The Perils – Good People Do Bad Things (Militant Entertainment)

According to their PR, The Perils are the hi-octane antidote to ‘these troubled times of economic recession and downturn.’ As a student, I’m pretty used to weathering my – mostly self-inflicted – financial difficulties, but I still won’t be saying no to the offer of a musical pick-me-up. Lead track and recent single ‘Be Your Peril’ is a memorable and energetic piece of punk rock with just the right balance between frantic drums, guitars and shouty vocals to toe the thin line between over-produced and amateurish. Read more

The Bobby McGees: eager to please

Like many a literary theory, anti-folk music is difficult to pin down. Some people will eulogise about it for hours, but ask them to define it and they’ll run away faster than a tutor confronted with the question ‘so what exactly is deconstruction?’ The only real consensus that is reached is that anti-folk always somehow seeks to overturn the conventions of mainstream music. Since I am only familiar with stateside acts such as Regina Spektor and Kimya Dawson, I was excited to find out what The Bobby McGees had made of the definition-resisting genre in our very own city.
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Filthy Dukes – Nonsense in the Dark (taster)

Despite being only 5 tracks long, the sampler for the Filthy Dukes upcoming album manages to provide a song for every part of your night out.
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That’s Essertainment

Monday night was not the most pleasant evening to venture on to campus. With small rivers of rain flowing down the roads and hidden puddles waiting to soak the shoes of unsuspecting students, the trek to East Slope bar didn’t seem very appealing. In fact, in true English style, the first subject that Esser and I alight upon is the atrocious weather: it seems even the most up-and-coming of music acts aren’t immune to a little predictable small talk.

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The All-American Rejects – ‘Gives You Hell’ (Polydor)

‘Gives You Hell’, the first single from The All-American Reject’s third album When the World Comes Down, isn’t quite what I expected from the pop-punkers that brought us the pre-teen emo anthem ‘Dirty Little Secret.’ It’s not any better, but it’s a little different. Read more

Blueskies on the horizon

Despite having never heard of The Blueskies before, the fact that tonight’s showcase was happening downstairs at the Latest Music Bar was enough to sell it to me. How can you possibly have a bad time in a bar with a beautiful, illuminated cityscape on the wall and massive pitchers of sangria?
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Spoken turd night

Hammer and Tongue: Spoken Word, Komedia Studio Bar, 06/11/08

The premise of Komedia’s Hammer and Tongue had been so promising: an evening of poetry and spoken word from local and guest poets, with a poetry slam sandwiched in the middle. Unfortunately, what worked in theory didn’t quite work in practice.

The eccentric hosts, Rosy Carrick and Jonny Fluffypunk, started proceedings with some barmy yet very funny poems about exploding dog waste bins and self-administered liposuction, but their quirkiness soon became unspeakably irritating.

Komedia’s slam and poetry event proves satisfying only to those in on the scene

The petite Rosie Weston was the best thing about the evening, with her often abstract but always captivating poetry, on subjects ranging from love to public transport. Her melancholy ‘I love you until I become a child’ was soft and heartfelt; ‘The Look of the Other’ proved she can also do staccato delivery and intense imagery.

I was then surprised to find that a hunched and almost certainly drunk man had wandered on stage, and was waiting for the hosts to hurriedly remove him when I realised this was in fact Brendan Cleary, our second poet for the evening.

‘Some of the spoken word offerings were ridiculous; if I had wanted a barrage of tedious ramblings, I would have bought the Daily Mail’

Wandering up and down the stage, he delivered his cheeky short verses in the same drawling voice as he spoke, and his poems, including the mildly dirty paean ‘Kylie, be mine,’ were all the funnier for it.

However, the much anticipated poetry slam was distinctly disappointing. Many contestants seemed to equate shouting, comedy voices and wild gesticulation with performance skills, and I often found myself laughing at moments the solemn faces of the audience told me were supposed to be taken seriously.

Some of the spoken word offerings were even more ridiculous; if I had wanted to pay money for a barrage of ill-informed and tedious ramblings, I would have bought the Daily Mail. The stranger and more self-important the offerings, the more the judges seemed to love it.

All told, Hammer and Tongue is most certainly an evening for the initiated. If you love performance poetry already, you’ll most likely feel right at home; but if like me you were looking for an introduction to the genre, you’ll be left feeling like a plebeian amongst card-carrying poetry aficionados.

Le Band Extraordinaire – Le Band Extraordinaire EP

Brighton quintet Le Band Extraordinaire clearly did not have modesty in mind when they were choosing their band’s name, and considering they have performed alongside acts such as The Guillotines and Amanda Palmer (of Dresden Dolls fame,) their claims may well be justified.

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Short Fuse: Literature review, Komedia

Komedia’s place as one of Brighton’s most interesting and varied venues is reinforced at the Halloween special of long-running fiction event ‘Short Fuse’. The audience was presented with a variety of short horror stories from some of Brighton’s best writing talent, which ranged from the sinister to the downright surreal. Read more

Nell Bryden – Second Time Around (157 Records)

One accusation which could never be levelled at Nell Bryden is that she lacks versatility. The talented New Yorker somehow manages to mix 40s and 50s style jazz, blues and country music into one album. And it almost works. Read more