pop
Reissue CDs Weekly: MadnessSunday, 19 October 2014
Madness: One Step Beyond - 35th Anniversary EditionLast time One Step Beyond was reissued on CD, for its 30th Anniversary, the album was expanded to cover two discs with added B-sides, tracks from EPs and a flexi-disc, a John Peel session as... Read more... |
CD: The Ting Tings – Super CriticalTuesday, 14 October 2014
From the sonic vantage point of the Ting Tings’ new album, Katie White and Jules De Martino’s explosive appearance in 2008 with hit single “That’s Not My Name”, with its lively mix of indie guitars, electronics and bolshy vocals, seems a long time... Read more... |
CD: Ex Hex - RipsSunday, 12 October 2014
If you’ve ever found the idea of “cock rock” to be unnecessarily gendered, then the debut album from Ex Hex – an all-female trio who, between them, have created the best 35 minutes of ballsy rock 'n' roll I’ve heard since Sleater-Kinney’s “The Fox... Read more... |
10 Questions for Musician Jamie CullumWednesday, 08 October 2014
Since self-releasing his debut album Heard It All Before in 1999, Jamie Cullum has gone on to become the UK's biggest selling jazz artist of all time. Since April 2010, he has also presented a weekly jazz show on BBC Radio 2, for which he won a Sony... Read more... |
Genesis: Together and Apart, BBC TwoSunday, 05 October 2014
Despite a 47-year history which has taken them from pomp to pop and established them as a top-selling global institution, there's still a lingering sense that Genesis don't think they've been taken seriously enough. This was detectable in Phil... Read more... |
CD special: Prince - Art Official Age / Prince & 3rdeyegirl - PlectrumelectrumSaturday, 27 September 2014
The last thing I remember of my 40th birthday party this year is propping up a bar with a few similarly middle-aged men, discussing whether Kate Bush's comeback shows were as worth getting excited about as Prince's recent comeback shows. It was most... Read more... |
Blondie, O2 Academy, BirminghamSunday, 14 September 2014
Blondie may have been around the block a few times since they got together in New York in 1974, but they seemingly have no intention of settling into a comfortable existence of just playing the hits to ever-diminishing artistic returns. Their... Read more... |
CD: Neon Jungle - Welcome to the JungleSaturday, 26 July 2014
Neon Jungle are a manufactured band consisting of four visually striking young women aged between 17 and 21. They have supported Jessie J in concert and, according to their press release were "were handpicked by iconic lingerie brand Victoria's... Read more... |
CD: Anushka - Broken CircuitTuesday, 08 July 2014
As dance music once more sweeps the mainstream, we're returned to the situation of the 1990s where singer and song can seem to become a little detached. Parades of “featured vocalists” deliver refrains for the producer teams who are queueing up to... Read more... |
Melanie De Biasio, Purcell RoomTuesday, 17 June 2014
It’s statement of intent to open your first British headlining show with a 15-minute version of an album track which lasts a minute and three-quarters – from an album which itself lasts barely more than 30 minutes. And then to riff on it,... Read more... |
Arcade Fire, Earls CourtSaturday, 07 June 2014
When you have quite as much going on as 10-piece (in their current form) experimentalist Canadian indie band Arcade Fire do, it’s hard to know where to look. It’s a fact they’re aware of, and it seems like they even riff on it quite heavily with the... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: OasisSunday, 25 May 2014
Oasis: Definitely Maybe“His onstage presence is supernatural, a good looking boy exuding primal sexual allure while standing stock still, hands behind his back, all effort going into his big chested, raw throated pure and essential singing.”... Read more... |
