by John Tindale It has been 20 years since DJ Shadow’s classic debut album Entroducing… – one of the most ambitious records of all time, and the first album to be constructed entirely from samples – but since then Shadow, a.k.a. the crate-digging ingenue Josh Davis, has largely been hit and miss, ranging from the mainly great The Private Press in 2002 to the severely lacklustre The Less You Know, The Better
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by Ollie Rankine Having now tucked 20 years of sporadic, noise rock-induced chaos under their belts, San Francisco quartet Deerhoof reveal no intention of pulling the plug from the amplifier any time soon. Being no stranger to distortion that’s so dirty you can taste it, Deerhoof continue their illustrious career with the volume remaining well and truly turned up to eleven with their 17th album, The Magic.
by John Tindale After rocketing to fame in the last half decade and picking up awards on both sides of the Atlantic, Mumford & Sons are without doubt one of the biggest bands on the planet. But no success is without criticism and, despite the Grammy and BRIT plaudits, many people still label them as stale and formulaic.
by John Tindale Norwich duo Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth have always had a unique connection. Going back some 13 years, to when the duo were aged four, they found themselves drawn to one another and that instantaneous connection is one which has carried on throughout their childhood and into young adulthood. This intuitive relationship is evidenced best in I, Gemini –a truly unique album which pushes pop music to its limit.
by Ollie Rankine An artist employing the aid of external songwriters in the 21st century is by no means unusual. Whilst the music industry remains dominated by large corporate record labels, commercial viability has never been so important and if the writing talent doesn’t match up to the attractive image, the necessary precautions must be taken. Perhaps with something to prove, the title of Jake Bugg’s new record, On My One
by Ed Biggs Following the reformation of his legendary, pioneering no-wave/noise rock outfit Swans at the end of the noughties, Michael Gira has overseen the most powerful, emotional and, arguably melodic sequence of albums in the band’s catalogue. Only hinted at in 2010’s returning effort My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky, this monstrously epic iteration of Swans, dealing in songs that more often than not last
by John Tindale By now, Hot Chip are a staple of the British electronic music scene because of their remarkable ability to release consistently brilliant albums that are both clever and danceable in equal measure and much of what the members do in their other projects follows a similar parallel; whether it be Joe Goddard and his more EDM inspired work, or Al Doyle and his time in LCD Soundsystem –
by Ed Biggs Following the enormous success of his breakthrough single ‘Loser’ in 1994, Beck Hansen faced the prospect of being pigeonholed as a one-hit wonder, weighed down by an albatross of a song with which he would be associated in the minds of the public, in the mid ‘90s. But just like Radiohead, who had themselves written a huge hit the year before in ‘Creep’ that had also been adopted
by Ollie Rankine After releasing six indie pop-soaked albums and then spent five years on recording hiatus, Swedish trio Peter Bjorn and John have eventually found themselves embarking on the pilgrimage to full blown pop perfection. Perhaps hoping to finally be rid of that never-ending whistle hook that at first helped mould the trio’s career highlight but completely dwarfed their many other fine accomplishments, PB&J’s new album Breakin Point looks for
by Ollie Rankine It’s certainly easy to be cynical about bands like The Temper Trap. Often placed somewhere between the dreariness of U2 and Coldplay, and certainly not helped in the long term by that ubiquitous 2009 song, the Australian four piece’s distinguishing traits are easy to unfairly ignore. For starters, the flawless falsetto vocal range of frontman, Dougy Mandagi provides The Temper Trap with an edge not many artists can
