Blog > Reviews
Music Venues Day - Sisteray at 100 Club
Rising stars close Music Venue Trust’s Venues Day with a bang at The 100 Club, London
Blancmange - live @ Red Gallery, London
“Back to the present now; as opposed to the future”, says Blancmange’s Neil Arthur, backed by his three piece. Like a nonchalant Lancastrian time traveller, this inventor of EDM, materialises onstage to a wild enthusiasm, that almost takes him by surprise.
Review - Apple MacBook Air 11”
We got our hands on a new Apple MacBook Air 11” to put through its paces, and find out how you can use it to cover your musical bases from making through to performing.
Nuraphone - revolutionary headphones
The groundbreaking Nuraphone headphones are tailored to your hearing and give a breathtakingly deep and different listening experience. They’re a more than worthy recipient of a CES award this year, for Best of Innovation in the headphone category, and we’re sure there will be more honours to come.
The Besnard Lakes @ Sticky Mike’s, Brighton
The Besnard Lakes @ Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Brighton, November 2015.
The Blinders at The Garage, London
The Blinders @The Garage, London, with Calva Louise, Moses 7/11/18
Test Dept @ Studio 9294
Test Dept ‘Disturbance’ album launch @ Studio 9294, London, Friday 26th April 2019
Sleaford Mods @ 100 Club
Hot on the heels of our interview with Sleaford Mods, we caught them live at the 100 Club in London. An evening of mighty and brilliant sonic mayhem.
Loud Women Volume One
Loud Women Volume One is a thrilling twenty-one track compilation that gets the punk rock party started. These tightly-packaged tunes from the UK’s most hotly-tipped female artists, are ready to explode out of your speakers. From anger as an energy, to shivers down spine moments, laughs out loud, ferocious guitars, and more punchlines than a week’s comedy programming, it is punk at its broadest and best. The album launch party is Saturday 18th March with artists including Lilith Ai, Madame So and deux furieuses, and with all profits going to Women’s Aid. You can order the CD here.
Killing Joke at The Roundhouse - Review
Killing Joke at The Roundhouse, London, 6th November 2015
Review - Arturia Spark Dubstep
French software + English Samples = Killer beats for EDM and dubstep
Review - Steinberg Cubase 7
Steinberg have brought out their hotly anticipated new version of the Cubase production tool - the verdict? An excellent upgrade packed with useful new features and tools!
Muse secret show @ The Electric Ballroom
Muse @ The Electric Ballroom, Camden, London, 11th September
Gazelle Twin @ Electrowerkz - Rolo McGinty reviews
Gazelle Twin played Baba Yaga’s Hut at Electrowerkz, London. Rolo McGinty of The Woodentops reviews.
Starcrawler @ Boston Music Room, London
Starcrawler @ Boston Music Room, London, 5th September 2017
iRig Mic Studio - Review
The iRig Mic Studio is another IK Multimedia triumph - a beautifully-engineered, super compact, high quality USB condenser microphone that’s great to use.
Kristeen Young, Bishi, Guttfull at The Lexington
Kristeen Young, Bishi, Guttfull at The Lexington, London 19th February 2018
Nasty Women UK
Inspired by the global art movement Nasty Women – Nasty Women UK put on a brilliant three day event of music, art, talks, comedy and spoken word at welcoming canalside venue Stour Space in Hackney Wick, London.
Loud Women Fest 2017
Loud Women Fest 2017 was a party rrriot from beginning to end. Held at the community-run DIY Space for London in Peckham, it featured 20 amazing acts. Music styles ranged from beatboxing to sax punk, and careful programming across two stages meant there were no clashes!
Suicide: A Punk Mass
Suicide: A Punk Mass, 9th July 2015, The Barbican Centre London, Station to Station.
Rolo McGinty of The Woodentops reviews.
Ty - album launch
Ty ‘A Work Of Heart’ album launch @ Archspace, London, 12th March 2018
Top Ten Gigs of 2014
The live music scene is in spectacular health, especially at grass roots level - and our team went to some stonkingly good shows in 2014. We saw plenty of newer bands who are more than ready to headline music festivals, and should be doing great things in 2015. Here are our favourites.
Nina Hagen @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Nina Hagen @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire 24th September, 2016
Loud Women Fest 2016
The incredible vibe hit you like a velvet brick as soon as you walked through the door – outrageously good music from hotly-tipped bands, innovative merch (Satan pants anyone?), and a welcoming atmosphere.
Pitch Black + Feral Five @ Oslo Hackney
Pitch Black + Feral Five, Oslo Hackney, 25 March 2017
Music Venue Trust #Fightback
Music Venue Trust #Fightback fundraiser for the venue Emergency Response Team
The Roundhouse, London 18th October, 2016
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing - album launch
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing @ The Barfly, Camden, 9th September 2015
Slaves @ The Victoria, Dalston
Garage punk duo Slaves have had a brilliant year, from their single release ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie’ in early 2014 - an instant classic - to a string of high octane gigs and now a place on the BBC’s Sound of 2015 list. At a great show at The Victoria Dalston, they played fan favourites and some new ones too.
