CDs/DVDs
CD: The Strokes - Comedown MachineMonday, 18 March 2013
There must be something quite frustrating about being a Stroke in 2013, assuming you just want to get on with the business of making music without constantly being reminded that you are part of a band once labeled the biggest in the world by the... Read more... |
CD: Suede - BloodsportsSunday, 17 March 2013
You will have to excuse my solipsism but I can find no way into this review without my own preoccupations butting rudely in. Music journalists sometimes end up reviewing albums utterly disconnected to their own interests, background and musical... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Bernard Herrmann, Jamiroquai, The Who, Lee HazlewoodSunday, 17 March 2013
Bernard Herrmann: Vertigo and Music From the Films of Alfred HitchcockGreat film soundtrack music can have a tough time being accepted as thus. There’s the test of time: does the music continue resonating? Is the music a sympathetic foil for the... Read more... |
CD: Justin Timberlake - 20/20 ExperienceFriday, 15 March 2013
You really don't need the context on this, do you? Event album, comeback, cheesy title, blah blah – it's all there splattered all over the internet if you really want it. I'll just cut to the chase and say: I love Justin Timberlake's music, and I'm... Read more... |
DVD: SightseersFriday, 15 March 2013
For anyone who missed Sightseers in the cinema, purchasing it on DVD is a must. Its blend of the shocking and what initially seems a quirky, Mike Leigh-style British road movie is audacious. Mischievously subverting the familiar, it’s funny, pathos-... Read more... |
CD: Low - The Invisible WayThursday, 14 March 2013
TWenty years in operation, Minnesota’s Low could have comfortably chosen cruise control. Instead, for their 10th album they’ve looked to their own past and taken a step back from the Crazy Horse-influences which coloured their last album C’mon.... Read more... |
CD: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Specter at the FeastWednesday, 13 March 2013
There was a common theme to overheard discussions about Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. Whether in cinema doorways, school playgrounds or pubs, the consensus seemed to be that it laid out Tolkien’s tale in a suitably epic fashion and was no less a feat... Read more... |
DVD: AmourTuesday, 12 March 2013
For all the brilliance of its leads – Jean-Louis Trintignant back in the cinema after many years, Emmanuelle Riva cruelly pipped for an Oscar – it’s easily forgotten that Amour is a zeitgeist film. As the First World’s population ages, narratives of... Read more... |
CD: Billy Bragg – Tooth & NailMonday, 11 March 2013
If you want a jolting snapshot of how British pop culture has changed in the last three decades, take a look at the clip below of Billy Bragg singing "Between The Wars" on Top of the Pops in 1985. Even if the old Savile-anchored singles showcase was... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Del Shannon, The Stark Reality, The Deviants, Mighty MightySunday, 10 March 2013
Del Shannon: The Complete UK Singles and More (1961-1966)The plaintive, urgent drama of Del Shannon’s debut single, 1961’s “Runaway”, will always identify him. But amazing 45s like 1965’s crunching “Break up” and the ferocious garage-punk of “Move... Read more... |
CD: John Grant – Pale Green GhostsSunday, 10 March 2013
How John Grant would follow up 2010’s universally celebrated Queen of Denmark was a knotty dilemma. He could have settled into his role as the aberrant, self-lacerating, depression-fuelled, potty mouthed descendant of Lionel Ritchie and Eric Carmen... Read more... |
CD: Bon Jovi - What About NowSaturday, 09 March 2013
Over 30 years, Bon Jovi has remained one of the more cartoonish fixtures in soft rock. With characteristic lack of irony, the boys from New Jersey have perfected the art of singing nonsense - my favourite example is "someday you tell the day / by... Read more... |
