It’s been a while since the Steve Rothery Band released their critically acclaimed ‘Ghosts of Pripyat’. Since then, Steve has been busy with Marillion, writing, recording and touring ‘FEAR’.
The beginning of March saw his solo band go back out on the road, where they will be playing sporadic dates between now and May.
In February 2018, singer songwriter Sophia Marshall released ‘lin-dah’, a three track EP of Kasabian covers. She was able to take the original material – including the massive hit ‘Fire’ – and strip it back to its core, resulting in recordings that found a place somewhere between folk and dreampop. [A full review of the EP can be found here.]
Chicago’s Speed Babes have released several DIY records since 2015 – two full lengths and a staggering five EPs, to be precise – very much taking the Robert Pollard inspired route of capturing the moment. Sometimes the energy of a performance can be more important than perfection.
Fusing elements of shoegaze and the more accessible bits of a post rock sound, Norwegian trio Spielbergs make a big impression on their new single.
‘We Are All Going To Die’ harks back to the 90s whilst keeping one foot firmly in the present. Their wall of sound approach can be emotionally draining, yet at the same time, their new music has an intensely rousing quality that fans of shoegaze and associated subgenres shouldn’t miss.
You can listen in full below.
Kasabian are a huge selling band but, much like Elbow, most of their output hovers somewhere between generic radio filler and just plain dull. The idea of a Kasabian covers EP isn’t necessarily one that should excite: if you love Kasabian – for whatever reason – chances are, you’d want to spin the original tunes; if you hate Kasabian, hearing someone else recycling their often forgettable songs probably isn’t anywhere near the top of your priority list.
The fact that Kasabian are a generic radio filling non-entity didn’t deter singer-songwriter Sophia Marshall. The one time Have-Nots vocalist went to school with three members of the band and uses that as a springboard for her first covers EP of 2018. The cryptically titled ‘lin-dah’ finds the Leeds songstress taking three Kasabian songs and remoulding them in her own image. For something which, on paper, sounds less than pleasurable, the results are…impressive to say the least.
Continue reading