Sitting nervously somewhere between the outrageous, manic pop of Japanese bands like Polysics, the thrashing, eccentric beehive of bands like the B52s and Apples In Stereo, the genderless cyber punk of acts like Sigue Sigue Sputnik and the post-punk chic of The Rapture, The Death Set spit, growl and bomb their way into the headlights of an oncoming chart vehicle. Born out of Sydney’s experimental rock outfit, Black Panda, the ‘To’ EP features just over a half dozen crazy, pop-art Continue Reading

This is what hip-hop is about; the mash is minimal but rich, the delivery fat and smooth, the beats supportive and the rhyming abilities stretchy. It’s also the kind of material that can be performed live without sounding totally shredded. The real beauty of great production lies in making the producer sound invisible – making it sound like the sessions took place without him. Too many hip-hop records, even great hip-hop records, sound like they impose a no-limit ruling on Continue Reading

If you were ever turned on by the curmudgeonly slurred miserablism of folks like Swell, Smog and John Cale then ‘Fort Recovery’ is likely to leave you hot, thirsty and grasping for the fizz laden rock of tracks like ‘Covered Up In Mines’, ‘Calling Thermatico’ and ‘Take A Rake’, each crawling languorously towards somekind of strung-out existentialism and each showcasing the raw, soporific vocal feats of one Will Johnson of Centro-Matic. Part dreamy, part dusty, part pretty, part all-black, Will Continue Reading

For those not already in the know, The Winter Music Conference is the weeklong dance music event, held every March since the mid-1980s in Miami. Yeah, there’s no end of simple arse in your face music lovers and 24 hour party people in attendance and no end of totty, but the event is really aimed at industry professionals, record label representatives, promoters or people just looking for a slice of the future action; people like Fatboy Slim, for instance. In Continue Reading

 Progressive house is not to everyone’s tastes. Too surly, too slow, too subtle, too long, too – well, too progressive. Based around the subgenres of house, techno, trance and breaks, music by the likes of Gui Boratto, Pole Petersky and Trafik are a teasing, testing affair, as likely to build you up as knock you down and often peaking after so lengthy an introduction that many of us will have already got the taxi back to the flat, had our Continue Reading

When I was 10 years old I remember larking around with a Kodak camera I had ‘borrowed’ from my Dad. Not an issue in itself, but I had a friend round at the time, and as the day wore on and much frivolity was being had in the garden, my partner in crime leapt away to the back of trees to take a piss. Me? I used all my wily skills to creep up on my friend and snap him Continue Reading

This record is not, if you were wondering (and probably you were), a homage to timber in its many guises, an art rock interpretation of a page from the Travis Perkins trade catalogue, nor an obscure means of listing said materials as a kind of handy beat-driven reference guide. It is in fact the most regular thing Whirlwind Heat have done thus far. They debuted under Jack White’s patronage back in 2003 with ‘Do Rabbits Wonder?’, a frantic 13 song Continue Reading

Look. I’m going to make this as painless as I can. At the risk of going completely against the grain in the run up to this year’s World Cup, I refuse to kick a man when he’s down. Call for ‘off side’ if you will, but I’m going to turn this game around, hoof the ball back into my own half, smile at my goalie and concede an own goal. Rather gamely of me don’t you think? Anyway. Here’s my Continue Reading

The now ubiquitous ‘Wikipedia’ suggests that there is a phrase currently in usage describing the kind of downward career trajectory experienced by Gomez subsequent to their Mercury nominated, ‘Bring It On’ debut album of 1998; they call it ‘Mercury Poisoning’ or ‘doing a Gomez’ – a reference to the weight of expectation heaped on a band in the aftermath of a roaring critical response to a band’s very first efforts. Crud also has a phrase; we call it ‘shite second Continue Reading

Prior to the UK’s outrageously well received, time-travelling cop drama, ‘Life On Mars’ us Brits were already a hapless enough bunch of retro addicts as it was. Since then, everyone over the age of 25 has been busy cracking open their cans of Party Seven and pledging to auction their paisley patterned souls on Ebay. For some the 70s ended somewhere near the end of production on Shoot League Ladders, the removal of the BBC test card, the dismissal of Continue Reading