FLESH NOT GNA Review

'Snotpop' creators FLESH are back with NOT GNA, a massive belter of a track. 

The band's latest offering has attitude and swagger by the bucketload with snarling Manc vocals, catchy hooks and an earworm of a chorus that will slither into your brain and refuse to budge.

NOT GNA joins an impressive list of tracks released by FLESH over the past year and points to even bigger and better things to come from the band in the future.

Be sure to check this lot out when they hit the road in September

http://www.seetickets.com/artist/flesh/1029071

https://soundcloud.com/luvflesh

Calling Festival Review

On 4th July, I visited London in the glorious sunshine for Calling Festival, 'the UK's premier classic rock festival' as its website proudly states. It's easy to see why as this year's festival was headlined by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and also had sets from The Hives, Wolf Alice and Echo And The Bunnymen among others.

For a festival with such an impressive line up, I was surprised at how small the site was and the tiny distance between the two stages. Luckily, this set up meant that festival goers could easily see every band on the bill play if they wanted to. However, this also meant that there was little for guests to do while waiting between sets other than buy overpriced food and beer so the site could feel a bit claustrophobic at times. Also a little bit more variety of beer on offer wouldn't have gone amiss! 

First band of the day were Echo And The Bunnymen on the main stage whose neo-psychedelic rock was well-suited to the summer heatwave and sunshine, and while the set was enjoyable and attracted a crowd the audience weren't as engaged as they were with later acts. We decided to stay over by the main stage and wait for The Hives, who in comparison delivered a true belter of a set with frontman Pelle Almqvist commanding the stage and audience with relentless energy throughout.

Later we caught New York band Bleachers on Stage 2 who performed tracks from their album Strange Desire mere days ahead of its UK release. Being unfamiliar with the band or frontman Jack Antonoff's other music I was unsure what to expect from them but their catchy indie-pop songs were infectious and enjoyable. They seemed genuinely pleased to be there with Antonoff declaring that this was the second 4th July in a row they had spent in London and that there was no where they'd rather be.

The penultimate band of the day were one of my current favourites Wolf Alice, fresh from the recent release of their debut album as well as their awesome set at Glastonbury. This was the third time I've seen them play (I'll be seeing them again in September) and they get better and better each time. They're much more confident than when I first saw them at Dot To Dot Festival last year, particularly frontwoman Ellie Rowsell who gave a totally fearless performance. They played tracks from their album as well as older singles and EPs which were all raucously received by the crowd, particularly their performance of Moaning Lisa Smile which had the crowd moshing, jumping and singing along. It's been a real joy to see them develop at each gig and find the success and acclaim they deserve.

There was a real buzz and excitement in the air as hundreds of people, many in Oasis t-shirts and sporting 90s Gallagher brother haircuts, moved swiftly over to the main stage for the headline set from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. Noel and his band delivered a fantastic career-spanning 1 hour and 45 minute set which included Oasis classics as well as hits from his two solo albums. There was plenty of typical Noel banter, including convincing too many people that the band's performance of recent single Riverman was actually going to be Live Forever...with a saxophone. The set climaxed with the compulsory performance of Don't Look Back In Anger and you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in the crowd who wasn't singing along.

Lazy Comparisons And The Music Press

One thing that bugs me about the music press is how eager journalists are to categorise and pigeon-hole new bands by comparing their music to that of other musicians. An example that rears its head again and again is the comparison between Elastica and Wolf Alice.

I'm a big fan of both bands, but I've never understood the music press's obsession with linking them together. It was the release of Wolf Alice's Fluffy back in 2013 when the association between the bands first appeared. Since then its been hard to trawl through any reviews or articles about Wolf Alice without the comparison being regurgitated by the author, and is often at the expense of mentioning what is unique and individual about Wolf Alice's music. At a push I will admit that parts of Moaning Lisa Smile sound like a heavier version of Car Song but the constant comparison seems to me to be based on little more than the fact both bands are female fronted.

Even in its review of Wolf Alice's excellent genre-dodging My Love Is Cool, the NME lazily described the album's revamped version of Fluffy as a 'stampeding goth Elastica' two whole years after the comparison was first thrown up.  One of Wolf Alice's strengths is the large range of genres they take inspiration from and make their own. You only need to listen to My Love Is Cool and the diversity it has to offer to realise that the 'connection' (sorry) to the post-punk of Elastica is seriously obsolete.

Hello!

For months I've wanted to start my own music blog.  Fortunately now I've finished uni I have a lot of free time on my hands in between looking for jobs and trying to work out what exactly I'm going to do with my life to make it happen!

I'm always looking for new music and try to get to as many gigs as I can afford to. Over the last year I've managed to see Wolf Alice, Noel Gallagher, Superfood, Honeyblood, The Magic Gang and Menace Beach to name but a few.

This blog will include reviews of new music as well as my thoughts on music news, the industry etc

I hope you enjoy reading it!

Lew