Tuesday 30 April 2013

FESTIVALS

It's festival season again folks! Here's our pick of the many music happenings close to home...


LIVE AT LEEDS
150 acts on 15 stages across the city make L@L the year's best pub crawl. We recommend this year's cool crowds stumble upon alunageorge, Everything Everything, Savages, The Walkmen, Still Corners, Hawk Eyes.....
SHEPLEY SPRING
Folk festival in Kirklees village this year impresses with genre legends Martin Simpson & Nic Jones.
HEBDEN BRIDGE BLUES FESTIVAL
Award-winning roots sets the right atmosphere in a splendid location headlined by Ron Sayer Jr, Jo Harman & Paddy Milner.
CROOKED WAYS
Second year of Pontefract sun sees lads, legends & locals unite for The Enemy, Grandmaster Flash & handmadehands.
LONG DIVISION
Independent Wakefield trawl put on by local zine Rhubarb Bomb ups the ante terrifically by adding The Fall to an already enjoyable list including Ghostpoet, Let's Wrestle & Post War Glamour Girls.
WILLOWMAN
Camp in beautiful North Yorkshire hills for a retro line-up of fitting festival acts New Model Army, The Orb & The Wonder Stuff.
BEVERLEY FOLK FESTIVAL
Long-time traditional gathering presenting big folk players The Proclaimers & Show of Hands amongst family-friendly fun.
COCOON IN THE PARK
Techno intensities at Temple Newsam where Sven Vath & Richie Hawtin keep crowds high.
DEER SHED
By families, for families, this is a recent success which this year welcomes Gaz Coombes, Willy Mason & Edwyn Collins to the Thirsk park.
TRAMLINES
Sheffield festival attracts large turn-outs to see Lianne La Havas headline after Lanterns On The Lake, Veronica Falls & Jim Jones Revue. All for FREE!
FELL FOOT SOUND
Lovely Lake District surroundings for intimate festival featuring the best local discoveries Sky Larkin, Witch Hunt & Sam Airey.
BEACONS
Hipsters in glorious rolling Skipton moors can this year relax to Julia Holter, riot to Fucked Up, rave to Bonobo and rejoice to Local Natives.
LEEDS FESTIVAL
The huge one offers Eminem & Green Day, Phoenix & Foals, Tame Impala & alt.J, and a whole lot more of the usual shenanigans.
BINGLEY MUSIC LIVE
Growing success keeps the Madchester-friendly line-ups flowing enjoyably, this year happily tempting Primal Scream & The Cribs.
SCARBOROUGH JAZZ FESTIVAL
The beachfront Spa continues their annual weekend of jazz for a final summer holiday, headlined this year by the masterful Courtney Pine.


Friday 12 April 2013

LOCAL MUSIC REVIEWED!


The five Invisible Hands have honed an accomplished sound to stride confidently into the Leeds scene. Swirling keyboards, searching lyrics and psyching soirees are beefed up by big choruses equally likely to get hands rising and heads thinking.

Drum & bass for the noise-rocker, Cattle’s rhythm section chug intriguingly before vocals explode dementedly. A sludgy mess of hallucinatory horror, which we mean only as a compliment.

Impressively prolific Mark Wynn has quickly released three albums of offbeat oddball commentaries on social awkwardness. Short ragged songs of literate wit over catchy acoustics are monotonous, mundane and exquisitely charming.

HUMANS AS ORNAMENTS http://humansasornaments.co.uk/
Riff and roll newcomers Humans As Ornaments kick up an infectious racket. Blasting off with a fuzzy fury that keeps the pace through pleasing choruses and wordy verses, these chaps are a welcome addition to Leeds rock.

After admirably raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s Research UK, local singer-songwriter Rupert Stroud continues his consistent output of bulked-out-folk and indie singalongs of satisfying sincerity.

Meandering from Humberside is a mesmerising trip when taken through the warped weirdness of The Pigskin Godhead. Broken psych intersperses with jangly jaunts that invite us in to experience their drugged dreams

There appears to be something in the Yorkshire water. More spaced-out stories, this time from Halifax's Mother Onion. English eccentricities float to other worlds on a ride through fairgrounds, fairytales, foreboding and fun.