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MUSIC New Thomas White Video White’s interpretation of Warren Zevon’s tale of heartbreak, Accidentally Like a Matryr, leads a 5 track digital EP that features White’s take on artists as diverse as Louis Armstrong and... more... Martin Landsky – Werkschau (Album Review) German producer and DJ Landsky mixes up the techno beats to good effect. ‘2000 Miles’ is the opener a nice reworking of Landsky’s best known track 100 miles, the trance synth... more... It Might Get Loud (Music Documentary Review) To start a film with a young chap nailing a Coca-Cola bottle, a single metal string and electric pickup to a two-feet long plank of wood, which he plays subsequently in... more... Never Been Gone - Carly Simon (Album Review) Popular music ‘divas’ seem to proliferate these days in a fairly fertile environment that is over-populated by samey-sounding, samey-genre non-entities that... more... The Absolute Belters - Glorious Victorious (Album Review) If you missed The Clash, wish you had seen The Buzzcocks in their prime or just hanker after some good old-fashioned (well, it is now, despite a reported... more... Silke Wilhelm I Audiovisual Couture Vol.1 by Kowesix (Album Review) The realms of music and fashion often delve into each other worlds. Music blaring on catwalks, fashionistas taking to the decks, designers inspired... more... Anjunadeep: 02 Anjunabeats (Album Review) Anjunadeep: 02 is a heart pumping good dance album. Mixing up trance, techno and house to good effect are Jaytech and James Grant producing a rousing and accomplished... more... Hed Kandi - Nu Disco The Future Sound of Disco (Album Review) With 27 tracks on the latest offering from Hed Kandi you’d expect a few party pleasers and the album does deliver a nice bag of funky tunes with inevitably... more... Genesis Klassik - Ray Wilson Live in Berlin (Album Review) A lot of water has passed beneath the bridge since Ray Wilson joined and then departed rock legend, Genesis, during which one low-key tour and solitary... more... NOW That’s What I Call The 90’s (Album Review) The 1990’s brought with it a great deal of optimism. Nelson Mandela was set free after thirty years in jail, the Wall came down in Germany, there was... more... Hed Kandi - Destroy The Disco (Album Review) Safe ground to most music producers means trawling out the old favourites, being careful not to upset anybody, walking on eggshells, where necessary, and scoring a 5/10 from... more... The Wildhearts - Chutzpah (Album Review) It’s been a long old ride for Ginger and the boys from The Wildhearts, indeed as the band approaches its 20th birthday it is something of a stretch to call them boys still... more... Gatecrasher’s Trance Anthems (Album Review) Presented like a ‘battle of the bands’, the CDs making up this triple whammy of concentrated sounds, Gatecrasher’s Trance Anthems, feature the skills of Judge Jules, Matt... more... Ali Campbell - Flying High (Album Review) Since Ali Campbell’s acrimonious split from UB40, the Birmingham reggae band with which he was associated for the best part of thirty years, he has been enjoying the fruits of going it... more... James Yorkston & The Big Eyes Family Players - Folk Songs (Album Review) There is a movement afoot, helped in no small part by the return of former ABBA songsmith, Benny Andersson and his latest oeuvre, ‘Story of... more... Sugar Crisis Live (Gig Review) Playing to a diminished crowd of what appeared to be mostly a shy group of friends and family Sugar Crisis followed two acts that featured live drums and video synched footage... more... Ray Wilson - Propaganda Man (Album Review) Not so much a case of ‘remember this guy?’ but more ‘join the music revolution’, so many bands these days are relying on their own labels, or the download market... more... Nell Bryden - What Does It Take? (Album Review) Courting conventionality has been a Nell Bryden marker post since she broke the UK market as recently as 2008. While not wishing to make... more... Kikimoto Allstars - House Music (Album Review) The latest offering in the house music genre from the talented pen of Cam Farrar is the self-titled (after the music category, at least) CD... more... Pete Tong - Wonderland 2009 (Album Review) Now, I do not mean to be cruel, but Pete Tong has been around for ages and what he does not know about the dance music or clubland scenes, to be quite honest, is scarcely... more... Swimming - The Fireflow Trade (Album Review) Sounding like an electronically tinged blend of Arcade Fire, with Rush, perhaps a soupcon of U2 and a definite ‘proggy’ overtone, while Swimming... more... Juicy Ibiza 2009 - Robbie Rivera (Album Review) Think about how often you go on holiday and return with the sounds that have been filling the dance floors, while you have been spending time... more... Esser - Braveface (Album Review) I’ve found it rather difficult to come up with an adequate analogy for Braveface, as the reviewers