Man Without Country / Princess Slayer / Tusks [Live Review – The Boileroom, Guildford, 1/3/2015]

This show may have been a hard sell for a Sunday, but a sizeable portion of local music fans still made it down to the Boileroom for this show. Earlycomers were treated to Tusks (aka Emily Underhill), a recent discovery who is fast becoming

The Skints – ‘FM’ [Review]

Although my heart is forever torn between London and Brighton, the Skints are pulling me firmly in the direction of the capital with FM. A passionate paean to the Big Smoke, FM is a long-playing set of incredibly fine reggae-related tunes – and a must for audio-adoring culture tourists everywhere.

Although personal highlights are too numerous to list in full here (special mentions go to the sublime vocals on This Town (feat. reggae legends Tippa Irie & Horseman); the 8-bit blips on Come To You; and the hilarious episode of Dancehall Dilemmas that opens Friends & Business), the most important parts of the FM experience are

Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith – ‘La La La’ (Princess Slayer Cover) [Review]

I don’t normally review covers – but fuck me, this track is the perfect excuse to break the rules. Princess Slayer have been consistently bettering themselves since I first discovered them back in 2013 – and this version of La La La is still another positive step into the future for this Guildfordian EDM duo. Casey Lim’s vocal on this track is one of her most emotive so far, while the production is equally top-drawer. Big tune.

Links / Listen / Free Download

Princess Slayer official website.

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Enter Shikari – ‘The Mindsweep’ [Review]

Bands capable of speaking out intelligently about political issues are few and far between these days. Most seem set on insisting that it’s all about the music and having a good time, rather than encouraging their audiences to educate themselves and act on issues that mean so much to so many, but are often ignored in the age of cheap flatscreens and Xbox Live.

TMMP’s ultimate highlight

Speaker Face feat. Rachel Sermanni – ‘Vertical’ [Review]

I’ve never heard anything quite like this.

The automatic response to the unfamiliar is often to find a quick way to dismiss it, to chuck it in the metal box labelled

Cherae Leri – ‘Mirage’ [Review]

Although I’m not exactly a pop fan (see here for proof), every now and then a track pops up with exactly the right vibe and vocal to pique my interest. Thanks to the likes of Submotion Orchestra, Luciana Caporaso, and Princess Slayer, that may well start happening more and more often in 2015 – starting with Cherae Leri’s deep, slow, and exotically hypnotic blend of R&B, pop, and modern soul. 

TMMP’s Top Albums Of 2014

The “death of the album” has been declared many times in recent years – but nonetheless, musicians keep making them and are showing no signs of stopping (and thank God for that!). Almost a decade and a half into the twenty-first century, there still exist bands and artists capable of composing immersive, engaging, and fully satisfying collections of songs that stand up to repeated, unshuffled listens. Here are fifteen of them.

TMMP’s EPs & Tracks Of 2014

I have a very strong emotional attachment to many of the releases listed below. Choosing this list was exceptionally tough; I’ve been fortunate to discover some incredible bands and artists over the past year, and it’s safe to say that outside this list lie a great many immense tunes that can be found via a quick browse through TMMP’s archives when you’re done with this lot. However, the following choices are the cream of the crop.

3LAU Feat. Luciana – ‘We Came To Bang’ [Review]

It’s been a while since TMMP featured a Luciana tune – but with Friday night upon us, now is as good a time as any to remedy that. We Came To Bang – created in collaboration with American producer 3LAU – is still another winning addition to Luciana’s burgeoning back catalogue of banging electro-pop songs.

Beardyman [Live Review – KOKO, London, 28/11/14]

On the walk from Waterloo station to Camden, I passed at least three busking beatboxers. The faces were different, but the acts were the same – a combination of robot impressions, oppressively generic beats, and faithful and flawless impressions of a variety of non-percussive instruments. By the time KOKO’s dramatic facade came into view, the novelty of solo beatboxing had more than worn off; London was beginning to feel saturated by Beardyman wannabes.