Kaya Herstad Carney, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of the great successes of the last decade in the musical relationship between Liverpool, L.I.P.A. and the interestingly diverse culture of students that the city makes welcome every year is undoubtedly that that is the driving force of Science of the Lamps, Kaya Herstad Carney. One of the embodiments of Norwegian culture, of the tremendous ability to create atmospheric and delightful Nordic music which stands up to the heights of the story teller and the poetic nature of a people shrouded in the shadow of Northern Europe, Ms. Herstad Carney never sells herself or the audience short.

Kaya Herstad Carney, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Maddie Stenberg, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

One of the great pleasures of life is coming across the next wave of performers who you hope will go on to have success in the world. Like anybody, the young deserve to have dreams, others will go out of their way to knock them down, they will say it is for their own benefit and that old chestnut of a damning generation, “Get yourself a real job” ever hanging in the air over them like the sword of Damocles swaying just above their performing torso. It is a great honour to try and understand the next generation and their drive, their fears and their ways, by doing so you get to see and hear marvellous things.

Maddie Stenberg, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool. full post

(412 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

SheBeat, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are some that do so much for the city, for the community that they are part of and yet never seem to get to get the recognition they fully deserve. They get mentioned in dispatches every so often, the grateful nod of satisfaction from those whose hearts they have touched and that is all, except to those whose opinions may matter more, those who truly appreciate all that person does and in Jodie Schofield and her alter ego musical persona of SheBeat, that person should be lauded for what she brings to the cultural diversity and experience of the city.

SheBeat, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool. full post

(418 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

A Single File Tango (In The Fog).

The thousand cast iron lamps

sets the scene in a Sunset Boulevard way

and the silhouette of a hundred dancers,

their skirts flying, lifted

by the whispering fog,

their hair tied back and tempting the trilby

they wear, the adjustment and nod

to femininity only seen as the

plucked flower, dead soon,

dipped in gold leaf, sits proudly, stuck fast

by a silver pin through its heart,

erect and glowing in the dampness

of the drooping Boulevard air.

 

The hero shakes in the clammy mist

A Single File Tango (In The Fog). full post

(259 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

The Corrs, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The closeness of the band often betrays just how well they are likely to be received on stage; the audience after all are no fools and their evening, their enjoyment stems from the harmony on stage or the desire that emanates from it and for that, and despite time away from the glare of a Liverpool crowd, The Corrs proved that they had lost none of their intrigue, polish or intimacy and that they could still hold a room, even a vast one, spellbound and breathless.

The Corrs, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

The Shires, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like most good things, The Shires seemed to come out of almost nowhere. The puff of wind that gently brought them into the lives of the Country fans, not just delicate and pleasurable, but one with a hard edge, the British crush well endowed on a pairing suited to capturing the ears of the listener with their dramatic songs but laid back and sweetly divined innocence.

The Shires, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

The Big Short, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Rafe Spall, Rudy Eisenzopf, Casey Groves, Maria Frangos, Hunter Burke, Bernard Hocke, Shaunna Rappold, Brandon Stacy, Aiden Flowers, Peter Epstein, Tracy Letts, David Zalkind, Adepero Oduye, Hamish Linklater, Karen Gillan.

The Big Short, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Fill The Night.

I fill up the day so I don’t have to think

about anything but words

that appear one keystroke

at a time, but even that somehow falls

into disgrace when I consider the art

of the typewriter,

the quill with fading ink

or the press on its first run,

for all right minded people

to take solace in;

I cannot offer anything new

for by filling up the day,

by refusing to live in my head

with its stark boundaries

and all too clear regrets,

Fill The Night. full post

(99 words, estimated 24 secs reading time)

Rhapsody Of Fire, Into The Legend. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It really is no wonder that Rhapsody of Fire’s Into The Legend sounds so good, that the overwhelming intensity of the album shines through like a supernova exploding in the night sky and the majesty of the unassailable creaks in pregnant anticipation; for the secret of Rhapsody Of Fire is what the past has allowed it to contain and the blistering effect it has on the soul.

Rhapsody Of Fire, Into The Legend. Album Review. full post

(427 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Isn’t It Perfect.

I break sweat, not for the first time

as I bang my head against thick,

blackened and bloodied bars

that hold me back,

that resist my shakedown

as they rattle in the dirt

and concrete, small creatures scuttle

around my toes, feeling the chill,

feeling the draining perspiration

that runs down from the small

of my back

and I sweat and I howl

against the only light

in the bludgeoning room,

my tomb self made,

one exit,

no idea how I found myself here

Isn’t It Perfect. full post

(167 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)