He’s opened for the likes of the Strokes and Ben Folds and wrote a song for the Spiderman soundtrack called ‘Somebody Else’? So why haven’t we heard of Bleu? Because for all his blissed out power chords, his cheeky, boyish charm and his grizzled mutton-chops, he’s just too darn pop. Bleu brainchild James McAuley III did however manage to pull reclusive Jellyfish frontman Andy Sturmer out of the house to co-write and sing backup on “Could Be Worse“ but really Continue Reading
The fact that I found many of Roxy Music’s album covers curiously satisfying when coming into my teens, now seems little more than a wet sheet in a universe of used tissues. And however mildly misogynistic they now appear – woman on bed in lingerie grimacing at camera (1972’s Roxy Music), woman in heels with Jaguar on a leash (1973’s For Your Pleasure), woman marooned and looking submissive on beach with tits hanging out (Stranded), women with barely concealed beavers Continue Reading
It’s already been lamented by other able bodied commentators that whilst the likes of Robbie Williams, Coldplay and S Club 7 have grown fat on the milk of undue human kindness and curious market hysteria, true pop-visionaries like the Cardigans and the Wannadies have had to make do with the dregs of past and temporary triumphs; the Cardigans with ‘Love Fool’ and the Wannadies with the splenglorious ‘You and Me Song’. Brit-Pop was kind to our Scandinavian cousins. The present Continue Reading
This album would be aided immensely had we not ‘experienced’ any of their increasingly rigid and stylised live spurtings over the past couple of years, nor been subjected to the disappointing, blindfolded shooting of their flat debut ‘See Through This And Leave’. But oh, we have. That we approach this follow up with such abysmally low expectations though is its absolute saving grace. And surprisingly, grace there is on this occasion. Swells of it, actually. As ‘The Same Mistakes’ wisps Continue Reading
In amongst the trademark rock‘n’roll clutter (and it’s a trademark they have ownership over, or a bloody grip of at least, against popular misconception) there seems to be somewhat of a defence going on here. Not defence like having to justify themselves or their actions, that would go against the grain of everything this second album seems to want to stand for, or probably more acutely where they continue and will continue to stand as a band. No, defence as Continue Reading
It’s largely been down to the shuffling lo-fi imaginations of the US that have provided us with the more alternative and diverse guitar bands of the last 10 years or so: Pavement, the Pixies, Nirvana, the Flaming Lips – the list goes on. We in the UK had the passing phenomenon that was ‘Brit Pop’, of course – but contrary to expectations, it didn’t ‘Live Forever’. And what do we have to show for it? The Albarn ego-mobile that is Continue Reading
Irfan Shah competed with whippet and pidgeon for a bird’s eye view of the firmly Yorkshire Carling Weekend festival in Leeds! Prepare to be ‘spooked’ and ‘twanged’.03/09/2003 Part of the thrill of festivals is knowing that somewhere along the line you’re going to miss good bands – it’s like trying to hit all those pop-up moles with a hammer at the fair – it’s too much, dizzying even, and occasionally you get lost and out of sheer luck stumble into Continue Reading
With a wailing ‘Ba ba ba ba ba bah bah fiiighhurrYEAH’ and a flailng ‘ooo-ooo-ooo-oo-o’ James Berry mops up the dregs spilled by this years’ Reading Festival. Prepare for disappointment. Friday There is a popular phrase, ‘save the best for last’. There’s another, ‘start as you mean to go on’. And then, the slightly lesser known ‘water your audience with PASSIVITY and DISAPPOINTMENT and SHITE from the moment they walk through the gate and siphon off all their enthusiasm before Continue Reading
You have to admit, it’s a fair old pedigree, even if it does lack something in the way of continuity: Andy Chase – member of the band Ivy, co-founder of Stratosphere Sound recording studio, score provider and arranger for movies like Shallow Hal (featuring Jack Black) and There’s Something About Mary, producer to the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Divine Comedy and Juliana Hatfield. Unusual? You betcha. And you’ll be pleased to know Mr Chase continues to wrong foot us Continue Reading