Ghost Trains - Sniffing Round L.A.

This is the second full length album since the band's first live performance less than a year ago in April 2010, and sees the Staffordshire three piece blending their acoustic singer-songwriter ballads with classical Spanish guitar parts, rich vocal harmonies, equal parts Americana and Asian infusions, with sweetly melancholic lyrical content. There is a great deal of heart and soul in this record, beneath the layers of regret and heartbreak there is the sense that the sun will rise again and hope can spring from the darkness. The album kicks off with 'Michael Caine' an acoustic lead 70's throwback, with laid back Indian tinged drums, with an empassioned vocal and some powerful guitar parts. 'Deathdance' is a rousing, stand-out single of a track, starting out like 'Out of Time' era Peter Buck guitar parts, meandering through John Bramwell style vocals, with a beautifully memorable chorus that is the sound of a band who are totally comfortable with their sound and how to deliver it. 'Set In Stone' is altogether more ethereal, at once sweet and menacing, with intricate vocal harmonies and gentle pianos plonking along to accentuate the lyrics. 'Liar' is reminiscent of Cast and is certainly flying the Brit-pop (Union) flag proudly, with their own slant, the trade-mark Spanish guitar overtones that punctuate this album. 'Love Is Dead' is a nice enough song, if at times sounding a little close to The Verve, and perhaps if one were to be unkind. could be described as one of the more forgettable tracks on a good record. 'Buonasera's playful lyrics are tinged with sadness, as throughout this album, the lighter notes are often really disguising the darkest ones, 'Gutenaben, gutenaben, bonsoir, buenos noches de mucho, stuff I don't know, here comes stone henge..nothing I do will do'. 'Godfather' starts off a little too familiar and leaves you feeling the album perhaps is starting to run out of steam, but then hits you with a chorus so tender and yet so morose it forces you to re-examine, and the vocal harmonies and lyrics are as good as any on the album. 'Angel Heights' is a more up-tempo number with a flowing Eastern drum beat punctuating a late-1990's singer-songwriter type of ballad, with a lead guitar part that is just shy of Oasis-esque with the inclusion of some auxiliary notes. 'Dark Clover' is perhaps covering old ground again, but the last minute's crescendo and guitar solo offer some of the more interesting musical ideas on the album. The album closer 'Sticking Plasters' is a beautiful song with a rich vocal tone layered over a tender chord pattern, finding Ellis suitably wistful in the song's chorus and coda 'it's the way that it goes, there's no use crying. people will find answers, in the strangest ways...I know that we will survive, locked in a dream and a lullaby'. All in all this is a solid record with some really rich sections, and a few stand out tracks that are exceptional, however at times it is guilty of being a little predictable and samey and there are times when you are waiting for something bigger to kick in that never does. Admittedly this is not the bands style so perhaps that is unfair on my part, but just because the music is predominantly acoustic and quiet doesn't mean there has to be a lack of variety. Having said all this, I would still reccommend this album as it is predominantly great, it's just that it perhaps tails off a little towards the end. But the breathtaking 'Set In Stone', stirring 'Deathdance' and 'Sticking Plasters' are excellent songs that I will be coming back to time and again. In summary this is really quite a good record, with excellent production and certainly a band to watch out for in the future, as this is a vast improvement on the bands earlier efforts and I should imagine their next record could be truly exceptional.

You can download the album on Itunes here: - Sniffing Round LA on Itunes


or check out the bands website for free tracks and loads of other info here: - GhostTrains.net

