Album Review: Codeine Velvet Club – Codeine Velvet Club

Some albums take a bit of getting used to, some are an instant rush, and some get better with each play. This joy of 11 tracks manages all three. It’s difficult to pin down as it gyrates from the foot stomping indie pop of ‘Little Sister’, to waltz-like ‘Nevada’, to the eerie ‘Reste Avec Moi’, […]
If I was going to review an album by the physical quality of the promotional material, Fragile would be the finest album of all time.  It arrived by special delivery. Inside the reinforced A4 cardboard envelope was a translucent plastic wallet. Inside that I discovered to my delight four different press releases printed on paper […]

Album Review: Tanja Maritsa – Fragile

Album Reviews: Metronomy – Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe)

Music that sounds like a computer going insane is a bit of a hard sell. When my computer goes potty and starts emitting unearthly forlorn bleeps it makes me want to kick the ridiculous contraption to pieces, whilst laughing maniacally. Kudos to Metronomy then for managing to change a very similar sound from an object of […]
Maybe it’s unlikely that anything Moby releases can top the mega success of his Play LP, but Wait For Me’s charms lie in the fact that it doesn’t really try. Moby’s chilled-out tunes still sound as if they were concocted in the late 1990s where genres mixed and matched in the holy cause of the […]

Album Review: Moby – Wait For Me (Deluxe Edition)

Album Review: The Gilded Palace of Sin – Your Break Our Hearts, We’ll Tear Yours Out

Cinematic in scope and Gothic in mood, The Gilded Palace Of Sin forge modern day blues from sparse arrangements and a willingness to approach ambitious metaphysical themes beyond standard relationship squabbles. Singer Pete Phythian has a characterful, lived-in voice, though sometimes his vocal melodies are a little too rudimentary and syllabically out of step. The band’s alchemic […]
This début album could easily be from a slightly off kilter parallel universe. All fourteen sumptuous offerings served up here,are your ticket to this wonderful constellation that has been lovingly created from scratch by Holly Ross and David Blackwell. The opening track ‘Sexual Cowboy’ kicks off with a thrashing guitar which is reminiscent of the great bands […]

Album Review: The Lovely Eggs – If You Were Fruit

Album Review: White Rabbits – It’s Frightening

If you receive an album titled ‘It’s Frightening’ you expect to receive something covered in angst, terror and paranoia. It should hint at the end of the universe whilst never allowing you space to breath.  White Rabbits have attempted to create this feeling with a combination of dual drummers and heavy piano chords, which, at […]
The name Phenomenal Handclap Band may suggest a novelty act, but this Brooklyn-based outfit challenges no conventions. Instead it combines disco, dance and rock elements with varying levels of success, on second album Form & Control at least. When they nail it they really nail it. Opening number ‘Following’ is funky and addictive, the sort […]

Album Review: Phenomenal Handclap Band – Form & Control

ALBUM REVIEW: ROEDELIUS – ROEDELIUS PLAYS PIANO

Roedelius Plays Piano is a live concert recording that has lurked in the vault since the eighties and is only now seeing the light of day. Hans-Joachim Roedelius himself explains thusly: “I always knew that this concert would have to be made available some day. I was just waiting for the right moment, for the […]
Divisive, talented and manufactured, Lana Del Rey is the most hyped (over-hyped?) artist of her generation. The superlative ‘Video Games’ has racked up 24 million hits on youtube, and press attention has reached unprecedented levels, rivalling that of a royal hip-replacemnt. Everyone is expecting big things from the 25-year-old New Yorker. For someone whose debut […]

ALBUM: Lana Del Rey – Born To Die