ALBUM: Goldfrapp – Head First
Where Goldfrapp’s fourth album, “Seventh Tree”, marked a refreshing departure into ambient, acoustic territory, their fifth, Head First, finds the band travelling back in time to the 1980’s.This is no better exemplified than by “I Wanna Life”, forgettable synth pop cheese whose influences one could attribute to any of a number of low-rent 80s synth-pop bandwagon-jumpers. Forthcoming second single, “Alive”, meanwhile, is camp super-soft rock. It’ll be some surprise... Read More
SINGLE: THE SEAL CUB CLUBBING CLUB – MADE OF MAGIC
Formed on the Wirral, the posh side of Merseyside, TSCCC arrive with a new cut from forthcoming album “Royal Variety”. I guess with a title like that we can expect an appearance from the Queen, the cast from a Lloyd-Webber musical, Cliff Richard and a ventriloquist/magician. It would seem none of these appear on this release; there may be a ventriloquist but it is very difficult to tell. Instead there are some “high-speed car-crash vocals”, high pitched guitars and high... Read More
LIVE: FRANK TURNER/CHUCK RAGAN – 17/03/2010
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and Manchester is full of students taking their disgusted first slurps of Guinness, while those used to all the faux-Oirishness that March 17th entails have crammed into the Academy 1 en masse, and are mostly holding drinks with an amber hue. The clean shaven Chuck Ragan, frontman of the rightly revered Hot Water Music, is a construction worker in his native Gainesville, FL when he’s not on tour, and he has a... Read More
ALBUM: Butler Williams – Save it for Someone Else EP
Butler Williams sound like a couple of nice guys. Their voices are soothing and mellow and their parts merge so peacefully that it is often impossible to distinguish where one starts and the other one finishes. This is their second release to date and for two guys who are known for performances which give a bit of fire to a stagnant stage on a slow folk night they have done well to transfer their luxuriously layered tracks on to disc.One does not like to get too obsessed... Read More
LIVE: EDITORS – 16/03/2010
– THE APOLLO THEATRE, MANCHESTER – I used to like Editors. That is, I did until last night when they left me cold. In their defence, they weren’t awful, they were merely average. They start with a slow number from their third album ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ before opting for their more familiar, upbeat material. Each time they got the crowd going with their better tracks, they needlessly segued into less jaunty stuff, and completely destroying any momentum... Read More
ALBUM: Laura Marling: I Speak Because I Can
Laura Marling’s first album, “Alas I Cannot Swim” was an impossibly brilliant debut. Released just after she turned 18 her lyrics combined a delicate shyness with a world-weary maturity that spoke of things with a level of understanding that few people reach in their lifetime, let alone while they are still in their teens. The words were simultaneously poetic and simple, her half spoken, gently enunciating voice seemed to whisper straight into your ear, sometimes conversing... Read More
LIVE: ERRORS – 10/3/2010
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Everytime the Manchester music scene seems to be escaping the shackles of its past, a new club or indie night seems to raise it’s head offering the same kind of generic, pedestrian music and putting on bland ‘landfill indie’ acts. Thank goodness then for nights like Now Wave, who, with eyes firmly on the future are working hard to prove that the city has more to offer than the stale and over familiar sounds of it’s past. Leeds-based... Read More
LIVE: DELPHIC – 10/03/2010
– CLUB NIRVANA, WIGAN – Approaching Club Nirvana, I feel somewhat apprehensive, wondering what a Wednesday night in Wigan could possibly offer, a feeling which increases as I enter the half empty venue – or is that half full? A tiered, all standing venue, I manage to nab the best spot in the house, right next to the lighting desk. The gig starts promptly with what seems like a nervous Chew Lips, the audience politely standing around the edge of the dance floor. However,... Read More
LIVE: RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR – 11/03/2010
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Alan Sparhawk has had a relatively long and distinguished career as guitarist and frontman for Low. His more recent side project Retribution Gospel choir offer a very different musical proposition to the one he made his name with. While Lows trademark sound is slow, sombre and delicate with beautiful melodies, Retribution Gospel Choir are all about a straight down the line heavy rock sound, which offers Sparhawk the chance to cut loose... Read More
SINGLE: Paloma Faith – Upside Down
Paloma Faith has just released her forth single, entitled ‘Upside Down’ – and I like it! It’s jolly; it’s clever; it’s quirky – a lot like Ms Faith, one suspects. It’s also very catchy, but, then again, so too is syphilis. When it comes to Paloma Faith, the problem isn’t with her music – it’s with the musician herself. When Gandhi famously quipped that ‘imitation is the sincerest flattery’ he wasn’t thinking about music. What’s really upside... Read More
