Not quite Electronica. Not quite Indie. What is it about The Two Lone Swordsmen that makes them so bloody difficult to pin a tail on? The fact they’re on Warp Records – home of Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, Plaid and Vincent Gallo? You’d think that would be enough. But it’s not, although tracks like ‘Faux’, ‘Sick When We Kiss’ and ‘The Valve’ do go along way toward reclaiming the cold industrial pulse of Warp’s original Sheffield avante-pop heritage (early Human Continue Reading

I think it can be safely agreed that the only thing likely to be more of a slow-burner than Gram Parson this year has to be Marjorie Fair’s ‘Self Help Seranade’. Recorded in the Spring of 2002 with the help of Rob Schnapf (who produced tracks like Alcohol, Fuckin with My Head, MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack, Mutherfuker, Nitemare Hippy Girl, Pay No Mind and Ramshackle for Beck) and Jon Brion (just prior to his work on Grant Continue Reading

Bearing in mind that Duran Duran have been doing rather well with their far more recent tour with class acts like Goldfrapp, I’m at a loss as to why I’m sitting here listening to a fairly unremarkable 1984 US/Canadian ‘event’. It might have sold over 2 million copies the first time around, but only a fool would buy this when it’s inevitable that these erstwhile bandana boys have already scheduled a ‘live’ release to coincide with their more recent rebirth Continue Reading

After the release of last year’s ‘Worn Me Down’ EP and some recent shows with the crème de la crème of serious easy listening: Damien Rice, David Gray and Sondre Lerche, the smoky and husky Rachel Yamagata releases the eagerly awaited ‘Happenstance’ album. The beefed up, rocking by numbers re-take on EP show-stealer ‘Worn Me Down’ might gloriously disappoint – but aside from this one glaring error, ‘Happenstance’ still manages to offer moments of louche, drowsy soulfulness far surpassing the Continue Reading

 In their native Britain in the early Seventies, skinheads turned glam-rockers Slade notched up a mighty 17 Top 20 hits, including six at number 1. And it wasn’t enough to play comically misspelled songs like ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’, ‘Coz I Luv You’, ‘Mama Weer All Crazee Now’ and ‘Skweeze Me Pleeze Me’ on your brand new wireless portable stereo. You had to play it loud. And like pretty much every rock band before them (The Beatles, The Monkees, Continue Reading

There we were thinking back to the late 90s, presuming that the acclaimed abstract post-electroisms of Fridge was just Kieran Hebden feeling his way around the lab for the first time. Turns out it was a bit of a finishing school for more than just one. Now, joining Four Tet (the dreamy creation of the lauded Mr Hebden) as alumni of that experiment is Adem. Or Adem Ilhan as he was known in full back then.  It’s a simplified title Continue Reading

I may not have the foggiest idea as to what these unkempt Brooklyn rascals are singing about, but so what? The Animal Collective are a timely reminder that music is about ‘sound’ as much as ‘sense’. Described by TimeOut NY as “the discovery of the year…” the band have already seen the release of three albums (‘Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished’, ‘Danse Manatee’, ‘Campfire Songs’) and a split 12“ as well as separate tours with both Múm and Four Continue Reading

Eerie, spectral lullabies of a warped, distrusting heart with songs inspired by everything from weird car crashes involving fleeing villains to the peevish manipulation of someone else’s emotions and senses. And with guest contributions from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, the Flaming Lips Wayne Coyne and REM’s Michael Stipe words like ‘fragile’, ‘surreal’ and ‘tender’ are not going to be far away either. And that’s what you have here. ‘Your Love Means Everything’ is the second album from Faultine writer, producer, arranger, Continue Reading

Imagine a lost weekend in Tijuana.  Tequila that burns the skin off the back of your throat, novelty sombrero’s that save you from the sun, and salsa to soothe or to make you stamp, depending on the tequila.  And a soundtrack for this auspicious event, look no further than Mexican band, Kinky’s second album, ‘Atlas’.  Perhaps the name was a premonition, as Kinky’s excessive touring (180 shows last year no less) and impending success see them emerge on both sides Continue Reading

In the first instance we don’t know whether he’s warming up, or whether it’s us warming up to him. It’s not until the plains of track 3, ‘My Apartment’ and its upbeat alt-country tinkering, that we come face to face with the melodic chicanery we feel we know and feel thrilled by. But turns out we were unwise to worry.  Even by his jaunty debut album ‘Sha Sha’s standards, and especially its highlights ‘Wasted & Ready’, No Reason’ and ‘In Continue Reading