Goldfrapp have spent the past decade teasing us. Their 2002 debut ‘Felt Mountain’ is rightly regarded as indispensable, but since then the London duo have bounced uneasily between electro-pop, ambient melancholia and trip-hop without ever quite delivering the baroque masterpiece we know they’re capable of. Frustrating, yes, but on the strength of the leaked single […]
This, on the Righteous label, arrived in the post on Friday and come Friday night it was on constant repeat on the CD player. Northern Boys is an album crammed full of Northern Soul tunes made “famous” by clubs such as the Blackpool Mecca and Wigan Casino and it is a really infectious collection. Most […]
It’s been 8 long years since The Arctic Monkeys first smashed their way onto the indie rock scene. They sure came out swinging, brandishing the adrenaline fuelled foot stomper “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor” and its parent album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ which both went straight […]
This popped through the letter box from those helpful chaps at Cherry Red a couple of weeks ago and I was a bit surprised that they’d sent me something from the mid 70s. Actually this is a re-release of the ninth album from Man, – originally released on UA Records – this one is released […]
Snip Records is a new record label which focuses on high resolution digital music and this is the debut album from the group “ti-an-guis” an international group which play folk music from all over the world. The band’s name is derived from the Mexican word “tianguis” which is an open air market and reflects the […]
Cupid’s Head (Kompakt CD 110) is Berlin based Swede Alex Willner’s fourth full length album since his debut “From Here We Go Sublime” and it’s a good one! The cover gives nothing away as to what to expect being plain black with The Field and the album title written in black. The album kicks off […]
“It costs ten bucks or go fuck yourself”. A nice personable accompaniment for the album’s release from Trent Reznor himself. He’s obviously not terribly fond of the “pay what you want” system as championed by Radiohead… never mind Trent, thousands upon thousands of people will pay absolutely nothing besides a bit of bandwidth for it. […]
Kitchens of Distinction formed as a band in 1986 releasing just four studio albums, as well as a few singles and EPs on the One Little Indian label, before disbanding in 1996. Lead vocalist Patrick Fitzgerald explains the gestation of their first album in 19 years, “Folly”: “These songs came together over a two-year period […]
Ok, so a few of you may be familiar with Mr Cat (Stephen Bruner to his friends), either from his recent role as bassist in LA superpunks Suicidal Tendencies or his collaborations with Erykah Badu and Flying Lotus. If it’s the former, this album will really come flying out of leftfield for you, but those […]
“Sometimes I wish you were here….weather permitting…” Well, the weather apparently does permit because Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand are back with their fourth full length album. The band has been plying their trade of innocuous but eminently danceable indie rock for over a decade now and have achieved some pretty massive success, most notably from the […]
Whilst I enjoyed the Polyphonic Spree’s first album “The Beginning Stages of…” they were never really a band that I explored further than that one album and perhaps this has been a mistake on my part given how much I loved “Yes, It’s True”. The first album was a gloriously positive and uplifting offering from […]
This is not a new album having been released in 2004 but it looked interesting and so I thought I’d give it a whirl anyway. It’s a collaboration between Jim Lampi and the German producer Zeus B Held (what a fabulous name that is!) with input from Australian musicians including Craig T and Damian Armstrong […]
OK, before you read this review of Hawkwind’s “Warrior on the Edge of Time” Three Disc Expanded Edition, you ought to know that I’m a bit of a fanboy of Mr Brock and his cohorts. However, having replaced most of my (stupidly sold vinyl) Hawkwind collection with CDs (and Vinyl) Warrior was one of the […]
Voigt is owner of the Kompakt label and on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, was invited to contribute to Art Cologne, Colognes highly respected art fair. For the event, Voigt designed the sound installation “Inter Alia” which was situated in the entrance area of the art fair. On this album Zukunft Ohne Menschen (Future […]
OK, I must confess that Phantom Limb completely passed me by and it is more by good fortune than good planning that I find myself writing this review of their first, eponymous album …admittedly coming a little late to the party. Sadly it would seem that in January of this year they split! Formed in […]
This chunk of tuneage landed on my desktop this afternoon from international dance music label Cómeme who whilst based in Europe release music mainly from Latin America. It’s the third Volume of ONE NIGHT IN CÓMEME! – a new series of compilations including a selection of released tracks, unreleased surprises and alternate versions of Cómeme […]
It’s hard not to take a passing interest in the car crash that is the life of Falling in Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke. He’s been involved in the shooting death of a man in Las Vegas, been on all sorts of drugs, done 2 years jail for breaching his bail conditions, was unceremoniously ousted from […]
Wanna know something? Whenever I write an album review I make sure to never read any other reviews beforehand lest my objectivity be irrevocably tainted. Of course my approach was no different regarding this album. Well…I may not have read any reviews, but unfortunately it’s been impossible to avoid noticing the vitriolic public backlash against […]
Heavy progressive music is in an interesting state of flux circa 2013. There are certainly some amazing and inspired bands kicking about, but conversely there is a disturbing number of pale imitators flooding the market with their own sub-par take on djent/prog-metalcore/mathcore… or whatever moniker will next be self applied by some mediocre & generic […]
You’ve all heard the hype. First album with Ozzy in 35 years, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine replacing Bill Ward on drums, yet another metal album referencing the number 13, a huge world tour etc etc, blah blah. Sure it’s big news. Massive in fact. The whole rock world has been salivating over […]
What is it with bands obsessing over the number thirteen as an album title? First there was Megadeth’s mediocre effort of a couple of years ago, now Suicidal Tendencies’ newie and soon Black Sabbath! Yes we know what year it is thank you! ST may be able to claim ownership of the number slightly more […]
Iron & Wine…sort of rolls off the tongue nicely doesn’t it? Likewise does the name of the man who is Iron & Wine, singer/songwriter Samuel Beam. With a name like that, what else could he have been but a purveyor of gritty folk music and Americana? Say it again….Samuel Beam…Iron & Wine. Cellar door anyone? […]
No names, no faces, no identities, a ghoulishly papal stage presence & 2 albums….and we have Sweden’s Ghost. There’s been much hype surrounding their sophomore effort Infestissumam (Latin for hostile), and none of it appears to be self-propagated. The metal community seems to have gone bananas over it for whatever reason and praise for them/it […]
Any new release from The Flaming Lips is sure to be met with a degree of anticipation from critics and fans; they’ve recently put on some spectacular live shows and their catalogue of work contains some absolute classics. So when a band with their kind of reputation releases an album called “The Terror” you can’t […]
Right! What have you got for us after ten years then Dave…? Critiquing a new album from someone of Bowie’s legendary status (the first in ten years no less) might well fill many a reviewer with a sense of trepidation, however this little reviewer has made critical hamburgers out of some musical sacred cows recently […]
15 albums in nearly 20 years. So is the celebrated career of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. Their last offering Dig, Lazarus, Dig!! was released in 2008, but sating Cave appetites between the aforementioned and this release was the energetic Grinderman project which was a veritable adrenaline rush compared to most of the (impressively […]
An electronic project featuring Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Flea of The Red Hot Chili Peppers named after a speech by Dwight Eisenhower? Hmmm…. This is the debut effort from Atoms For Peace (the band, not the speech, although the speech’s ’53 debut is not to be sniffed at!). Of course, based on the appearance […]
“Nobody listens to a whispering fool. Are you listening? I didn’t think so. I’ve been quiet as a church house mouse. Tiptoeing everywhere I go…”. So goes the introductory lyric of opening track “Bombs Away”, and a poignant notion it is. Eels have indeed been quiet for the last few years. Wonderful, Glorious is somewhat […]
