Music is: Waves on a shore | Featuring Seafret, The Winter Tradition, Path Unknown, The Blue Waves

My second themed review, Waves on a Shore, features Seafret, Tides and Telegrams by The Winter Tradition, Blink by Path Unknown, and The Blue Waves.

A little recklessly, I decided to tackle this series illustrating my ‘Music is’ strapline whilst tired through lack of sheep. This theme represents how music causes similar emotions – good and bad – to those I’m reminded of personally by coastland and waves crashing onto rocks on the shore.

Sticking to my blog’s emphasis on British unsigned and independent bands makes things trickier. Especially as I’m still sleep deprived, because my fence-leaping flock

Music is: Merry-go-rounds | Featuring Carousels and Limousines, Alistair Griffin, The Starkins, The Lake Poets

In the middle of one long sheepless and therefore sleepless night since my fence-leaping flock hoofed it up to Yorkshire to star in Mr Griffin’s video for The Road, I had an idea. Why don’t I do a series of themed reviews around my ‘Music is’ strapline?

Easy* I thought, so this is the first, (*tip: never have an ‘idea’ whilst sleep deprived). Sticking to my blog’s emphasis on great music from British unsigned or smaller, independent bands makes things somewhat harder, but here we go.

My merry-go-round theme features Carousels and Limousines, Albion Sky by Alistair Griffin, Roundabout by The Starkins and Dead Horses by The Lake Poets.

Alistair Griffin From Nowhere, the new album – a sheepish review

From Nowhere is Alistair Griffin’s third album with an interesting little twist. Announced by Griffin as the sporting anthems compilation, it’s an album’s worth of songs he’s written or pitched for sport soundtracks, and they’re not even all on it!

With tongue super-glued in cheek, I suggested in my review of his previous album that sports-mad Griffin should put all his sporting-montage songs on an EP and call it Maniacal Montage Mayhem, never thinking that he’d

Alistair Griffin’s single The One with Leddra Chapman and a striking sleep aid

It’s a bit noisy in here as since the incident with the ironing there have been 26 striking sheep with little placards blocking up the landing, bleating about overtime rates.

The last thing I need is grumpy, uncooperative sheep when I’m trying to get to sleep. One has broken ranks and is

Alistair Griffin at George IV Chiswick, London for foodbank tour gig

A gig first for me, I turned up with tins that weren’t beer.

Exactly like a Chiswickian Diagon Alley, the venue was cunningly hidden out the back of the George IV pub, disguised as a Tesco Express complete with supermarket trolley. I hope Alistair got his pound back OK.

Reviewing Alistair Griffin’s new single Always No. 1 whilst a load of woolly jumpers is drying

Today sees the release of Always No. 1, the third single from Alistair Griffin’s Albion Sky album. But don’t doze off album owners because it’s a new mix of the song you’ll want to hear.

We review Alistair Griffin’s new album Albion Sky aka “Who dumped a helter skelter in the garden?”

Scrap your DeLoreans, the new Alistair Griffin album Albion Sky has been released in our lifetime* on Dramatico Entertainment!

This is a monumental occurrence which would only be surpassed if Roseberry Topping were to suddenly sprout a Vesuvius-like lava flow, as it’s

Alistair Griffin and band at the O2 Academy 2 Islington – 18 May 2011

Wednesday night found me at the O2 Academy 2 in Islington to see Alistair Griffin play with his band. He sang a bit too. There hadn’t been a band gig in London for two and a half years, so anticipation was running highish. What would his new band sound like? Would it be like the album? Would he play anything even a little bit new? Since trekking here last with a van full of amps and stuff, he’s announced a new album, hung about in a few studios, had a little tune played on the BBC, and done a few re-mixes of re-mixed mixes of already mixed songs.

Athlete at the Amersham Arms, New Cross, plus Tape The Radio – 2 Sept 2009

Last week, I was lucky enough to win tickets to see one of my favourite bands Athlete play a little gig at the Amersham Arms in New Cross, London, (their local, allegedly). The tickets were from a prize draw on Amazon and I was a little bit thrilled to win as I hadn’t seen Athlete live before.

