Archive For The “art rock” Category
Taut as body builders’ biceps, TV on the Radio are the Talking Heads de nos jours. And possibly the most exciting and innovative rock band on the planet. Hyperbole? Maybe, but this album reminds me why I love music so much. It is spiky, difficult and wildly exciting. Intelligent rock music. Another poke in the … Continue reading »
Something of a mystery surrounds this record – it was withdrawn a couple of weeks before its scheduled release date, but not before preview copies had been sent out to the press. it consists of twelve tracks, four of which resurfaced on “Nerve Net” and one on the CD single ‘Ali Click’. Others, if my … Continue reading »
Uplifting is not an adjective that has ever been applied to a Radiohead album as far as I know. And this is unlikely to break the mould. Quite what constitutes the vein of melancholy that this band taps into in the youth of the day is a complete mystery to me, however I have to … Continue reading »
Just as Rock is officially declared dead, along comes Anna Calvi, a singer and guitarist of determined originality to breathe life into the twitching corpse. Touchstones include Diamanda Galas, PJ Harvey, Edith Piaf, Brian Eno and David Lynch. Occasionally as forbidding as it is bewitching, this album is splendidly gothic, epic even. Better yet, we [...]
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 Yin to Frank Zappa’s Yang. If sprawling, overblown orchestral prog rock is your bag, presided over by an eccentric scottish composer (Ron Geesin), then look no further. This is Pink Floyd before the pretension set in; the Wall was just a distant gleam in Roger Water’s eye and experimentation was actively encouraged by the [...]
Interpol, as incisive as surgery, display the fearsome grasp of rock dynamics that place them head and shoulders above a host of post punk pretenders. This, their fourth album has seen them simultaneously embrace a wider palette and lose their bass player – who, apparently, had grown to hate the bass. It is to be 
Preposterous, pretentious, preening perfection. In a short career, Bauhaus defined the mood and the look of a generation and delivered some of the most edgy rock music ever recorded. Mixing glam, high art, literary and film allusion with gleeful disdain, they invented Goth and left their many hapless imitators choking in their dust. This album 
The band that put the gorgeous in Goth. Astoundingly beautiful in places, this album awakened a hitherto uncaring world to the pleasures housed by the 4AD label. Featuring members of the Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Colourbox and Modern English performing songs by some truly great songwriters including the then unfashionable Alex Chilton, Roy Harper 