in NME and such like always do. Perhaps that’s a good thing, after all if something’s.... more... Mastodon - Crack The Skye (Album Review) Heavy rock, with all its pomp and majesty, has a hardcore fan base that needs regular, quality feeding and the last album released by the band in 2006, Blood Mountain... more... The Hours - See The Light (Album Review) Following up the Sheffield band’s debut album ’Narcissus Road’ with another blockbuster was going to be regarded invariably as difficult. Critical acclaim arrived with that launch set... more... King Creosote - Flick The V’s (Album Review) There are a lot of famous Fifers that have originated on the Scottish lowland peninsula that is separated from Dundee and Edinburgh by a couple of bridges. Flute-playing Ian... more... The Jeff Healey Band - The Legacy - Vol 1 (Album Review) It was with more than a touch of sadness that I heard of Jeff’s passing in 2008. Taken at such a young age, he would have been just 43 this year... more... Nate Campany & The Serenade - The Only Bridge I Need (Album Review) Not since The Byrds or The Eagles arrived has there been a decent quality alternative-country rock sound, although Cleveland-born, New... more... Various Artists - Ska Mania (Album Review) Although Ska music was a genre that developed in Jamaica in the late-1950s, it was popularised in north of England dance clubs not long afterwards. Meanwhile, it took another twenty... more... The Enemy – Music for the People (Album Review) On first listen I wasn’t sure about this album, but it’s definitely a grower. After such a successful and well-received debut the Coventry three-piece... more... Thomas Truax - Songs from the Films of David Lynch (Album Review) If you are the sort of person who enjoys the invariably strange and reliably disturbing films of David Lynch, there’s a good chance you’ll also be on the right... more... Duke Special - I Never Thought This Day Would Come (Album Review) The piano playing dreadlocked Belfast singer-songwriter's first album offered a cocktail of Motown, Brian Wilson, West Coast pop and... more.... Chelonis R Jones - Chatterton (Album Review) Featuring on Marc Romboy’s Systematic label, is Chelonis R Jones, a New Yorker by birth, who has travelled well as part of his multi-talented search for a base-line somewhere... more... Kish Mauve - Black Heart (Album Review) If you are into ‘electronica’, then you may already be familiar with London-based Kish Mauve, the unusually named collaboration between Mima Stilwell (vocals) and Jim Eliot... more... Whip It Soundtrack (Album Review) Director Drew Barrymore’s likeable and well received Whip It has a great soundtrack and so the soundtrack album was always going to be a sure success with those that... more... Angus & Julia Stone – Down the Way (Album Review) Perfect for a lazy or rainy day the second album from siblings Angus and Julia Stone is a collection of elegant, simple yet softly reassuring songs... more... Thomas White - The Maximalist (Album Review) Thomas White first came to prominence as a teenager when he and his brother Alex as Electric Soft Paradise were nominated for the 2002 Mercury... more... Hungry And The Hunted - Magic Bullets (Album Review) Self-produced albums are to be expected in a market populated by the fearsome ‘new talent’ powers of Simon Cowell and his one-hit-wonder machine that... more... Cypher 16 - The Man Of The Black Abyss (Album Review) Calling themselves ‘organic rockers’ is not a justification for a fusion of the electronic rock and heavy metal influences that lie behind Cypher 16. Largely... more... The Moons - Life on Earth (Album Review) The debut album by The Moons seems to draw the listener back to the 60s with its rifts, melodies and optimistic yet sad knowing lyrics. The band includes frontman Andy Crofts, Paul... more... Kasper Bjorke - Standing on top of Utopia (Album Review) Dane Kasper Bjorke’s follow up to his debut album Gumbo is a nice fusion of ten tracks that showcase some of what’s coming out of the Copenhagen... more... Freestylers - Past, Present & Future EP (Album Review) Not much to shout about in the release of this distinctly below par EP. The first track ‘Cracks’ has the ironic lyrics ‘about the cracks beginning to show’ and there... more... Thea Gilmore - Strange Communion (Album Review) Jona Lewie, The Sound Of Music, party hats, drunk relations telling dirty jokes, yes, as the playfully sceptical That'll Be Christmas puts it, complete with... more... Detroit Grand Pubahs – ButtFUnkula and The Remixes From Earth (Album Review) Not much to recommend from this album apart from a couple of good tunes. The album sees a host of producers put their spin on DGP tracks.After a promising... more... Moonbootica – Save the Night! (Album Review) Dance party funkers Moonbootica deliver a game of two halves in their latest album Save the Night! Yes, it’s a funny old game. The first CD of this double album is everything you would... more... Don Diablo & Example - Hooligans (Album Review) Can you recall the first time you watched The Prodigy performing ‘Firestarter’? It was exciting, ebullient, outrageous, boisterous, frightening and even... more... Steve Bug - Collaboratory (Album Review) To be quite frank, I do not know with whom or what Steve Bug has been working to create Collaboratory, his current oeuvre, but the prolific German ‘spin-meister’, Stefan Brgesch... more... The Rumble Strips - Welcome To The Walk Alone (Album Review) Close the shutters, lock the doors and hide the children! The Rumble Strips, Devon’s own indy band, which kickstarted its career in 2005 followed by... more... Wild Beasts - Two Dancers (Album Review) Having dropped the definitive article, Wild Beasts is on track to break the second album duck, with the Kendal four-piece’s new ten-track CD, Two Dancers. While soaring... more... Dave Pearce - The Dance Years 1994 (Album Review) Does it help if you host a popular radio show as well as spend the rest of your life deejaying all over the place? It does for Dave Pearce, who reckons... more... Florence & The Machine - Lung (Album Review) Never having professed to being a great fan of the female singer-songwriter, as there is a moderate number of them populating the music scene at present, you can... more... Burn The Negative - In The Atmosphere (Album Review) Not since Mike Oldfield first hit the music scene with his tubular appendages have I felt so much that a recently launched electronic pop band... more... Passion Pit - Manners (Album Review) Hailing from Cambridge, New England, Passion Pit is a moderately exciting five-some consisting of Michael Agelakos (soaring falsetto vocals and keyboards), Ian... more... Catacombs - Cass McCombs (Album Review) No matter where you go around the world there is always a heartland of creative talent from different countries that might otherwise be lost in a sludge of electro-pop... more... From Here To Helsinki - Terefe Whitecross (Album Review) Hardly the most prolific of duos, Nick Whitecross and Martin Terefe made their debut album, ’The Orange Album’, no less than thirteen years ago... more... Dub Pistols - Rum & Coke (Album Review) The fourth major release from the enthusiastic and energetic Barry Ashworth and Jason O’Bryan, better known as Dub Pistols, ‘Rum & Coke’ is a brilliantly executed and... more... The Jokers - The Big Rock & Roll Show (Album Review) For some reason, despite this being its debut album, The Jokers and ‘The Big Rock & Roll Show’ seem strangely familiar, in a way that its ready-formed... more... Iain Archer To The Pine Roots (Album Review) There are plenty of ethereal singer-songwriters around at the moment, as so many of them either seek their inner muse, or want to project a unique sound-scape... more... Stevie Nicks - The Soundstage Sessions (Album Review) How do you define a ‘classic ‘ album? While The Soundstage Sessions is hardly ground-breaking in its 10-track CD format, its performer... more... Diverted - Diverted (Album Review) Electronic music moved on a few vital steps, when Diverted made its debut around a year ago. You see, this is a proper band, consisting of Lee Richardson on drums and MPC... more... Man Like Me - Man Like Me (Album Review) If you want something new from the music scene, then you could do a lot worse than turn to Man Like Me, fronted by 23 year old Camden likely-lad, Johnny Langer, whose... more... My Toys Like Me - Where We Are (Album Review) Subversive electronic dance music might be termed as ‘clever’ or even ‘ingenious’ but the latest girl’s voice to grace mixing desks is that of Frances... more... Various Artists - Now 72 (Album Review) You can tell that you are getting old, when you can remember the earliest, single-number ‘Now’ series of albums on sale at your local record shop. With the arrival of NOW 72, another... more... Gallows – Grey Britain (Album Review) Gallows have received a lot of press attention over the past couple of years thanks to front man Frank Carter’s outspoken manner and their exciting live shows. They have... more... Paul Carrack at Ronnie Scott’s April 9th 2009 (Gig Review) There is something marvellously retro about Soho’s Ronnie Scott’s. It’s still very much as it was back in the 60’s, an intimate little club where you can... more... Systematic Colours Vol 2 - Marc Romboy (Album Review) Working from the cellar of a property in Monchengladbach, Germany, Marc Romboy has been creating his uniquely entrancing techno... more... Buffalo 77 - Memento (Album Review) Despite the overbearing insistence of reality TV music shows (cheap to produce and present, but not truly the source of major league performers, Leona Lewis and... more... Gomez – A New Tide (Album Review) This album is utterly outstanding, has it really been ten years since their Mercury Music Prize-winning album “Bring It On” was released? Listening to A New Tide is like finally meeting... more...

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