The two sterling stints served on the Clash’s drum stool by the titular Terry, or as Joe Strummer renamed him in the worthy and politicised mid-70’s: ‘Tory Crimes’, bookended the career of the Clash in some respects; that’s the Clash as a fully functioning & creatively sharp unit of course… His first stint was when…

Paul Hanley is the stentorian timekeeping half of the Hanley Rhythm Collision, his bass playing brother Steve being the other. Steve is the four stringed ‘yin’ to Paul’s perfectly timed ‘yang’, and together their innate and ‘simpatico’, syncopated stylings have been a constant and consistent influence on the British independent music scene since 1979. Some…

Originally posted on Rahman the Writer:
A word that’s oft-ascribed but very seldom deserved these days is: ‘legend’. In our ersatz and homogenised times, if you don’t consider Tom Hingley one, you probably have worryingly woeful taste in music, and so by extension you should move along, nothing to read here. Tom’s most famous and…

Penny at The Palace on Remembrance Sunday This was the penultimate tête-à-tête at John Robb’s Louder Than War‘ Open Heart, Open Door’ three day event that was held in Manchester this weekend (11th-13th November). It was an ambitious event which was set within the opulent confines of the Palace Hotel which glitters with stained-glass, faience…

Consider the ‘triptych’ for a meaningful moment. In strictly etymological terms it’s derived from the Greek meaning literally ‘three-fold’, and within the context of art history it has made occasional but by no means regular appearances; and as far as recent art history is concerned, the last high profile and notable triptych was by Francis…

In 1965 the modernists, principally but not exclusively of London, seemed to have found a way to directly access the grid of electricity that lit the jaundice- yellow street lights and powered the tube trains that bisected and thundered through its submerged veins. These gamine girls and wide-eyed boys were the new-moneyed denizens of the…

A word that’s oft-ascribed but very seldom deserved these days is: ‘legend’. In our ersatz and homogenised times, if you don’t consider Tom Hingley one, you probably have worryingly woeful taste in music, and so by extension you should move along, nothing to read here. Tom’s most famous and impressive usp is, of course, that…

‘Big Paul’ Ferguson is the drummer and percussionist and founder member of the mighty musical force of nature known as Killing Joke. Along with singer Jaz Coleman, another founder member, he called for a ‘New Renaissance’ and over the last four decades he has been responsible for some of the most distinctive and iconic rhythms…

‘There’s Time Now’ by Phlyx                                                                                                    …

Hypnopazūzu: ‘Create Christ, Sailor Boy’ 8.5 /10 You would think that with a full quarter of the year yet still to unfold, foolish would be the person to announce that an album released in August would not only be one of the year’s keynote musical releases; but would also be one of the keynote releases…

Jah Wobble & the Invaders of the Heart ‘Everything is Nothing’ 8.5/10 Admirers of Jah Wobble’s previous long form outings with the bespoke collection of musicians he assembled and titled the Invaders of the Heart, were virtually tumescent with expectation when it was revealed that this 10 song outing was ready to ‘drop’ in July,…

The Strokes were greeted with not a little suspicion when they first emerged in 2001, immaculately coiffured proffering their debut Rough Trade endorsed EP The Modern Age and subsequently, their first full-length LP Is This It. They appeared suspiciously clean despite the distressed and ripped jeans a la Roberta Bayley’s fabulously grimy cover shot from…