When Smashing Pumpkins made their one and only UK stop in London on the first leg of the much anticipated ‘Shiny & Oh So Bright Tour’, it was an utterly thrilling experience. A mammoth three hour audio-visual extravaganza, the set made fantastic use of video screens and costume changes. Despite being in a huge, impersonal venue, it truly felt special – a show in every sense. [A full review of the night can be found here.]
AUTUMNWIND – Endless Fear
Autumnwind isn’t really a band; it’s a huge musical vision where its founder, Abdulrahman Abu Lail writes and plays everything. He uses this one man band as a vehicle for emotional outpouring, in his own words, as a way of “mind-describing” his own feelings through intensive music. This third album makes that theory even clearer by giving its five pieces of music titles which reflect emotive states. The results, as expected, are very heavy, though never so confrontational you’d struggle to listen or, indeed, want to shut off the feelings that Abdulrahman is keen to share.
SALVATION JAYNE – Salvation Jayne EP
In 2017, Salvation Jayne released ‘Moves That Make The Record Skip‘, an EP that captured a selection of enjoyable (if not particularly original) hard rock tunes with a bluesy slant. Between some smart slide playing and a solid lead vocal from Chess Smith, Salvation Jayne appeared to be one of the better blues-inflected hard rock bands on the UK circuit.
REAL GONE GOES OUT: Pixies – Roundhouse, London 1/11/2018
It’s Thursday night and the third night of the Pixies’ five day residency at London’s legendary Roundhouse, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the classics ‘Come On Pilgrim’ and ‘Surfer Rosa’. Reports suggest that last night’s show was amazing, so tonight, already knowing that both releases will be played in full and the band appear to be on form (actually talking to each other for long enough to stage such an event is a start), everyone is expecting good things. For any band to take up such a residency is a brave move – even a band with a huge back catalogue – but for Pixies, it’s a move that seems incredibly bold, considering both discs only total approximately fifty two minutes’ worth of music.
CONTESSA & THE SQUIRES – Horrorama EP
In April 2016, Contessa & The Squires released ‘Stomp The Bomb‘ [retitled ‘Stomp The Bomp’ at some outlets], an enjoyable – if brief – voyage into rockabilly sounds with a European accent. It was one of those recordings that deserved more attention; between the short, punchy songs and a feel-good attitude, the band sounded very professional and as if the recording process had been fun. At the end of October that same year, they made an unexpectedly hurried return with ‘Horrorama’ which, as its title suggests, tied in with Halloween.