- Daniel O'Connell
Profile
I work for this very website as a developer/ designer. I am a self-confessed music nut, with a reasonably wide ranging taste - as a quick glance to my fave bands on the right will demonstrate.
Having said that, I must confess that the majority of my record collection (yes, LPs as well as CDs!) has a Jazz/ Blues/ Soul influence - with the 'Heavier' stuff being of the more melodic variety.
I know the elements that make a song – and know the difference between a chorus and a middle-eight (and my @rse from my elbow).
Musically, the things that get me ticking are: harmonies, good/ sensible lyrics, a good middle-eight and interesting rhythms/ percussion – and above all of that: a great live performance.
Recent Articles
- The Movieum's 'Kids Go Free summer' 2008 offer
- The Movieum – dedicated to bringing you the history of the UK movie industry has just announced an offer that will please children and parents alike, with their “Kids go free” summer offer. The offer...
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- The Displacements - Summer tour and new single 'Down and Out'
- Leicester-based quartet, The Displacements release latest single ‘Down and Out’ tomorrow (Monday 7th July) on Stiff records (the former lable of North London nutty biys, Madness and current label of C...
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- Wild in the Country 2008 cancelled
- Another festival falls off the calendar for this year... with only two days before it was due. Wild in the Country was due to take place this Saturday at Knebworth Park. Refunds are available at the...
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- Chaka Khan - free London performance on 8th July 2008
- Chaka, chaka, chaka, chaka, chaka, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan… OK, enough of the ‘I Feel for You’ vibe. Funky soul singer Chaka Khan celebrates the release of her latest album ‘Funk This’ with a free live...
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- Stevie Wonder adds three new shows to his September 2008 tour
- I always thought that five palrty shows (albeit in big arenas) was never enough to sate his UK fan-base. Mercifully, Mr Wonder has just announced three extra dates in London, Manchester and Birmingham...
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Recent Reviews:
Roger Waters @ The O2 (02 - Millennium Dome) - 19/5/2008 - Live Review- OK, so first the confession: I’m not exactly a Roger Waters or Pink Floyd expert, being that I own the album that people who aren’t Floyd fans has to own: 'Dark Side of the Moon', ...
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What's the Latch? - The Latch Interview- The Latch are a relatively new band featuring guitarist/ drummer Simon J. Pinto ("Guitarist of the Year 2002" finalist) and singer Lee Latchford Evans. The duo came together throu...
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Peg - Nerina Pallot Single Review- Can Nerina Pallot do nothing wrong at all? [well, ermm… .there was that ill-advised “message in a bottle” duet with Charlotte Church a while back – Ed]. For her latest single Nerin...
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Ray Lamontagne,Akayzia Parker @ Hammersmith Apollo - 08/02/2007 - Live Review- Support act Akayzia Parker from London came onto the stage at 8PM prompt, featuring vocalist Akayzia Parker accompanied by guitarist. The style was acoustic/ nu-soul, and was quite...
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Lovelight - Robbie Williams Single Review- Robbie Williams songs that I like are a pretty rare thing, in fact I can think of just a few that I have liked: Angels and errm... well... this one. So, it’s fair to say I’m not a...
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Best of - Volume 1 - Depeche Mode Album Review- For quite a few years of my life I was a die-hard Depeche Mode fan, discovering them at the Leave in Silence and Everything Counts stage, then again at the (admittedly few years l...
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Alibi - Andrea Wittgens EP Review- Canadian born, Seattle-based singer, songwriter and musician takes a break from her band – Sugartown – to release her debut solo EP, and what an EP it is. I stumbled upon her site...
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How Come - Ray Lamontagne Single Review- How Come is the latest single taken from debut album Trouble, and shows some variation from the title track of the afore-mentioned album, in it’s laid back country/ rock vibe, wher...
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The Brand New Heavies,Loose Cannons @ Scala - 12/09/2006 - Live Review- The Brand New Heavies are back (again) – this time with original lead singer N’dea Davenport. Their last comeback was just over a year ago with the superb Allaboutthefunk which fea...
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Sophia - Nerina Pallot Single Review- When I received the press release stating that Sophia was to be the next single (the third one?) from Nerina Pallot’s album Fires, I was quite surprised. Given that it features jus...
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Paul Rodgers' 2006 UK Tour - Paul Rodgers Preview- Paul Rodgers, the legendary British rock singer, who has fronted Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and more recently Queen, has just announced 8 exclusive UK concerts, kicking off at th...
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Trouble - Ray Lamontagne Single Review- They say that the 'eyes are the window to the soul', but I'd have to argue that in Ray LaMontagne's case, his soul is evident through his plaintive vocals. LaMontagne had no musica...
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Under the Iron Sea [Special Edition] - Keane Album Review- This album has been eagerly anticipated by me for the past few months – and apparently I’m not alone, as it has gone straight into the UK album charts at number one. This is hardl...
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Twelve Stops and Home - The Feeling Album Review- Much like a game of football, this is an album of two halves (and not in the LP sense – in fact, I don’t think it’s out on vinyl). A comparison can be made with this year’s UEFA C...
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Fires - Nerina Pallot Album Review- Up until now, producing product for her own DIY label: Idaho, and releasing on to iTunes and making the iTunes top 10, Fires gets released on 14th Floor Records (a Warner music com...
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Morph the Cat - Donald Fagen Preview- We're part way through another decade which must mean the time is ripe for a Donald Fagen solo album - wahey!Coming few and far between, the albums tend to be tasty labours of love...
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Believable - Mighty Six Ninety Single Review- The San Diego-based quintet of Rich Gardner on vocal/ guitar duty, Jeremy Castillo on guitar, Benjamin Herr on bass, Reade Pryor on drums and the mysteriously-named Camouflage on k...
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Before After - Heaven 17 Album Review- I was a bit of a late comer to Heaven 17, getting into them a few years after I was initially digging The Human League - a band with whom Heaven 17 share close links – apart from b...
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Richard Pryor - Pryor Convictions: And Other Life Sentences Book Review- What is a book review of a comedian doing in a music website?Good question! I think lots of music fans have a good sense of humour - nurtured perhaps by some of the jokers who inha...
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Someone Else's Words - Joff Winks Band Single Review- Possibly the strangest named person I've heard of in a while - Oxford-based Joff Winks and his band were winners of a Battle of the Bands on Zane Lowe's 'Fresh Meat' competition o...
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Anita Baker @ Royal Albert Hall - 09/07/2005 - Live Review- As far as I'm aware, this was Anita Baker's first UK gig since the '90s - having taken a break from the music industry in order to spend more time with her family after 1994's subl...
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Marcus Miller @ Jazz Cafe - 03/07/2005 - Live Review- To the uninitiated: Marcus Miller is to bass, what Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, Miles Davis (with whom he played, composed and produced), Herbie Hancock were/ are to their respecti...
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Press Release - The Subways Biog Review- The Subways are living the provincial kid's dream. Already praised by the NME and Q and tipped by Zane Lowe to be the definitive new band of the year, the trio made phenomenal stri...
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Krafty - New Order Single Review- Krafty, New Order have certainly been in their 20-odd year existence (not including their 'Joy Division' incarnation), by managing to appeal to the 'New Wave' market (early 80s), d...
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Smile - Brian Wilson Single Download Review- Download it here!It's what fans everywhere have been waiting for, and it's finally here. Brian Wilson returns with his highly anticipated album "Smile," for release on 27th Septemb...
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