AN IDEAL FOR LIVING

Covert Art for ‘Darker With The Dawn’ by Adam Steiner Nick Cave‘s journey from vampiric drug-addled iconoclast to something akin to national treasure in both his native Australia and adopted home of Britain is as remarkable as it is unlikely. An uncompromising force of nature, his ability to deliver work of consistently high calibre over a 40-year-plus career makes him an artist worthy of…

GOT MY EYE ON YOU – Anton Newcombe faces his public WORDS: Matt Catchpole IMAGES: Sam Wells Many music writers, this one included, have incurred the wrath of Anton Newcombe for daring to mention Dig! – the 2004 documentary which simultaneously made and purportedly buried Brian Jonestown Massacre. Yet while friends and competitors The Dandy Warhols were portrayed as undisputed winners at the…

*In no particular order some of my favourite musical moments. No50 Interlude by Morrissey & Siouxsie The first cover in Our Great Moments In Music series is an extraordinary duet between two of the most intriguing and iconoclastic personalities of their generation; Morrissey and Siouxsie Sioux. The team up emerged out of Morrissey’s penchant for approaching his – usually female – musical heroes…

Wild God cover art The first thing you notice about Nick Cave and the The Bad Seeds’ 18th studio album is just how bloody BIG it sounds. After the knotty, experimental and frankly grief-stricken trilogy of Skeleton Tree, Ghosteen and Carnage, the tethers are off. Wild God is the sound of a band unleashed – with choirs, orchestration – the whole kitchen sink – thrown in. Cave has gone for broke…

21st CENTURY BOYS – RR Dallaway fronting the new Very Things It’s the mid-’80s and Channel 4’s frequently shambolic and occasionally brilliant The TUBE is about to air, what for this viewer, is one of its finest moments. Glitchy, electronically created VJ Max Headroom – a spin-off from an edgy futuristic drama on the same channel – is introducing, not so much a music video, but a fully realised…

Kurt Wolf famed for his contributions to Noise-rockers Pussy Galore, Loudspeaker and Emma Peel is back with the deliciously creepy Black Bruises collaboration with Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist Marco Butcher. Now based in North Carolina, Marco will be familiar to AIFL readers for his partnership with Inca Babies‘ Harry Stafford. The duo have released two albums – 2021’s Bone Architecture…

Eggsistentialism cover art by illustrator Casey Raymond The Lovely Eggs – alias Holly Ross and David Blackwell – are back with Eggsistentialism the band’s first album in four years. Produced once again by The Flaming Lips‘ studio wiz Dave Fridmann, it charts a difficult period for the couple as they battle to retain their fiercely independent work ethic. Operating from Lancaster, the…

"They were fookin' great the '90s weren't they." Review of Black Grape LIVE in Camden

It’s a freezing Friday night more suited to bobble hats than bucket hats as Camden’s Electric Ballroom gradually fills in anticipation for the arrival of Black Grape. Led by Paul “Kermit” Leveridge and one Shaun William Ryder, Black Grape are in town to showcase new album Orange Head out in January. FLYING KAR-PET – Tom Hingley. Picture by Sam Wells  Support is provided by a close…

Check out other Great Moments In Music at An Ideal For Living @mattcatchpole.com

*In no particular order some of my favourite musical moments. No49 Sacrilege by Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Sacrilege’ by Yeah Yeah Yeahs single cover art One of the truly great singles of this first quarter of the 21st century, Sacrilege by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the lead cut off the band’s fourth studio album Mosquito. Released in 2013, it’s a deceptively simple song, given added drama by singer Karen O’s…

On record PJ Harvey‘s I Inside the Old Year Dying is a knotty, fragile creation. Sparse and intense, it’s a difficult, but ultimately fulfilling listen. Fears it might feel underpowered in a live context are blown away within seconds of her taking the stage for the first of two sold out shows at the Camden Roundhouse. The album, her first for seven years, is played in full in a theatrical…

It’s 1983 and spiky new Manchester death-rockers Inca Babies are unleashing their first single on an unsuspecting public via their own Black Lagoon Records. Nearly 6,000 miles away in Sao Paulo, a teenage musician is hitting the underground clubs, looking for the type of music you just don’t hear on mainstream radio. Fast forward 40 years and with the world in the grip of the COVID pandemic, an…

QUIETLY DISQUIETING – PJ Harvey I Inside The Old Year Dying, PJ Harvey‘s first proper audio album in seven years follows a period of intense introspection.  One of the UK’s most original and successful artists, Harvey became so consumed by the endless merry-go-round of albums and tours, she felt she’d lost connection with her music. As with 2016’s The Hope Six Demolition Project, she got her…

PICTURES: Sam Wells, WORDS: Matt Catchpole It’s a scorching Camden summer’s evening and we’re here to witness the return of the leaders of two bands whose moment in the sun stretches back more than 40 years. Yes it was 1982 when Dave Wakeling‘s band The Beat and Bow Wow Wow, fronted by precocious Burma-born teen Annabella Lwin, were at the peak of their powers. A time when rocketing inflation…

Review of Hoo Ha! album by Australian punks Bad Dreems

EVERYBODY NEEDS GOOD NEIGHBOURS – Bad Dreems say g’day! It’s hard to resist an album with a title like Hoo Ha!, so I was, ahem, naturally keen to find out what the fuss was about. The fourth album by Adelaide punks Bad Dreems, it’s the latest in an Aussie guitar renaissance, that’s seen bands like The Chats and Pist Idiots getting international attention. Spearheading this new wave are the…