peoplemusic

ROUGH DIVERS

The Vibe Bar, East London, 6th July 2009: I’m too old for reviewing bands. Sorry, dear reader, to immediately discredit the forthcoming paragraph but rather annoyingly (for some junior snappers in the customary elbow-off down the front certainly) in photographic circles, experience still counts for a lot. Juggling available light with flash exposures and a band with a long mic cable and little regard for the confines of the stage as a working area, I give you Dananananaykroyd.
Six Glaswegians with more energy, dedication, enthusiasm, talent, drummers and reverse stage divers than anyone ever before. Not that I’ve been counting especially. Go see them and understand. I have no idea how they translate to record but in the increasingly important …read on

—Tom Oldham, 08 July 2009

peoplemusic

THE MAN FROM MARS VOLTA

As the guitarist/composer for The Mars Volta and At The Drive-In, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has had a regular outlet for his noisy but nuanced ideas for a decade and a half. Well, it seems that their regular output—The Mars Volta has released six records in as many years, with the latest, Octahedron, just out on June 23rd—is not enough. The guy has no less than a baker’s dozen solo and side-project records out, and they’re all good!

Well, they’re all good if you’re into proggy bluesy arty rock ’n’ roll. They’re all good if you’d like to hear what the edges around The Mars Volta sound like. They’re not out-take-ish though: these are fully formed musical onslaughts and they will broaden your …read on

—Roy Christopher, 22 June 2009

peoplesport

RALLY UNPREPARED

There I was, sitting in the office, on my hundredth command-C, command-V when I receive an email from a friend. The strapline on the press release read “10,000 miles in a Skoda pickup from London to Mongolia.”
Dominic Yard, 25 and Thomas Donhou, 27 are raising money for Mercy Corps and The Christina Noble* Children’s Foundation by racing the 2009 Mongol Rally in a £350 Skoda—a vehicle which broke down during rush hour in Central London on the return journey from the car dealer in Devon.
The Mongol Rally travels through mountains, deserts and rivers through a plethora of countries, with satellite maps and GPS replaced with gaffer tape and a sense of adventure. When asked about the name …read on

—Johann Chan, 10 June 2009