CDs/DVDs
Barney Harsent
The enduring appeal of Noel Gallagher isn't hard to fathom. His music is brimming with resolution and resolve; it does what we expect it to with a rewarding honesty and an often admirable lack of pretence. This meant that, on 2011’s Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, with its marked shift away from previous (morning) glories – particularly on its most successful tracks, such as “AKA… What a Life!” – there was still that particular sense of purpose and satisfying melodic structure. However, with all the recent talk of space jazz, saxophones and nights out with Morrissey, you'd be forgiven for Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Bridget St. John: Dandelion Albums & BBC CollectionPigeonholing Bridget St. John is gratifyingly difficult. Although generally categorised as folk, her early albums actually posited her as a singer-songwriter following her own path. Like her similarly restrained contemporary Nick Drake, she did not have a background in folk clubs. And also like him, her voice was huskily intimate. Her intonation was very English, yet there was a hint of Nico’s Teutonic drama.There was no traditional material in St. John’s repertoire, but she did cover Donovan. Buddy Holly too. She also interpreted Read more ...
David Nice
Nothing pinpoints the Oscars' absurdity more than the absences of Mike Leigh’s masterpiece as Best Film candidate, of Timothy Spall from the Best Actor list - New York and London critics as well as Cannes made some amends – and even of Marion Bailey, Leigh’s partner, from the nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Spall fulfils the promise of his King Lear moment in Secrets and Lies as the artist described by Leigh as a "complex, curmudgeonly, convoluted character".Tenacious Dickensian dialogue – surely not all improvised, Leigh-style? – allows Spall to shine or appal in love, bereavement, Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Norwegian alt-folkies Katzenjammer may have gained some attention with their distinctive versions of Genesis’ “Land of Confusion” and Nick Cave’s “Henry Lee”, as well as the multi-instrument approach on their previous albums, Le Pop and A Kiss Before You Go. It would seem, however, that new album Rockland is where they have finally found their own groove. That’s not to say that Rockland isn’t without its influences. It’s just that they are melded together into something that they can call their own.Lead single “Lady Grey” has the commercial nous to bring some radio play and draws from the Read more ...
joe.muggs
I work in an office where music is generally played in the background. Picking the soundtrack for a Friday afternoon can be a particularly fraught moment: one person's idea of a wind-down from work and a promise of leisure to come can be too cheesy, or too laid-back, or too pounding. It's been a minefield. But no more: thanks to this album.Tuxedo is a kind of supergroup. Los Angeleno Mayer Hawthorne has recorded for the ever-sophisticated Stones Throw label, delivering a particularly sophisticated, 1970s-scented retro soul. His records have always oozed class, but have often struggled to Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
“We have been doing sex” is Flora and Miles’s answer when housekeeper Miss Jessel asks what they are up to. The brother and sister have seemingly been violently attacking each other on a bed. The inspiration is gardener Peter Quint’s interactions with their governess Miss Jessel: Miles has been spying on them. The Nightcomers sought to provide the backstory for Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw and, in so doing, explain the torments in the novella.While doing this unnecessary job, 1971’s The Nightcomers also tried to shock. Quint is played by Marlon Brando with a laughable Irish accent and a Read more ...
peter.quinn
Taking its title from the opening line of WB Yeats's The Second Coming, this new album from legendary traditional Irish band Altan sees them decamp to Nashville for an imaginative, celebratory exploration of the links between traditional Irish and American roots music. It also allows them to collaborate with many of the musical friends they've made along their 30-plus years journey.Listeners looking for the uniquely driving tune sets that Altan are famous for have plenty to get their teeth into, not least “Buffalo Gals/Leather Britches/Leslie's Reel”, which includes a bracing gear change from Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
The Zakary Thaks: It’s the End – The Definitive CollectionGalloping with the urgency of a sweat-flecked horse running a steeplechase, the choppy guitar riff takes early Kinks raunch and filters it through a testosterone-driven sensibility that won’t let up. The drums are unremitting. Then, a solo guitar peels off a berserk fistful of notes which Dave Davies would have been proud of. A key change raises the intensity level even higher. And then, at just over two minutes, the relentless performance grinds to a halt. Sixties garage rock at its finest, “Bad Girl” is 126 seconds of Read more ...
mark.kidel
Songhoy Blues, a punchy guitar band with roots on the edge of the desert, take the downhome country sounds of Ali Farka Toure, Afel Bocoum and Sidi Toure and give them a high-octane dose of urban urgency. They don’t just play those mesmerising Sahel blues licks with electric instruments, but they pack a punch that comes from transplanting laid-back village cool to the steamy cauldron of the city. It’s a lot like Elmore James or Howlin' Wolf taking the raw Delta sound of Robert Johnson or Charley Patton and upgrading it to match the citified excitement of the South Side of Chicago.“Music Read more ...
Russ Coffey
The past few years have seen a glut of successful rock comebacks – in fact, acts like Judas Priest, Kiss and Saxon are rocking as hard now as they ever did. Unfortunately, for every group that has defied the years, there’s another who should have hung up the Spandex years ago. Scorpions, it would seem, are one such band. As a fan of euro-rock it gives me no pleasure to say it, but this return to the studio adds nothing to their back-catalogue.Ironically, the album came about while the band members were making plans for their retirement. As a final "thank-you" to their fans they'd been Read more ...
Adam Sweeting
"Blood Brothers" is the title of the featurette included with this DVD. It tells how Brad Pitt and his fellow cast-members learned what it felt like to be the crew of a World War Two tank – Fury is the name painted on the gun of their battle-scarred Sherman – thanks to some hard-slog dawn-to-dusk training and conversations with 90-year-old veterans of the US 2nd Armored Division. The actors (including Shia LeBeouf, Jon Bernthal and Michael Peña) seem sincere as they describe how the experience gave them some insight into the true nature of warfare, and blood brothers is what they felt like Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Those with long memories may remember Tad from the first wave of Seattle grunge. The band accompanied Nirvana on their first UK tour and released some lively metal-heavy records such as God’s Balls, Salt Lick and Eight-Way Santa, before disappearing in the late 90s. 15 or so years later, mainman Tad Doyle is back with a sludge rock, pagan rite of immense proportions.Clearly Tad’s new band, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, don’t have a life full of sunshine and flowers, as their debut album is not exactly stuffed full of life affirming ditties. Brothers of the Sonic Cloth does, however, feel very Read more ...