Dead Jerichos - Mountains

I may be one of the few reviewers in Oxford who isn’t enthused by Dead Jerichos. They have far more style than they do substance and “Mountains” is a four and a half minute example of how to make a two chord wonder sound more impressive than it really is. In fact it brings to mind the Bill Bailey routine where he demonstrates how less-epic U2 riffs are without the digital delay. They may be the so-called “hardest working band in Oxford” but this is just lazy songwriting.

Various Artists - Spires: A Collection of Music From Oxford Bands

(Free Download, 2011)

When NME recently ran an article on the ‘mysterious’ Blessing Force scene, it gave the nation the impression that those bands were running the Oxford music scene when in fact a lot of regular punters and hard working Oxford bands had hardly heard of most of them. Here, Aaron from Phantom Theory has taken this as an opportunity to compile a collection of those Oxford bands which are really out there, gigging, making music and working hard. If you follow the local scene then you’ll recognise the bands spotlighted here; Black Hats, Dead Jerichos, Dial F, TROT, Ute, Spring Offensive et al. This isn’t a surprising compilation by any means, and the songs collected here are among the respective bands’ most well known. It’s a simple idea - just as Jon Spira’s upcoming documentary Anyone Can Play Guitar will attempt to give a history lesson on Oxford music, Spires catalogues some of the city’s best current bands. Don’t lament the bands which have been left off this compilation, the idea behind Spires is admirable and it’s free, so go direct those who have been misinformed by NME to go download it.

http://spirescompilation.wordpress.com/

[Originally printed in Oxfordshire Music Scene magazine, issue 12, February 2011]

http://www.oxfordmusicscene.co.uk/images/oms_issue12.pdf