Old Brown Jug versus The Travelodge

We now bring you news of the developing battle between historical pub The Old Brown Jug and hotel franchise Travelodge, an argument which looks set to run on and could yet see the end of live music in the venue. Within three weeks of opening the Travelodge launched official complaints about The Old Brown Jug complaining about late night noise coming from the pub and beer-garden disturbing its customers from their sleep. The multi million pound hotel chain want the council to launch an investigation into the pub's live music and premises lincense. Local newspaper The Sentinel recently spoke to a representative of the Travelodge who issued the following statements: "The Old Brown Jug creates tremendous noise nuisance for guests staying at the Travelodge and has done since the hotel opened...the quality of our customers' sleep is paramount...We will be seeking to ensure that noise levels are reduced at a reasonable time and times are adhered to...we are working with Newcastle Borough Council to seek a review of the Old Brown Jug's licence."  If live music were to be stopped at The Old Brown Jug, the loss in revenue could be disastrous, and would more than likely seal the pub's fate. The fact that Travelodge have invested over £3 million in their Newcastle branch, would make one assume that they would have thought about things like this before building it. You'd think that they'd take into account the fact that a very popular establishment, a stone's throw away, that regularly hosts live music, might just concievably be heard from their building. Apparently it never crossed their minds, and they're now trying to act like it's The Jug's fault for playing too loud. Frankly this whole argument is ridiculous, and likely to end badly for the Travelodge. A very popular pub, and a staple of live music in the area, it's vastly unlikely that a massive corporation of cheap, tacky, aesthetically challenging franchised hotel will enjoy much sympathy over a long standing and yet still buzzing venue, in a hugely predominantly working-class town. A Facebook campagin has recently been started to express support for the Old Brown Jug and contempt towards the Travelodge's stance over the issue.

The online campaign issued a call for arms stating 'PEOPLE OF NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME - MUSIC LOVERS, BEER LOVERS, DJS, MUSICIANS AND PEOPLE WHO JUST WANT TO HAVE A GOOD TIME - UNITE AGAINST THIS WITH US - WE WILL NOT BE BEATEN!'  At the time of writing the facebook group had well over 2000 supporters and the community is clearly taking a stand, hopefully some form of compromise can be reached, as the loss of The Old Brown Jug would be a truly bitter blow for live music and for the development of creativity in this great area.

You can join the Facebook campaign here: Stand Up For The Jug, Stand Up For Newcastle

Oceansize Live at The Sugarmill - 30th September

Blending post-rock with elements of alt-indie and prog, Oceansize are an extremely hard working band who regularly tour the UK and fortunately keep Stoke on their radar, and can often be seen tearing up The Sugarmill in Hanley. This time around the band are promoting material from their release earlier this year 'Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up', as diverse a record as the rest of the bands' back-catalouge but with the amps well and truly turned up, probably their heaviest work to date. Live the new album sounds as vital as ever, 'Build Us A Rocket Then..' and 'Silent/Transparent' are particular highlights, the latter being introduced as "one of those special track 7's" and it was certainly one of the most special tracks in a rivoting and glorious setlist. Having said that the band were keen to entertain long term fans and dipped into their previous records to great effect, Everyone Into Positons' 'Music For A Nurse' was even more emotionally charged and affecting than it is on record, personally that was quite the feat seeing as it is one of my favourite songs of recent years. As you'd expect from a band aptly called Oceansize, their setlists are often structured in a very rise and fall fashion, one minute drawing you in with the beauty and tenderness of their constructions, the next smacking you in the face with a thick wall of dark sounds. With their style of spacey post-rock their music is perfect for live performances, their tracks swell and swell, becoming even bigger than on record, ocean sized even. The set is closed with the same track that they closed with the last time I went to see them, the phenomenally grandiose 'Ornament/The Last Wrongs' a wonderous way to end such a breathtaking show. Long live Oceansize.

Lovelust - Spaced Out EP

 

Lovelust are a difficult band to describe and are certainly hard to pigeon-hole with genres as they fuse together elements of psychedelica, drone, shoegaze and at times quite dark electronic overtones. The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine are obvious influences but this record, like their live performances, really is a mixed bag.

