Vive Le Rock review of Museum Of Tomorrow

 Huge thank to Vive Le Rock magazine for reviewing Museum Of Tomorrow in issue 85, very nice:

“Bright and poppy future shocks.
8/10
Some very interesting and rather charming stuff here from Manchester’s The Speed Of Sound, who present a future shock with the science-fiction-drenched ‘Museum Of Tomorrow’, presented as two galleries ss opposed to two sides of vinyl, each tune representing a conceptual image. Musically this is a mixed bag from sunny and bright New-Wave styled pop to jangly indie in the style of 90’s bands such as Salad, all the way through to punky cuts thst have long shadows of Blondie trailing after them. There is even a 60s aesthetic at work on the spacey ‘Wired And Tired’. The duelling vocals of Ann-Marie Crowley and guitarist John Armstrong work a treat especially on tunes like ‘Opium Eyes’, while instrumentation remains at a high technical level as The Speed Of Sound launch themselves through various stratospheres. Unique and otherworldly.”
Bruce Turnbull
Vive Le Rock (no.85) 27Aug2021

The one-click-to-everywhere album link is here

and here's the review in its natural setting

Something New

31 years in and The Speed Of Sound are not averse to new things; the imminent release of the new single sees the addition of keyboards to the sound of Sound. And it is none other than Henry Armstrong, (yes, son of JohnA) that can be found twirling the Korg knobs and pressing the keys.

Adding a new dimension of sounds and textures.

On the Everything Changes album the idea was to capture the live sound. Similar to The Clash's first album; it was a simple plan - go in the studio, play the songs and record them. It is essentially a live album without audience noise.
With the current recordings the live approach was retained, playing together, set-up as a live band, but adding a lot more studio nuance and way more things that can't be done live.
The keyboards however, are part off the long-term plan and will be out there with us once it is sensible to play gigs again post-pandemic.
Until then we don't want to put an audience, sound-crew or obviously ourselves at risk.
Stay safe out there people!

And, before there is more live music there will be more recorded music... very soon...

ici Paris; ici Manchester

Paul made his Speed Of Sound debut drumming at our gig with French Boutik on Saturday, the next two gigs are acoustic so he will miss out on those and we'll be back loud again at the end of July. Massive thanks to Gabriela, Serge, Jean-Marc and Zelda (Icky couldn't make the trip) for coming over from Paris and filling the evening with Parisian smoothness, thanks to the Kings Arms and thanks to the audience that made it extra special.        

Set List:
I See You Everywhere That I Go
The Changes
Checkered Land
Sit By The River
Maid Of The Grey
Seen It All Before
Only Everything
Day In Day Out
Chalk Circle
Love
Girl On The Roof
There's No One There
French Boutik played a full set including their cover of The Clash's City Of The Dead , and the Kings Arms managed to look like the TopOfThePops studio for the night.

June visitors

Paris chic comes to Manchester as the undeniably cool and classy French Boutik make their NW UK debut at 'What's The Alternative?...' on 19th June. Fresh from a tour of Germany and bound for Dublin, Paris, Russia and Canada this is a special treat for music lovers in and around Greater Manchester. Plus; its the debut gig for The Speed Of Sound's new drummer so once again everything changes, we like to evolve. And thanks to French Boutik's label for giving us another mention in their newsletter in the 'Niters, Gigs And Other Do's I'd Like To Go Or Hang Around' section:

A preview in the Manchester Evening News:

 http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/event/what-s-the-alternative-this-is-june-guest-artist-french-boutik/