Category Archives: Review

Five years ago I was at a restaurant called Aquiesta Coco in Santiago, Chile.  The chef had a motto: ‘Reduce the speed and feel the moment’.  It’s a pretty cool philosophy, and one I’ve tried to keep in mind ever since.  It’s tough though.  We live in a world where the pace of everything seemsContinue reading “Phoebe Hall – Runaway”

Some years ago I was lucky enough to be in the presence of Amy Winehouse.  It was New Year’s day and she was on the hunt for chocolate.  My wife had a bag of Minstrels which she gave to Amy and received a loving hug in return.     I thought about that experience last night,Continue reading “The Elephant Trees – Live in Preston”

Ben, Brad, Nath and Cam have produced another hit with their latest single Butterflies.  It follows a string of previous belters such as Crazy Stupid Love, Gravity and Dreamlands.  Daydream Runaways badge themselves as a “nostalgia-inducing pop rock band”, however Butterflies is actually closer to the ‘Album Orientated Rock’ (AOR) style made popular in theContinue reading “Daydream Runaways – Butterflies”

Astoria are a rock band from the Southern edges of Leeds, England.  The danger with that opening sentence is that some people will automatically label them as an Artic Monkeys type band.  Any rock band where the singer has something of a Yorkshire accent risks being put in that category, but it could be worseContinue reading “Astoria – (Don’t) Turn Around”

It’s throwback Friday here at Makeit-loud.com On 31 December 2019, the World Health Organization was informed of a cluster of cases of pneumonia detected in Wuhan, China.  Ever since then the year 2019 has been defined by COVID-19.  Which is a bit of a shame, because on September 18th that year a band called Senium,Continue reading “Senium – Senium”

Some friends in Switzerland recently asked me about The Elephant Trees.  I said everything they’re doing is better than anything else in the UK right now.  The new single ‘Ones and Zer0s’, released today, demonstrates that point perfectly.      Quite simply, singer/songwriter Martha Phillips should be designated a national treasure.  She’s part poet, part socialContinue reading “The Elephant Trees – Ones and Zer0s”

Let’s go back to the beginning.  The 1970s, when a musical genre called Progressive Rock first came on the scene with bands like Emerson Lake and Palmer, Jethro Tull, Rush, King Crimson, Genesis and Pink Floyd.  It was a time when songwriters wanted to create music that would last.  They were striving for something thatContinue reading “Dead Venus – Flowers & Pain”

Oh, you’re going to love this song.  It’s a proper belter.  Guitars dirtier than a spittoon and a drum beat sleazier than a Hollywood skin flick.     The American comedian Woody Allen once described Toronto as: “New York run by the Swiss.”  He wasn’t wrong, and on the face of it Stergios Kalochoridis and Robert Ragazzo, AKAContinue reading “The Lookout Service – I’m Not Going Anywhere”

Have you ever wondered what AC/DC would sound like with Amy Lee on vocals?  Well, take a listen to New Age Grace.  It might be Amy Huckerby rather than Amy Lee on vocals, but the overall effect is the same.  That’s certainly the case on ‘Climbing the Walls’, the title track from New Age Grace’sContinue reading “New Age Grace – Climbing the Walls”

The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama once said: “My life is a dot lost among thousands of other dots.”  On her latest release Mollie Coddled sings: “I’m the loneliest bitch of them all”.  Kusama is now one of the world’s most respected artists, and has a sold out exhibition at Tate Modern in London.  A similarContinue reading “Mollie Coddled – Lonely Bitch”