Reviews

Bearing in mind that Duran Duran have been doing rather well with their far more recent tour with class acts like Goldfrapp, I’m at a loss as to why I’m sitting here listening to a fairly unremarkable 1984 US/Canadian ‘event’. It might have sold over 2 million copies the first time around, but only a fool would buy this when it’s inevitable that these erstwhile bandana boys have already scheduled a ‘live’ release to coincide with their more recent rebirth Continue Reading

 In their native Britain in the early Seventies, skinheads turned glam-rockers Slade notched up a mighty 17 Top 20 hits, including six at number 1. And it wasn’t enough to play comically misspelled songs like ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, ‘Coz I Luv You’, ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’ and ‘Skweeze Me Pleeze Me’ on your brand new wireless portable stereo. You had to play it loud. And like pretty much every rock band before them (The Beatles, The Monkees, Continue Reading

I may not have the foggiest idea as to what these unkempt Brooklyn rascals are singing about, but so what? The Animal Collective are a timely reminder that music is about ‘sound’ as much as ‘sense’. Described by TimeOut NY as “the discovery of the year…” the band have already seen the release of three albums (‘Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished’, ‘Danse Manatee’, ‘Campfire Songs’) and a split 12“ as well as separate tours with both Múm and Four Continue Reading

There we were thinking back to the late 90s, presuming that the acclaimed abstract post-electroisms of Fridge was just Kieran Hebden feeling his way around the lab for the first time. Turns out it was a bit of a finishing school for more than just one. Now, joining Four Tet (the dreamy creation of the lauded Mr Hebden) as alumni of that experiment is Adem. Or Adem Ilhan as he was known in full back then.  It’s a simplified title Continue Reading

Eerie, spectral lullabies of a warped, distrusting heart with songs inspired by everything from weird car crashes involving fleeing villains to the peevish manipulation of someone else’s emotions and senses. And with guest contributions from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, the Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne and REM’s Michael Stipe words like ‘fragile’, ‘surreal’ and ‘tender’ are not going to be far away either. And that’s what you have here. ‘Your Love Means Everything’ is the second album from Faultine writer, producer, arranger, Continue Reading

It’s not that I really expect Harry and Co. to be sounding as spectacularly cool, spunky and vital as they did in ’78 when little bombs of unearthly delight went off in my trousers on seeing the band perform ‘Denis’ on ‘Top Of The Pops’, just as I don’t expect the Beatles to be getting back together. You see, some things have their time and no amount of yearning is ever going to bring that time back. The success of Continue Reading

In the first instance we don’t know whether he’s warming up, or whether it’s us warming up to him. It’s not until the plains of track 3, ‘My Apartment’ and its upbeat alt-country tinkering, that we come face to face with the melodic chicanery we feel we know and feel thrilled by. But turns out we were unwise to worry.  Even by his jaunty debut album ‘Sha Sha’s standards, and especially its highlights ‘Wasted & Ready’, No Reason’ and ‘In Continue Reading

Imagine a lost weekend in Tijuana.  Tequila that burns the skin off the back of your throat, novelty sombrero’s that save you from the sun, and salsa to soothe or to make you stamp, depending on the tequila.  And a soundtrack for this auspicious event, look no further than Mexican band, Kinky’s second album, ‘Atlas’.  Perhaps the name was a premonition, as Kinky’s excessive touring (180 shows last year no less) and impending success see them emerge on both sides Continue Reading

That Roger Waters was cutting-down bandmates and comrades at the kind of rate any self-regarding gunner would be proud of at the time of its original release in the early eighties will come as something of a surprise to those who consider ‘The Final Cut’ to be as philanthropic as its master would have us believe. Afterall, it is essentially a Roger Waters solo album. Staff Sergeants Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason were sidelined on wages, deployed only on an Continue Reading

Seeing themselves initially as outsiders totally at odds with all the usual corporate bullshit going on seems to have allowed this Surrey-based band room enough to unravel their attractive brand of thoughtful and idiosyncratic ‘collegiate rock’ free from all the cloying anxieties of industry pressure. As Dylan put it, ‘when you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose’.  And these self-styled ‘casual pilots exploring twilight noise seduction’ (their words, not mine, thankfully) have certainly got nothing to lose even Continue Reading