A ‘talking book’ may not be the smartest attention grabber ever. Air and Italian novelist, Allessandro Baricco certainly didn’t to hit the spot with their book-come- performance art-come-record release, ‘City Reading’ in April – if only because nobody understood it. And whilst the addition of an English translation of the Italian novel from whence it came might have come in handy for some, it surely contradicted the very idea of pure narrative and pure sound that one supposes was its Continue Reading

Iceland – the new France. Gus Gus – the new Jimi Tenor. So inspired were the band by former Warp ‘artiste’ and ultra morphic polycrooner, Jimi Tenor that they provided him with a remix of his own song ‘Call Of The Wild for public consumption. As it is, Tenor was dropped before it could hit the shelves and the band just kept holding on to it. Re-recorded with new vocals by Earth, the track finally made it onto the Underwater released Continue Reading

What with the ubiquity of VU related noises going on at the moment and the unfaltering attention of garage-rock, it seems oddly fitting that May should see the release of John Cale’s new EP ‘JOHN CALE 5 TRACKS’ on EMI on May 26th. The prelude to a new album released this autumn; Cale proves that old dogs can not only new tricks but they can juggle deliriously fragile trip-hop and dub bass to boot. From his celebrated work with The Continue Reading

Scruffy New Yoik riff loving funsters White Light Motorcade are set foranother take-on of the British public.  During a localised attack, centredaround their debut EP release in March, the four oh-so-cool looking geezersplayed a handful of tiny gigs.  They set the interest levels high, promisesmust be held true and so prepare for the come-back, or should that become-on? The band are huge fans of Brit rock and classic power pop and with the extracred of Brad Jones (Jellyfish et al) Continue Reading

In keeping with the 30th anniversary edition of the ‘Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ re-release earlier in the year, EMI again dip their hands into their top-drawer material and pull out another era defining classic. And with sleeve notes by David Buckley, previously unseen photos by Mick Rock, single sleeves and other memorabilia it promises to be a veritable treat for ‘must-have’ retards everywhere. It also comes complete with a second CD featuring some pretty tasty stuff indeed: a sax Continue Reading

There’s a chink of distorted guitar, some background clatter, then a lazy chugging riff and a sedated, sarcastic lyric: “Wire is coming back again/Elastica got sued by them/When Michael Jackson dies/We’re covering Blackbird”. Classic Courtney Taylor (or Taylor-Taylor as it is to you now) behaviour. But bah! We’ve been short-changed! Then in steams ‘We Used To Be Friends’. A veritable flexibly-legged summer anthem (with a capital ‘EM) perhaps, one of the best in the Warhol-party-jukebox, and with the keyboards nudged Continue Reading

It’s probably a bit of a bind being a genius. Easy when you’re blissfully ignorant of course, but when popular consensus loudly christens you as such it’s got to put a frustrating watermark on your day. But then, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) probably spreads marmalade on his toast with a certain amount of grace, if not a mark of genius, such is the unassuming, almost accidental nature of his. And there are those that deserve the tag. He drifted Continue Reading

Due to hit the shops on May 26th, ex-Underworld member and label boss Darren Emerson together gritty Brixton funk traders, Mutiny, release the follow up to last summer’s ‘Underwater Episode One’ – with ‘Underwater Episode Two’. Featuring some cheeky little remixes from the source-likes of Gus Gus (‘Call Of The Wild’) and Mutiny (‘Drums’) the album provides a more than worthy showcase for Ministry of Sound stalwart Paul Jackson and recent release ‘The Push’, as well as a perfect location Continue Reading

It seems a crying shame that the death of Morphine man, Mark Sandman should give rise to one of the most classy and accomplished albums of 2003 – but that’s what happened. With a manifesto that was simply ‘to continue to create unusual music’ sax-man Dana Colley and drummer Billy Conway have built upon their ten year and one Grammy nominated past to produce ‘Twinemen’ – their first original project since their time with Morphine – and looking almost inevitably Continue Reading

If you could set the double-barrelled pop-rifle to Splattergun please, Captain, and load it with nails. Plenty of ‘em too. I thank you. SPLAT 1! Sharp no-shit white-is-white drums, overloaded rhyming, garbled excess – *stop for a breath* – catch-me-if-you-can guitar, horns, shouting! Yes! It’s like Ash taking off The Strokes’ arms with chainsaws in a growing, ripe-for-popping bubblegum bubble, blowing into Less Than Jake’s backyard, exploding on the barbeque and killing all in attendance. Good. SPLAT 2! White hot Continue Reading