Formed in the spring of 1998 by Vito Roccoforte and Luke Jenner and inspired by punky new-wavers PIL and Televison, The Rapture typify the avant-garde New York DIY garage thing going on at the moment. Like Le Tigre, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve suddenly fallen for all the synthetic charms of dance. Not the Kylie Minogue kind of dance, you understand, the cool kind. The kind of phlegmatic sonic sizzle you find in dodgy downtown bars on the velvet Continue Reading

Tales From The Dark Side: for some an atrocious little known supernatural thriller made for TV in the 1970s. For Basement Jaxx – the conceptual basis for their pumping nightmare follow-up to the camp if delicious ‘Rooty’ release of 2001. The candy-coloured magic-house of that album, ultimately giving way to horra-house. Darker, more urban but every bit as mischievous and furtive than either ‘Remedy’ or ‘Rooty’, ‘Kish Kash’ was always going to be a bit of a mixed-bag, tune-wise. Caught Continue Reading

It begins with a surly glimmer in the still, heavy darkness. Like Nick Cave observing his own brow furrowing in a small mirror, lit by soft candlelight, surrounded by acres of black. The fringes of this image are charred slightly, worn away like the spine of a well-thumbed, handed-down volume, and such a respectful impression gives it an air of classicism. This is an overwhelming display of capability for the mere opening moments of a debut album. And then the Continue Reading

You’re familiar with Add N To (X), right? Well believe it or not, they were the original ‘Peaches’ a few years back. Troublesome, bothersome, engagingly manic absurdists with a peculiar eye for the pornographic, the violent and the perverse and true believers in good old tried and tested vintage electronic equipment. Picking up a MS20 synthesizer they found in a bargain bin in Piccadilly Circus helped them craft some of the wackiest, noisiest, scruffiest, rockiest and most unsettling music of Continue Reading

I have to say that for someone who was not totally familiar with either the work of Japan or David Sylvian, the breathtaking re-release of the entire Japan/David Sylvian back-catalogue was always likely to be something of a gargantuan task to complete review-wise. Never an easy listen at the best of times, David Sylvian and co. carved a fair to middlin; career out of crafting clever, intricate but always beguiling pop. Such was the briney, acidic nature of their music, Continue Reading

In 1996, Arthur Lee was convicted of possession of a firearm by an ex-felon and grossly negligent discharge of a firearm for allegedly shooting a gun in the air during a dispute with a neighbour. The previous year, Lee was arrested after an altercation with a former girlfriend. The possession charge stuck, but a federal appeals court in California reversed the negligence charge. Lee served 6 years of a 12-year sentence. Since 1968 – when this album was first released Continue Reading

If you’re willing to ignore the ever so slightly grating irony and the less than subtle political tracts, you might enjoy it. Just don’t be brave enough to venture beyond the first four or five tracks on the album. With everyone from Peaches, Miss Kittin (also featuring on the excellent new release from T. Raumschmiere), Le Tigre, Nicola from Adult, and Talking Head’s Tina Weymouth, you’d expect this to be a good album and short of the regrettable subtitles for Continue Reading

There’s been so many pre-emptive strikes from this release, that listening to it is a little like listening to a compilation of all your favourite well lubricated chill-outs of the last two or three years: ‘Harry The Guitar’, ‘Latin Prayer’, ‘Step On It’, ‘Bossa For The Devil’ – they’re all there. Husky, dusky and finger-twiddling sharp, it’s a veritable funky fest of quim-quivering Latin and five-finger fidgeting flamenco. Jazzy, bluesy, soulful and as comfortable as a bathful of jelly, tracks Continue Reading

His first for Brighton’s Skint Records, Mr Nasty has timed his zombie flesh-eating breakbeat just nicely to coincide with the monster-mashing assault of the Jaxx’s hamma-house release, ‘Kish Kash’. And with Halloween just around the corner grabbing hold of a copy of the eerie and futuroid ‘Bring Me The Head Of…’ release at least makes a lot more sense than ducking for apples ever did. Whereas the Jaxx have anchored their own brand of horror within a faintly gothic and Germanic Continue Reading

There are a few things I simply can’t get my head round when listening to this. First up is that Liz Phair has been touring the US in recent months with clown princes of alternative rock, the Flaming Lips – and try though I might, I just can’t equate this kind of bright, infectious pop with anything resembling bunny-suits and bloody-curdling puppet-shows. Ther’s bananas that are banana shaped and there’s bananas that are straight, and this is one perfectly straight Continue Reading