If you were releasing an album called At Breakfast, Dinner and Tea, you would do some sort of meal-releated promo for that album, right? That seems such an obvious thing to do, not only because it’s a nice cheesy tie-in with the title, but also because it combines two of the best things in the [...]
There are many signs that a band has made it. One is the presence of roadies. Since I mostly go to small-scale gigs, it’s odd to see someone other than the band themselves onstage setting up. Especially at a venue the size of The Borderline. But there they are. A bloke with a fine beard [...]
Rejoice! Brooklyn’s premier Reverend and wife orchestral folk duo The Welcome Wagon are coming to London! Last year, Vito and Monique Aiuto released the awesome Welcome to the Welcome Wagon album, which was recorded, produced and arranged by their friend Sufjan Stevens. It was in my top 10 albums of last year, so natuarally, I’m [...]
It shouldn’t work. What’s best about Wildbirds & Peacedrums is the sheer raw energy of Mariam’s vocals and Andreas’ mad drumming. You shouldn’t mess with that should you? But seems like someone has. The real drumming has been stripped right out, to be replaced by some thumping electronic beats and synth stabs. But despite the [...]
Go Away Birds are one of my happiest recent radio discoveries, a delicate and lovely little live session a few weeks ago, featuring only the beautiful voice of Catherine Ireton (also to be heard on God Help the Girl) and the gently picked acoustic guitar of Michael John McCarthy (also found strumming for Zoey Van [...]
Good news! Long-time Daily Growl faves The Young Republic are finally going to release their second album Balletesque on End Of The Road Records on 12 October. I’ve kept returning to this album for most of this year, and it just gets better. The indie kids who dug 12 Songs From Winter City are going [...]
Just over two weeks now! In a fortnight’s time the Growl family will be camping in Dorset ahead of End of the Road Festival. Excitement is mounting already. Since I last wrote about it, the line-up has been finalised, the stage times have been set and the festival has sold out. So if you want [...]
This gig was a promising triple-bill which got off to a disappointing start for me, after turning up halfway through She Keeps Bees‘ allotted slot to see Jessica Larrabee onstage looking like she was clearing up. Annoying, but it transpired that they had some sound problems and cut their set short.
But it wasn’t too bad. [...]
Just as I was thinking about how to describe Beth Jeans Houghton, Marc Riley said “glam folk pixie” on the radio last week, and my deliberations were over. I can’t do better than that. Though don’t try to deconstruct that description too much, just stick with the image. And don’t go making a point about [...]
When you see a tour called Shred Yr Face, what would you expect. Something loud, raucous and messy, comin’ atcha to blast yr face right off. And that’s kinda what we had on the two previous SYF tours, with bands like No Age, The Bronx, Times New Viking, Fucked Up and Rolo Tomassi, and the [...]
