Reviews

First it was Lil’ Kim on “Fresh From Yard,“ now it’s the moderately ‘ooh-some’ Janet Jackson. And just as you were thinking it couldn’t possibly get any better for old Beenie, you learn the record was produced by the equally delicious Neptunes. Zigga-za indeed. It’s a sometimes awkward combination: lilting cool as the water keys and hot as the sun vocals. Hot? Moist? Humid? Call it what you will, with a sunscreen factor of 7 it’s a record that threatens Continue Reading

Regulars at seminal early ’90s breakbeat raves, “Desert Storm“ and “Voodoo Majic“, Blowfelt are said to have learned some serious ‘low end theory’ from a disturbingly early age. And though I clearly have no idea what it means, it certainly sounds good. BACK UP, BACK UP is – whatever the theory – already selling like hot cakes within the difficult to path white label circuit under the name ”LICKLE ROLLA”. Originally championed by EZ, on his Kiss FM show the Continue Reading

Long before Limp Bizket, Kid Rock or Linkin Park fused hip hop with a rock and roll attitude, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were busting out rhymes with a funk driven combination of punk and rap.  While the bands 1995 recording, One Hot Minute, was a critical and commercial disaster in comparison to Blood Sugar Sex Magik, they regrouped with guitarist John Frusciante in 1999 and resurfaced with Californication.   The record took creative liberties the band had previously not taken Continue Reading

Sensual, fresh, breezy, cool and easy, jazzy – just about everything’s already been said about this album that could be said this briefly. Not that this comes as any real surprise. Released in 2000 to both commercial and critical acclaim in its hometown of Brazil as well as internationally, the full debut release by South America’s Bebel Gilberto is nothing if not romantic. But being daughter of the reverent bossa nova innovator, Joao Gilberto – and possibly the most loved Continue Reading

When you used to buy Sebadoh records from your local independent store you once would have complained if Lou Barlow was not allowed to fill a whole album with his constant inability to get on with women. Jason though has always been a contributor and second songwriter in Barlow’s ten-year mission to get Dinosaur Jr out of his system. Where Lou’s relationship with J Mascis resulted in throwing a few mud pies at each other, Jason has always felt comfortable Continue Reading

Deserted halfway through his last tour Dave Doughman found himself at a pretty low point when his drummer, Don Thrasher, walked out on him, harsh, as there was only two of them to begin with. He may have picked up a new drummer at the very next stop, Joseph Siwinski, yet on this record you can tell the scars on Dave’s heart have not healed. (It Came) Out Of Nowhere is testament to the sense not of betrayal but of Continue Reading

So we put this record on a couple of months back when it first dropped through the letter box and as ‘I Go Down’, ‘Silence’, ‘Deep Blue Day’ and the like ascended with a certain degree of pompous grandeur from our weathered speakers, we thought that we hadn’t heard anything with quite this measure of puffy chested bombast and silky-lined craftsmanship since McAlmont & Butler stopped pointing encrusted daggers at each other’s backs. Only more morose, obviously. Then McAlmont & Continue Reading

Fierce Panda: best indie label in the UK? It’s a title worth an argument or two over at least. So you’ll be wanting some evidence then I suppose? Alright, what about these 16 tracks culled from Panda releases over the last year (singles, b-sides, album tracks), thrown together onto a CD with some footballers on the front (no doubt  drawing a quaint but accurate analogy/cliché between the collective power of a team and that no signing should be hoisted above Continue Reading

John Vanderslice is back at it again, at his San Francisco-located Tiny Telephone studio. With contributions and collaborations from members of Mates of State, Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie and Beulah, it’s no wonder this album came out as well as it did. With twelve 3-minute story-telling pop songs, Vanderslice manages to revive the epic “concept album.” He begins the story by setting the poetry of William Blake to music, introducing the listener to his traumatic birth. However, through the Continue Reading

Most people take music very seriously. Some take music to be the ultimate and only interest. Primal Scream as individuals and as a group have always been advocates with each passing record a highly-strung taste barometer for rock and pop. Whether by the recent proclamation by Bobby Gillespie whose listening habits over the past year has included The Von Bondies as well as the cellophane wrapped and pre-packaged Sugababes, or hanging out at Shoom the Primal’s inspiration is always checked Continue Reading