CDs/DVDs
CD: Paul Van Dyk - EvolutionWednesday, 22 August 2012
Berlin’s Paul Van Dyk has remained in or around the top ten of DJ Magazine’s defining annual poll of the top 100 DJs in the world for at least a decade, occasionally making the number one spot. Unlike all others in the current top 20, however, he’s... Read more... |
DVD: North Sea TexasTuesday, 21 August 2012
Bavo Defurne’s North Sea Texas is a more than distinguished addition to the coming-of-age film genre, catching the painful moments of approaching maturity. Set in a Sixties provincial seaside town in Belgium, the poignancy of 16-year-old hero Pim... Read more... |
CD: The Orb feat. Lee "Scratch" Perry - The Orbserver in the Star HouseMonday, 20 August 2012
The available evidence suggested both these artists were well past their sell-by date. The Orb were early Nineties titans of mischievous narco-ambience but haven’t made a decent album in years, even when they worked with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour... Read more... |
CD: Bloc Party – FourSunday, 19 August 2012
Bloc Party's fourth album comes after a lengthy break during which various members did various things with varying degrees of success. Most notably vocalist Kele Okereke pursued a more synth-based, dance-flavoured direction with mixed results. There... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Ride, Juliette Gréco, Krzysztof Komeda, Priscilla ParisSunday, 19 August 2012
Ride: Going Blank AgainKieron TylerWhen Oxfordshire’s Ride arrived in the shops via Creation Records, they were the sonic little brothers to label-mates My Bloody Valentine. But their second album, 1992’s Going Blank Again, ploughed its own path,... Read more... |
CD: The Darkness - Hot CakesSaturday, 18 August 2012
The Darkness are back, and predictably, as they inch towards serious rock’n’roll, they also tourette tic a little preposterousness. “Every Inch of You”, which opens the album, sees Justin Hawkins filling his lungs and screaming “suck my cock". It... Read more... |
DVD: EllesFriday, 17 August 2012
Elles promises much. Małgorzata Szumowska, from Poland, is an engaged, serious film maker. 33 Scenes from Life (2008), which won a Locarno special prize, had an edgy, bohemian authenticity to it, and looked with wry east European melancholy at the... Read more... |
CD: Owl City - The Midsummer StationThursday, 16 August 2012
Stumbling across the perfect pop hit must be its own kind of curse. It’s been two and a half years since Owl City’s “Fireflies” shot its way into the charts, seemingly from nowhere. With its lush, quirky melodies and wistful, lovelorn lyrics, Adam... Read more... |
CD: Jessie Ware - DevotionWednesday, 15 August 2012
Although the Eighties revival has now been going on for longer than the actual Eighties, it shows no sign of abating – to the point where maybe it would be more sensible to refer to it as a tradition or a palette of techniques rather than than... Read more... |
DVD: Separation/The Other Side of UnderneathTuesday, 14 August 2012
Although the collaboration between Jane Arden and Jack Bond was truly two-way, their films were wholly driven by a female perspective. They also evolved from Arden’s explorations into the nature of self and how external forces affect that. Yet... Read more... |
CD: Ry Cooder - Election SpecialMonday, 13 August 2012
Ry Cooder is an unpredictable quantity. He’s a prickly, opinionated old coot who doesn’t seem the type to pass a night in the pub with. He’d probably not get your jokes and moan about the Rolling Stones nicking his songs. His musical output is... Read more... |
CD: James Yorkston - I Was a Cat From a BookSunday, 12 August 2012
James Yorkston, the very able singer-songwriter from Fife, is now on his fifth album for Domino. This comes hot on the heels of the reissue of his first and excellent release, Moving Up Country, which established him as one of the most talented... Read more... |
