Throughout the course of a year, our crack team of ninja photographers and reviewers attend literally hundreds of shows, from the massive arena tours that deign parts of the Über Kingdom of Rock ‘n’ Roll with their fleeting appearances to the unsigned bands knocking their proverbial balls in down our local pubs week in, week out. Here is our Über crüe’s choice of the best performances they have caught over the past 12 months.
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Taking Back Sunday have announced a run of dates as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations:...
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When a band prefaces their description of their music with the word “progressive”, that, as far as UR boss Monk is concerned anyway, naturally comes with certain preconceptions. When he sees the word “progressive” in a band’s biog, then he expects them to do something that is just that: break down musical boundaries, or push themselves to create new ones, rather than just adhere to accepted, airy-fairy norm of the genre whose name they employ. So, it was a pleasant surprise to discover that Finnish quartet Overhead do just that, albeit in a confusing and somewhat disconcerting manner which actually made it difficult to comes to terms with this, their fifth studio album, released on the cusp of their 20th anniversary year:
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Now that the festive season is upon us, there’s no better time to pick up ‘The Tide, Beneath, The Wall.’ This three-track EP from Milton Keynes sludge duo Tuskar is 20 minutes of nightmarish hell music, dragged from the deepest, darkest charnel pit and vomited unpleasantly into life. It’s a snapshot of screaming, Lynchian madness and about as pleasant as crawling naked through a room full of used needles while dragging the corpse of a beloved family pet behind you. The perfect accompaniment to a night of sledging beneath the twinkling wintery stars then.
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A final road trip of the year sees our Yorkshire duo of Geno D and Claire Simmons travel the short distance from Sheffield to Leeds to take in the majesty of Zeal & Ardor in the equally majestic surroundings of a converted church.
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