Aqualung STILL LIFE. Warner
The best singer/songwriters have the ability to floor you with musical poetry about the real/imagined world and introspection. They can make you smile with their self-effacing humour and observation. They can make you weep with their tales of love, loss, and self-abuse. They can make you angry about the abuse of power and wealth. They make you think and feel. And the very best are highly original and distinctive - they set the standard for the rest. It’s against this background that I judge the quality of any singer/songwriter. Aqualung a.k.a. Matt Hales is a singer/songwriter who has been hailed as, ‘an astonishing talent…’ and much more besides. My challenge then to Hales with this new album, STILL LIFE, is ‘move me Matt.’
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Lamb Interview
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The Loose Cannons & Scissor Sisters
The Loose Cannons ‘Superstars’ Scissor Sisters ‘Laura’
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Funeral For A Friend Live In Wrexham
It’s unusual for Wrexham to be host to a band hailed by one major rock magazine as ‘the best rock band on the planet.’ The music media in general seems to have taken to Funeral For A Friend like a duck to water, and even before a debut album has been released. However, Welsh label Mighty Atom has released one EP, and with substantial help from a couple of charting singles and live performances around the country (including festival dates at Reading and Leeds), the band have made massive and rapid headway.
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Sophie B Hawkins Interview
My first experience of Sophie B Hawkin’s music was the album TIMBRE, which totally blew me away. I subsequently acquired her other albums and concluded that here was one of the finest pop singer/songwriters around today. I also noticed that both lyrically and vocally Sophie is a highly sensual and individual artist, with a refreshingly free spirit. I had to find out more…
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Patricia Barber Interview
Patricia Barber is one the world’s finest and most accessible exponents of modern jazz. Patricia’s last recording, NIGHTCLUB, was selected for our short-list of 2001’s best female solo albums. Her latest album, VERSE, was similarly honoured in 2002. Whether interpreting the songs of others or (as in VERSE) recording her own songs, Patricia brings something very special to the table. Other albums by Patricia include SPLIT, MODERN COOL and the wonderful live performance album COMPANION. The level of sound of these Premonition recordings can be classified as of outstanding audiophile quality.
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Elliott Smith Singer Songwriter 1969 - 2003
Back in 1998 I started writing about music, and virtually every artist I interviewed mentioned Elliott Smith as their favourite and/or major musical influence. Elliott’s songs for the movie GOOD WILL HUNTING provided the launch pad needed for the artist and his music in the UK, while in the USA an underground musician suddenly became very ‘overground’. I started to acquire Elliott’s albums and loved what I heard. He had an acute sense of melody and combined this with superb introspective lyrics and one of the gentlest, most beguiling voices I’ve ever heard. So when the opportunity to review his live performance early in 1999 came I jumped at it. Ben & Jason provided wonderful support at a very early stage in their career. But it was Elliott that the sell-out student audience had come to see, in his acoustic guise. I sensed a very slight air of disappointment around me therefore when he used an electric guitar and gave a rockier interpretation of many of his best songs. But they loved him all the same, and he seemed in a good mood. That was the first and last time I saw Elliott Smith.
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Lamb BETWEEN DARKNESS AND WONDER. Mercury
Lamb’s last album, WHAT SOUND, was a beauty and ended up high on our list of albums of the year. I believe it also provided the duo with a stronger and original musical identity, something many acts fail to achieve. Lamb’s musical history is one that can be best described as consistently progressive. So when the new album, BETWEEN DARKNESS AND WONDER, arrived a few days ago, I wondered if they could go one step further again. I think they have.
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Muse ABSOLUTION
It seems just yesterday when I first covered Muse. In fact it was several months prior to the release of their debut album, SHOWBIZ which would make it late 1999 or early 2000. I was impressed with the songs, the band’s distinctive sound and Matt Bellamy’s quite amazing voice. I quickly arranged an interview, and secured an opportunity see the band perform live (in a support role). I was blown away. The second album followed just over a year later and with it another chance to witness a live performance, this time in a leading role. The album had some great moments (New Born, Plug In Baby and the great cover of Feeling Good) but it was also unfocused and annoyingly hysterical. I loved the performance. I then saw the band perform live for a third time and came away with the distinct feeling that Bellamy was trying to do too much (vocals, keys, guitar) and appeared tired (while his fellow musicians who seemed full of beans and played better than ever) especially in performing the new, very demanding, album songs. So from supremely melodic and moody, Muse went for the throat and, in my view, missed the artery that went straight to the heart (the magic of SHOWBIZ). So, here’s album number three, with the rather gothic title of ABSOLUTION and, arguably, the most important for the band. Will it be the catastrophic bomb that the fuse was furiously winding and fizzing its way towards? Or will it represent a partial regression and compromise? And will it cement the band’s brave new future?
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White Buffalo Live In Chester
I couldn’t sleep. And each time I try to toss and turn I awake because my little cat has lodged herself tight up against my leg, and any movement by me could so easily turn into ‘funeral for a friend.’ So what’s bothering me? The music industry is bothering me. The existence of brilliant but media-ignored British music talent is bothering me. The fact that White Buffalo aren’t one of the biggest UK bands bothers me. Last night’s concert in front of an unknowing but wildly enthusiastic teenage crowd excited me. And the band’s great songs and ‘go it alone’ dedication inspired me. How the fuck could I sleep?
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Shakenstir Photo Supplement |
DPK: Digital Press Kit |
Neil Cowley Trio |
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