A few logo ideas for the magazine concept I’m working on for my features unit. What do you think? Any preferences?
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Delphic - Acolyte - Review
You might not have heard of Delphic just yet. Even if you have, chances are it’s because they’ve been on someone’s tip-list for 2010. Either way, by the time you’ve taken a listen to the band’s debut album ‘Acolyte’ you’ll be kicking yourself for not finding out about them earlier.
‘Acolyte’ presents you with just under an hour’s worth of shameless electronica - ranging from the 80s stylings of ‘Submission’ to the apocalyptic stylings of opening track ‘Clarion Call’. But forget La Roux, Ladyhawke, or any of that nonsense. This isn’t electronic pop for electrionic pop’s sake - this is the real deal, bought to you by four guys from Manchester who’ve just proved they can play as well on record as they can live.
A short and sweet review of Delphic’s debut ‘Acolyte’ for Bournemouth University’s student newspaper ‘The Wire’. Scans/photos of the published will appear here soon!
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Tech Column for The Wire No. 1
As part of my contribution to Bournemouth University’s student newspaper The Wire, I’ll be writing (amongst other things) a series of columns on technology and general geekery. Columns aren’t something I have a lot of writing experience in so I guess this will be a learning curve as much as anything else. I’ll post some scans/photos of the printed versions of them as soon as they become available.
Hands up if you’ve ever sent an email that’s been wildly misunderstood? Okay, put your hand down now, you’re reading a newspaper - you look like an idiot.
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On the radar - Lioness 
With the sublime vocals of Fleet Foxes and the instrumentation of a young Coldplay comes an interesting hybrid in the form of Cornwall’s Lioness. Don’t let the understated indie that exudes from your speakers fool you into thinking this quintet can’t roll with the big boys though, oh no.
Having already made waves with London shows and festival appearances, Lioness have already started peddling their take on off-kilter indie-rock to the masses, and a number of gigs lined-up for 2010 - they’re well worth keeping an eye, or perhaps an ear, on.
Photo: Luc Percival
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Vampire Weekend - Contra - Album review
Vampire Weekend have a bit of a reputation to live up to. The sophomore effort from one of the most hotly-tipped bands of 2008 and one of the most successful bands of 2009 always has a bit of a reputation to live up to. Do they do it? Probably. Don’t get me wrong, ‘Contra’ is an excellent album, but it’s not one you Afro-beat-loving indie kids should be blowing your collective loads over.
Opening track and incidentally, the album’s second single, ‘Horchata’ is a slow starter; couple that with Ezra Koeing’s fragile vocals and you start to get the impression that this is the sound of a band that are living in the shadow of the mammoth popularity of their self-titled debut. Don’t let that fool you though, because elsewhere on the album the erratic and over-processed (which is a good thing, by the way) vocals of ‘California English’, the raucious drums on ‘Giving Up the Gun’, and the subtle crescendos of ‘I think ur a Contra’ all hint at a band growing in confidence.
The litmus test for the album was debut single ‘Cousins’, which on its own might have been hailed as brilliant. But it’s the fact that it seems to ride somewhat on the coat tails of ‘A-Punk’’s success that loses it a few of those all-important originality points, and with an album like this, that’s what counts. It kind-of sums up the album as a whole really. Vampire Weekend have played a bit of a safe hand with ‘Contra’ – following the tried and tested formula that bought them success with their debut. But there’s a few gems on the album that suggest that there’s a lot more from Vampire Weekend to come. And it can only get better, right?
A review of Vampire Weekend’s new album ‘Contra’. Published on attnmagazine.co.uk.
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