Darren Saunders
I was born at an early age, and discovered music a bit later. The first song I remember hearing properly was Tears For Fears- Everybody Wants To Rule The World, which says more about me than I’d care to admit. Most of my life has been spent in the artistic dead spot of Southampton, where we know all about siege defences and ships, but very little about decent music. Unless you consider Craig David to be decent. Which I don’t. When I was 27 I had a mid life crisis, got divorced and signed up to a radio production degree at Bournemouth university. Given that I’d never been in a radio studio before in my life, this was a pretty rash decision, but one I’m glad I made. These days I live in London, as everyone does, desperately trying to catch the ear of the controller of 6 Music, in a vain attempt to find never ending employment at the BBC. In the meantime I make podcasts for my own amusement (because no other bugger listens to them), and write the odd review for Echoes And Dust. I am a Virgo, but this means nothing.
Articles by Darren Saunders
replicr, 2019 sounds like the result of forcing a bank of computers to listen to thousands of hours of music, then telling them to make something that humans can dance to.
All told, I Can Build A Fire is a damn fine album with which Autoheart should rightly be proud. By Darren Saunders
An adventure of Scandinavian folklore, a life lived on water, Cat Stevens’ voice, Nick Drake’s sound, and Tom Waits’ heart, wrapped up in the most personal, intimate, beautiful music you could possibly hope for. – By Darren Saunders
Nice enough tunes, but utterly puerile. Unless you’re 15, this probably isn’t for you. – By Darren Saunders
Poison Idea are back, giving us more of the same stuff we loved all along. – By Darren Saunders
Tinie Tempah and George Ergatoudis, the head of music at Radio 1 have declared the album is dead. Are they right though? No, they’re not. Sort of. By Darren Saunders
Almost Everyone Is Entirely Average At Almost Everything is a thrashing, angry juggernaut of an album. By Darren Saunders
Gigantoid isn’t an album with great depth, nor is it one that takes you on a journey, but it is immense fun. – By Darren Saunders
How many albums have truly changed your life? Pennywise managed it in spades with About Time for Darren Saunders…
The Revolution Is Never Coming is a breathtaking labour of love, a piece of art that deserves recognition beyond The Red Paintings’ enthusiastic fanbase. – By Darren Saunders
65daysofstatic are the best band you will ever see live. Know this. – By Darren Saunders
This is music as art, and 65daysofstatic ought to feel rightly proud of it. – By Darren Saunders
The Civil Wars isn’t going to convert many to listening to folk – American folk, that is – but it’s a damn enjoyable record all the same. – By Darren Saunders
Recently our man Darren Saunders reviewed the new Autoheart album. To say he quite liked it is something of an understatement so we packed him off, tape recorder in hand, to talk to them & find out a bit more. Have a listen.
Punk was great, wasn’t it? Young people scaring the shit out of old people, listening to loud music, dressing all funny like and caring about society. Isn’t it terrifying when young people start to question the status quo? Maybe the monarchy *is* a bad thing. Maybe our system of government *is* flawed? Problem is, it seems there’s no protest left. Where is this generation’s punk? By Darren Saunders
As comfortably British as the Shipping Forecast, a summer with a Duckworth Lewis Method album is a welcome summer indeed. – By Darren Saunders
Rarely have I ever been this blown away by an album I’ve spent this long waiting for. By Darren Saunders
Autoheart are releasing their debut album Punch on the 15 of July, so last night, at a small bar in North London, they played an acoustic set by way of a taster of what’s the come. – By Darren Saunders
Put on headphones, switch off Twitter, set your brain to sponge and absorb 13 Degrees Of Reality. By Darren Saunders
A pleasant enough release which will no doubt be well-received by their fans, but it doesn’t go anywhere exciting. By Darren Saunders
Public Service Broadcasting are everything I love about music, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. They love their art form, and are willing to sweat over it to make it perfect, and that’s alright by me. By Darren Saunders
