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10 Apr 2008
INDIE/RAVE/GRIME/PUNK/ELECTRO (Atlantic) The so-called new rave scene has been responsible for spewing out a load of old meaningless tosh since it was coined by desperate music journalists two years ago, but its latest wrong comes in the form of the…
13 Dec 2007
ROCK (EMI) Released to loosely accompany the Icelandic outfit’s superb recent film, Heima, this two-CD album is a revelation. The Hvarf half contains outtakes and rarities from 12 years of full-band studio sessions and is full of the sumptuous epic…
18 Oct 2007
ELECTRO Overpowered (EMI) A love or hatred of Roisin Murphy’s former band aside, there’s no arguing with the fact that this ex-Moloko vocalist currently makes some of the most sophisticated electro pop around. Boasting catchy melodies, demonic…
6 Sep 2007
POP KT Tunstall delared she wanted to make a ‘scuzzy rock’n’roll album’, but teaming up with Steve Osbourne, who has put the gloss on Placebo, Happy Mondays and U2 among others in the past, meant it was never really going to happen. Instead, Tunstall…
16 Aug 2007
POP Until you’ve actually seen young Faulkner attack an acoustic guitar in a whirl of spider-like fingers and dreadlocks transforming it into a three-piece band in the process, it’s hard to properly appreciate this album. There’s loads of…
3 Jul 2008
REGGAE GOT SOUL (Atlantic Records) Reggae music has taken many diversions since its heyday in the 60s and 70s. Its newest purveyor, Natty – a 24 year-old former mixer turned guitar-plucking singer-songwriter – chooses to smooth out the genre’s rougher…
POP (Polydor) If you’re tired of Abba, you’re tired of life, basically, so this deluxe re-issue of their most ambitious album is extremely welcome. Originally released in 1978 when the band were at their creative and commercial peak, The Album…
ROCK Rilo Kiley’s last album and singer Jenny Lewis’s subsequent solo debut both contained a handful of indie-country stonewall classics, but this lacklustre and scattershot offering shows none of the same spark, despite Lewis’ ever-wonderful and…
BLUE-EYED SOUL-POP (Mercury Records) What’s the difference between Glasgow act Texas and its frontwoman Sharleen Spiteri? If listening to the latter’s debut solo album is any clue: very little. Wearing her Dusty Springfield influences proudly on her…
19 Jun 2008
ELECTRONICA/POST-ROCK (KFM) Edinburgh-based laptop whiz David Jack has made three albums of atmospheric electronica on his own already, but spearheading this debut from a transatlantic four-way collaboration, he adds a more organic post-rocking vibe…
DUBSTEP (Fabric) This instalment of the FabricLive series sees cheeky young upstarts of the Dubstep scene Caspa and Rusko at the helm. Representing the more playful side to Dubstep, their choices on this album – including much of their own work…
ROCK (EMI) Iceland’s favourite sons recently toured their homeland for free and released a stunning acoustic record, and these both rejuvenating processes seem to have fed into the joyous spirit of this fifth studio album. Opener ‘Gobbledigook…
COMFORT ROCK (Parlophone) Or Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, to give the ‘Play’s new album its full and entirely unpretentious title. Make no mistake, this is the soundtrack of sitting about the house with Gwyneth and the kids, fretting…
INDIE/RAVE/GRIME/PUNK/ELECTRO The so-called new rave scene has been responsible for spewing out a load of old meaningless tosh since it was coined by desperate music journalists two years ago, but its latest wrong comes in the form of the debut album…
INDIE POP The State of Things (Wall of Sound) So-called by friends because he loves preaching, ‘Reverend’ Jon McClure uses this début collection to fuse workaday Brit-culture musings with stomping indie dance beats. Throbbing, shouty and arrogant…
20 Sep 2007
POP Places (Saddle Creek) Imagine The White Stripes raised on summer sunshine and vintage Beach Boys instead of Detroit rain and Delta blues, and you’ll get some idea of the genius of boy-girl duo Georgie James. This is pure, driven pop music with…
17 Jul 2008
Like father like son, New Zealand-born Liam (offspring of Crowded House’s Neil Finn), finally comes-of-age courtesy of his long-awaited debut set. Now 23, and several years on from his initial live workouts in London (where he’s based), the man highly…
COUNTRY ROCK (Splashing Duck) Edinburgh-based Chris Bradley’s biography is an impressive read, all tales of musical scholarships, first class honours studying Music at Newcastle University and – most memorably – forming Ukrainian folk groups in Kiev.
