It’s a sad fact that local live music is on the decline. Pop giants dominate the charts, the music channels and the radio, and with the huge pool of bands and artists out there, it’s much harder for small bands to break through and stay successful. Countless small music venues in my hometown of Southampton…
Author: hdlcooks
Christmas 2014 – Disneyland Paris and more!
So now Christmas has been and gone, it’s time to talk about what the festive season has been like for me this year. It seems that Christmas really did creep up on me this year, and despite buying and making present lists far in advance, I still found myself rushing around to get everything done.The…
10 books that changed my life
1. Brave New World – Aldous HuxleyDystopian fiction is something I will always come back to as an academic, a student and a writer. It reflects and reacts to so many of the general areas of life that I am interested in: politics, philosophy and human nature. This was by no means the first dystopian…
Review: Julian Casablancas + The Voidz at The Coronet London
Photo: Andy Hughes/NME When I woke up on Sunday morning, I really expected it to feel like Christmas. I wanted the butterflies, the excitement, the irrational need to get to my presents so I could tear off the wrapping paper and finally play with them. But when I woke up that morning, it was at…
Review: Mockingjay Part 1
For anyone who has been vaguely near to any kind of media over the past three years, there is a very good chance that you know about The Hunger Games series. The world’s replacement for the Harry Potter and Twilight films, The Hunger Games is an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of novels. The latest…
Preview: Julian Casablancas + The Voidz at The Coronet London
On 7/12/14, Strokes frontman and solo artist Julian Casablancas will be bringing his latest musical endeavour, The Voidz, to the UK, playing an exclusive show at The Coronet Theatre in London. Julian Casablancas is best known for being the enigmatic frontman of New York based garage-rock band, The Strokes. His drawling vocals and indecipherable lyrics…
Recipe: Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry)
Everyone who knows me in person knows that this curry recipe is kind of my thing. I have made it on a bi-weekly basis, without fail, since my mid teens. The recipe has differed slightly over the years, usually depending on what ingredients we have to hand, but the backbone of the dish has remained…
‘Lose My Mind’ – Bel Esprit (Review)
Here we have the debut single from local Southampton lads, Bel Esprit. Their name is a reference to the fund T.S. Eliot set up in aid of Ezra Pound to help him write poetry full time and is a rough translation of ‘beautiful spirit’, but don’t let this fool you – the music packs a…
HDL food & culture 