Reviews

By rights, all Animal Collective records should carry a public health warning in an attempt to minimise the harm the well-meaning hack inflicts upon himself during his efforts to transcribe the belligerent atonal anarchy he hears on the record in a way that’s fit for public consumption. The simple truth of the matter is this; the sounds make little or no sense at all nor do they obey the more formal conventions of screwing up the rulebook and freaking out. Continue Reading

‘It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped and whirrrrr when it stood still. I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will.’ Or so says Val Doonican of his marvellous, but totally impenetrable toy. And it might be equally true to say of celebrated intersex personality, Anthony Hogarty. For me, when I was a lad, it wasn’t a toy as such but a piece of wood roughly 12” in length, 3” wide Continue Reading

There was a time when Austin, Texas’ sonic maelstrom and all round mouth-full …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead were as hot as iron ore at melting point (1530° celsius, science fans) and had hipsters queuing round the block to get branded. Ever since At the Drive In pile-drove in though and elasticised their way past them, searing a lasting impression into the earth and then promptly and impressively imploding, Trail Of Dead have struggled to Continue Reading

You know the kind of man we’re talking about. Can’t unzip his fly to have a piss without the cold hard crunch of a gun clip being loaded by way of a soundtrack. Plays Grand Theft Auto a lot. Loves Manga and Spike Lee and is sadly more likely to talk about drugs than abuse them with any real conviction. These boys love the unpredictability, the sex and the stench of the ghetto but their University educations mean they’re unlikely Continue Reading

Difficult to believe given her recent brush with death but the former Neighbours star and all round chart nymphet was only recently honoured by the Queen with an OBE for her services to music and for having what is ostensibly one of the cutest butts in British and Australian chart-history (Rihanna having already coveted this particular accolade in the US). Naturally, it’s more likely to have been Prince Philip who recommended her for this honour, rather than old Lizzy herself, Continue Reading

Preceded by an album party launch at London ‘s End and AKA complex that saw Joaquin ‘Joe’ Claussel headline The End’s main room for the first and the last time ever and Maurice Fulton head up the AKA, the Need2Soul crew kickstarts what is a reluctant diaspora for the home crowd by releasing a second volume of tunes synonymous with the clubnight and co-host Benji B’s weekly radio show. Recently The End and its sister venue, the AKA announced that Continue Reading

There’s something encouragingly apt about American Soul and Gospel-singer (and reluctant Disco Diva) Candi Staton rediscovering her form on Damon Albarn’s multi-ethnic melting pot, Honest Jon’s Records; a Poor Law Union workhouse of old school R n B, funk, soul, African and Latin American and based on the legendary record shop of the same name. The old Ladbroke Grove record store, located on a street that the local Caribbean-Iberian lags would call ‘The Town’, plied its trade on the rag-and-bone Continue Reading

The History of the World in Band Names, Part One: The Underground Railroad was a network of escape routes organized to help slaves reach safe states in nineteenth century America . The actual band itself is a much more modest proposition, though it’s still managed to engineer its own escape (well, in comparative terms, more of a Thomson’s mini-break) finding its way to a Seattle studio via Paris and a one room flat in Whitechapel. The Railroad has a New Continue Reading