There’s a chink of distorted guitar, some background clatter, then a lazy chugging riff and a sedated, sarcastic lyric: “Wire is coming back again/Elastica got sued by them/When Michael Jackson dies/We’re covering Blackbird”. Classic Courtney Taylor (or Taylor-Taylor as it is to you now) behaviour. But bah! We’ve been short-changed! Then in steams ‘We Used To Be Friends’. A veritable flexibly-legged summer anthem (with a capital ‘EM) perhaps, one of the best in the Warhol-party-jukebox, and with the keyboards nudged Continue Reading

It’s probably a bit of a bind being a genius. Easy when you’re blissfully ignorant of course, but when popular consensus loudly christens you as such it’s got to put a frustrating watermark on your day. But then, Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) probably spreads marmalade on his toast with a certain amount of grace, if not a mark of genius, such is the unassuming, almost accidental nature of his. And there are those that deserve the tag. He drifted Continue Reading

Due to hit the shops on May 26th, ex-Underworld member and label boss Darren Emerson together gritty Brixton funk traders, Mutiny, release the follow up to last summer’s ‘Underwater Episode One’ – with ‘Underwater Episode Two’. Featuring some cheeky little remixes from the source-likes of Gus Gus (‘Call Of The Wild’) and Mutiny (‘Drums’) the album provides a more than worthy showcase for Ministry of Sound stalwart Paul Jackson and recent release ‘The Push’, as well as a perfect location Continue Reading

It seems a crying shame that the death of Morphine man, Mark Sandman should give rise to one of the most classy and accomplished albums of 2003 – but that’s what happened. With a manifesto that was simply ‘to continue to create unusual music’ sax-man Dana Colley and drummer Billy Conway have built upon their ten year and one Grammy nominated past to produce ‘Twinemen’ – their first original project since their time with Morphine – and looking almost inevitably Continue Reading

If you could set the double-barrelled pop-rifle to Splattergun please, Captain, and load it with nails. Plenty of ‘em too. I thank you. SPLAT 1! Sharp no-shit white-is-white drums, overloaded rhyming, garbled excess – *stop for a breath* – catch-me-if-you-can guitar, horns, shouting! Yes! It’s like Ash taking off The Strokes’ arms with chainsaws in a growing, ripe-for-popping bubblegum bubble, blowing into Less Than Jake’s backyard, exploding on the barbeque and killing all in attendance. Good. SPLAT 2! White hot Continue Reading

Out on Toast Records, Munkster’s ‘Help Me To Breathe’ just goes to prove that an unfashionable likeness to Police and bizarre ska influences doesn’t ncessarily end one’s career before it even gets started. Sparse and largely acoustic, and with only the merest sprinkling of rip-it-up power chords, Munkster combine the stirring, fragile nature of bands like Coldplay and Starsailor with the spunky, spread-eagle rockiness of Nada Surf and Jeff Buckley. Not quite No Doubt – but not quite Mr G.Sumner Continue Reading

Some might say Morocco and Damon’s Mali Music have changed Blur. Not me though.Think Tank is still a dislocate hotch-potch of ideas struggling to take shape without recourse to entire honesty or procedure. There have been exceptions of course. Modern Life Is Rubbish showed a band grappling heroically with a viable course of intent that was more firmly realised on Park Life, and Blur proved that a change of pace and direction can still seem as natural and as effortless Continue Reading

Another lavishly packaged boxed set is far more than you really deserve after the release of the less than completist, but ultimately satisfying ‘Product’ 3 disc set. What’s more, if you’re the sort of vinyl-munching die hard that must have EVERYTHING by the artist, you’ll be pleased to know that there’s a copy of the ‘legendary’ Spiral Scratch EP as well as rarities including the NME cover freebie ‘I Look Alone’ and ‘Moving Away From The Pulse Beat’ – a Continue Reading

The press spiel reads something along the lines of ‘All About Loving You’ putting priorities back where they belong, and on this evidence those priorities must be placed somewhere between spending more with your hair stylist and more time washing your socks. Unfortunately for Joe Public, making decent records seems to come much further down the list. It now seems a long, long time since the band first charted in 1984 and started racking up a really rather remarkable five Continue Reading

Some things need living in, rolling about on, abusing, scuffing up, stretching, to feel right. Like that clingy, itchy, static-riddled jumper. Or starchy cold, freshly-laundered bed-sheets. Or a droning repetitive paean to the hypnotism of hard drug addiction. There are four, you count ‘em (why not, you’ve got plenty of time), variations on ’91 single and ‘Medication’ EP track ‘Feel So Sad’ included on this rarities retrospective. Three of them back to back. It’s like he’s sprinkling seasoning of such Continue Reading