As the warped vocals kick in on opening track 'Love' it's easy to see you're in for a trip. But soon warm organs and psychedelic droney guitars begin to wash over you, slowly building, like an ocean slowly taking over a beach. There is undoubtedly beauty behind the smoke. 'Frequency' seems to start off as relatively easy going but soon builds into a dark wall of static that almost seems to test the audiences patience and ability to withstand the din, before calming into ambient waves of synthesizers which gently float and spin, to help recover from the wall of noise moments earlier. 'Sun Don't Reach Your Face' starts off somewhere between a 60's daydream and a 90's hangover, gentle rythm guitar parts give way to metalic electric guitar and warm, reverberating vocals, at once sounding like The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Warlocks, before distant drums enter and really bring the song together, certainly this is my personal favourite track on the record. The first few minutes of  'Trip' give you exactly what it says on the tin, before giving way to Pink Floyd-esque guitar parts and even more reverberating vocal parts and samples of people talking and a crescendo of sound. The self-recorded EP ends with 'Love On The Higher Planes' a groove based piece of psychedelica that, as with the whole record, is pretty difficult to explain. Put simply it's really quite lovely. It temporarily transports you to another plane and if you can slow your brain down long enough to just live between the bars it's a wondefully calming and rewarding end to a charming record.

They're never going to be to everyone's taste, and will certainly never be massively commercial, but you'd imagine both those statements would be pleasing to a band who sounds and plays like this. At times the production is a little confused and as with all music that can loosely be labelled as drone, all the elements are 'in the mix' together so sometimes ideas get a litltle lost. But there is no question that beneath, and within, the samples, the sharp and dark noises, the testing synthesisers and at times incomprehensible lyrics, there is something very beautiful indeed, something unique and something special.




 You can buy the Spaced Out Ep here:

www.piccadillyrecords.com/shop/search.php?search=lovelust

 To hear more tracks or find out more about/get in touch with the band:
  check out their Soundcloud 
  or Myspace 

M S Thomason/Herself Split EP

M S Thomason is one of our most admired local performers, specialising in his own style of darkest depths of despair, fragile and beautiful acoustica, this new EP (split with Herself) features two new tracks from the singer/songwriter. Thankfully the tracks do not depart too radically from Thomason's fantastic debut LP 'I Am Your Son'. 'The Pines' kicks things off, with a sparse and minor acoustic guitar part, and a weeping viola, punctuating the breathy, harmonising vocals before building with a McCartney-esque bass line and reverb laden guitar and piano parts. As tender and broken as Elliot Smith, and equally dark in places, these new offerings cement Thomason's repuatation as one of the most gifted and powerful songwriters in the area. A seemingly unusal collaboration, as Herself is the stage name of Gioele Valenti, an Italian musician from Palermo. Unusual that is geographically, but musically there is much in common here. The Herself offerings are every bit as dark, atmospheric and haunting as Thomason's, at once gothic and romantic. 'Violence Is For Leaders' is one of the stand-out tracks on this record, initially like an unplugged Nirvana, with a softer and sweeter vocal part, weaving its way around the song which ends up sounding more like Idaho. Another strong offering all in all, from two very talented, and to much lesser and greater extents, 'local' artists.

For more info check out M S Thomason on Myspace 
and Herself on Myspace

Vellocet

It's fair to say I started to listen to Vellocet with a certain amount of expectation, having heard very good things about them beforehand, and a general consensus they were a major band to watch out for in the local scene. Call to arms 'Messiah' starts off with a filthy bassline following up with pounding drums and a guitar riff that isn't a million miles away from Rage Against The Machine, not what I'd expected from a band touted as Stoke's answer to Kasabian. Then the vocals kick in, and the comparison make a lot more sense. That said it's not a carbon copy and vocalist Ryan Barker adds his own style to proceedings, drawling his way all over the music which certainly draws a heavy amount of inspiration from Kasabian itself, but with their own funk-based twist and occasional laid back psychedelica. The band has a clear and defined sound, with everyone seeming to know their roles, the bass and drums are the heartbeat of the tracks, the framework for the guitars and vocals to layer over. 'Hallucination' is the most original offering here and it's quite refreshing to hear something that is at once so relaxed and so direct, the vocals and guitars float and weave their way in and out before building to a riproaring chorus. 'Frontline' is a scathing, snake bite of a track, bursting at the seems with energy and a chorus that is destined to get firmly wedged in the brain after only one listen. This is the sound of an incredibly confident and niave rock band who are effortlessly producing modern rock and roll and music and it's sending the teenagers crazy at The Sugarmill that much is certain. The recordings are surprisingly well produced and manage to capture the frenetic energy and inherent swagger displayed at their live performances.

