CDs/DVDs
CD: Iron Maiden – Book of SoulsSaturday, 05 September 2015
It’s nearly 40 years since bassist Steve Harris formed Iron Maiden and much has changed since then. Singer Bruce Dickinson has learned to fence, fly and kick cancer in the cock, and the band have continued to release albums – albums which, though... Read more... |
DVD: Abilene TownThursday, 03 September 2015
Randolph Scott had ridden long in the saddle before Budd Boetticher directed him as a driven loner with a painful past in the six harsh “Ranown Cycle” Westerns (1956-60). His apprenticeship began with ten 1930s Zane Grey oaters, mostly made by Henry... Read more... |
CD: The Libertines - Anthems For Doomed YouthThursday, 03 September 2015
As someone who has always been completely indifferent to the retro New Wave stylings of The Libertines, I can’t say that I greeted the news of their reformation with anything more than a shrug of the shoulders. Sure, they had released a few toe-... Read more... |
CD: Nicolas Godin - ContrepointWednesday, 02 September 2015
According to the press release for Contrepoint, “AIR have not split up.” Nicolas Godin, one half of the French duo, goes on to say: “We weren’t surprising ourselves anymore… I’d made a statement with AIR and I wanted to go back to the classical... Read more... |
DVD: Far From The Madding CrowdTuesday, 01 September 2015
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg specialises in claustrophobic, asphyxiating atmospheres, from his breakthrough family abuse tale Festen to the more recent study of small-town paranoia, The Hunt. Moving from domestic close-up to the Wessex wide... Read more... |
CD: Micachu & The Shapes - Good Sad Happy BadMonday, 31 August 2015
Bands that stand out live often disappoint on record: it can be difficult to capture the energy, the ferociousness, the vitality that makes a group of musicians special when you freeze it in time. Experimental pop trio Micachu & the Shapes -... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: The Isley BrothersSunday, 30 August 2015
The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor & T-Neck Album Masters (1958–1983)Head straight for Track 14, Disc 10’s quadrophonic mix – which plays fine on a normal stereo – of The Isley Brothers’ version of Seals & Crofts’ “Summer Breeze”. It’s an... Read more... |
CD: Public Image Ltd - What the World Needs Now...Saturday, 29 August 2015
John Lydon’s group went 20 years without cutting a studio album before issuing This Is PiL. A mere three years on, the singer and his bandmates Lu Edmonds (guitar), Scott Firth (bass) and Bruce Smith (drums) have produced an album as robust and... Read more... |
CD: The Naturals - On the Way (To the Laughing Light of Plenty)Saturday, 29 August 2015
Once upon a time, there was a label called Whatever We Want. As well as releasing vital, uncompromising records by Gareth “Godsy” Goddard and French prog-rock sampling delights from Quiet Village, in 2008 a 12” called The Rose saw the light of day.... Read more... |
DVD: The Town That Dreaded SundownFriday, 28 August 2015
Any film about a series of real-life unsolved murders is ready to be tagged as exploitation. With The Town That Dreaded Sundown, the waters are muddied as it draws on a 1976 proto-slasher film of the same name which luridly retold the true story of... Read more... |
CD: Owiny Sigoma Band - NyanzaThursday, 27 August 2015
Nyanza is the province of western Kenya where this intriguing Anglo-Kenyan, inter-generational five-piece recorded their third album, exploring the region in which the Luo people created their music. The Kenyan contingent, nyatiti (a plucked lyre)... Read more... |
CD: Hills - FridTuesday, 25 August 2015
In a way that is reminiscent of fellow Swedes and label mates Goat, Hills play a primal psychedelia that draws from a far broader spectrum of sounds than the usual garage rock and motorik grooves of their British and American fellow travellers. On... Read more... |
