Archive For The “alt.rock” Category
There is no greater irritant than a bunch of whey faced middle class twerps attempting to play reggae and in this respect, ‘Macchu Picchu’ is atrocious as genocide. The good news is that after this most miserable of starts, the Strokes remind us that new wave did not die with Elvis Costello’s ‘Spike’, and is … Continue reading »
Phil Spektor meets the Shangri Las in electroclash car crash. What’s not to like? Reminiscent in tone of Groove Armada’s ‘Paper Romance’ this album takes tales of break up, revenge and despair, sets them to the most infuriatingly catchy melodies and whips a synthtastic souffle of pounding percussion, tinkling bells and girly vocals into one … Continue reading »
From the days when men were men and Ray Davies took a song about an encounter with a transvestite to the top of the charts. The story of the Kinks is a strange one. A prodigiously gifted songwriter, Ray Davies was always an outsider to the Beatles and Stones in-crowd. His acutely observed vignettes of … Continue reading »
Simply. Brilliant. Take that Mr. Cowell… There are times when it seems its just not worth chewing through the straps and for those of us that remember Thatcherism in all it’s hideous detail, the empty council housing, the riots in Parliament Square, the pointless and tragic Falklands conflict, even Ben Elton deserves to be recognised [...]
If I wanted to listen to the Eagles, I’d get out my time machine and go back to 1974. Ok, that may be a little strong, Sam Beam is a fine songwriter and this is a fine album, albeit one with a radio friendly sheen. The thing is, I remember the early 70′s quite well, [...]
A reigning in of sorts (did you see what I did there?). Seriously, though the epic prog folk of ‘The Crane Wife’ and ‘Castaways and Cutouts’ has been abandoned in favour of a beautifully produced collection of songs, the Decemberists draw on the well of melancholia to good effect. Sadly it was for their wilful [...]
God bless Placebo! Spiteful, excessive and narcissistic, they rock like cannibals. Nineties mutant offspring. Take a pinch of Jerry Lee Lewis, stir in the Spiders from Mars, bring to the boil with a dollop of Bauhaus. We should be proud…Happy Ne…
No question here, album of the year has to be ‘High Violet’ by The National. Absolutely stunning and it has to be said, streets ahead of the competition. This was the year The National really delivered. A league of their own. The next nine, reviewed elsewhere in these pages… 2. Tindersticks – Falling Down A [...]
The best songs sound as though they were discovered rather than contrived, and in ‘Cattle and Cane’ the Go-Between’s Grant McLennan gave us one of the truly brilliant songs of the early eighties. Quite unlike anything else from the period, this is catchy, quirky and lyrical. A wonderfully evocative snapshot; infused with melancholy, looking forward, [...]
There were only two bands worth listening to in the Britpop movement and neither of them were called Oasis. This album transcends the genre effortlessly, providing the definitive soundtrack to a generation for whom the alienation of the after party comedown became a lifestyle. Bernard Butler, a guitarist and arranger of prodigious talent and singer 
