To be honest, few labels stick to their principles as fiercely and uncompromisingly as Ninja Tune – the London-based independent record label started in 1991 by DJs Matt Black and Jonathan More, better known as Coldcut. More popularly known for nurturing DJs and producer ‘projects’ like DJ Shadow, Kid Koala, Spank Rock, Mr Scruff and cLOUDDEAD the label recently set up another imprint, Counter Records to release the debut album from diminutive Scouse rebel-rouser, Pop Levi (The Return To Form Continue Reading

‘Re-rewind, when the crowd say Bo Selecta’. That’s how it went, and up went the cry in every bar room, in every club and in every city in every town at the back end of the nineties. What did it mean? I have no idea. Never did, and because I didn’t it, it means I had no real right to know. But that’s the beauty of tracks like this, they alienate as many people as they involve – which is Continue Reading

It’s inevitable that people are going to speculate on whether or not this US-UK boy-girl duo have deliberately constructed their fashionably lo-fi ‘anti-music’ attitude; afterall, the cover art for the band’s first ‘Black Rooster EP, featured Mosshart and Hince arsing around in a photo-booth with the pouts the size of balloons, doing their best to look cool and undaunted. It was the war cry of someone reluctant to get out of bed in the morning – not revolutionary exactly, more Continue Reading

Wish I had a had a different road-map for this one, as the one I have is dogged-eared, covered in coffee-stains and falling apart at the seams from years of systematic abuse by young and deeply psychedelic celestial beings out to redefine boundaries eked out already rather satisfactorily by John Lennon’s ‘Mind Games’ and Sparklehorse’s ‘Good Morning Spider’. Not that it’s an unpleasant read by any means; rich tapestries of timorous, fragile vocals, hypnotic arpeggios, cellos weeping like cherubim and Continue Reading

To be honest they’ve been around a few years now, so there seems little point in rolling out all manner of shocking announcements and introductions. The band are from Montreal in Canada and, let’s face it, given that we’ve had no end of successful Canadian bands in the last five years – Arcade Fire, The Dears, Hot Hot Heat, Broken Social Scene, New Pornographers, Stellastarr* – it seems equally unworthy to start banging on about ‘new scenes’ and unruly, national Continue Reading

So, it’s hardly “hold the front page, Rupert!”, earthquakingly astounding  news (though recent Richter-scale bothering tremors in the UK have to be assigned to something we suppose), but Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds have made another truly great album. Remarkable, even. That has become such a given after 14 albums that it feels like it’s barely worth mentioning anymore. But there’s always something to exclaim about, that too is a guarantee, and ‘Dig!!!! Lazarus, Dig!!!’ has plenty of opportunity Continue Reading

A sugar cube empire could have been there’s … If only it hadn’t rained in September 1995. The Presidents of the United States – PUSA – to those who care. They had a large-scale radio ‘smash’ with a song called ‘Lump’ in the mid-nineties and followed it up with something almost as endemic called ‘Peaches’. It was fun while it lasted – a rubbery cartoon trio of yanks that existed along a faultline in the UK charts which had developed Continue Reading

First erupting from the fertile loins of Adele Bethel whilst he was on tour with Arab Strap in 2001, the band has supported everyone from Franz Ferdinand and Throwing Muses during their less than meteoric rise to this, their third album, produced by produced by ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler and building on the band’s characteristic brand of gothic, vaguely folksy punk-rock. In fishnets. Recalling bands as noisy and diverse as The Birthday Party and Pretty Girls Make Graves, ‘The Gift’ Continue Reading

We’d always put The Mountain Goats’ appeal down to the inherent loneliness, fragile tragedy and ultimately the optimism exhibited by John Darnielle’s detail-crammed compositions – exemplified by the very fact that they were performed under the auspices of privacy, recalling as they did personal journeys, stolen moments from a childhood, and uncooked emotions conveyed eloquently. The blinds, we felt, were always down. They worked particularly well when you were under no misconception that this was a band (even though for Continue Reading