Test Dept - Total State Machine book launch
Test Dept - Total State Machine book launch, 16th July 2015, Rough Trade East. Q & A chaired by Luke Turner, The Quietus. Live re-working of Test Dept classics by Scanner.
Tricky, Gazelle Twin, Rival Consoles @ Convergence
Tricky, Gazelle Twin and Rival Consoles were a huge draw at Convergence Festival, playing in the magnificent surroundings of St John at Hackney Church.
iRig Mic Field - Review
The iRig Mic Field promises to make field recordings rock - whether they are band videos, music recordings, or audio of things in fields. We tested it in different situations and found it to be a brilliant and compact piece of kit, great for all kinds of high quality field recordings.
Desperate Journalist album launch
Desperate Journalist generated huge excitement ahead of their sold out album launch at The Lexington, with even their peers calling them the future of indie music. Their exhilarating, euphoric and intense post-punk is amazing live, and the album a must-have release.
Deux Furieuses at The Water Rats
Deux Furieuses’ huge visceral rock sound pins you to the wall. Their thrilling residency at The Water Rats in London has seen them dubbed “The half way point between PJ Harvey and the White Stripes”, and founding member of PJ Harvey, producer and drummer Rob Ellis, was checking them out at their most recent gig. The next Deux Furieuses show is on 2nd May.
Review - PocketStrings
PocketStrings is a compact device that’s designed to let you practice anywhere. It’s aimed at guitar players at any level. It comes as a 4 fret version for chords, and a 6 fret for chords and scales. Singer/songwriter Avert Francis tried out the 4 fret model.
The Ruts DC at The Underworld
The Ruts DC launched their new album ‘Music Must Destroy’ at The Underworld in Camden, London.
Jemma Freeman and The Cosmic Something - album launch
Jemma Freeman and The Cosmic Something ‘Oh Really, What’s That Then?’, album launch at Set, Dalston, 3 October 2019. Available on Trapped Animal Records.
Loud Women February 19 - Live
Loud Women promoted shows are some of the best gigs around, especially their nights at the Hope & Anchor in London. Featuring artists from the UK and beyond, they are always packed, and a perfect mix of great sounds and a great crowd. The 9th February show at the Hope & Anchor was another classic, with ILL, The Hysterical Injury, I, Doris, and Gender Chores.
Deux Furieuses, Mourning Birds, Dana Jade @ Alleycat
With three bands fast carving out a name for their blistering rock, Rocklands TV put together an amazing bill at Alleycat in London’s Denmark Street. Deux Furieuses, Mourning Birds and Dana Jade made for an incredible evening.
Sherwood & Pinch Album Launch
Packing a huge sonic punch, bass dons Sherwood & Pinch launched their album Late Night Endless with a thrilling live show, that was a compelling mix of dub, dubstep and more. It was a very special night for the crowd, at the intimate Ramsgate Music Hall in Kent.
Beardyman Dream Team Sessions
Beardyman’s new Dream Team Sessions kicked off at The Jazz Cafe in London, billed as ‘you make up the track titles, Beardyman and his very special guests make the album’. Part of his ‘album in an hour’ project, the first night featured guitarist Gary Lucas from Captain Beefheart, Andy Gangadeen from The Bays/Massive Attack/Chase & Status on drums and percussion, and solo bass player Steve Lawson, whom we’ve interviewed before. Rolo McGinty from The Woodentops, reviews.
Scorching bands at Clit Rock 3
Clit Rock organisers always pull together some of the best rising female rock talent in the UK for their fundraisers, and the third in their series was a scorcher, featuring Deux Furieuses, Dana Jade and The Pearl Harts.
Kingsley Chapman and The Murder, @ Sebright Arms
Kingsley Chapman and The Murder at Sebright Arms, London, 24th November, supported by James Brute and Avalanche Party.
Field Day 2016
Torrents of glitter, torrents of rain, torrents of talent, and lashings of politics as well as craft beer, turned Field Day into a truly heady brew.
The Blinders at The Lexington
The Blinders at The Lexington, London 21st February 2018
The Great Escape 2018
The joy of The Great Escape is that it’s stuffed with amazing new artists and everyone has a different favourites or recommendations list, which means you can’t go wrong on the ground no matter where you end up.
Lyric videos made easy - Superstring app
We’ve checked out a brilliant new app for making lyric videos easy. It’s called Superstring and it’s the first app by new tech company Simplest Ways. Making any kind of music video can be tough on resources and time. Lyric videos are a great way to get your music on YouTube, and they’re popular with fans who want to be able to sing the songs. We asked London indie electro band Feral Five to give Superstring a try on their new single Strung Out.