Reviews Amongst Other Things

Another interesting story to this one. Back in the summer of 2006 (a particularly hot summer if I recall) and the days of MySpace, (anyone remember that) I found out about this upcoming artist Laura Critchley. I can't remember exactly how but it may have been through Lucie Silvas' page however one feature I remember very well was the amount of customisation one could apply to their page and one such feature was the ability to put up music tracks for others to listen to. This proved very useful for new artists to try and get their music out there (before the days of Bandcamp) and I had discovered a few through MySpace this way! I believe Lily Allen came to success thanks to MySpace aswell. Looking back I think the limit was four songs for them to upload and you could also download them which is what I had done with the very talented Laura Critchley who I'm talking about here. I enjoyed the tracks so much that I had messaged her on MySpace to congratulate her on a f

I will be honest, I'm not sure what to say about this film! I mean I can refer you to the picture above and that would sum the film up right there. This was one of those films that aired on the Horror channel in the early hours of the morning and you end up staring at the screen while not thinking about it at all. I think I am right in saying that the cast was almost entirely made up of Playboy models and in the case of the girl pictured above (she spends the entire film looking as she appears there by the way), YouTube celebrities. Having read other reviews for this one they are all right in what they say and it has rated very low indeed. It has been stated with films before that "it's so bad it's good" but with this they have said "not here it isn't." There was the potential here for a horror in that classic 'teenage slasher' mould but it just doesn't quite hit the mark. It's hard to tell when watching if that is what they e

A rather interesting story behind this one. This time two years ago, I was working a temporary job in a warehouse where I met a chap who was just as much a fan of music as I am and we would spend most of the day talking about our passion. Unfortunately, we only worked together for a week or so as we probably spent more time deep in conversation than actually working (that is another story) but in that short time, we sure did discuss much about music. He lent me some 'Classic Rock' magazines that he was a subscriber to and a few albums he owned; a couple from one of his favourite bands (Thunder) and this one from Empire State I am to review here, a band of which he is a member! His name is Andy Morris and he is the bassist and the lead vocalist of the band. He had told me at the time that they were working on their third album which has since been released around this time last year while this one pictured above was their second. I had decided to listen to the two Th

What can I say about Bandcamp? First of all, I can't praise this service enough since discovering it last year via Peter Prog's radio show on progrock.com (more on Pete another time,) it truly is a fantastic website! It gives music artists a chance to reach out to people without a record label or any other middle man thus directly supporting them and there are many to discover. One of the first bands I discovered through Bandcamp (thanks to the previously mentioned radio programme) was Red Bazar. After having heard them on the show and following the link taking me to this site, I was able to listen to not only the tracks played on the radio but the entire album! A great way to try before you buy, not that I needed much convincing with this record and bought it shortly after. Unfortunately at the time, I thought albums on the site could only be purchased digitally but have since found that you can not only buy a CD on Bandcamp but in some cases even Vinyl! In doing so,

Let me start by saying... Wow! Having watched all eight episodes over two consecutive nights, that would be the one word I would use to sum up the whole show. Something about the way this has been produced reminds me of another series I am currently viewing, 'Legion' which I am also enjoying. What I have noticed with the way television series are being approached now is they seem to have adopted shorter episode runs with more of a focus on the main story. Where the shows that have come before had there twenty-four or so episode long seasons thus spreading the story arcs thinly while padding out with unrelated filler episodes. Netflix and other internet based TV (and film) providers have played a huge role in this and to much success along with releasing all episodes in one day! It seems to be the future of television and of course we still have series on television that have the long seasons but most with fewer episodes. I for one am quite happy with that as I was not part

You know you like an album when you just cannot stop listening to it and for me, Joe Satriani's latest effort is one such album. I was having a look through HMV's Vinyl bargain bin when I came across this one for a mere £10! I knew of Joe Satriani through a friend but had never heard any of his work before so I had a listen to some tracks from this album on Youtube. Well it didn't take long before I was sold so this along with a few other Vinyls, I made my purchase and when I arrived home, this was the first record I gave a spin on my turntable. What I noticed once the album drew to a close was how no two tracks are the same which really demonstrates Joe's different guitar playing style. There are times on this when I was reminded of Jeff Beck and also Joe Bonamassa with a hint of Steve Hackett when he recorded some of his bluesy records but looking through Satriani's history, I would say he has earned the right to having his own distinct identity. What is