Basel, Switzerland – a town of culture, the pharmaceutical industry and permanent frowns. No one smiles in the birthplace of LSD. Basel was pretty, but my holiday was like a trip to a mental asylum. Clinical, regulated and dull. We needed to escape. To Germany. Freiberg, a beautiful town with great food and smiles, was worth the [...]
Is anyone else becoming addicted to Born Survivor with Bear Grylls? He eats caterpillars and cuts the heads off skunks. Double hard. I’ll never be that adventurous, but I’m always up for New Adventures. Especially ones destined to fill arenas around the world. The four men of New Adventures began playing together at university, but [...]
Building the website for my opera group, operatique, was supposed to be a nice little project – but no. It took over my life. It’s not even properly finished yet. I’ve been sleeping with my html and css book for the last month. I know how to do it now, so I’ll never have to [...]
“Why don’t you post about female artists?” my friend asks. Well I have actually, when I rung about the glorious Bell. Gender, two genders or no gender – I don’t care so long as their music rings true. So, the fact that holeytonal features more male artists, or bands with male leads, is not the reason for posting [...]
August 2007 was a long time ago, but I still have vivid memories watching Revere at the now defunct Spitz. Severely impressed, I departed expecting Revere to make it big in 2008. But, despite being lauded by the Guardian as ‘one of the best bands you’ve never heard of’, they’re still largely unknown. Despite featuring [...]
Theres nothing like playing an impromptu gig. Especially after only one rehearsal. Last week I was drafted in by Alba Nova to add some cello love. I heard of Alba Nova as they formed at Durham University (formerly the University of Durham which sounds much better) where I studied, but didn’t get the chance to [...]
The internet has smashed our attention spans to pieces. We spend less time focusing on one band and instead skim from one MySpace page to the next. I picked up that habit, but still make sure to buy as many albums as Mr Mastercard can afford. They’re the only way for me to get under [...]
A record store is reaching for my wallet again. The new album, Arm’s Way by the Islands is out on 19 May. I’m going to have to buy it, along with their first album Return to the Sea. I wish I came across this band from Montreal sooner. Islands are descendants of The Unicorns. I [...]
Can a passion for kit cars lead to assembling great music? Well it seemed to work with Leon Jean-Marie. The east Londoner, who’s family originate from St. Lucia is certainly starting to get a lot of attention. Island records plucked up the uber talented multi-instrumentalist and the world now waits in anticipation for his debut [...]
Do you like experimental? Well The Chap are about as wacky as you can get. They are about to release their third album, Mega Breakfast, at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen on 13 May. I reckon they might even be too cool for Hoxton. Some blogs, like Keytars and Violins are already hailing this as an [...]
Is Brooklyn going to be the Brit School of America? Are we going to get bored? Not if you compare Vampire Weekend, MGMT or Beirut with Leona Lewis, The Feeling or The bloody Kooks. Its all gone topsy-turvy. Brooklyn is producing great British music. The Brit School is churning out American dross. They sound like [...]
At 19, Ben Garrett is creating massive music envy amongst bloggers. The Londoner is making seriously hot music as frYars. His silky voice and Morrissean melodies fit snuggly with catchy and thoughtful electro pop. Although not convinced with the quality of their youtube outing, frYars is pally with Esser, and their sound is quite comparable. [...]