Lost Artists of Stoke-on-Trent (part one)

Agent Blue

Though some of the band's members continue to put out musically as The Sport, there is a large hole left in the scene where Agent Blue once resided. Perhaps the first band in recent time who really seemed likely to propell themselves beyond the local scene and into the UK alternative scene as a whole, Agent Blue signed to the Fierce Panda label in early 2003 and would go on to release six singles and one album with the label. Balancing a blend of post-punk, early 90's Baggy and mid-noughties alt-indie, Agent Blue garnered a large and loyal fanbase locally, and their reputation earned them support slots with The Music, YourCodeNameIs:Milo, The Others and Young Gods. Sending local venues absolutely mental over the years, culminating in sets at Leeds and Reading festival, and a double page spread in the NME, things looked to be on the up for the band. Unfortunately the time taken between the early singles 'Crossbreed' (a Northern indie anthem drawing equally from Zeppelin as much as The Music and Madchester)  and 'Sex, Drugs and Rocks Through Your Window' (the band's most radio friendly single, an energetic sing along track, with storming guitars, a ridiculously catchy hook, and an easily remembered 9 words constituting the lyrics) and the band's album 'A Stolen Honda Vision' totalled nearly three years, and the band lost a great deal of the momentum that had been raised with the release of their singles and some mesmerising live performances. In 2007, after over 5 years of playing together, the band decided to call it a day, releasing this statement on their website:

"After much thought and debate within the band, we've decided that Agent Blue has reached the end of the road! We've had an amazing time over the last 5 years or so, but after calum (bass) left last November, we realised quickily that we couldnt carry on any longer, as Agent Bluewere 5 different people, different influences, different styles etc and would never have worked as Agent Blue with one of those factors missing. we're working on something new and we'll let you in on our plans shorty, but for now we thought we'd lay Agent Blue to rest! Thanks to all the people who stood by us over the years and for the support of all the fans, it really has been a pleasure. Agent Blue"

 

 You can buy 'A Stolen Honda Vision' on Amazon here: Agent Blue on Amazon

 Or check out their website for more info: Agent Blue's Website   or  Agent Blue's Myspace

Here's To The Atom Bomb

Formed from the ashes of the equally well named Fire Kills Children, HTTAB are still one of the best bands to come from this area in recent years. With content seemingly centred around the post-adolescent transition into manhood, set in the confines of a small town, following the aftermath of a 'dirty underground scene', there's something about Jones' lryics that will resonate very deeply with a lot of people. Add those Ian Curtis-esque vocals to rousing guitar anthems and you've got something special on your hands. One of the handful of bands from the area who really deserved a long term record deal and to reach more ears.

Essential Listening:

• This Information

• Raise A Glass

• Untitled # 25

Here's To The Atom Bomb's myspace

Alfa 9

It's been quite a while now since we've heard anything from Newcastle-under-Lyme's finest Alfa 9. This truly is a shame as their epic. sprawling pyschedelic sound was not only unique in this part of the country, but was as refreshing as anything we'd listened to for a long time. Having honed their craft with relentless gigging and UK tours. Alfa 9 were rewarded for their hard-work with support slots for The Coral, Sunshine Underground and The Charlatans to name a few. Their impressive confident debut full-length 'Then We Begin' was recorded in The Charlatans' Big Mushroom studio, and was released on Blow Up Records to some rave reviews in the national press, combining the melody of Echo and The Bunnymen and The Smiths with the far-out stoner rock of Pink Floyd, their debut is unconventional by some standards as it is a meandering, expansive wall of sound, with tracks flowing in and out of one another like a series of rapid-fire dreams. Lashings of vocal harmonies and some breathtaking 70's guitar parts. 'For Your Bones' features layer upon layer upon layer of guitars that wash in and out underpinning a beautiful spaced out rock monster, described by The Sun newspaper as recalling 'The Who at their best'. At times the record exposes the bands niavity and there are some predictable moments as the record draws on its pyschedelic influences but in the wonderous 'Deadman' the Floyd-esque verse parts give way to a startlingly harmonious chorus reminscent of The Byrds. A band that are as powerful, if not more, live as they are on record we can only hope there is a follow up to their incredible debut, and to be able to hear and watch much more of them in years to come.

