Reviews

Fruity and funky loops, a mad as fuck stalker falsetto, a wacky playground approach to narrative, a macabre turn of phrase and heaps and heaps of incommensurable sadness – Baby Bird is back, only this time he’s Stephen Jones. Having only heard a bare but impressive minimum of Jones’ output prior to the monster of classic pop that was ‘You’re Gorgeous’ and ‘Goodnight’ I must rather cautiously attest that Jones is back doing what he does best: imponderably ruthless lo-fi and Continue Reading

There was a time when most rock-driven instrumental albums were the blood, sweat and tears of the bands oft overlooked keys man. They were usually long, protracted affairs, offering no small assortment of ideas and time signatures, but very little in the way of actual ‘songs’. And then there was the other side: the Rick Wakeman school of epic – the tower-block concepts, the sprawling orchestra, the cast of thousands – the faintest whiff of overproduction concealing an absence of Continue Reading

Sorry, sir? You were expecting something a little more ‘now’ as a side-helping with your indie this morning? More ‘now’ than this? C’mon, The Kills are so painfully of today (of fly-by-night media obsessions, of recycled fashion, of undying rock n roll mythology, of various forms of denial) they’re practically the day after tomorrow already. They’re a duo. There’s no bass. They’re shamelessly raw and retro. They wear t-shirts and denim. They look a bit grubby and rough round the Continue Reading

This is a strange film. For those who know, only three words are needed to explain quite how so: Being John Malkovich. This is the follow-up to that film. Well, follow-up in the sense it comes after it, and even overlaps, but isn’t a sequel. But is in the sense that it’s a similarly unique product of a creative explosion between the colliding minds of screenplay writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze (yep, him of Beastie Boys, Weezer, Fatboy Continue Reading

It seemed almost inevitable that I would start by throwing in casual – hell, perhaps even lazy – references to Lemon Jelly, Zero 7 – hell – even Air – but hand on heart, for every vagary of likeness there’s a candy-coloured mongrel of disparity amongst the quotes. Avoiding the frivolous detachment of the mighty Jellies, and the maverick obstinacy of the KY: collection, Nottingham’s Bent (Simon Mill, ex-giggler and Nail Tolliday, ex rave controller) follow up first official release, Continue Reading

It does indeed seem very strange that the artist formerly known as relevant and legitimate can now be witnessed trading thinly experimental electronica. Bob Mould, yes he of seminal alternative rock bands, Hüsker Dü, and Sugar and who was recently featured on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, is now championing the all but hopeless lost cause that is his not so cleverly disguised ‘Loudbomb’ moniker. More famous for his overdriven guitar-charged punk rock Mould is tinkering with gizmos Continue Reading

Taken from the Krautpop duo’s second album, White Noise, Burning Up sees the band sidestepping the traditional pull of bleak, androgynous techno beatz by coming up with a crafty and enjoyably catchy tune. Not the first time too. A couple of years ago, 77 Sunset Strip managed to conjure up all the whimsical exuberance of early OMD as much as it heralded the early onslaught of electroclash: pithy, to the point and with a distinctive, running loop as downright hooky Continue Reading

The songwriting nucleus behind New York indie band, Madder Rose (they of 1993’s well received ‘Bring It Down’ album) Mary Lorson and Billy Cote have just released the largely (and bravely) instrumental ‘Piano Creeps’. They may have ended their formal arrangement with the release of ‘Tragic Magic’ in 1997 but the two have been virtually inseparable ever since, collaborating in part on Lorson’s Saint Low project. An innocent and pretty collection of musical vignettes, the album portrays the same sparkling innocence Continue Reading

With both hair follicles and riffs cranked up to the nines, these four pesky New Zealanders are presently shaking things up in the UK, and if the US release of their debut album, The Datsuns is anything to go by, then their hellfire brand of super-charged rock is going to doodle those damn Yankees quite squarely too. Alice Cooper riffs and a stoned out blues approach to simplicity make The Datsuns perhaps the coolest kick-ass exponents of plug-in-and-play rock n’ Continue Reading

Want a more legitimate alternative to Avril Lavigne? Heck, who doesn’t? The industry is certainly trying to come up with the goods and just when you thought The Donnas looked likely to be a one-off success up pop the scruffy little alt-pop unit, Damone. Comprising of the barely legal 17 year old, Noelle – blind in one eye and suitably obscured by a tress of nut-brown hair – Damone are the skilfully crafted peripheral to motherboard and writer, Dave Pino. Continue Reading