Thomas Wedders – likely born Thomas Wadhouse – was born in Yorkshire around 1730. Exact details about his life are sketchy, given that much of it was spent as an exhibition at circuses and freak shows. Wedders is thought to have been the owner of the longest nose ever recorded, though sadly the 18th century […]
Morley, Leeds. Like Rome, set upon seven hills – like Rome, see Morley and die. All of life spread across a settlement five miles from Leeds. One thousand years of simultaneously resisting change and grinding down resolve until unwary visitors find themselves unable to leave. First mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, this “open […]
There’s something slightly religious about Dyr Faser. As I type this, listening to their new album through headphones which may have melted into my ears, there’s a towering, churchy, immoveability to their music. Guitar riffs punch you in the chest, rise to the rafters and circle back down to slap you about the chops. Economical, […]
Various Artists – ‘Deep in the Woods – Pastoral, Psychedelic and Funky Folk 1968-1975’ Three discs of psychedelic folk is quite the proposition – how long before it descends into acoustic beigery, finger-in-the-ear po-facedness and jangle fests? In all honesty, it comes close by track three but don’t let that put you off. What this […]
If you think it’d take a challenging film-maker to employ The Residents to produce the soundtrack, you’d be correct – the film in question, ‘Triple Trouble’, is made by the band themselves. The almost mythical film, ‘Vileness Fats’ was conceived 50 years ago and never quite reached the finishing line. Attempts over the last few […]
‘The Toytown Sound’ has only briefly been referenced before – the five-disc ‘A Trip to Towntown’ (released 2007) which was curated by members of the Marmalade Skies website. Sadly, it was somewhat lost in the tidal wave of psychedelic compilations released in the late 90s and 2000s but it was so skilfully done that it […]
This ongoing Lux and Ivy project, which hasn’t as yet descended into tarnishing their names, has started to find its feet with recent releases, with less in the way of flitting around trying to cram in as many artists as possible but to concentrate on key artists – or in this case, key artists and […]
Some 27 years since its original release, Screaming Trees’ most successful album is given the reissue treatment courtesy of Cherry Red, the handful of B-sides on the additional disc being only part of the reason to dig deep beneath the potatoes and feast heartily on the fleshy songs which feel as refreshingly vital today as […]
And what of Denmark in the 1960s? Before the arrival of this new three-disc set, my thoughts on the matter were somewhat flimsy it must be said – clean; organised; polite; earthy colours; chalets; fishermen; the odd tour-guide. Y’know, ill-informed guesses, the usual. What has never really sprung to mind is its underground music scene, […]
Unless you’re really pretty hot on your music knowledge, you’ll only know Peter Straker by referencing a video he’s been in (most likely, Freddie Mercury’s cover of The Great Pretender) or by saying, “he’s the bloke that was in the original Hair show”. It’s unlikely…to an extraordinary degree, that a cartoon light bulb would appear […]
