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Are the Pixies recording a new album in Wales?
Whatever Frank Black is recording right now, it’s a project to which he’s given serious thought. In an interview with The Quietus in April, he said the following: I’m writing a lot of songs right now. The next recording session is going to very important. I haven’t made demos like this in years! I’m trying to […]
Posted in: Music
Pete Williams – the Lexington, London, 13th August 2012
August 17, 2012
Spent Monday night in London after a short trip abroad. By a happy coincidence, Dexys stalwart Pete Williams and his band were playing a show at the Lexington. The set was mainly drawn from his new album ‘See’. It’s a really nice record, and Pete’s assembled a fine band that truly brings the songs […]
Posted in: Music, photography
Paul Heaton’s ‘The 8th’ – Barbican, London, 6th July 2012
August 8, 2012
Here’s a review originally published on Louder Than War. “What did you make of that then?” asks Paul Heaton. It’s the first night of the tour for his soul opera ‘The 8th’, following a brief run at the Manchester International Festival last summer. The show is many things. The seven deadly sins expressed through song, […]
Posted in: Journalism, Music
This is what they’re like – Dexys, Parc & Dare Theatre, 04/05/2012
May 7, 2012
Kevin Rowland knows how to test the devotion of his fans. Situated in the heart of the Rhondda Valley, Treorchy’s Parc & Dare Theatre isn’t the most like;y venue with which to kick off a UK tour. Regardless of where you’re travelling from, it’ll take you a long time to get there. There’s already a […]
Cefn Coed and Lewis Merthyr
April 14, 2012
Driving down from Crynant, the former Cefn Coed Colliery is a remarkable sight. Currently, the chimney stack is surrounded in scaffolding; part of a £75,000 project to repair it. But it’s the headframes that are the really distinctive thing about the site. Sadly, they’re in a pretty sorry state. The colliery closed in 1968, but […]
Posted in: photography
Jonathan Richman – Clwb Ifor Bach
March 14, 2012
Barely three songs into the set, Jonathan Richman has stopped playing. “It feels like… we’re too far away” he says. Briefly deliberating with the only other band member, longtime drummer Tommy Larkins, he sets about rearranging their equipment til the pair are barely two feet away from the audience. It doesn’t take long – there’s […]
Posted in: Music
Simon Munnery review – Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
March 1, 2012
A review originally published on Plastik “Every show needs a structure” says Simon Munnery. He’s pointing at the flimsy, six foot high cardboard arch standing beside him. The audience laughs. Already well into the eighty-odd minutes of the act, it’s the only thing approaching a discernible structure we’ve seen so far. By his own […]
Posted in: Cardiff, Journalism
September 25, 2012
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