SINGLE: Crystal Castles – Baptism

Baptism not Celestica was the obvious choice of début single from Crystal Castles part deux. It serves up the elements of Crystal Castles we already know and love. Namely, Alice shrieking unforgettably, Morse code verse bleeps that are as hooky as Leatherface‘s larder, and something new in the pounding trance overtones that are more  grievous bodily harm […]
Only a robot could claim that these made-on-a-coffee-break remixes (almost certainly, with use of a laptop) are capable of arousing emotion. Exhibiting all the range of Belgian duo Mustang’s barely-there reworking to the equally Belgian Surfing Leons’ 8-bit ‘afternoon’ mix, these uninspiring cuts succeed only in the sense of being instantly forgettable. This is no […]

SINGLE: Morcheeba – Even Though Remixes

SINGLE: GORILLAZ – ON MELANCHOLY HILL

I’m going to get a lot of flak for this. Right, I know that Damon Albarn is a musical rainman, a rarified walking, talking lump of prodigious talent and anti-establishment cool. I realise that criticising the man is tantamount to drawing cocks on a bible. I also accept that under the guise of Gorillaz he […]
I reckon it’s fair to say that the various incarnations of Pendulum are arguably so different in style and content that it makes little sense to compare and contrast them. Of course there are core elements that resonate throughout their music, but their evolution from underground drum and bass to radio-friendly beats and guitar thrashery […]

SINGLE: Pendulum – Witchcraft

SINGLE: Amadou & Mariam – Africa

Taken from the excellent album Welcome To Mali, released over 18 months ago, it’s hard not to be cynical about the timing of this release. I appreciate that Amadou & Mariam played Africa at the 2010 World Cup opening ceremony, but it seems the song’s release so long after the album’s release is something of […]
What exactly is an A&R and what exactly do they do? Apparently, A&R stands for Artists and Repertoire, and is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label. Sounds like a pretty cool job […]

SINGLE: Orphan Boy – Pop Song

SINGLE: Oriol – Coconut Coast

Keeping them coming thick and fast, Planet Mu shoots out the next bright star into the sky, Oriol. Real name Oriol Singhji, this latest addition to the planet Mu team originated from Barcelona and now resides between London and Cambridge. This EP sees his debut on the late, propped up firmly by reworks of Faulty […]
Leave your wetsuit at home, but do remember your Ray-Bans. Hailing from San Diego, Crocodiles are explorers of the darker side of Californian life. In the moody ‘Sleep Forever’, Brandon Welchez and Charles Rowell layer reverberating vocals over jagged synth to fashion a piece of retro-while-contemporary noise-pop. Elsewhere in their catalogue nods to post-punk abound, […]

SINGLE: CROCODILES – SLEEP FOREVER

SINGLE: Harper Simon – Wishes and Stars

Missing the obvious I was going to write, “Harper Simon is a fine musician who sounds a lot like Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel”, when I read the press release and sure enough: he is Paul Simon’s son. Like father like son. I know children want to plough their own furrows, usually in the opposite […]
I know that the current abiding image of Iceland is that of a country with no national bank, and an unpronounceable volcano intent on ruining our travel plans (I was in the US at the time and sadly it didn’t strand me there). But ever since a younger manifestation of myself became obsessed with “Agaetis […]

SINGLE: Ólöf Arnalds – Innundir Skinni