I sometimes write music and I also still sometimes write about music. A long time ago I did reviews and interviews for various short-lived e-zines as well as the student papers. I’m not a believer in criticism per se but I do enjoy curation.
Here you can check out what I’m listening to and also my latest releases.
You could read 2025 is over at this point
Here are a couple of notes from that article:
I guess for a lot of people 2025 was about waiting in virtual queues hoping to get tickets to big stadium shows from lowest common denominator pop acts. I’m not mad at you if you are in to that, I’m just disappointed and let’s not speak about it further.
2025 was a year where artists whose work I had been enjoying over the last few years released records which made me go “oh okay, that’s a shame.”
My favourite new record this year was PinkPanteress mixtape Fancy That and my favourite new song of the year was Music by Underscores and nothing else really came close to those choices for me. Finally I’ve got to say “go and listen to Esdeekid” if you’re not yet in on that thing.
Everything I’m hearing right now is like Underscores went back in time to the mid 90s and I’m trying to commit that to bits and bytes.
Logic.
I am working on two different records in parallel. One is Drecks 2 and the other is something I’m currently calling Workshy.
Drecks 2 is loose and open. It’s sort of chopped up and wonky. It’s like if the Blacknoi$e remix of Extra Capsular Extraction was a bit more interesting.
Workshy is like a hyperpop take on Test Icicles but with a dose of Crookers. It’s tight and claustrophobic.
Read about the release here and then go here and buy it.
Instrumental Driving Music for Drecks.
Put this in your ears and be happy (happiness optional)
Listen to the album on Bandcamp, Tidal, Spotify, YouTube, or Apple Music.
Actually according to Distrokid most of this stuff is on (deep breath) Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok & other ByteDance stores, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Anghami, KKBox, NetEase, Tencent, MediaNet, Boomplay, Adaptr, Flo, Joox, Kuack Media, Qobuz, Snapchat most of which I have never heard of. So there!
Recent live shows:
Nova Twins at the Engine Rooms Nova Twins are exciting and combine so many things I love and a bunch of stuff I didn’t previously like but now I’m thinking “oh maybe I should try that” so yeah. I know I’ve enjoyed a show when I want to rush home and try noises. The Engine Rooms is a pretty poor venue with dreadful resonance.
High On Fire (and Castle Rat and other supports) Electric Ballroom I’m just so happy to see HoF looking and sounding better than ever. It felt like they were having a great time. We all had a great time. Also, one of the best combos of support acts I’ve seen in a while. Castle Rat are a must see!
Queens of the Stone Age at the Royal Albert Hall I don’t know what more I can really say about QotSA. They have reached incredible new heights and are doing things I find hard to believe. The support was so bad but I don’t remember the name.
The Beta Band at the Roundhouse Overambitious, self-aware, pretentious, still unmissable. They were beautiful in 2004 when they called it a day and they are just as exquisite today.
Victorious festival I won’t be going again but it is something we did. Not much more to say!
Have a Nice Life Last ever gig at the Marble Factory apparently but we couldn’t stick around. It was so hot in the venue we had to take the decision to leave and consider what could have been. RIP the Marble Factory and we will try and see Have a Nice Life properly another time!
Earth, Divide and Dissolve, other Desertfest acts It’s a shame to feel like Desertfest has fallen off a cliff but honestly aside from D&D and Earth this year was a total disaster. HOWEVER those two did produce amazing performances. I’d rather they did a proper tour and we hadn’t felt obligated to stand there through one psychedelic folk stoner doom jam collective after another.
Self Esteem outstore with Vinilo/1865 Alright so I do love Self Esteem and I loved Slow Club from when they were playing in pubs and when she’s in town I show up, it’s as simple as that. This performance barely lasted half an hour and was just bad. I’m good with an intimate low key acoustic type little set and I’m good with a big proper show but this fell in the middle and wasn’t either and honestly I was pretty pissed off with how rubbish this was. Totally mis-sold by the Vinilo record store. Also not fun: the crowd were all people who didn’t really know how to do this sort of thing. Most people only saw the stage through their phone screen. To top it off, the new songs are not good. I’d like to wipe this from my memory.
The Bug vs BIG|BRAVE, sonic face-off Mad one-off sonic battle. Canadian folk-doom noise architects Big Brave occupied the stage of the Garage and Dorset lord of dub The Bug faced them down with a separate sound system at the other end of the Islington warehouse. Face-melting bliss. Clip here.
Chat Pile (support HIRS Collective) Mighty. HIRS combine the attributes of Melt-Banana and Napalm Death (both of which I’ve seen and are amazing) and blend classic pop samples with absolute rage. Unbelievably huge. Chat Pile powered through their best material in the same way a bulldozer would power through your home. Both acts go straight on to my must see recommendations.
Masters of Reality (support Earl of Hell) So powerful I had many tears. I don’t know what else to say. The show was a real journey from dark and creepy through some freeflowing exploration to a big bold resolution and finally some humour with a dark edge. Chris Goss and co kept nothing in reserve. Earl of Hell were better, tighter, bigger, ready for launch.
Jack White (support Black Mekon) Treat for my kid who is a huge fan. I had a vague worry Jack White would be a bit of an artist about things but I was totally wrong. He thrashed out a solid 90 minutes of crowd pleasers, hits from throughout his career. Jack White has been strumming out his own brand of bluesy rock before he had an audience and I think he’ll still be doing this long after the world stops caring about the possibilities for noise enabled by Leo Fender designs. Not one I would have gone to ordinarily but everyone left grinning. Support band Black Mekon were wonderful, great humour and really won over the crowd, tricky in a larger venue supporting a big name artist.
Brant Bjork Trio Brant is my all-time hero and he’s truly on fire at the moment. The new record is a mighty return to form and seeing Brant and Mario Lalli bounce off of each other up close is always a dream come true for me. The 1865 was way short of capacity but it was a friendly crowd with good vibes. Drummer Mike Amster brought some extra punch and movement as compared to the more laid back and organic rhythms of Ryan Gut on the previous tour. Brant’s vocals weren’t consistent but the sheer joy of the performance is what everyone in the room will remember. Support: Earl of Hell (the vocals weren’t my bag but the tones were great) and Moosehead (strong performers but it felt like the songwriting could be more collaborative and coherent)
Fu Manchu Shakey performance from singer Scott Hill but drummer Scott Reeder (also of Sun & Sail Club with homonymous ex Kyuss bass monster Scott Reeder) was having fun and it showed. Epic rendition of Saturn III. Bottom of bill support Torus are a band to keep an eye on, with some real clever songwriting as the bass kept coming up over the top of the riffs.
Massive Attack (support Killer Mike) Initial sound and lighting issues and a sudden downpour cleared out the field early but those who stayed were treated to a powerful show. Could have used more of a crescendo to end. Mostly a really well thought out one-day event. Killer Mike got the tone right with his gospel-based hip-hop of optimism.
Sunn O))) (support Jesse Sykes) Almost indescribable. Destroyed like the nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I walked out a different man.
Brant Bjork, Mondo Generator, Masters of Reality, &c at Desertfest Brant is always magical to me, and this was the best performance I have seen from him since the Saved By Magic tour. Nick Oliveri smashes out singalong hits and leaves everyone with a big grin. Chris Goss of MoR was having medical issues but the band held it together and bringing in Alain Johannes was a stroke of genius. Absolute heroes.
In progress:
I’m really happy with Drecks and we’re going to go bigger and bolder with the sequel!
Studio space.
Things on rotation at the moment:
These artists should be on your playlists:
Upcoming gigs:
Guitars.
Spin these:
Bin these:
