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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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I'm not the biggest disco fan in existence but I do like Daft Punk and loved the recent Horse Meat Disco LP so it was a little annoying to see the review of that on here being done by someone who obviously really doesn't like disco at all but anyways... rant over.
 
Back to the real issue of why... Isis' latest album “Wavering Radiant” left me a bit dubious after a first dig, but I always appreciated this band more live, so I’m looking forward to seeing if their new work will work its magic once again on stage.

First, supporting band Mothlite has the hard task of warming up a very demanding... Is there any such thing as “the perfect gig”?  Because I don’t think my live music experience is going to get any better than tonight.  It’s like real love after a hundred teenage crushes which you thought every time were the real thing.  But let’s start from the beginning.

We’re in Wembley Arena,...

97%

ZZ Top - Wembley Arena, October 28th 2009 [Live]
Special Guests: Steel Panther

We Recommend you buy this CD
I’ve seen Bowling for Soup before, it was I 2002 at the Astoria.  Brilliant gig, fun and well played.  What a shame, I thought, the audience was mainly kids, with adults probably being driven away by their non serious side and their happy-go-lucky videos, failing to spot some more than decent... “Splitting the Atom” is the new four-song EP from Trip Hop pioneers Massive Attack.  These guys have been at it since the 80s, working with a wide variety of vocalists, writing some of their own music, remixing the music of others, and just generally littering the music landscape with gold and... Awol One has been an MC for 15 years.  He broke in on what was called Underground Hip Hop.  That really just means he wasn’t signed to a major label, but he was able to build a loyal fan base via Internet distribution and touring both as a solo act and as a member of The Shapeshifters.  His early...
‘Childish Prodigy’ marks Kurt Vile’s - with or without his band, The War on Drugs - gradual ascent from the murky swamp of lo-fi.  It’s not a complete exodus - it’s as if the album knows that it’s under the full scrutiny of daylight now so buries itself back in the mire every so often where it can... There was a period in my life when the music about me was sung by the great Trinidad calypsonians, Lord Kitchener, Mighty Sparrow and their like.  As time went on I discovered the reggae and dub of Prince Buster and Lee Perry from Jamaica, geographically so close but with very different musical... I always think a good way to tell if you are enjoying a band live is how much you feel the need to drink while watching them.   If you haven’t even noticed that your £2 Carlsberg is running low, or if you have already hiffed your pint over the unaware crowd in front in a fit of excitement, then...
Taster track ‘The End’ introduces Voodeux’s “The Paranormal” with spooky sounds reminiscent of an 80s horror movie: when the ethereal, half naked lady - panting in her white night dress - is about to be stabbed, and we all know she should have run the other way: It’s chilling like a knife being... My grandmother used to say of an ugly baby that only a mother could love it.  "Nightingale Hall" by Lyrian is one heck of an ugly baby; it’s a 500-disk pressing and for a vanity project of such excruciating awfulness, that’s possibly 499 too many.  However, having heard the disk in its entirety,...

11%

Lyrian - Nightingale Hall [Album]
Medieval Records

This album is Trash Can Fodder and should be avoided
Talking with a chum who’s an academic I'm aware of just how easy it is to create language that becomes a barrier to understanding. The same thing happens with music. Music lovers can be scared off by labels that become barriers not only to their understanding but also to their greater enjoyment....
I have a bit of a problem with Blu-Ray, as I had only just spent my hard earned cash on a rather flash HD DVD player at Christmas 2008, when it was announced by Warner Brothers the very next month that they would only produce new releases for Blu-Ray, effectively signalling the end of the High...

36%

Spectrum 7 - Blue Wray [Single]
Xtramilerecordings
Poster boy emo. Don't Bother.

There's a debate ongoing at Altsounds about where the zeitgeist of modern rock is located - here in Britain, or across the Atlantic.  It's a vexed discussion for certain, as Joy Division take on The Stooges, The Smiths do battle with Pavement and the Arctic Monkeys... It feels like these guys have been around forever now but Sizzla and Cutty Ranks are still making fresh music straight out of Jamaica thus the “Kingston Book” EP.  Me being the lucky boy I am have received this nice little CD with not just one EP on it but the best part of two! “New York Book” sees...

69%

Talen - Kingston Book / New York Book [EP]
Mouthwatering Records
Either it's Halloween or Fightstar have morphed into Slipknot, with masks and jump-suits being the order of the day.  The opening chords don't shed any light on the confusion either cos guess what, it's heavy.  This is some thick stringed music.  It's all a long way from "you know where" as... Joss Stone has some serious soul and anyone who disagrees with that fact is downright crazy, or deaf, but probably just crazy.  As cliché as it sounds, Joss Stone literally could sing the phone book and turn the tracks into a multi-platinum record.  The young and extremely talented British...

80%

Joss Stone - Colour Me Free [Album]
Virgin Records America

We Recommend you buy this CD
It’s Bonobo, so it’s click-sharping, hi-freqing claps and hats, sub-zero bass lines and a healthy dollop of tuned percussion.  If you like trip-hop, you’ll definitely be familiar with Bonobo, a stalwart of both Ninja Tune and Tru Thoughts.  Some of his albums have set benchmarks in what is...
It'd been a lovely night. We'd met at eight in Covent Garden, she looked gorgeous in a mid-calf beige dress and matching shoes. Sensual, but classy I thought to myself, suddenly worrying that my accent would betray those early, awkward teenage years in the provinces. We ate sparsely, but well. She...

23%

Ghostlight - Breathing Underwater [Single]
Patched up but still melting

This album is Trash Can Fodder and should be avoided
I was interviewing Ricky Warwick backstage earlier on and I was just looking for someone to take a picture of the two of us, when this lovely guy came in: his name was Jam, from tonight’s opening band Nixa.  When he realised he interrupted an interview was all apologetic, so I would like to take... Have you ever had one of those moments where you first hear a song and have to ask everyone in the room to be quiet, turn the stereo up or move closer to the speakers (or all three) in order to be sure of what you just heard.  “What was that Billy-Ray?” you ask yourself “Don’t break my heart, my...
“The doctor said I shouldn’t smile. I told him I don’t.”  Yes, you guessed it: it’s a Morrissey’s gig.  Grumpy old men and women of London are tonight reunited at the Royal Albert Hall, to moan together under the excellent direction of their favourite British star.

The Smiths’ icon makes his... MySpace is generally used by bands to big themselves up and raise their profile.  This usually involves a longwinded paragraph about how the band came together and what they have achieved, since they began and is by and large, ignored.  LYU’s MySpace page however, is a little different.  The basics...

70%

LYU - The Sky Is Yours [EP]
Great Escape Records
When I saw this for review I have to admit I was genuinely excited at seeing the crew that brought us Cypress Hill, Funkdoobiest, and a whole host of classic remixes, stepping up with a new album featuring a who’s who of underground hip hop.  The cover artwork is sick and once I looked at the...
I guess Luke Haines, former lead singer of middling nineties British indie band The Auteurs came closest to summing up the cultural differences we have to our American cousins.  Writing in his relentlessly bitchy (and highly recommended) autobiography "Bad Vibes: Brit Pop And My Part In It's... I have been a fan of MeShell Ndegeocello since “Peace Beyond Passion” in 1996.  I saw her touring that album in Boulder, CO and I was hooked.  She is an amazing singer who has put out several stunning albums (“Peace Beyond Passion,” “Bitter”).  She has just released a new album, “Devil’s Halo,” and...

87%

MeShell Ndegeocello - Devil's Halo [Album]
Mercer Street Records

We Recommend you buy this CD
Furiously fighting filthy fingering with fret fundamentalism, All Hail The Ruin have an impressive EP with “Vultures.”  More metal than the Sabbath concert your dad saw on acid with his buddy George back in the day, All Hail The Ruin have a deft gift for the manipulation of tech metal and...

79%

All Hail The Ruin - Vultures [EP]
Glasstone Records
This is a record of many surprises. Sadly none of them are welcome or interesting. 

'Rockstars' starts with a bass-heavy keyboard riff with a vocal refrain which (first surprise) turns out to be “Pop! I kill rockstars.”  Oh, a bit of controversy ahoy.  I start looking forward to where this goes...

7%

Pink Punk - Rockstars [Single]
Freeport/Universal Digital

This album is Trash Can Fodder and should be avoided
As an introduction into the world of The Hickey Underworld their latest single 'Blonde Fire' is something of a red herring.  True it contains the clattering, Strokes indebted production and dirty atmosphere that the band are known for, but there is an immediacy here that you won't find in any of... ‘We’ve got obsessions / All you ever think about are sick ideas involving me, involving you’ sang Marina and the Diamonds, and ironically in doing so, kick started my own mini obsession with her music!  Not, you understand, in the scary ‘I’m going to kidnap you and keep you in my room until you...
Now here's a couple of questions for you.  When you take away the electric guitars, play it all acoustically, does it change the nature of the music?  Does all your metal, pop or rock'n'roll automatically become bluegrass and blues?  Was Nirvana un-plugged in reality folk music?  Or is there more... With the likes of Isis, Red Sparrows, Jiju, Mono, Pelican and Mogwai (the list could go on) running circles around the ambient experimental market, do we need any more instrumental long johns in our draws?  Yes, yes we do.  Oddly enough, most of these groups seem to have three members, Russian... Brakes started life in 2003 as a splinter group, a side project pieced together from ancillary members of British Sea Power and Electric Soft Parade.  However the intervening 6 years have seem them grow into something of a full time hobby and hot on the heels of this years critically acclaimed...

