‘Call it nu soul, or call it what you will…’ reads the press release. So I will, thank you very much. I’ll call it lounge music, because that is what it is quite frankly. Okay, tracks like ‘In The Black Of Night’ and ‘Naturally’ might have some tricky, shuffling break things going on and some frisky, frivolous scatting courtesy of easy-listening sweetheart Lady Z, but the core of the material is pretty much based in the soft leathery chairs of Continue Reading
This is a coool album. No. A coooool album. Little Beaver, singer and guitarist, shone briefly in the early 70’s with his smooth soul minor classics such as ‘Joey’, ‘Party Down’ and ‘We Three’. Signed to TK Records in ’71, he wrote and played session for a number of already established acts such as Betty Wright and Blowfly/Clarence Reed before releasing material in his own right. ‘Joey’, his first hit, is dark, slow funk with soft guitar stabs and narcoleptic Continue Reading
First, we have to make up our mind about one thing; is it acceptable to be influenced in this day and age by The Police, or is not acceptable? Whatever the age. The fact there’s only two of ‘em is no excuse. There’s similarly no excuse in having played in bands performing cover versions of Police and Queen songs in pubs and bars around West London and Brighton for the last 45 years. These things don’t just happen by accident. Continue Reading
‘Original Pirate Material’ was 15 years in the making. From the moment the rap obsessed kid from the Midlands first heard copies of his older brother’s Run DMC and Beastie Boys records right up until the moment he upped and relocated to the UK Garage capital of London. White kid from Birmingham makes good. White kid from Birmingham makes unshakeably well-realized and clued up hip-hop/garage hybrid. White kid from Birmingham introduces the ordinary and unremarkable narratives of the British underclass Continue Reading
Alt-country we’re perfectly comfortable with – and all of its unwashed t-shirts, shaggy haircuts, bruised personalities and cute, smooth-skinned chancers that are just that little too meek to sell their soul and go all the way with rock ‘n’ roll. The bare bones of the real-deal though we weren’t so sure of. We thought that was the preserve of ageing Midwestern country folk happy to hum the same song to themselves day in day out, year after year, decade after Continue Reading
Tim Burgess said in the run up to ‘Up At The Lake’s release that he wants The Charlatans to see in their 20th anniversary. That really is a crying shame, because as hefty as that number seems, that day is but 4 years away. It does though put into context their achievements which, in spite of everything (from critical lashings, tragedies and just some plain undeserved bad luck), have been numerous. And if this is the sound of them coasting, Continue Reading
Where exactly is it that Ash want to be? Maybe it doesn’t matter, they are on borrowed time after all, back from the brink, written off commercially in the late 90s and a sweaty coke-flecked hair’s width away from being declared bankrupt. Nonetheless they continued to be eaten from the inside out by a rock ‘n’ roll myth that maybe they didn’t fit, careering haphazardly across Planet Cliché. Of course that was all consigned to history by 2001’s mainstream-smooching, bubblegum Continue Reading
With all this seemingly compulsory hyperbole and white-wash 24/7 Mozza-lovin’ hanging heavy in the air at the moment it’s easy to forget he ever made and released ‘Southpaw Grammar’, which is result enough. Wiping the history books clean once we’ve become a little less insatiable towards his charms may prove harder. But more importantly it’s hard testament to what he’s actually crafted here. No matter how exclusively enthusiastic our leaning towards innovation, evolution and experimentalism, we all still have an Continue Reading
The thing with live gigs is they shuffle the songs chosen into such nonsensical bloody orders. Which is probably as it should be, nothing wrong there you say. But put this whopping-large Alexandra Palace show from last Christmas back in a chronological order it would be like watching the unveiling of some big-budget musical interpretation of a great Shakespearean tragedy adapted for modern times. And just that touch more entertaining. See, Travis were the men who were worth getting to Continue Reading
It’s hard not to like Supergrass. Unless you happen to despise mutton sideburns that is. On a less hairy level, there is nothing to hate. I mean really? They’re a lovable trio, bit of cheek, bit of charm, the sort of band you could go for a day in the park with. We all remember ‘Alright’. Anthem for an optimistic youth, bubbling with happiness and yet oh so simple. ‘We have teeth nice and clean’. Indeed. Then the reality hits Continue Reading