Already Heard

What’s Hot in my House – September

Posted on by edwardlayland

I listen to an awful lot of music by virtue of the fact that I spend a great deal of time moving around from one side of Rio to another, it’s not unusual for me to get through two or three albums before I even start work. As I also write for alternative music website http://www.alreadyheard.com I occasionally have to listen to stuff I maybe wouldn’t have chosen to; some good, some bad, some nnhaa. So it was quite a relief this month to have reviewed the steaming Luna Sol.

LUNA SOL
‘Blood Moon’ is a hard riffing badass album of doom rich stoner rock, straight out of the Colorado mountains, packed with smoking solos and hook ridden choruses. It was love at first sight and I cannot put this sinisterly grungy record down. My massive 4.5. star review can be found here: http://alreadyheard.com/post/128561612819/album-review-luna-sol-blood-moon

PUBLIC ENEMY
Also on heavy rotation as a result of a review I have done is the Live from Metropolis soundtrack album by Public Enemy. Chuck D, Flavor Flav and co. are on top form on this intimate show of greatest hits. Chuck gives a masterclass in flow to the younger generation while him and Flav work the room tirelessly. It’s a lesson in rapping and performing that makes for superb listening.

JAMIE XX
I finally gave the Jamie XX album a chance after it was recommended by a friend and was not disappointed. Believe the hype, this is a thoroughly engaging hypnotic chunk of well thought out electronica.

SOAK
I’m not entirely sure how I discovered this, maybe Deezer recommended it, can’t really remember, but whatever, in Before we Forgot How to Dream this teenager from Derry has made a quite beautiful album of atmospheric indie folk of surprising depth and sophistication that is packed with haunting melodies and moments of tenderness.

LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain – The Proms 2013.
I’ve had a lot of translation work of late and as it monopolizes the language function of my brain, I like a bit of classical when I’m working. I discovered this spectacular performance from the 2013 Proms on YouTube and it has been my first choice work music ever since. That Beethoven is the master is nothing new, but there is something about this performance from these teenagers and their delightfully animated conductor, Vasily Petrenko, that is very involving; maybe it’s the innocence of the young or their youthful enthusiasm that gives it an added vigour. The third movement, Adagio molto e cantabile at 25:10, is especially beautiful and Ode to Joy takes on a whole new dimension; truly moving.

Five British Rock Bands that Could Use a Break.

Posted on by edwardlayland

In my capacity as a contributing writer for www.alreadyheard.com, an alternative rock website in the UK, I’ve been lucky enough to review some really interesting stuff, as well as some pathetically indulgent musically limited shit. Among the non-shit are a whole bunch of upcoming British bands suffering at the hard end of the music business, where lack of money and/or record company support means that a DIY philosophy is prerequisite. Not only are these bands writing their own songs, but they are often using crowdfunding (pledgemusic), producing themselves and in some cases doing their own marketing and booking their own gigs, which is all very admirable but is obviously not a sustainable model. Without significant record sales, top drawer live opportunities or some real financial backing from a record label, bands like these are living on borrowed time and their talents will be confined to an eternity on the pub circuit. Ok, I’m the first to admit that none of these guys are the finished article and the artistic direction of their videos leaves more than a little to be desired, but each one them has talent and all have potential to develop given the right support. Check them out below – with links 🙂

Romans – upbeat hard rock; very succinctly summed up on the “About” of their facebook page – “We like riffs”.

https://m.facebook.com/romansonline?refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fromansonline

Blind Wives – indie rock crossover with a punky edge recently released their second EP showing off mature song writing skills.


http://blindwives.bandcamp.com/

An Elegy – midlands metalcore band with an immense heaviness and interesting song structures born of hard studio time.

https://anelegy.bandcamp.com/

Quiet Lions – Brighton based melodic rock band creating expansive sound scapes.


http://www.quietlions.com/

Of Allies – these guys are ready – hard edged alternative rock with strong songs and plenty of appeal.

http://ofallies.com/ (free download available)

All the bands featured here, which is just the tip of the iceberg of the underground/independent scene, are available for streaming on Deezer (and probably Spotify but I couldn’t be arsed to troll their user unfriendly interface to see), where I also have an ever growing playlist of upcoming bands from around the world:
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1328065347