83%

Brakes - Rock Is Dodelijk [Album]
Fat Cat Records

We Recommend you buy this CD
Scotland has always delivered the goods when it's come to low-key indie rock, from  Teenage Fanclub and The Jesus and Mary Chain through to Belle and Sebastian and The Delgados, the Scots have always had a very particular way with guitar based melancholy.  The Twilight Sad follow this lineage with... It seems The Jesus and Mary Chain are quickly becoming the new Velvet Underground; a band who may not have sold vast amounts of records, but everyone who did buy one started a band because of it.  From the distorted Spector-pop of The Raveonettes to the blatant plagiarism of Crocodiles on their... Raekwon aka 'The Chef' is back in full effect with Wu Tang cohort Ghostface Killah, providing more than ample back-up on the majority of the 24 tracks on offer.

“Only Built For Cuban Linx… Pt II” marks a return to glory for the Wu with Raekwon finally getting the Wu Tang sound he wanted for “8...
The Misfits have always been a curious group, more famous for their influence on other bands and pop culture in general than for their own music. Whether you take the original Danzig-led line-up or the current incarnation, originally led by Michael Graves, now by bassist Jerry Only in what can only... Bugz In The Attic have been giving their funky, broken, beat pie to the world for over a decade now.  This collection of remixes is one more slice.  As one of the biggest names in broken beat, Bugz In The Attic have truly led a prolific career.  This collective of DJ’s and producers has been... Public Radio is on a mission. At least according their myspace page (PublicRadio on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads), that mission is simple: to make a difference by creating songs that are energetic and inspiring for social and personal change. After listening to...

69%

Public Radio - Sweetchild [EP]
Deep Elm Records
Saying you  don’t particularly 'get' The White Stripes usually elicits the same  sort of incredulity and anger normally reserved for somebody who decides to drop their  trousers and shout “Hallelujah!” whilst receiving Holy Communion at church on Sunday.   But the truth is I never really had much... Rockumentaries – they’re a laugh aren’t they? - especially when they involve a heavy rock band who take themselves a little too seriously (hello Metallica).   Rarely though do they move you to anything other than laughter, unless there is a sense of tragedy as with “The Devil and Daniel Johnson.”  ... Writers block can be a real bummer. Especially when your name is Colbie Caillat and you’re writing on the heels of a hugely successful album like Caillat’s 2007 debut, “Coco.” As a result the California born singer/songwriter did what anyone else would do. She called up singer/songwriter Jason...

81%

Colbie Caillat-Breakthrough [Album]
Universal Republic Records

We Recommend you buy this CD
After reviewing The Hickey Underworlds 'Blonde Fire' single last week I was rather looking forward to casting my critical ear over their debut long player, and I wasn't disappointed.  The Hickey Underworld deal rather splendidly in the practice of combining walls of guitar feedback with more... I'm dead diligent me, and really do my research.  In some cases this spadework is absolutely essential, and given that the first track of "Boy's Life" is succinctly entitled 'I'll ram my ovipositor down your throat and lay my eggs in your chest, but I'm not an alien!' I reasoned that either the...

84%

The Reptilian - Boy's Life [EP]
Count Your Lucky Stars

We Recommend you buy this CD
The XX have been riding high on a wave of praise for their debut album since its release a copy of months ago, bolstered by support slots for Florence & The Machine (UK) and Friendly Fires (US) as well as their own headlining shows.  So returning to their debut album “XX” now that (some) of the...

76%

The XX - XX [Album]
Young Turks/XL





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# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Page 1 of 51 1 2311 Next Page Last »




In Depth



    Fukkk Off - Love Me, Hate Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me [Album]    


Coco Machete




    Mascott – Art Project [Album]    


Red Panda




    Placebo - The Never Ending Why [Single]    


PIAS




    Jeepster - What if all the Rebels Died? [Album]    


Distille Records




    The Entrance Band - The Entrance Band [Album]    


Ecstatic Peace! / Universal Motown



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