ROCK (Rough Trade) If ever a band suited a time, a place and a mood then it is The Hold Steady. Their innate ability to capture that great moment on a warm summer Friday night when everything comes together and things are just . . . right. For four…
17 Jan 2008
Destiny’s Child alumnus Kelly Rowland ’s ‘Work’ (SonyBMG) ••• might be one for the ladies, but by endlessly declaring, ‘Put it in, do it do it’, she’ll no doubt be fuelling chauvinistic male debate on whether one would oblige, fearing it lessen the…
FOLK In Our Nature (Peacefrog) For most people, Swedish-Argentine troubadour Gonzalez will always be known for his song ‘Heartbeats’ soundtracking that Sony Bravia ad with the bouncy balls in San Francisco, and that’s his main problem. What makes…
INDIE ROCK After a year of sell-out gigs and internet hype the Cumbernauld brotherly trio plus two mates release their debut album. The opener (‘The Panic’, about STD fear) is prophetic: a great, stompy, bang of the fists and wail of the klaxons with…
ELECTRONICA On the cover of the the Vector Lovers’ third long playing offering there is a picture of a group of kids in a field at sunset. It look like it was taken circa 1977. Martin Wheeler -- the man who is Vector Lovers -- seems to crave a bygone…
22 May 2008
WORLD, JAZZ AND BEYOND (SolMusic Recordings) Fast, fun and furious Edinburgh-based ten-piece Orkestra Del Sol let loose a riot of rebellious global street music for this, their second full-length offering. With considerable talent, energy and…
15 Nov 2007
ROCK In Return (Rock Action) More terrifying than Cradle of Filth coming to your house to do trick or treat and heavier than a sack of Ozzy’s spuds, Torche at least have the common decency not to take up much of anyone’s time, clocking this…
HIP HOP Live from the Sofa (Man Can) Don’t worry, the Sofa isn’t some tragically hip underground club you’ve never heard of – it’s in the living room of DJ IQ, one of the UK’s most tenacious new beatsmiths. With the help of a whole bus-load of UK hip…
METAL (Earache) Once pegged as post-metal rip-offs in the vein of Neurosis, Sweden’s Cult of Luna are fast becoming a formidable outfit in their own right and Eternal Kingdom strengthens that reputation. A concept album lyrically and musically based…
SOUL JAZZ (Mr Bongo Recordings) Terry Callier, a true great, overlooked back in the day, but now receiving the recognition he deserves after UK DJ’s picked up his classic 70’s cuts. Welcome is a live recording from The Jazz Café, a taster prior to his…
24 Apr 2008
ROCK (V2) Belgian artrockers dEUS have a large cult following, but this fifth album deserves a wider audience. Expansive and eclectic, Vantage Point sees the fivesome refining their mix of powerfully emotive themes with leftfield, intelligent rock…
13 Mar 2008
CONTEMPORARY (Nonesuch) The music of Terry Riley has run through the repertoire of the acclaimed contemporary music specialists the Kronos Quartet like a thread. No surprise, then, that they should have chosen to mark the composer’s 70th birthday with…
28 Feb 2008
FOLK (Hegri Music) Karine Polwart is already established as Scotland’s premier purveyor of progressive folk, and this consummate and lush album consolidates that position. A flip side to last year’s traditional collection Fairest Floo’er, this album…
SOUNDTRACK Ivor the Engine and Pogle’s Wood (Trunk) Smallfilms (a partnership between writer and narrator Oliver Postgate and animator Peter Firmin) made some of the most endearing children’s television shows from the 50s through to the 70s…
29 Nov 2007
HIP HOP American Gangster (Roc-a-Fella) Retirement plans seem like a long way off as the Jigga Man produces his second album in a little less than 12 months. If Kingdom Come was all bluster and no substance, then Jay-Z redeems himself with this…
Dublin’s Fight Like Apes ’ ‘Lend Me Your Face’ (Model Citizen Records) •• is a three-minute, high-voltage pop song full of dance beats and female vocals with attitude. ‘Radio Friendly’ (Stereotone) ••• from The Starlets is a perfect example of Scottish…
