Reviews | MTTM - More Than The Music

Feb 4, 2012

Anyone Can Play Guitar

Even as a relative newcomer to the Oxford music scene, I’m all too aware of the highs, and lows, which come with the music industry, but nowhere is this better conveyed that in Anyone Can Play Guitar. Tracking the history of a small town, from the heyday of Radiohead and Ride, to the lows of Dustball, The Candyskins and countless others who almost, but never quite made it, the...

Jan 29, 2012

Posted by Jo Cox | 0 comments

Gretchen Peters – Hello Cruel World

It’s no secret that Gretchen Peters’ success since the late 1980s has come mainly in the form of songwriting credits. Martina McBride, Bryan Adams and Faith Hill have all enjoyed far more success as recording artists by her pen than she has. Not that, as she tells it, this was accidental – Peters wanted her songs to be heard and worried that she wouldn’t be accepted as a...

Jan 29, 2012

Posted by Lisa Ward | 0 comments

28/01/2012 | Lindi Ortega – The Jericho Tave...

The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed. ‘You’re gonna know me by my little red boots’. Actually, if Lindi Ortega is going to be known for anything it’s likely to be her ability to belt out songs without missing a note, something the album doesn’t seem to capture. Whilst the album is solid, live the songs are transformed with a rhythm...

Jan 28, 2012

Posted by Jo Cox | 1 comment

Nanci Griffith – Intersection

Nanci Griffith once sang that “no one ever knows the heart of anyone else”. Nevertheless, 20 albums in and we seem to be getting close. Intersection is deeply personal, finding this much celebrated singer-songwriter once again on top form, although fans shouldn’t expect the quiet contemplation of old. Griffith describes herself as being at a musical crossroads and the result...

Jan 28, 2012

Posted by Lisa Ward | 0 comments

24/01/2012 | Madison Violet – The Stables, M...

The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed. It has to be said, the idea of leaving a warm flat on a cold, damp Tuesday in January to see a band I know little about seemed relatively unappealing, especially since it seems as though nothing has left me longing for more recently. That is until Brenley and Lisa strike up the first chord of If I Could...

Jan 17, 2012

Posted by Maria Turauskis | 0 comments

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Listening to First Aid Kit is always a slightly bizarre experience. Music by the Soderberg sisters is so irrevocably of another era that it is very easy to forget this is music by two very young Swedish girls. Like the group’s previous releases, The Lion’s Roar is awash with country folk influences from Gram Parsons to Fleetwood Mac, and each track (and indeed the girl’s...

Jan 16, 2012

Posted by Nichola Eastwood | 0 comments

Foxes! – Foxes!

Today sees the release of Brighton based four piece Foxes! self titled debut album. Husband and wife duo, Adam and Kayla Bell, team up with Alan Grice (bass and keyboard) and Matt Twaites (guitar and Keyboard) to produce a sound more sugary than a sweet shop. It’s an album of infantile whimsy, charming but an acquired taste. Aisle No. 3 is as soft and cuddly as a teddy...

Jan 15, 2012

Posted by Jo Cox | 0 comments

Vardo & The Boss EP

You’d forgive me for thinking Colchester based four-piece Vardo & The Boss were a humble covers band based on a trawl of their Youtube videos. Whilst I particularly enjoyed the Price Tag vs Halo mash-up first hand when I saw them perform a support slot for Kate Miller-Heidke at The Water Rats last year, their debut EP sees me stand corrected on my original assumption. You...

Jan 14, 2012

Posted by Lisa Ward | 0 comments

10/01/2012 | Ani DiFranco – Union Chapel, Lo...

The Flash Player and a browser with Javascript support are needed. Before tonight I knew three things about Ani Difranco. 1, She has a ridiculous number of albums, 2. She’s an overt feminist and 3. I have always meant to listen to her properly but have never managed to find the time. As she launches into Little Plastic Castle I quickly learn that my laziness might...

Jan 12, 2012

Posted by Lisa Bentley | 0 comments

Frank Turner – The Second Three Years

This coming week Frank Turner’s new album The Second Three Years will be available for purchase or download. To say it is a new release is somewhat misleading as the album is a collection of the songs he has recorded over the past few years. However, what could be misconstrued by the more cynical among us as an attempt to squelch more money from fans by repackaging a selection of...