My take on the show in London last Wednesday, featuring Senser, The Painted Smiles and The Spindle Sect, can be found here.

My take on Will Haven's astounding show in London on Friday night: here.

Another month already – and time for my usual monthly rundown of the best tracks of the month. As is usual, this will be the last monthly rundown of the year – December will see my end of year roundups.

Playlists: Spotify | Youtube

Track of the Month:

Zola Jesus
Vessel
Conatus
Her last album made it into my albums of last year, and at this rate the new one will be doing the same this time around. Her vocal style alone would stand her out from the crowd – a voice capable of both hitting astonishing heights and sounding…

My take on Saturday nights Pop Will Eat Itself gig can be found here.

Two reunions of different kinds hit the news last week, although interestingly the return of Steps seemed to be rather overshadowed by The Stone Roses. The NME in particular are treating the latter like the, er, Resurrection, the most important music news, well, ever. Which in some respects kinda shows them for what they and most of the music industry are about nowadays – obsessed by nostalgia and perhaps no longer all that interested in new music – which, as the papers full title suggests, should really be their focus. Never mind the collective amnesia about just how bad…

A bit later than intended, but my review of last weeks' show featuring dEUS and Balthazar can be found here.

A new month, so my usual round-up of good new songs (and the odd old one, too). You know the drill by now, right?

Playlists: Spotify | Youtube

Track of the Month:
Gallows
True Colours
FUCK. YES. Forty seconds of blistering hardcore, and it is some way to introduce their new vocalist (ex-Alexisonfire). Not really much else to say, other than the gleeful way it is introduced – the drum-beat acts as a warning siren, before it rips through in short time and ends with an utterly monstrous beatdown. I’d kinda lost interest in this band after their…

So, last week I covered “Bad Sex”. This week, it is the better side. The songs that I actually see as being sexy. And no, most of these have not soundtracked events in my life. The problem is, I’ve done a list about lust before, which rather crosses over with this, so I had to think a little more. I’d love to know what songs you thing should be in this list. And I got through this list without featuring Mazzy Star, Collide or One Dove.

Playlists: Spotify | Youtube

HEALTH
USA Boys
DISCO2
What a pretty song.…

It has been a long time, er, coming, this. I’d say excuse the pun, but you know I don’t mean that. Anyway, I first started working on this a few months ago, and here it is at last.

So, what makes a song sexy, or to have sex appeal, for want of a better phrase? I was wondering this after reading this amusing NME article on “unsexy” videos recently – and I’ve thinking about both sides, i.e. sexy and unsexy, since. But I’m not too interested in the videos, it is more about the songs themselves. But back to my…

My take on HOLD KISS KILL at C O O K I E S can be found here.