ALBUM REVIEW: The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

The title of The Vaccines’ debut album is, perhaps, a response to the masses of hype they’ve been the subject to since releasing their début single ‘Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)’ last November.  Most of this is due, perhaps, to the online buzz that they’ve created, and their tendency to keep their cards very close to their […]
New York Dolls are back on fantastic creative form with their wonderful new album, ‘Walking Backward In High Heels’, which was recorded and mixed in sunny Newcastle – miles from their home in New York City. Just shows you what you can achieve when you are taken from the clean streets of NY to the […]

ALBUM: New York Dolls – Dancing Backward In High Heels

ALBUM: Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo

It’s quite hard, when listening to Kurt Vile, to reconcile the sound of the music with the name of its creator (though, it could very well be his real name…(but, probably not…(but then, it might be…))). You’d probably be expecting something quite raucous.  However, not finding that, you probably won’t be too disappointed either. Even […]
Jeff Beck rocks. We all presumed that to be self-evident but now it’s palpably true. He rolls as well – although that may be more to do with the passing of years. This album is a celebration of the life, career and music of Les Paul.  It’s incredible to think that the man who built and put his […]

ALBUM: Jeff Beck – Rock ‘n’ Roll Party, Honouring Les Paul

ALBUM: Port-Royal – 2000-2010: The Golden Age of Consumerism

Truly great music, be it critically acclaimed, commercially successful or both, has to fit a certain purpose at a certain time or be the best at what it does. As Port-Royal are not (to my knowledge) a fresh-faced young boy band like One Direction filling the void left in the teenage dreamboat demographic, we can  […]
The church was the driving force behind the development of early classical music; nowadays, it’s the film industry and (unfortunately) advertising which pay the classical composer’s way. Modern ‘popular classical’ music has taken on a dance-music character, with shorter chord progressions, less of a tendency towards quirky melody lines, and an avoidance of the highly-emphasised, […]

ALBUM: Dustin O’Halloran – Lumiere

ALBUM: Radiohead – The King of Limbs

Am I alone in this? In, when news breaks of a new Radiohead release, not crossing fingers behind my back that it’s a return to “OK Computer Radiohead”? I like ‘Kid A’. I love ‘Hail To The Thief’. Whisper it quietly, ‘In Rainbows’ is probably my favourite Radiohead album. So, when news broke earlier this week, that Radiohead’s new […]
Come on an imaginary road trip with me. We’re in a ’61 Thunderbird, top down, wind in our hair. We’re hurtling headlong down a never ending bolt-straight Mojave Desert road. The midday sun beats relentlessly down, the heat haze shimmers. Our arms are draped languidly over the side of the car. The occasional cactus is […]

ALBUM: The Megaphonic Thrift – Decay Decoy

ALBUM: Treefight For Sunlight – Treefight For Sunlight

Ironically, when I got the review list for this month, I asked if I could do Fleet Foxes and instead, I got Treefight for Sunlight – who want to be Fleet Foxes. That’s mean of me, I suppose – the truth is that both of them want to be the Beach Boys. What really sparked […]
Pete Yorn’s self titled 6th studio album is the result of an impromptu 5 day recording session with Pixies frontman and indie rock legend Frank Black. Recorded in a makeshift studio over the summer of 2008 whilst the prolific songsmith was in the middle of making his 4th LP Back & Fourth, this record perhaps demonstrates […]

ALBUM: PETE YORN – PETE YORN