In recent years Beck’s album releases have delighted and disappointed in equal measure. The fact that I included not one but two songs from this new album on a recent local Shakenstir radio session tells you something about how I feel about his latest effort. In fact I was struggling to keep it down to [...]

This album is by a Canadian all-girl band that appears to have created its own musical style in defiance of popular market trends. On the evidence of this six-track EP, I think the girls have succeeded in marking out their own very distinctive territory.

With so many new rock bands around at the moment it’s refreshing to receive an album that is a little more melodic, a little more distinctive, heavier, and even possesses several potentially chart busting singles.

A quarter of the way into the 2005 and I’m hoping that the rest of the year will reveal a few more very special albums. So far it’s been disappointing, although it started with a couple of crackers from the Frames and Ani DiFranco. KT Tunstall’s debut album has wowed the music media but I [...]

In 2004 I was lucky enough to see both Martha and Rufus Wainwright perform live. It was a special night in Liverpool and took place on the eve of the USA presidential election when it became clear who the Wainwrights wanted to win (and it wasn’t George W). Just prior to the event I had [...]

The other day I was stuck in a local traffic jam. In front of me was a Land Rover Freelander, and covering its rear light clusters were machismo-looking grids which served little or no real purpose. I wondered why superficial garnishing like this was used to spoil and otherwise attractive rearwards design. The superficial and [...]