  You can purchase the phenomenal debut album here:

  Then We Begin on Amazon

  Or check out the bands' website here:

  Alfa 9.co.uk

We Like Danger

Just a brief article here in praise of local record label We Like Danger. As well as issuing limited releases from artists around the Midlands, the label also put on very successful live concerts at a number of local venues, featuring bands who they've released and other acts who they support. With a mission statement aiming to only release high quality music from artists who they've developed trusting and loyal relationships with, the label has put out some exceptional releases from the likes of Ox Scapula, Andy Robbins and Herzoga to narrowly-spread but triumphant reviews. They released the sensational Here's To The Atom Bomb EP, feauturing rousing indie classic 'Something's Got To Give', which recieved some great reviews, particularly this article in Room Thirteen. The label also released the melancholic beauty of M S Thomason's debut album 'I Am Your Son', a heartbreaking record of great maturity. Feautring releases from Centrifuge and Herzoga, this is a label that is truly representing the vast wealth of talent in the underground music scene, not just in the immediate area, but in the country as a whole. We Like Danger a great deal and hope that you will help support them and check out their releases, in the future they may be looked back on as a vault containing the hidden gems of our local musical heritage.

Keep in touch with new and old releases here: We Like Danger.com or on We Like Danger's Myspace

The Trent Vale Poet

Perhaps confusingly The Trent Vale Poet was born in Burslem, a mainstay of Potteries pubs and rock venues, delivering thought provoking and humorous poems regularly at Open Mic nights and warming up (and occasionally pissing off) crowds for local bands. Typically clad in a long black trenchcoat, at times coming off as a slower paced, neater version of John Cooper Clark, The Trent Vale Poet is an act likely to divide audiences, as performance poetry is some what of a love it or loathe it of an art. Casually picking up musicians to improvise music for him to read his poetry over like a modern day beat-poet, those lucky enough to have seen The Trent Vale Poet live will experience his warm-hearted, amusing and at times ascerbic musings on life in the six-towns. A rare breed, and a worthy addition to the scene, characters like The TVP are a lot less common in this day and age than they were in the 70's and 80's, and whilst it may not be to everyone's liking, there is equal charm in his content and, albeit very loud and at times mildy offensive delivery. A must see, if just to experience it. 

Listen to more here: Trent Vale Poet

 

Friends Of Ken - Il Tempo Gigante

Perhaps one of Stoke-on-Trent's longest serving young bands, Friends Of Ken have been around for over 10 years now, delivering their own light-hearted brand of punk/pop and entertaining audiences locally, with trademark party atmospheres at many Halloween and Christmas extravaganzas down the years, FOK have now released their first full length LP - 'Il Tempo Gigante'. The album combines sheer thrasing punk energy with some seriously catchy melodies. The stand-out single 'Backwards' starts off reminiscent of My Vitriol but displaces their indie roots in favour of an explosive chorus reminscent of 'Bleed American' era Jimmy Eat World. The album is full of musical ebbs and flows, stop/start structures puncuate the record, without loosing its sense of flow. Playful back and forth vocal parts are present throughout and a mark of a band with an ear for radio and a smart attitude and some poptastic structuring, with their other single 'Pockets' and the previously unreleased 'Dance Like No One's Watching' and 'Wilhelm Scream' being stand out highlights. With the likes of the extremely influential and credible Steve Lamacq championing the band (in particularly the lead single 'Backwards') there is a feeling that perhaps after all this time and effort Friends Of Ken might finally be creeping their heads above the Stoke-on-Trent parapet and expanding out into the British punk scene and beyond. For fans of Lagwagon, Weezer and Three Colours Red this album is a must have, listeners less interested in pop-punk may not find many reasons to be converted, but there are moments here for fans of all styles of rock music, a powerful, assertive effort from a band who have had time to really hone and master their sound.

