Category Archives: Music

Adam Barnes, Bad Luck. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Luck or preparation, what can seem like two separate entities, can be at times the same feeling but looked upon from different views in a hall of mirrors as one and the same, they can melt and bleed into one another and be seen as fortune made good. The reverse can also be true, that practise skipped and dedication to the cause missed is the mother in the mirror of the universal Bad Luck, the ill fortune and the struggle for acceptance in the eyes of the peers and the bold, is regarded as the meeting of the mistimed and out of step.

Adam Barnes, Bad Luck. Single Review. full post

(326 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

David Nixon’s Navigation, This Side, Other Side. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

No matter where you point the compass, it is not necessarily a case of deciding to travel East or West or to choose between the polar opposites of North and South, it is on occasion just a simple preference between This Side, Other Side, no more, no less, the anticipation of wondering if the path we choose happens to be the right one or just a moment of mistakes.

David Nixon’s Navigation, This Side, Other Side. Album Review. full post

(400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Ashley Reaks, Track Marks. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is possible to get lost once in a while, to lose all sense of direction and notice that not even the stars can navigate you home; when that happens the best thing to do is look down, not in self pity, not in recrimination but in the assurance that the best way home is to follow the Track Marks laid down long before.

Ashley Reaks, Track Marks. Album Review. full post

(371 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Scott Midlane, Head Down. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To keep your Head Down can be seen as honourable and certainly wise as the gunfire ravages and takes no prisoners; in the end, when all is laid waste, what remains is the auditory sound of the blessed and the determined, the righteous and the indomitable.

The first of three sets of music performed, recorded and mixed by Scott Midlane, Head Down is a sultry affair of acoustic bliss but one that covers with the darkest of cowls a sense of rage and heat which is gritty, strong willed and beautiful to feel permeating across the airwaves.

Scott Midlane, Head Down. Album Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

The Routes Quartet, Windrose. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The string quartet is one of delight, harmony within the bow and the wood, a sound that carry heaven upon its shoulders and yet break your heart as easily as a first school crush. Many make much of the virtue of four guitars working in tandem or the beat of a double sided drum kit banging out in unison the call of the wild and the snare of a trap well laid, yet a string section, regardless of whether in pairs or by the full blown orchestral promise, can take your heart to places it never knew possible and the mind into the realms of deep fascination for the sheer synchronisation possible.

The Routes Quartet, Windrose. Album Review. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Nickelback, Feed The Machine. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It doesn’t take much mental acumen to notice that the machine is getting bigger, more intolerable, extra insidious; you would have to be without sight and the ability to listen to know that life is less about freedom and more of being ground down and used for fertiliser. Pink Floyd may have welcomed you to the machine but Nickelback have shown in their latest release just how to Feed The Machine.

Nickelback, Feed The Machine. Album Review. full post

(440 words, 1 image, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Stone Sour, Hydrograd. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When you move away from the epic and the glorious, from the style of the concept album you sometimes open yourself up to criticism, that the complex web you wove into an album is now beyond you, that the songs are almost to mainstream and easy on the ear; that by taking a step back to rediscover your roots what you do instead is turn around and start walking backwards to a place where people forget what you brought into their lives.

Stone Sour, Hydrograd. Album Review. full post

(379 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

King King, (She Don’t) Gimme No Lovin’. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is always the question that hangs in the air when it comes to love, for some the question of how much is too much and how little can you survive on is one of perpetual thought and arguably sent the sentinels of reason and philosophy scurrying into madness; never truly getting that to answer that question takes Rock and Blues’ greatest minds to answer.

King King, (She Don’t) Gimme No Lovin’. Single Review. full post

(399 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Cascadia Fault Line, Left Behind The Clock. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is an eternal key on view when you look at what is Left Behind The Clock. Along with unpaid bills, with the half written reply to a letter that has long since gathered regret and insignificance and the key, half remembered in a world of digital progress and lightning speed responses; to take the time to use the key and wind up the cogs and springs is a simple pleasure that should never be left to chance.

Cascadia Fault Line, Left Behind The Clock. E.P. Review. full post

(390 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Southbound Attic Band, Seekers Of Solace. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Life would be intolerable without the huge abundance of many fantastic bands and artists that live and breathe their daily toil of observation and celebration of life in all its shapes and often mishaps; life would certainly be more boring, less examined, surely unendurable without the Seekers Of Solace and the wonderful tale told, Southbound Attic Band’s Barry Jones and Ronnie Clark.

Southbound Attic Band, Seekers Of Solace. Album Review. full post

(450 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)