It is tempting to assume that the fascinating meeting of musical minds reflected here is in some way down to the on-the-road developments worked out on their Tune Up tour featuring Fifield’s band and the Nedyalko Nedyalkov band from Bulgaria earlier…
ROCK (Rough Trade) Having never trod the most conventional paths, Kentucky natives MMJ have almost been Wilco, The Eagles and The Grateful Dead in their long, productive life but have always spun off into their own otherwordly orbit. Evil Urges is a…
JAZZ (ACT Records) Swedish guitarist Ulf Wakenius follows his Keith Jarrett project Notes From the Heart with a disc devoted to the music of Esbjörn Svensson. Tragically, its release has coincided with the death of the Swedish pianist – who had been…
INDIE (Mute) Musical eccentricity in new acts is a marvellous quality, but only if they have the songwriting prowess to back it up. This debut offering by XX Teens is a diverse bag of aforementioned oddity and thrillingly experimental attitudes to…
5 Jun 2008
METAL (The Null Corporation) Trent Reznor has always been an innovator and after several years of dispute with his record label he’s finally free to operate by his own rules. With his first taste of freedom he released a 36 track instrumental album…
27 Mar 2008
Clinic - Do It! ( Domino ) It’s nice to think that the cash made by Arctic Monkeys records goes into something positive for the world like Clinic albums. More slightly erratic, vibrating genius from a band who evoke the spirit of The Residents and Soft…
VERY HEAVY METAL (Roadrunner) Brazillian metallers Sepultura are pretty much untouchable in the world of thrash. Their Chaos AD and Roots are classics of the genre. However, frontman Max Cavalera split from the band in 1996, going on to form Soulfly…
14 Feb 2008
POST ROCK (Kids) Post rockers tend to take themselves mighty seriously (our own lovable Mogwai aside), and the same goes for po-faced Leicestershire young guns Kyte. There is plenty of ambition here, and the band are unashamedly epic in an obviously…
31 Jan 2008
(Chemikal Underground) SPOKEN WORD Sometimes a relationship has run its course and all you can do is split up, something former Arab Strappers Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton know all too well. Since going their separate ways, Middleton has…
4 Jan 2008
INDIE (Rough Trade) British Sea Power have never been known for their traditional approach to music-making – plastic birds, fake foliage and a ten foot bear have come into the equation at various points – so it comes as no surprise that third effort…
JAZZ (ACT) This double CD from an ecstatically received set in Hamburg on the Tuesday Wonderland tour in 2006 provides an authentic record of the band on a good night. When they are on song, E.S.T. (the Esbjörn Svensson Trio) are arguably the most…
INDIE (Track and Field) This London-based indie outfit are more popular across the pond, and you can see why, with the West Coast jangle of The Byrds and their ilk an obvious influence. The Clientele combine a love of simple guitar pop with a…
CARDBOARD BASHING PUNK ROCK (Boxwars UK) Boxwars combines punk and well-behaved fighting. ‘Warriors’ make cardboard armour then launch themselves into a mauling mosh pit until a winner’s declared. The gladiatorial combat is powered by energetic…
HIP HOP (Bodog Music) The prevalence of solo efforts from the numerous members of the Wu-Tang Clan makes their joint efforts less of an event than they should be. The band’s last two outings have been worryingly inconsistent affairs and this, the…
INDIE This is What Makes Us (Gargleblast Records) This Glasgow outfit’s three members have been kicking around the Scottish indie scene for years, two of them most famously as members of Peeps into Fairyland, but their decision to join forces as…
ALT.ROCK Love/Hate (Island) When this Manchester foursome released their debut album two years ago, they sounded a great deal like Nirvana. Now they’re back it’s disappointing to hear just how little they have actually progressed. On the plus side…
There’s a definite sense of gloom hanging over this fortnight’s bunch, particularly from the Glaswegians. Make Model prove that misery needn’t be without a sense of humour in ‘The Was’ (EMI) ••••, whose grungy cries of ‘Comatose stoned/Softening the…