The album is available on Amazon here: Il Tempo Gigante on Amazon 

Listen to single 'Backwards' here: 

Love Music Hate Racism

 
This years Love Music Hate Racism festival was held at Stoke's own Britannia Stadium, and would be the largest anti-racism event in the UK, aswell as one of the biggest concerts that the city has seen. It is well documented throughout history that in times of economic and social depression, nationalism is prone to rise particularly amongst predominantely working class areas. Perhaps unsurpisingly as Britain is in the midst of a heavy recession the British National Party are on the rise, and unfortunately Stoke is one of their main constituencies. With the European elections pending, the time and setting for an event like this could hardly be better. In the build up to the event, there were murmerings around the town that there may be serious trouble at the Brit, with fears that racists and nationalists may hijack proceedings and create chaos. So you'll be relieved to know that the day went by without such incidents, and was all in all a great success.

A beautiful, sweltering day greated the thousands of people who came out to show their support for a noble campagin and simply to enjoy themselves and watch some real stars play in the Potteries. A more diverse crowd you could hardly imagine, and a peaceful, friendly, almost carnival atmosphere prevailed throughout, with the outskirts of the stadium taken over with fair-ground rides and hippy stalls.

The show in the stadium itself was compered by the multi award winning Eddie Izzard, delivering his own inimitable brand of surrealist humour with heavy underlying political references throughout, working the crowd well, who were primed to appreciate his liberal sentiments. The concert was started by two of Stoke's own bands in succession, The Fear and The Sport, both playing relatively short sets and working the crowd up well, with a degree of professionalism shown from both bands, giving an excellent representation of the local scene. The Beat's snarling ska-punk rang around the stadium, before the 'New' Beautiful South came on, minus one of its chief writers/singers Paul Heaton leaving Alison Wheeler to take the lead roll, and she was in excellent form particularly on crowdpleasers 'Rotterdam' and 'Don't Marry Her'. Soul diva Beverley Knight gave an impressive performance, with a truly powerful vocal working her way through a series of covers. The Rotten Hill Gang were a little dry, not that I was expecting them to have the energy of The Clash, but Mick Jones' new project, clad in top hats and waistcoats like a gang from a Dickens novel, played fairy forgettable old fashioned 70's style rock and roll.

 Former Destiny's Child Kelly Rowlands had a beautiful live voice, often singing acapella, showing the extent and warmth of her range. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. was sensational as always. with The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager going down especially well in a set that was extremely well recieved all round. Although he just about held it together and managed to charm the crowd, Pete Doherty's short set was a little shambolic, with his vocals sounding quite strung-out, and often not very well timed or pitched for that matter, closing the set with Libertines' classic 'Time For Heroes' was a definite crowd pleaser however. Sheffield's Reverend and the Makers headlined the event, featuring Jerry Dammers of The Specials, they went over well with the crowd, delivering a rousing rendition of 'Heavyweight Champion Of The World'. Perhaps not the natural choice to headline such an event, they managed to win the crowd over quickly with a powerful set dispersed with witty banter and more left-wing anti-racist, pro-cultural diversity rhetorric.

The crowd played the biggest part in this event and they really did the area proud by turning out in such numbers to support an incredibly important campaign, at a time when people need to be reminded more than ever that we really are all the same and there's no logical basis for prejudice and racism, and what better tool for bringing people together than music.

