POP CULTURE AS SEEN AND HEARD BY KEVIN MATHEWS
It is such a rush when a singer-songwriter-musician nails his colours to prog rock in this day and age! In fact, Durkee is proud to describe his music as “a blend of progressive, metal/rock, doom metal, post-hardcore, and post-rock.” A brave man!
Continue reading “ROCK’S NOT DEAD — YOU ARE! MARC DURKEE – “A WAY TO ESCAPE””
Bill Lloyd returns with a smart new album that will appeal to the PoP Faithful with its sophisticated take on Power Pop Rock N Roll.
Continue reading “PoP RECOMMENDS | POWER POP ROCK N ROLL : BILL LLOYD – WORKING THE LONG GAME”
Lost within the hype, attention and brouhaha over the 50th anniversary re-issue of The Beatles “White Album”, is First Collection 2006 – 2009, a retrospective on the early Fleet Foxes recordings.
Continue reading “PoP RECOMMENDS : FLEET FOXES – FIRST COLLECTION 2006 – 2009”
After the success of last year’s Sgt Pepper remix reissue, this 50th anniversary edition of my favourite Beatles album was the one to look out for!
Continue reading “ROCK HISTORY | PoP LEGENDS : THE BEATLES SUPER DELUXE EDITION”
Hard rock revival? I fuckin’ hope so! Add another band to the burgeoning list – Ontario’s The Castor Troys.
Continue reading “ROCK’S NOT DEAD — YOU ARE!!! THE CASTOR TROYS – LEGENDS NEVER DIE (EP)”
Seattle new wave revivalists Spirit Award are back with a new album, Muted Crowd.
Continue reading “PoP RECOMMENDS | POP POWER!!! SPIRIT AWARD – MUTED CROWD”
Are you still basking in the Bohemian Rhapsody afterglow? If so, I would recommend that you check out the official Spotify playlist for Queen.
Continue reading “THE LISTENING BOOTH | PoP LEGENDS : THIS IS QUEEN (SPOTIFY PLAYLIST)”
It’s impossible to be objective about Bohemian Rhapsody as I have been a Queen fan since 1977.
Continue reading “REEL TO REAL : MUSIC DRAMA – BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY”
As some of you might be aware, I have somewhat distanced myself from the Singapore music scene (such as it is) recently but felt the need to check out Another Indie Gig last night at LiveAMP.
Aussie indie pop starlet San Mei returns with a new EP, Heaven.
Continue reading “PoP RECOMMENDS | POP POWER!!! SAN MEI – HEAVEN EP”
The Rachets (Ashbury Park, NJ) sound like a cross between The Clash, The ‘Mats and The Hold Steady. Which is fine with me!
Continue reading “PoPTV | THE NEW ROCK N ROLL : THE RACHETS – “DOTARD ON THE DIAL””
There’s no doubt that Warner Bros/DC has been lagging behind Marvel Studios in bringing successful adaptations of their properties to the big screen.
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! THE WORLDS OF DC – BRAND CONFUSION?”
On the final night of the inaugural Scream Asia Film Festival, horror fans were treated to the melancholy aspects of supernatural tropes with the short film Hana and feature They Who Are Not Seen.
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! HORROR : SCREAM ASIA FILM FESTIVAL – HANA | THEY WHO ARE NOT SEEN”
Good to hear that James Lye who played guitar with me in The Groovy People years back has set up his own label – Maker Records, and it has released the new single from Bakers in Space.
Continue reading “PoPTV : THE NEW ROCK N ROLL : BAKERS IN SPACE – “WASTING YOUTH””
I think I am almost giving up totally on reviews of new music altogether. After all, one can just simply listen to the music, what’s the point of detailed description of the music? Seriously!
Continue reading “ROCK’S NOT DEAD – YOU ARE!!! OCTOBER ROCKED!!!”
Director Yuki Kumagai combined his love for pop idols, quirky detectives and zombies to come up with his delightful horror-comedy Tokyo Living Dead Idol.
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! HORROR : SCREAM ASIA FILM FESTIVAL – TOKYO LIVING DEAD IDOL”
One is never sure about a Lars Von Trier film as the auteur is able to deliver genius and self-indulgence (are they mutually exclusive?), sometimes in the same movie. This certainly applies to Von Trier’s latest opus – the psychological horror that is The House That Jack Built.
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! HORROR : SCREAM ASIA FILM FESTIVAL – THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT”
Apart from Daredevil and perhaps The Punisher, the quality of Marvel TV-Netflix series has been mixed. The first season of Jessica Jones only succeeded because of its engaging villain, Killgrave (played by David Tennent) while season 2 was decidedly inferior.
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! STREAMING | DAREDEVIL SEASON 3”
The inaugural Scream Asia Film Festival got off to a rollicking good start with the premieres of Zombiepura (world) and Overlord (Asian).
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! HORROR : SCREAM ASIA FILM FESTIVAL – ZOMBIEPURA | OVERLORD”
A rare thing indeed to come across a pop song that addresses the social issues of Singapore but Shannon Luke has done exactly that with his latest single, “The Survey”.
Continue reading “PoP TV | POP POWER : SHANNON LUKE – “THE SURVEY” (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)”
The demise of our beloved Rock Music has been declared for many years now. But the fact of the matter that in the last few years, there has been a surfeit of dynamic hard rock music that has been made – more than enough to satisfy diehard fans worldwide.
Once upon a time, the visceral rock of the Velvets, Bowie & the Stooges was the definitive alternative pop and this is something Native Sun understands.
Continue reading “THE LISTENING BOOTH | THE NEW ROCK N ROLL : NATIVE SUN – “11 STREET””
Loosely based on Shirley Wilson’s classic 1959 novel of the same name, this Netflix series is a tour-de-force from writer-director Mike Flanagan and possibly one of the best of its kind this year.
Continue reading “GEEK OUT!!! HORROR : THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (NETFLIX)”
EC fans received a bit of a scare after the singer-songwriter cancelled a clutch of live dates due to ill health. But news of his recovery and the release of Look Now – one of Costello’s best albums of recent times – must have cheered diehard followers!
Continue reading “PoP RECOMMENDS | PoP LEGENDS : ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS – LOOK NOW”
Welsh director Gareth Evans – best known for The Raid – is the person behind Apostle, a period religious horror film starring Dan Stevens (of Legion fame).