The Underground Stage
“The Prize straddle a line between Ramones and Thin Lizzy and it’s a glorious line to hold, if you can hold on. Shredding and shrugging and strutting in equal measure, keeping it simple at the core but going bolo at the edges, it’s a magnificent racket designed to light up every guitar-related neuron in your […]
“Boyfriend Material go easy but carry bite, confident and driving without feeling the need to shout about it. It swirls and thumps, gradually but relentlessly filling up the room with darkly rich guitars and song.” Gallery Listen
“Jess Locke’s songwriting shies towards the shadows as much as it does blind you with its light, as timid as it is staunch. Firm in its convictions but generous with its gifts, it’s a swoon and a swoop of a set, a treat and a lesson.” Gallery Listen
“Blake Cateris’ songs are both sharply tooled and delivered, as rich in ideas as they are in melody. He leaves Oz soon for a European jaunt – our loss as always – but it was decent of him to leave us with a hint of the new stuff to come, a typically thoughtful song about […]
“Wah Wah Wah barrel in from (I think!) Seoul, landing in The Duke tonight with a giant, clanging, brilliant crash. Psyche-y refrains are the connecting tissue between jagged-edged punk, the guitars roaring and the rhythms grinding its teeth into dust. Inventive, unpredictable, and absolutely, marvellously batshit crazy – what a wild time this is.” Gallery […]
“Ugly Mug distract with hypnotic psyche and then beat you round the head with big hairy rock, like hippies armed with hammers and knives. Eyeballs swirling, horns up.” Gallery Listen
As ever, all the tracks that make it onto the playlist are aces in my book but if I absolutely, positively had to pick no more than five to check out this week, it’d be these. Ruby Fields – Half the Laugh (single) 🎶 Fittingly for a song about there being two sides to things, […]
“Deadshowws both shrink back and explode forwards, but unpredictably. It’s the not-knowing that gets you – discovering whether they’ll be tickling your tummy or knocking your damn teeth out is what makes the set such a ride. From rich and quiet to raw and deafening, it’s a full-spectrum dose.” Gallery Listen
“Major Arcana’s primal roar cannons around the skull like a pinball, inventive and blazing and as dense as a stellar core. It rings like a struck gong, impressive as all hell.” Gallery Listen