Reviews

The Departure come out of the shadows (though shadows are admittedly few and far between these days with the industry’s spotlights staking out post-punk’s darkest corners) with much the same confidence as The Killers did back when nobody was offering them chart placings or Glasto headline slots on a plate. Minimum fuss, a modest twist of competence, an inability to dress themselves but possessing the good fortune of having the decade their influences call home as tailor. These songs have Continue Reading

It’s staggering, really. There were clues on the child prodigy’s debut ‘Open Heart Zoo’, a far reaching zero-gravity melding of Trent Reznor’s and Jeff Buckley’s metallic ores, but that was an altogether more beautiful and usual record than this is. This is a brutal opus. A dense trilogy of epics rolled tight into one. And it has no consideration for you or I. It flits violently between personalities and postures and is hugely draining on your resources. But every last Continue Reading

What’s the opposite of a fairytale? Not as far as a nightmare, that’s not appropriate. But whatever it is, Joy Zipper’s journey so far probably takes on that form. Arguably the most divine pop creation of the past decade, delectable in their every last move, floating untethered through an otherworldly musical ether, they’ve been met off almost every flight by misfortune, mistreatment and a subsequent ignorance. Their last album, ‘American Whip’, was deemed a classic by anyone lucky enough to Continue Reading

It’s during the closing track, ‘Gone’, when Adele Bethel gathers a tonne of acidic spittle in the back of her throat, flings back her head and lets rip with awesome vitriol and true Glaswegian subtlety – “I cut you oot of every photograph, within an inch of yer loiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife!”. That’s when you nod sagely, agree, and begin to brew some poison in the back of your throat too. Because that is exactly the sort of fever that the previous 10 Continue Reading

Previously, impressions were there if you looked for them, presumptions were free to be made, but the starting point was never very specific. Coldplay records gave the impression, for instance, that love was a straight-forward concept to grasp but a hard one to master, a universal theme, on top of which they nonsensically mulled that it was all yellow. You presumed subsequently, and also because of appearances, that its authors were not necessarily vastly experienced in the matters they addressed Continue Reading

Grammy award winner and good ‘ol country gal Shelby Lynne does her best to break down the mythical fourth wall between listener and artist on ‘Suit Yourself’ the gutsy yet woozily mellow follow-up to 2003’s highly acclaimed Identity Crisis. Self-produced at home and featuring all manner of impromptu stops, false starts, tinkling ice cubes and cassette noises it’s a candid and open handed musical affair evoking a night out on the back porch just horsing around with your mates who Continue Reading

Imagine if this were Oasis’ debut album. It might at best be considered a cute retro album, high on detail, but failing dismally in the battle between derivativeness and relevance. Because bands can be and probably should be both, see Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, White Stripes, and then pretty much every other band in existence. Inspiration in many ways is all that we all have. There are many who still insist that ‘Definitely Maybe’ failed the same test, but that Continue Reading

Well, you’ve got your answer. Happy now? Through those extended final years of Suede, soldiering on adequately, always a shadow if not a tribute band to what hey once were, there was always that question. What if Bernard hadn’t snuck out the back door after one tantrum too many from Brett? What if they’d reconciled? What if they’d gritted their teeth and continued regardless? It was one of the top fantasy questions from the 90s indie fan, along with, what Continue Reading

With the possible exception of attractive adolescent boys few people have observed Michael Jackson as pared-down and naked as the Z-Trip remix of the Jackson Five’s ‘I Want You Back’ renders him, focusing as it does on the trademark ‘5’ lick, the slinky descending bass run and the famous and dearly lamented vocal acrobats of the young fruitbat himself. Motown Remixed, if nothing else, draws attention to the delightful subtleties of the original Motown classics, baring their bones and providing Continue Reading

Skye Edwards out. Daisy Martey in. EastWest out. Echo in. Credibility out. Implausibility in. Just before you continue with all this hokery-cokery you may need reminding that things have changed a wee bit since 2002’s Charango and 1993’s Big Calm. Morcheeba are no longer that likeable if fairly unobtrusive light trip-hop act they’re a mighty big and cavernous psychedelic airship of a band trading the kind of far-reaching baroque wares more traditionally associated with pioneering sixties producer and auteur, David Continue Reading