The genre-defying, Honda-swerving, harbingers of musical mayhem have returned, with more explosive aggression, soulful introspection and turn-up slappers. Despite a larger gap between albums than fans are accustomed to, it doesn’t seem like they’ve done much to change their musical formula; instead more work has gone into perfecting their sound and vision. On previous albums…
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Astroid Boys: ‘stellar blending of genres’
Crossing paths between two seemingly disparate genres is a challenging act to pull off, but Astroid Boys approach it with a graceful, yet aggressive, confidence. I picked up on a slight uneasiness when listening to their newest album through headphones – it wasn’t clear whether they wanted to set up camp either in punk or…
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Interview: Astroid Boys
Squeezed in the back of a van with the rest of his band, Benji of Astroid Boys had a good chat with me over the phone about music and their lives as musicians. What did you think of Norwich? Norwich was sick. A lot better than what I expected, I never been to Norwich before,…
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The 2018 festival round-up
Reading and Leeds The annually-disappointing conveyor belt of trite known as Reading and Leeds festival once again churns out a homogenous indie pâté for this year’s GCSE recipients. The surprising lack of indie on the line-up and the strange presence of outdated noughties pop-punk, a genre now close to becoming dad-rock, has led indie fans…
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Obituary: the Christmas No. 1
Recently, it has seemed as if no lessons have been learned since Killing in the Name by Rage Against The Machine became the 2009 Christmas No.1. Initially just a bit of a laugh, the campaign to get this track to No.1 carried with it a message of resistance to the cynical omnipotent music industry, directed…
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The spoons of silence
Along with the exuberant carpets, Wetherspoons’ lack of music remains a talking point, with many arguing that a night out at Spoons would be greatly improved with music. To me, a Spoons veteran, this argument makes about as much sense as ordering a pint of Stella. If you’re lucky enough to live near a Spoons…