Musings On Music | MTTM - More Than The Music

Dec 10, 2010

New Artists of 2010

All these artists released their debut albums this year and have enjoyed growing success throughout 2010. These are my stand-out new artists of 2010. There have been so many burgeoning female solo acts over the past couple of years; it could be easy to over-look Marina and the Diamonds as just another quirky female pop act. To do this though would be a huge mistake. Marina has been...

Dec 8, 2010

Posted by Catherine May | 0 comments

Best Gigs 2010

What a year 2010 has been for me, musically. It was a much-awaited year in which I turned eighteen. Was I excited at the prospect of legal drinking or smoking? No. For me, turning eighteen meant finally being able to attend 18+ gigs without either dragging older relatives along or crying on venue doorsteps. (The latter wasn’t me personally, but my friend did it and we were...

Dec 8, 2010

Posted by Catherine May | 0 comments

Favourite Venues – The Borderline, Soho

Tucked away opposite Foyles is this gem of a venue. It’s got that Western bar feel to it and as soon as you enter down stairs you can see the faces of some musical greats smiling back at you. I remember the first time I went there my friend saw a photo of Sheryl Crow which she, the child of a huge Crow fan, just had to have her photo taken in front of. Downstairs you are greeted...

Dec 8, 2010

Posted by Catherine May | 0 comments

Favourite Venues – Bush Hall, Shepherds Bush

Bush Hall doubles up as an events hall on non-gig nights. This doesn’t surprise me, it reminds me of an upmarket version of the community centres where I spent many childhood parties passing the parcel. I’m not sure if it’s the carpet, the chandelier or the make-shift stage that makes this the quirky beauty that it is, but it’s definitely a perfect venue to sit down on the...

Dec 7, 2010

Posted by Dana Beaton | 0 comments

5 Most Influential Women In Rock

It’s probably taken me about six months to assemble the music collection I now own and it’s been one heck of a journey. From the raw-ness of Janis Joplin to the energy of Blondie; there are so few female musicians, but so much power that women have brought to rock music over the years. More Than The Music has been very supportive of female musicians and it’s time...

Jul 14, 2010

Posted by Lisa Ward | 0 comments

Labelling Music

Having recently read an article, which described Seth Lakeman as ‘nu-folk’, I was reminded of a thought I once had about the categorisation of music. After much deliberation I’ve come to the conclusion that labelling bands as specific genres is at best pointless and at worse downright stupid. You’d think as someone who listens to a lot of music I’d...

Mar 18, 2010

Posted by Lisa Ward | 0 comments

All Time Greats – The Band Saga

‘Name your all time favourite band’ It seems like a simple question, but once you begin to pick away at the surface, you realise it’s actually quite complex. If you ask someone their favourite singer, the choices are fairly simple, you can plump for a solo artist, or select the front woman/man of a band. Either answer would suffice. Yet when asking about a favourite...

Mar 10, 2010

Posted by Lisa Ward | 0 comments

Location, Location, Location

To anyone who attends gigs regularly, the dilemma of a venue’s layout is an obvious issue. In a standing context there’s two options to be weighed against each other; visual aspects versus auditory aspects. In context of the former, the obvious solution is to get as close to the front as possible, though at popular gigs this often entails being prepared to queue for hours...