amartin has written the following articles:
Indie. Now that’s an interesting word. It brings up all sorts of connotations both irreverent and acutely political. As any Sonic Youth fan will tell you, it means ‘fuck the mainstream and do it yourself’ or any other meaningless soundbite derived from the plethora of media that deals with minority cultur»
I came home from work last night weary and tired as usual for the end of the week. The television flickered into life and I perched on a rather uncomfortable, if familiar, stool in the kitchen whilst the kettle bubbled away impatiently. I suddenly realised that I was watching Top Of The Pops. The reason this too»
‘Can you hear that?’ a young elf politely asks the wise old wizard of the shire from a small hole beneath a withered oak tree. ‘Why, I haven’t heard such a hellish sound since I gazed into the bowels of Mount Bellyache!’ the old man exclaims with a mixture of excitement and bewilderment. And thus thrash m»
The small media kerfuffle that ensued in the wake of the news that the only future Aphex Twin releases would be posthumous proved to be all for nothing when this album emerged recently. The notoriously elusive Richard James must have felt that the fruits of this freedom from music industry pressures were »
This is Theremin’s first official release and forms this month’s single for the increasingly legendary Oxford label, Shifty Disco, who have introduced us to some cracking debuts from the likes of Dustball, Nought and the Unbelievable Truth. However, none of these bands have really had»
After weeks of speculation, it has been confirmed today that the Oxford Point will close on the 27th October. The Point has played a crucial role in breaking new bands local and not so local including landmark gigs by the Strokes and the Rock Of Travolta this year alone. The decision was made by
So Mr. E returns with a new bunch of songs almost as fuzzy as his beard…The Eels’ real strength has always been their ability to mix brilliant deadpan irony with naïve heart. ‘World Of Shit’ is a perfect example of this, much in the vein of ‘It’s A Motherfucker’ from the fantastic las»
I read in the Mirror this week (it was just there OK?) an article on White Stripes. It was based loosely around the comments of some Very Punk Indeed young NME go-getter who claimed that ‘kids would relate to them’ because ‘they don’t tow the corporate line’. This was coming from a co»
This is my response to the article on this site concerning band’s responsibilities towards its fans. I was going to respond with a message but then I decided I would attempt to formulate my ideas into something more developed, hence this article. I want to make it clear that this is not a personal attack. It is, I hope»
Imagine yourself in a room your familiar with, probably a room in your house. You should feel comfortable and at ease. You know where everything is and it’s decorated to your tastes. You could probably while away a few hours in this room quite happily if there was little else to do. However, in exactly the same situati»
Seemingly out of nowhere, ‘Screamager’ and a clutch of other classic singles rocketed Therapy? into the post-grunge vacuum in 1994. With a back catalogue consisting of two half-hearted mini-albums and an inconsistently inspired full-length album, the turn of events that year were unexpected to say the lea»
The Free Festival at Charlbury, Oxfordshire enters its 4th year and has quickly established itself as Truck Festival’s rootsier younger sister and the launch pad for precocious local talent (Black Candy played here 3 years ago when Nirvana covers still made up part of their set).It’s almost 4 o’clo»
The Rock Of Travolta and Hester Thrale are the latest additions to Radiohead's long-awaited all-day concert in South Parks on th 7th of July. They join Supergrass and Sigur Ros who were confirmed earlier.»
There’s a well touted quote from the NME imploring all the ‘fat, lazy, deaf A & R bastards’ (or words to that effect) to sign up this bunch of rap-metal heavyweights who hail from perhaps the most unlikely place to find metal, Oxford. So, is this challenge to major labeldom justified or is the NME just talking c»
This is the only proper studio album that Jeff Buckley completed in his lifetime but listening to it now makes me feel like I’ve just listened to three or four albums in one sitting, such is the depth and range of this album. From the opening whiskery drum intro of ‘Mojo Pin’ to the last reverberant chord of »
In a climate where every clued-up member of the ‘alternative’ brigade is pronouncing ‘No Logo’ to be their bible because ‘Thom Yorke said it was good’, this small treasure of a book is a breath of daisy-scented fresh air. Oh, did I mention it’s destined for cult status, too?As all the most rewarding reads»