A free Athlete gig in a relatively intimate environment was too good to miss, so I grappled resignedly with the decidedly ailing London transport system in an attempt to get there somewhere near the support band’s start time of 8pm. Things proved tricky.

Oasis at Wembley Stadium – 11 July 2009

On Saturday I got to go to one of those extra-special, once in a lifetime type gigs to see my favourite band Oasis for the first time. The support bands were pretty interesting too – Kasabian, The Enemy and Reverend and the Makers. Now some of you might think I’m quite a few years too late to go see Oasis, but better late than never I say. I’ve wanted to see them for ages and back last October I finally said what the hell, and found myself the excited owner of an Oasis ticket and a bit of a credit card debt.

So, positivity cloak (like an invisibility cloak but more spangly), firmly fastened, off I went to my very first Oasis gig, at Wembley Stadium no less. I made it to the stadium, tackled the robot-like automated turnstiles, passed the ferociously carried out bag check and headed for the myriad of escalators in good time to see the first support band. As it was an outdoor gig, it rained of course, so I was glad I had a seat as despite spending over £750 million pounds on the stadium, they still couldn’t afford a whole roof, (or a decent bit of turf for that matter).

It’s almost right…plus The Critical at The Cavendish Arms – 4 May 2009

I went to a gig recently with the most unintentionally funny moment ever. You probably had to be there to get it, but it was at the Bedford in April when a singer* introduced a song, played the intro and sang the opening of an entirely different one by mistake. Singer jokes about stopping writing songs in the same key with the same chords. Second attempt and he blanks altogether and

Chris Sheehan and Alistair Griffin at the Cobden Club (Again) – 27 January 2009

I went to this gig to see what Chris Sheehan was like having missed him at the Cobden Club in December when he’d been due to appear but was ill apparently. And Alistair Griffin was on again too! So once again I climbed the million stairs to the Cobden’s Grand Hall to listen to Brooke Parrott, Abi Barnett, Chris Sheehan and Alistair Griffin. Each played two sets of about three songs each, doggedly accompanied by the cocktail shaker at the bar, which was a bit out of time at one point.

Alistair Griffin at the Cobden Club, London – 14 December 2008

Sunday saw my first visit to the Cobden Club in London to listen to Alistair Griffin. I’d not been before being rather a little put off by the venue and their guest list policy, but really I shouldn’t have been as anyone can get themselves on the list and it was a nice, friendly, ordinary music venue, not like it sounded.

I trekked from the tube station, map in hand and eventually stumbled across the club languishing in

The Goldilocks Effect at the Purple Turtle, Camden – 29 November 2008

On Saturday night I went to see The Goldilocks Effect, one of the bands I’d found on MySpace and liked. They were playing the Purple Turtle in Camden, not a venue I’m particularly keen on, but they have some good bands there from time to time. The support band was The Shivers, and they turned out to be pretty good too.

The Goldilocks Effect are a 4-man band from Swansea. I won’t name them as confusingly they have two different line-ups of names listed on their MySpace although it could be a nickname thing I’m not sure! Their music is a mixture of indie alternative rock and more acoustic sounding songs, but their style is a little hard to describe and anyway it’s a sound thing so best just go have a listen on their MySpace page.

Although I could have sworn I was in the Purple Turtle at the start of the evening, I must have blinked as everything morphed and I ended up at the rugby

The Critical at the Harlequin Theatre, Redhill – 8 November 2008

On Saturday, I went to see a band called The Critical play at the Harlequin Theatre in Redhill. They were supporting Sally Cranham, a singer songwriter whose musical style I’m not really into although she was very good at it, but as it turned out it was well worth staying until the end, more of that later.

I trekked to The Critical’s Redhill gig as I could get there on the train from London fairly easily and as it was a theatre, I knew I wouldn’t end up in a strange town confronted with a venue I’d not even cut my toe nails outside of, let alone actually have to go in.