Andy Holden, Roger Illingworth, Johnny Parry, John Blamey and James MacDowell have been playing together in various line-ups since they were 12 years old. Seven solo albums, one book and numerous art exhibitions later, they became The Grubby Mitts.
Read More
Listen/Review: Diagrams – Gentle Morning Song
Diagrams’ Sam Genders, former member of Tunng, returns with ‘Gentle Morning Song’, taken from Diagrams' new album ‘Chromatics’, out in the UK now. The song’s charming, honeyed electronica lends itself to comparisons to The Shins and is probably closer to what you expected from Belle and Sebastian’s new single than the song Belle and Sebastian actually released. In the verses, Sam Genders’ distinctly accented voice sounds as if it’s running across a landscape inhabited solely by Stuart Murdoch, and, as with every offering from Diagrams, the chorus is an endless jug of joy.
Read More
Watch: Generationals – Reviver
Follow the example of the jovial spectators in Generationals’ speedway-centric new video and you'll find plenty to cheer in the band’s typically upbeat new release, taken from their latest album, ‘Alix’.
Read More
Listen/Review: Shark Dentist – Cut Myself Shaving
Any band defining themselves by the sub-genre ‘sandwich metal’ warrant attention, and one glance at Shark Dentist’s Facebook page is enough to know theirs isn’t the vibe to accompany earnest soul-searching.
Read More
Watch/Review: The Acid – Ghost
At a time of year when heavy grey skies seem only to be an apparition of daylight, the spectral sonics and hazy visuals of The Acid’s latest release, taken from last year’s ‘Liminal’ LP, is fittingly austere. The video to ‘Ghost’, shot among sand-dunes, is a shimmering template of surreal focal points and balletic choreography, reflecting a sensory unease that chimes with
Read More
Watch/Download: Allusondrugs – Am I Weird?
It’s a question that’s vexed all but the least self-aware of us at some point, its intensity frequently amplified in direct correlation to recreational substance use. Which may explain why Yorkshire quintet Allusondrugs appear to be having such a tremendous grin during their self-made promo for ‘Am I Weird?’, in which their studio forms the low-budget backdrop for absorbing hyperactivity, and there are cameos from an emu and a cat
Read More
Listen/Review: Shiners – Just Got Paid
Watch: Pinkshinyultrablast – Umi
'Repurposing shoegaze from the Baltic's eastern banks,' Pinkshinyultrablast are a St Petersburg band whose debut album, 'Everything Else Matters', is out on 12 January.
Read More
Watch: Twin Hidden – Join Hands
Twin Hidden continue to impress us here at Lost In The Manor. Originally from Manchester and now based in London, these lads write songs that are beautifully crafted and laden with great harmonies.
Read More
Introducing: Black Yaya – Flying A Rocket
Black Yaya is a new singer-songwriter, although he’s not new to the world of singer-songwriters. Indeed, he used to write, record and perform under the name Herman Dune. After travelling the seven seas and beyond with Herman Dune and recording more than ten albums with that band, David Ivar, for it is he, decided he wanted to create something new, so Black Yaya was born.
Read More
Watch/Review: Desperate Journalist – Control
There’s something of the Manic Street Preachers to the classic alt-rock intensity of Desperate Journalist's ‘Control’, and not just because bassist Simon Drowner is a kohl-eyed shoe-in for the tribute act.
Read More
Watch: The Wands – War
"A playful trip to the source of psych": read the full review of The Wands' debut album, The Dawn, by Lost In The Manor's Nick Mee, on London In Stereo now
Read More
Watch: Sara Lowes - I'll Find You
On 23rd February Sara Lowes releases her new full studio album following 2011’s debut ‘Back To Creation’. The popular musician plays keys in The Earlies which has led to work with Daniel Johnston, King Creosote, Jens Lakeman, Jim Noir, Jesca Hoop and Dawn Landes.
Read More
Introducing/Watch: As Tall As Trees – The River
As Tall As Trees' debut EP is self-released on Monday 24 November and available digitally via iTunes and on limited-edition vinyl.
Read More
Listen/Review: C Duncan – For
No easy feat, a well-placed whistle can be a boon to a tune. Think Otis Redding (naturally), Air, Peter, Bjorn & John (begrudgingly), and put Bryan bloody Ferry firmly to the back of your mind. Here’s another contender, new FatCat signing C Duncan, who purses his lips as if conducting a pleasingly mellifluous march during new single ‘For’.
Read More
Listen/Review: Gypsy Hill – Caciula Pa Ureche
A riotous mash-up of almost every rootsy vibe you might encounter on a bar crawl from the Black Sea to Brixton, the debut album by South London’s Gypsy Hill has been out for a couple of months now, but it’s always worthy of a quick blast to clear the pipes. Mixing Balkan swing with Big Beat by way of strident brass, guitars, bass and rhythmic breaks both turntabled and trad, Gypsy Hill’s ‘Our Routes’ is sure to get the limbs flailing.
Read More
Watch / Review: She Crazy - Zombacalypse Now
Disorderly, frenetic and bone rattling, She Crazy are a cacophony of the best beer-in-the-air songs and ‘did I do that last night?’ moments that any band could wish for. Like being strapped in the dentist chair with Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist from The Hives controlling your valium intake, the first single from the debut She Crazy EP is everything you wanted from the band and more.
Read More
Watch/Listen/Review: Saint Agnes – A Beautiful Day For Murder/Where The Lightning Strikes
The first glimpse that Saint Agnes let you have of their world is silver-screened, amatory and undeniably cinematic. The band's second single, ‘A Beautiful Day for Murder’, will leave you numb yet euphoric, a formula that some bands take a career to find. The single could be the perfect berceuse to a Tarantino film or Bond epic, melded by the chemistry between songwriters Jon Tufnell and Kitty Austen, who clearly have a magnetism that would leave Sonny & Cher green with envy.
Read More
Listen / Review: Tied To The Mast – Humble Pie
Perhaps the finest under-the-radar rock outfit in the UK, Tied To The Mast furnish their multi-guitar attack and fervent rhythm section with a melodic versatility facilitated by a triumvirate of skilled singer-songwriters.
Read More
Watch/Review: Kormac feat. Irvine Welsh - Another Screen
Cast aside the obvious ironies of a digital producer’s luddite cry being disseminated via YouTube on hundreds of blogs, and just relish this smart tribute to non-tech, to the joys of interaction and more humanising pursuits.
Read More