1 Nov 2007
Bringing together composers from very different cultures, Frontiers and Bridges’ thread of commonality is their inspirational teacher, Nigel Osborne. Composition Professor at Edinburgh University, Osborne has guided three authoritative and adventurous…
ROCK In Rainbows (www.inrainbows.com) So you’ve registered, paid what you thought your download might be worth (in our case £3.03 plus 45p admin fee – who are you calling cheap?), downloaded, burned, copied it and generally stuck it to ‘The Man’ in…
POP With the Comic Relief single and a musical based on their songs, 2007 has already been a great year for The Proclaimers, and this consummately crafted and soulful album can only add to their wide grins. Title track ‘Life With You’ is as big…
FOLK The title of the Skye-based band’s fifth album is a reference to the fairy lore of the island, but there is nothing ethereal or otherwordly about their high-impact delivery. If the full effect of their storming Celtic dance music is best felt…
Why is there so much slickly produced, pretend-to-be-credible pop around these days? Newton Faulkner, Amy MacDonald, The Hoosiers, Sara Bareilles – the insipid list just keeps on getting longer. Eurgh, and here’s another one; the emotionless and utterly…
ART ROCK (Ecstatic Peace) It’s been eleven years since we last heard from this art rock supergroup of sorts, but on the evidence of this fourth album, it’s not been worth the wait. Featuring Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth alongside Pussy Galore’s Julie…
METAL (Columbia) Rob Halford’s howl and tracks as powerful as ‘Breaking the Law’ and ‘Painkiller’ have cemented Judas Priest’s status as a driving force that helped shape the entire metal genre. Formed back in the early 70s vocalist Halford left…
SPOKEN ELECTRO (Beanstalk Records) At first, I took this to be a spoof. Why else would anyone rhyme ‘expressionism’ with ‘jism’? What possible other reason could there be for someone to warble ‘a word is a picture/made out of sound/a sound you can…
ROCK (Chemikal Underground) This louder, longer edition of Mogwai’s debut is a powerful reminder of what music can do for the soul: on release in ‘97 it was a real shock. Their mostly instrumental, blistering sound re-energised Scottish music and was…
8 May 2008
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (4AD) This was recorded in a remote cabin in the wilds of Wisconsin and it sounds like it. A gloriously minimal and spectral solo debut from Justin Vernon. Jack Marchment - Corydon and Manjrekar (Benbecula) Inspired…
BAGGY (Jeepster) One day, that baggy comeback is going to arrive, and will a band like Parka be leading the charge? Probably not. For all their verve and enthusiasm, the Glaswegian group (now based in London) sound just like the times they emulate…
FOLK (Vertical Records) Capercaillie have done very nicely with their particular fusion of traditional music with more contemporary influences, and it is hardly likely that they are going to suddenly throw all that aside in pursuit of some radical new…
COUNTRY/FOLK/BLUES (V2) Campbell and Lanegan’s Mercury-nominated debut was a one-trick pony, but it was a pretty cool trick. Campbell’s wispy whimper and Lanegan’s bourbon-soaked growl blended refreshingly over some old school folk and blues, but it…
JAZZ (Cake Music) Pianist Neil Cowley and his cohorts, bassist Richard Sadler and drummer Evan Jenkins, appear in Scotland this month as part of the last Triptych festival, and rate among the hipper items on the current UK jazz scene. Lauded for…
COUNTRY/ROCK (Rounder) Like all the best Americans, Kathleen Edwards is actually Canadian, although you’d be hard pressed to tell on the basis of her third studio album. Her punchy-yet-tender, world-weary-yet-impassioned take on country and rock could…
FOLK (BoxClubRecords) The accordion is an instrument that still has an image problem in some quarters. Box Club are out to counter that perception by presenting the venerable instrument in much more contemporary trappings, including a slick visual…
