The Evan Whitton Blog: After Hours

Pendulum - Anima - The Singles, Reviewed It’s fair to say that Pendulum may be the first name a lot of people think of when they think of modern Drum n Bass or even modern EDM full stop, and with good reason. Led by songwriter and frontman Rob Swire, they started out as a much more straight up DnB outfit on 2005’s ‘Hold Your Colour’, and not only were they damn good at it, but the album also spawned anthems like ‘Tarantula’ and the title track in the process. Soon after though, the band began experimenting musically, broadening not only the range of electronic influences, but also incorporating elements of anthemic stadium rock and hard rock, resulting in my personal favourite album of theirs, 2008’s ‘In Silico.’ They then expanded on this further with 2010’s ‘Immersion’, making use of an even wider range of aesthetics, but also injecting their sound with a more palpable accessibility, evident in huge singles like ‘Witchcraft.’ It was after this that the various members went on hiatus ...

Black Grape - Orange Head - The Singles, Reviewed Following the breakup of 90s indie titans Happy Mondays, vocalist Shaun Ryder and best mate Bez rose from the ashes, teaming up with rapper Kermit and producer Danny Saber amongst others, and forming Black Grape. Their debut album 'It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah' in 1995 was described by Ryder as "what the last Mondays album should have been", and he wasn't wrong, the record seamlessly combining indie, dance, rap and funk into a fantastic musical melting pot, resulting in multiple hit singles. While their second album before their breakup, 1997's 'Stupid, Stupid, Stupid' wasn't as well received, I still loved it, and when the group reformed as the principal duo of Ryder and Kermit, teaming up with super producer Youth and releasing 'Pop Voodoo' in 2017, I thought that was brilliant too. So on an album basis, they haven't missed yet, and now, with Youth at the helm again, ...

Public Image Ltd. 'End Of World UK Tour' Review at Holmfirth Picturedrome - Post-Punk Legends Deliver a Stellar Set With an Odd Deficit of New Material My first introduction to John Lydon's post-Pistols band Public Image Ltd. (or PiL) was through my dad. He was going to see them in Holmfirth with a friend in 2016, and I remember him saying, "you know the Sex Pistols? The singer, when he left, he started this." At that time, having not yet heard any of the music, I was still familiar with the hysteria surrounding punk as this loud, angry, rebellious music you don't listen to around your parents, and so while I was aware this wasn't exactly going to be "punk", I was still excited to hear it. That said, when the first song he played me kicked in, even despite my lack of expectations, it really threw me for a loop, for lack of a better term. I just didn't know what to do with it. Anyway, cut to two or so years later when I've started properly...