The debut album is a gift ravaged graciously by many – creative buds given the berth to burst wide open for the first time, foundations laid, curtains raised, debts paid, a world of possibilities either realised or borne afresh, all tumbling freely amongst the entwined ambitions of the tracklisting. Or not. Alas The Others, apparently allergic to the medium’s potential, manage to make their debut album already seem a step too far. They were, up until fairly recently, little more Continue Reading

Our own and the future’s love affair with the 1980s continues in solid style with the release of the hugely enjoyable and retrotastic ‘Phantascope’ by the inevitably New York centered ‘Anubian Lights’. Brought together in 1995 by Tommy Greñas and Len Del Rio through a mutual love of Kraftwerk, Cabaret Voltaire, Warp and Factory Records the band made their debut in 2001 with Nazbar via the now defunct Disc Hot Wax! Label. This time, however, the boys have brought in Continue Reading

To nit-pick, or not to nit-pick; that is the question. Or it’s my question at least in respect of Feeder’s fifth studio album, ‘Pushing The Senses’ whose ruminative introspection threatens to plod like an elephant over thumping tigerish efforts like ‘Buck Rogers’, and leave big, baggy pools of melancholy in its wake. Many would argue that it was previous album, ‘Comfort in Sound’ that really marked the departure from the razor-sharp power-pop of breakthrough album ‘Echo Park’ – but the Continue Reading

Comparable to the likes of Amp Fiddler in her tenacious and eclectic pursuit of a nu-soul groove through the jittery ravages of drum and bass and the smooth, fluid heartaches of classic r n b, Oakland, CA born singer, songwriter, and spoken-word artist, Jennifer Johns at the very least manages to wrestle with innovation and complexity even if she doesn’t completely master it on first album, ‘Heavyelectromagneticsoularpoeticjunglehop’. The Eastern backdrop to the graceful and hypnotic ‘Heavy (808-jungalastic afro freak) even Continue Reading

Lord knows Pete Best had it hard enough living up to expectations as fifth Beatle (alongside a baker’s half dozen other fifth Beatles) so inevitably, Money Mark’s mantel as fourth-Beastie Boy prepares a similar difficult path to follow. What did he do for the Beastie Boys? Well in addition to a spot of carpentry and repair for the boys on G-Son Studio and Grand Royal’s main office, Money Mark – long time friend of other fifth Beastie Boy, Mario Caldato, Continue Reading

It was a cash-in then, it’s a cash-in now. Off the back of the tsunami of critical acclaim that was lavished on Wilson’s recent ‘Smile’ album comes something of lesser stature: the Beach Boys’ singing well-known Christmas standards, backed by lifeless orchestration that Brian Wilson had precious little to do with. Released in 1964 – although admittedly bulked out and justified this time around with a couple of alternate mixes and rarities (the sound of Dennis Wilson getting poked up Continue Reading

Here we are five years later, ‘So…How’s Your Girl?’ fading like the stain on the proverbial bedsheet and superstar producers Prince Paul (De La Soul) and Dan the Automator (Gorillaz) are still laughing their socks off at the extended ‘so naff, we’re cool’ handsome boy modelling motif. Trouble is, they continue to extend, stretch and draw it out like a last dying breath over the 60 or so minutes the album lasts. And the joke is on them, because it’s just Continue Reading

The mix-tape. It’s a simple enough proposition, but one which is fraught with surprising complexities. Is the selection of tracks an honest brokering of personal tastes, a gamble on eclecticism, a randomly compiled gallery of passing fancies, or indeed a wish list? Is the person who puts the tape together revealing their innermost soul or providing something they think we want to hear? Perhaps even expect to hear. It’s almost impossible to say. If truth be known my own favourite Continue Reading