ROCK (Fiction) Mancunian troubadours Elbow have always been at the more inventive end of the indie spectrum. Their restless musical experimentalism has garnered a mountain of critical acclaim, but their refusal to take the easy route has seen them…
Hurrying past James Blunt and Bryan’s Adams’ new singles, let’s start at the only logical place, the ‘Start Beginning’ (FDM Records) ••• with Nizlopi (of ‘JCB Song’ notoriety) and their relentlessly optimistic, acoustic pop rainbow of a song that could…
POP (XL) Much is made these days of the ‘voice’. Joss Stone, if you remember, had one; Corinne Bailey Rae still has hers; why, wasn’t even the bland and affected Katie Mellua touted as being in the possession of such a thing? The newest voice on the…
ELECTRONICA (Fortune & Glory) You know that when a band are trying to create a ‘coherent mix of both digital and analogue without ever sounding disjointed’ that we may well all be in trouble. Whatever happened to writing a song from the heart rather…
EVERYTHING (Rough Trade) If anything can be gleaned from these expansive, annual compilations its this: try as you might you can’t keep up with all the fine new music around unless you actually run a record store. And while you might have…
Jimi Sensational Shandrix Experience Electric Landlady (Brechin All Records) A fivesome of unwieldy party animals who look like an explosion in the basement underneath a music store and a fancy dress shop who rather surprisingly knock out a respectable…
INDIE Is/Are/Was – The Best Of Khaya (SL Records) Vastly underappreciated during their brief stint on the indie scene in the late 90s, this collection of sessions and singles allows Khaya’s gloriously scratchy pop to shine. Highlights include…
POP Tangled Up (Universal) First things first – there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure. There is just good music and bad music, whether it be camp pop, pompous rock, electro-crunk, punk funk or the bizarre style now simply known as Rhydian.
CONTEMPORARY Dedicated to You . . . But You Weren’t Listening (Moonjune) The Delta Saxophone Quartet have been around since 1984, but this project involves the group engaging with the music of an even earlier band, Soft Machine. Their approach to…
POP Blackout (Jive) Producer So, she’ll be here in a few minutes, yeah? Record company executive Yeah, so we’ll have a window of 30 minutes to lay down some vocals. P But she hasn’t even heard the tunes yet . . . RCE Erm, yeah, just, um…
Oasis show their capacity to entertain remains undiminished on Lord Don’t Slow Me Down (Sony) ••• which follows Noel and Co round the world on the tour to support Don’t Believe the Truth. More accurately it shows the relentlessness and tedium of touring…
This smart, intuitive compilation splits the history of electro – funkier, dirtier, more melodic little brother of techno – into two easy to chew categories: where the genre has been, and where it’s going. Trevor ‘Playgroup’ Jackson rolls his way…
4 Oct 2007
Despite lazy comparisons to fellow Londoners Lily Allen, Kate Nash and Jamie T, Jack Peñate sounds like nothing like his peers. This Blackheath-born boy has got soul – you can hear it in his heartfelt delivery – and when combined with incredibly…
INDIE There’s a lot of idiotic soulless electro pop around, so it’s a good job that Swimmer One are here to redress the balance. This stunning debut effort more than meets expectations raised by the Edinburgh and Glasgow-based duo’s promising set of…
9 Aug 2007
ROCK There is a fine line in the risky profession of innovative guitar music between brilliance and wanksmithery and Benbecula signings Genaro appear to tread this with glee. Still, the majority of their debut sits on the right side of the divide…
Daedelus - Love to Make Music To (Ninja Tune) This leftfield hip hop doyen takes a few trips into the unknown, expanding his repertoire of beats bleats and cuts into hunks of textured, hypnotic, mirthful magic. Our Sleepless Forest - Our Sleepless…
INDIE (Wall of Sound) Indie festive season is in full swing and the Infadels’ reinvention proves they’re wise to it. On Universe in Reverse, producer Youth turns their sound upside down, taking them out of the rave fields and into the main arena.
