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Album Review: Pet Shop Boys – Elysium
Elysium, the new album from Pet Shop Boys, maintains the British duo’s tradition of single-word album titles. A similar economic approach flows through this precise and neatly packaged 12-song...
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Album Review: Beth Orton – Sugaring Season
It’s said a change is as good as a rest. In the case of Beth Orton, whose latest release, Sugaring Season, comes after a six-year hiatus, a rest is as good as a change. Since breaking through with her...
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Album Review: Sky Ferreira – Ghost EP
Will the real Sky Ferreira step forward. The precocious 20-year old has been making music since her teens, with some early mentoring by Michael Jackson no less. Her second EP, Ghost, is a five-track...
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Album Review: Andy Burrows – Company
Andy Burrows may be better known as the ex-drummer of Razorlight and current seat holder with We Are Scientists, but he represents an altogether more unusual animal, the singer-songwriter drummer....
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Live Review: Bat For Lashes at Londons HMV Forum (10/29)
The yawning spaces of North London’s HMV Forum quickly filled with devotees for the first of two sell-out shows by Bat For Lashes, currently touring the UK on the back of their latest album, The...
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Album Review: Tracey Thorn – Tinsel and Lights
A Christmas album seems quite unlikely for someone whose past suggests she’s not one to oil the wheels of capitalism. Nonetheless, Everything But the Girl’s Tracey Thorn’s Tinsel and Lights is just...
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Album Review: Kodaline – The Kodaline EP
The cover to the debut EP by Dublin four-piece Kodaline depicts sunlight bursting through a tangle of twisted woodland. Think of the Monty Python “Oscar Wilde” sketch, during which the then Prince of...
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Live Review: Ingrid Michaelson at Londons Union Chapel (11/8)
If the audience crammed into North London’s audio jewel, the Union Chapel, were blown away by Ingrid Michaelson’s performance, then the feeling was pretty mutual. The artist was at pains to thank the...
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Live Review: Mad Dog Mcrea and Cosmo Jarvis at Londons Jazz Cafe (11/22)
The Jazz Cafe is a curious venue on the gentrified southern edge of Camden Town, North London. The venue was originally a bank — which may explain the bar prices. When it became a live jazz venue, it...
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Album Review: Blue Kid – Upright, Love
After a smattering of EP and single releases over the past three years, Upright, Love signals the full-length debut of New York-based five-piece, Blue Kid. Lead singer Lydia Benecke has almost tattooed...
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Live Review: Kodaline at Londons Sebright Arms (11/28)
On Wednesday night, a hundred souls packed into the cosy, compact basement of the Sebright Arms, set in an anonymous East London back street to catch current buzz band, Kodaline. The night before the...
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Live Review: Beth Orton at Londons Union Chapel (12/5)
As impressive aurally and visually as it is, the Union Chapel can still be a daunting stage even for a seasoned performer. For an artist returning to tour her first album in six years without the...
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Live Review: Revere at Londons Hoxton Square (12/18)
On the face of it, the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen may not sound like the place to host your band’s Christmas show but its culinary reference is apt as Tuesday night’s fare offered a feast of...
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Album Review: Broadcast – Berberian Sound Studio
I’ve never been wholly convinced that film soundtracks work outside their celluloid existence. Broadcast’s soundtrack to Peter Strickland’s art-house psycho-thriller, Berberian Sound Studio, though...
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Album Review: Midnight Spin – Dont Let Me Sleep
Sometimes the album title threatens to say it all. In the case of NYC quintet, Midnight Spin, the full-pelt opener to Don’t Let Me Sleep suggests you won’t need to reach for an energy drink to stay out...
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Album Review: Richard Thompson – Electric
Peek at the prismatic cover art of veteran songwriter-guitarist Richard Thompson’s new album Electric and you might expect some fretboard fireworks. “Stony Ground” begins in a flurry of syncopated...
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Album Review: Veronica Falls – Waiting For Something To Happen
A second album called Waiting For Something To Happen might be asking for trouble. Thankfully, second-album syndrome has bypassed the London four-piece Veronica Falls. On the latest collection, the...
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Album Review: Various Artists – Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea...
Those familiar with the first Rogue’s Gallery issued back in 2006 might approach news of a follow-up collection, Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys, with a mixture of...
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Live Review: Richard Thompson at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London (2/25)
Clad all in black with small splashes of colour provided by abstract figures on his shirt and neck-scarf and wearing his trademark black beret, Richard Thompson took the stage like a veteran son of...
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Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition: 8,000 acts. One big gig.
When did you last listen to 200 songs and then have to list your top three, taking time and trouble because reputations and even careers are at stake? Last month, Consequence of Sound’s Tony Hardy...
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