EDITORIAL COMMENT: Ed Sheeran Is Not To Blame

Social media is a wonderful tool. It can connect us with people across the globe; amuse us, inspire us and introduce us to music and films that might have otherwise escaped our notice. There’s a joy in interacting with people we wouldn’t otherwise meet – through being victims of geography, rather than any desire to do so – and discussing cult bands at length. As anyone moving in such circles will attest, conversations about Pink Floyd, Marillion and the Grateful Dead can effectively seem endless.

The negative side of social media is that to find the gold, we have to sift through the mundane, the verbal attacks, the political tensions and the endless moaning. Only last week, an insightful soul on Twitter suggested that if television was once considered “the idiots lantern”, then the internet could well be “the shitbag’s mirror”, effectively reflecting the bad side of all of us. It’s easy to pour scorn and derision on everything from a keyboard when you don’t have to hold your own in a face to face argument.

Continue reading

HOOF GLOVE – Hoof Glove EP

What would happen if members of various Leeds-based hardcore and noise-rock bands came together in one unrelenting outfit? Something not far short of a musical armageddon would likely be the result. Featuring members of arty noise rock band Cattle and powerviolence/hardcore outfit Ona Snop and sludgers Groak, Hoof Glove are on hand with some aggressive sounds that listeners will either love or hate; sounds which – like Cattle – could possibly clear a room if an audience is less than receptive.

Continue reading

CATTLE – Nature’s Champion

cattle2016Cattle’s debut EP was a short and sharp burst of angular noise rock that really stood out among the many great releases of 2013.  With such a forthright approach, their musical arrangements were truly impressive, but best of all was the overriding bass sound, which came with so much overdrive it made JJ Burnel’s efforts sound small and made the Melvins more grinding affairs seem non-committal. Not long after that EP, various band members returned to their co-existing noise-rock outfit Super Luxury…and it seemed that Cattle might have been just a one-off experiment. But what an experiment it was!

Continue reading

SUPER LUXURY – Ten Solid Years Of Applause

super luxuryIn 2012 Leeds based noisemakers Super Luxury released a cassette EP that acted as a short and sharp assault on the senses, the musical equivalent of a kick in the nuts.  Not too long after, a couple of their members moonlighted as part of Cattle, an awesome noise-rock trio whose debut EP featured one of the best bass sounds ever committed to record.  Two and a half years on from their original EP, Super Luxury dropped this full-length release, ‘Ten Solid Years of Applause’. A couple of line-up changes – most notably the drafting in of bassist Tom Goodall from Cattle – has had a huge effect on the tunes as well as effectively blurring the lines between the two bands a little farther.  Perhaps due to the increased relation with Cattle, this second time around, SL sound far more assured.

Continue reading

Bridged Gaps and Covered Tracks (A Real Gone Sampler, 2013)

Welcome to 2013’s free Real Gone Sampler.  It’s been an absolutely brilliant year for independent music – check out our end of year list here – and that’s been reflected by how many bands were keen to get involved in this now traditional project on its third anniversary.  This year’s sixteen tracks (with a couple of strays from prior to 2013) came together remarkably quickly but, as always, there were a few obstacles along the way.  It’s great that most of the bands we asked were on board instantly…and only one missed the deadline – an improvement on previous years.

Continue reading