Maxïmo Park – Our Earthly Pleasures (Warp Records) April 2nd, 2007 5.0/6.0 Stepping back in time to 2005, it’s difficult to believe that I used to loathe Maxïmo Park – the angular, energetic songs on their debut offering Apply Some Pressure sounded like a band who were just trying too hard. However, one single and [...]
Guilty As Charged
Guilty As Charged: Part 3 – Dire Straits
Much maligned for not being particularly ‘cool’, I feel it is time that Dire Straits were accepted for the value of their music, smirking about bad shirts and headbands aside. Accept it – Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler have produced some of the most exciting and uplifting guitar music of our lifetime. Although this choice [...]
Music: Features
My First Album: Part 3 – Dangerous
Yes, it’s that time again! Once a month, one of our brave contributors will shatter all of their musical credibility, take a trip back in time and tell us us all about one of the first albums they purchased…. First album purchased: I have a worrying feeling it was Dangerous by Michael Jackson. Format purchased [...]
Live Reviews
Fire In The Disco
Arcade Fire Apollo Theatre, Manchester Thursday March 8th, 2007 For those of us who aren’t Chris Martin, or who simply couldn’t afford to sell our souls, the end of January remained a depressing affair. The trip to see Arcade Fire at one of their über-exclusive London church shows simply was never going to be on [...]
Live Reviews
The Time Is Now
Esiotrot and My Side Of The Mountain Star and Garter, Manchester Tuesday March 13th, 2007 You have to be pretty brave to accept the challenge of putting on a band with less than a week’s notice; especially when whilst you know that the band are really rather fantastic. However, you are also aware that the [...]
Live Reviews
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Los Campesinos! and Sky Larkin The Late Room, Manchester Sunday, March 4th 2007 There’s something very special indeed about Los Campesinos! They’re not even out of university yet, but their beguiling, quaint indie-pop strains and powerful live performances mean they’ve already developed a bit of a reputation (and, on the whole, it’s been a good [...]
Fugitives (Collective and Site News)
A Fugitive Motel Public Service Announcement…
Two of our brethren here at the Good Ship Motel, Alexia Rogers-Wright and Dan Trotman, are taking part in the Morocco Hitch next week. They’re setting out on Saturday, and it should take between three and seven days. They’ll be raising money for a charity called Link Community Development, who work to help provide good [...]
Mixtapes'n'Tapes
Mixtapes’n'Tapes: Part 3 – Praying to the Porcelain Deity…
Mixtapes’n’Tapes is an ongoing feature whereby one member of the Fugitive Motel collective challenges another to create a mixtape on a given theme. There are no restrictions on either the theme or the tape itself; the person who is being challenged may take as many liberties with the theme as they like. The feature operates [...]
I'd Marry That Voice
I’d Marry That Voice: Part 3 – Bat For Lashes
This feature should never have posed much of a problem. I am an absolute sucker for vocals, and there are certainly numerous voices I would be happy to metaphorically tie the knot with. Unfortunately, my first choice, Mr Liam Frost, has been unceremoniously thieved by the Motel’s editor (Sorry! – Kate, Thieving Ed). Cue many [...]
Music: Features
Your New Favourite Band!: Part 2 – Daggers (formerly known as Bureau)
When you think of the 80s, what springs to mind for you? The A-Team? The miners’ strike? Duran Duran? The insanely catchy opening guitar riff from Daggers’ breakthrough debut hit (well, in Manchester anyway), After Midnight (from back in the day, when they were known as Bureau?) One of the things in the list did [...]