Jane is their latest, due out 23rd June. Nice contrast between the verse and the chorus, however, I think that the verse is a bit lacklustre and lacking…

Asp Bites' Tunes of the Week #23

If Lay your love on me had appeared at the Eurovision song contest the other week, I wouldn't have been surprised. I don't think it would have won, but it's got all the necessary characteristics: dodgy dance moves, dodgy pause leading to even dodgier key change, and does sound slightly like something famous - ie. Madonna.
Believe it or not though, it wasn't, and it is instead the latest single by Swedish group BWO. Swedish - that explains why it sounds like Eurovision then. Despite that, it is sufficiently catchy, and unlike the…