POP (Island Records) This talented Londoner must collect up a helluva lot of artists inside his dreadlocked head to conjure up such interesting pop brilliance. Leon’s inspired opener forecasts the outrageously catchy hooks which lie ahead on his…
EXPERIMENTAL POP (LL Recordings) Every now and again a new artist pops up that’s captivating, edgy and touching all at the same time; Lykke Li (pronounced Licky-Lee) is all of these things. The album, produced by Björn Yttling (of Peter, Björn and…
SINGER SONGWRITER (Reveal) Being a sometime member of both Rufus Wainwright’s band and Antony and the Johnsons, and the ex of Jeff Buckley to boot, did much for Joan Wasser in terms of recognition when she launched her debut album two years ago.
FOLK (Navigator Records) Lau’s combination of traditional roots and an openness to experiment is the hallmark of this scintillating disc, recorded in concert at the Bongo Club, Edinburgh back in December. It seems they have been gigging relentlessly…
ROCK (Island) For a man so conscious of the art and craft of songwriting, this sprawling old school double album – that is, 21 tracks over 70 minutes, like double albums were before CDs – this is a truly liberating record. Rather than trying to build…
COUNTRY ACID HOUSE (One Little Indian) Most people when thinking of Alabama 3 will come up with one song: ‘Woke Up This Morning’, the theme tune to The Sopranos. This thorough retrospective of their ensemble’s six-album career will hopefully put the…
INDIE (Lizard King) Who says you don’t get anything out of further education these days? This quintet formed as part of a college course and rather than that eternal sound of compromise, they came up with this: throbbing Altern-8 keyboard riffs…
ELECTRONICA (Stones Throw) First things first, this guy isn’t pants, anything but. He is, however, an artist with the ability to cross live and electronics in a very cool way. Welcome draws influence from the likes of Pharrell, Egyptian Lover and even…
COUNTRY (Drag City) During a recent encounter with David Berman, the frontman of this legendary, cult Nashville-based outfit let slip that this could be his last musical offering. If the notoriously mischievous interviewee is to be believed, then this…
It may be happy coincidence, or just a refusal to write about the new Rascals single, but there’s only good stuff left in the pile this issue, meaning everyone deserves a big sloppy one on the lips for their efforts. Dead or American have run at…
INDIE (Fire Records) As it says on the double-CD, this is a collection of 36 James Joyce love poems from 1907 interpreted by underground rock artists, some familiar – Mercury Rev, Mike Watt, Ed Harcourt or Willy Mason – others still on the fringes.
FOLK (RAJ Records) Session A9 are not the only four-fiddle ‘supergroup’ on the Scottish folk scene, but like both Blazin’ Fiddles and Fiddlers’ Bid, they have evolved their own distinctive approach to the format. That sense of individuality is down to…
SINGER-SONGWRITER (Wb Records) Over 30 years in the making, prolific pop producer Phil Harding finally marks the release of his debut solo album. From working with the likes of Stock, Aitken & Watercrap during the nauseating 80s, The Story of…
ELECTRONICA (Island) No one ever really expected Dummy MkII did they? For trip hop – the smoky sub-genre Portishead inadvertently helped create – is a distant, smouldering ember but Third is glorious, odd and timeless, a record of clanking, throbbing…
JAZZ (Emanem Records) For reasons both practical and aesthetic large ensembles have been the exception rather than the rule in the world of free improvisation. Both the London and the rather younger Glasgow Improvisers Orchestras have happily flown in…
LIVE ALBUM (Columbia) The Gossip may have been catapulted to fame on the back of an advert for E4 teen-soap Skins, but they’ve been playing spine-tingling gigs on the underground for years, and this live performance, recorded in Liverpool’s Carling…
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