New Education

Continuing in a similar vein to the Dooley brothers' previous outfit '5th Action Shelter', the boys return with New Education, creating grandiose Indie anthems for the late-noughties. The band have recently released the single 'Today' (which sold out of its limited number of copies) on Kids records and are set to follow it up with the equally anthemic 'Another Miracle' (due to be released on May 18th) and they look set to really take on the music scene, garnering positive reviews left, right and centre and recently recieving a write up in indie kids bible NME. The article itself is perhaps a little dramatic, overly focusing on trying to make New Education sound like the next Oasis, not only musically but in terms of their off stage antics. In both cases this is a little exaggerated, the band are not as rowdy or violent as the article suggests, neither do they sound as much like, or truthfully are they quite as good as, the early Oasis records. All the same they are certainly developing a loyal and growing fanbase in the area, and are looking to expand it beyond the region, bolstered by UK tour support slots with The Rifles, The Twang and The Holloways. As for the music itself, at times it borders on the majestic, soaring, anthemic rock songs, with lyrics looking to escape the drudgery of small-town life, without condeming it. As the band themself proclaim, this is 'the sound of the Midlands calling', at times it borders on the predicatable. But when listening to the power of 'Arcane' it is hard to argue. This could well be the biggest band to come out of Stoke for a long, long time with a recent write up in TeenFirst describing them as 'one of Britain’s most promising new rock bands'.  We can't help but wish they'd write more songs like the upcoming B-side to Another Miracle, however, the track 'Bedroom Song #19', a charming, intimate acoustic number, that lets the bravado drop a shade and reveals a more interesting sound. Still, we're sure they can go far and will be waiting eagerly for the album to be released for full review on this site.


You can check out the NME article here:  www.nme.com....

Or listen to the band more here: www.myspace.com/neweducation

Aciddrops versus...

Aciddrops has recently sparked a wave of controversy regarding his blog on 'how to get big in stoke', a tongue-in-cheek Acidtongued attack on the numerous Kasabian and Oasis wannabes of the area, (I say a wave, given that Myspace is all but defunct it was more of a ripple, but it certainly seemed to rub the guys from Skinny Pigs and The Blue Collars up the wrong way, but frankly that's no bad thing as there turgid brand of unoriginal lad-rock is polluting an interesting scene). You can check out the whole blog here: http://www.myspace.com/aciddrops85/blog/473061595

Obviously all this is largely irrelevant, but the points he makes are valid if a little vitriolic and sarcastic, and after all this is a Stoke music blog, and he is directing comments on the music scene in Stoke. But back to the music. Aciddrops is a fitting name for a suitably hallucenagenic, ambient set of tracks. 'Remember' is a calm and soothing highlight, whilst 'Ecstasy' has the warm glow that you would expect from the title. It's obvious even at a glance that Aciddrops has been heavily influenced by narcotics, from the warped and colourful photography to the tropical-house stylings of the music itself, let alone the track titles and even down the artist's name. Now this is a gift and a curse, at times the music feels a little too spacey and ultimately leaves the lsitener feeling truly monged out, but at times it replicates the warm floaty buzz that can be derived from certain legal and illegal substances...or so we're told. All in all some interesting ideas are knocking around here, and hopefully there'll be more tunes, and more controversial discussions sparked about the scene, from the as yet, somewhat mysterious and anonymous creator. One to watch out for.

You can find out more here:  www.myspace.com/aciddrops85

[We Play]

Just a quick plug and shout out to the guys of [We Play] who have been hosting one of the best local music nights to grace the town in recent times over at the Old Brown Jug in Newcastle-under-Lyme, helping to transform it into one of the town's favourite venues. The intimate surroundings often creating a packed-out environment with an electric atmosphere, a charming pub with some great tunes from behind the decks aswell as on the stage. The ridiculously talented Paddy Considine even showed up recently with his lo-fi rock band 'Riding The Low', who cite Guided By Voices as a major influence, which can clearly be heard in their live set. The night has become a mainstay of the Staffordshire music scene and has created a new home for great bands, so much so that the night is regularly packed out, regardless of who is playing, as people now attend whenever it's on as they associate the We Play events with a great evening, rather than focusing on that week's particular entertainers. Having said that there is a particularly tantilising all day line-up coming up, headlined by the exceptional Andy Gower that will be a must for local music fans, with the proceeds going to charity. What else could you want.

Be sure to head in to The Old Brown Jug on Wednesday nights to truly experience the vibe.

In the meantime you can head over to their mypsace page to find out about who's coming up next: We Play on Myspace

Welcome

Hello and welcome to Curtain Call Reviews. We are based in Staffordshire and will be publishing reviews and other articles on bands and artists from the area and nearby and bands from further afield playing in the area, including live reviews and demo or LP reviews. If you want your band to be reviewed on the blog just get in touch and have material that we can download or stream online.