Remember when you were totally pissed off when I didn’t review Deerhunter’s marvellous Monomania in 2013? Well, It’s looks like history is going to repeat itself because I am not reviewing the band’s latest release, Fading Frontier, either. Yes, again it’s a great indie rocker but there is more music around that deserves some attention right? Nadine Shah sophomore album, for example. So take a good look at the femme fatale artwork, count to ten or whatever and read on.
Continue reading
[Film Review] Roger Waters The Wall
By now, you should be very much aware that I’m a bit of a Pink Floyd fan. I’ve written about Floyd, Roger Waters and particularly The Wall for a number of times now, and you’re probably sick of hearing about it. So I went to see Roger Waters The Wall in the cinema last night and decided to bore you a little further instead. Continue reading
Low – Ones and Sixes
Honestly, I don’t know if Ones and Sixes, the title for Low’s eleventh album, stands for comparing two things that are the same. However, what I do know is that the slowcore grandmasters Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker have been going at it for quite some time now. Since the 90s they have been building up a mesmerizing repertoire that never reached the mainstreams. Low’s tranquil orbit indeed isn’t for everyone but it’s also never too late to get acquainted, though.
Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls
Obligatory clickbait-y intro: in case you’ve been living underneath a rock, there’s a new Iron Maiden album out. It’s called The Book of Souls, sports 92 minutes of new music and it’s the first they’ve put out in five long years. I know if it’s good or not, and I’m telling you after the cut.
Ghost – Meliora
Meliora is Latin for ‘the pursuit of something better’, although Swedish occult rockers Ghost would be hard pressed to top 2013’s Infestissumam. That album was a masterful blend of seventies rock, heavy metal and theatre, and sky-rocketed the band to international superstar status. Delivering a proper follow-up to that is a tall order for any new band, but Ghost manage to do so, and with relative ease to boot. But is Meliora actually something better? Let’s find out.
Wilco – Star Wars
Something, something, something Dark Side…
Continue reading
Roger Waters – Amused to Death (2015 reissue)
We should talk about Roger Waters’ Amused to Death for a bit. Well, perhaps we don’t actually have to, but I want to and it would seem the new reissue of his masterful 1992 record would be a good opportunity to do so. Here’s what I thought then, and here’s what I think now.
Kamasi Washington – The Epic
The tree of life of jazz grew strong from blues, swing, bebop to cool and branched out into various directions like funk, fusion and free jazz. Today it still stands tall. Adding something fresh to this one-hundred-year-plus history isn’t quite an easy task. However what is fresh? Something truly new and innovating or finding your place within this history by means of your own creative terms? Kamasi Washington chose the latter path and released a three-hour sprawl called The Epic which takes you deep into the heart of jazz.
Continue reading
[Live Review] Modest Mouse, TivoliVredenburg Utrecht
In 2013 Modest Mouse disappointingly cancelled their entire European tour to continue working on their new album which we today know by the title of Strangers to Ourselves. The album did compensate for the band’s absence yet a live appearance to come along with that would truly make up for past events. During their current North-American promotional tour Modest Mouse also made room for a three week ‘make up visit’ to Europe. Last friday it was the turn for the Dutch to re-embrace Brock et al in an overheated and Tour de France-minded Utrecht.
Sounds from the Dark Side top albums of 2015 (until now)
‘Summer, summer, summertime…‘ Yep, we’re both huge fans of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Especially at this time of the year. For that exact reason these are our best releases of 2015 until today. Continue reading
soundsfromthedarkside 