Articles by Simon Roche
Author of 163 posts.
Simon is State's Art Director as well as running his own graphic design studio (Smoke & Mirrors) out of Copenhagen, where he has tolerated pickled herring and very pretty girls for almost five years. He spends his days designing album covers, magazines, books and maps and can often be found eating the local roasted hot dogs and pursuing his quest to find the perfect pint of Classic.
Website:http://smokeandmirrorsstudio.dk/
24 year-old Lykke Li seems to have been on tour since the ever-mounting success of her album Youth Novels… in 2008. Where this indefatigable young Swede found the time to write and record this album is anybody’s guess. One thing she didn’t do, is rely on the initial success of her smart, after-midnight twist on
With Let England Shake… not even a week old, PJ Harvey kicks off her live tour in the gorgeous amphitheater Cirque Royale in Brussels. It’s still definitely a winter’s evening outside but inside we’re boiling in minutes as with the cloakroom full we have to wear our winter coats into the venue. Thankfully cheap beers
State caught Glasser on the early leg of her European tour when she called into Little Vega in Copenhagen on a cold Sunday night. Appearing in a fanciful head-dress that looked like the seat of an old tractor with a tennis ball on it, Cameron Mesirow and her white jump-suit-clad band gave us a warm…
Glasvegas are back with the first song from their new album ‘EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\’ to be released on April 4. ‘The World Is Yours’ pumps up the wide Glasvegas sound even more and they seem to be fully utilising their new drummer Jonna Lofgren, not to mention the production talents of Flood, who they…
In 2007, White Lies came out of London with a bombastic indie sound and the widescreen voice of a youthful Julian Cope. Two years later their first album To Lose My Life…… was at number one in the UK, thanks to the aforementioned endearing qualities and its polished yet dark, urban feel (the drums sounding
At the end of December, State threw on its warm jacket and slid across roads of ice to Malmo to catch summer melody-peddlers Best Coast in the almost perfect Debaser venue. Seeking protection against the elements outside, we were given a short, cheery set of A-B-C guitar pop.
Some of the set seemed a bit…
Somewhere is Sofia Coppola’s follow-up to Marie Antoinette and the acclaimed Lost In Translation… and she manages to make a film even calmer and more relaxed of pace than Bill Murray’s time in Tokyo. A casual observer will waste no time in saying that nothing much happens but what the movie does convey, it does
Body Talk 3… is the concluding part of Robyn’s trilogy concept which saw her writing, recording and releasing songs while also touring extensively. As she wrote songs she was almost immediately able to test the results live and then release them in pocket-sized bunches every few months, with great success both in the constantly developing
We all know what it’s like to operate through December, with the party season tempting even the strongest out on school nights. What you need is a day off, a warm blanket, a friend to come over with chips and a coke and a soundtrack to get you from the edge of the abyss back…
Enjoying Jason Charles Beck, aka Chilly Gonzales’ Ivory Tower… is a hell of a lot easier than trying to explain to someone who he is and why you like him. Thankfully the artist himself assists with the thought that his life may be “a B-movie shot by Tim Burton” in the rap version of ‘Never
You know those perfect weekends. They peak at the height of Saturday nights more often than not dancing to some golden pop, hanging with a random crew who for a few hours are the ONLY people in the world you want to be with. Then things slow a little, people gather to continue elsewhere and…
One of the best things about getting wasted on Friday night at Airwaves, is Saturday mornings Chill party at the Blue Lagoon. It’s big, outdoor geothermal pool of blue, sulphiric water – off-flow from a thermal powerplant in a lava field about 40 mins outside town. Busses pick up shadows of people from the hotels…
Fresh after a good night’s sleep, there’s actually a full day to wander the excellently pocket-sized town before the main shows start. The atmosphere in the town alone is a joy, with punters and bands alike all catching up and chatting over coffee or some early beers. Throughout the day there’s still plenty of off-schedule…
On the bus in from the airport to the Icelandic capital you notice that not only is the sky and land some mix of grey, but even the coloured houses dotted along the lava fields are all tinted in greying versions of some once bright colour. The colour in this town, thankfully, is all in…
