Kate must confess that, shamefully, she doesn’t possess an encyclopedic knowledge of the myriad genres which influence politically-motivated musical combo The King Blues – ska, folk, reggae and a dash of hip-hop included. However, during the first 30 seconds or so of this video, they do instruct us in some elementary steps on how to [...]
Music: Reviews
Watch the video to “Get Over It” by Guillemots
Ladies and gentlemen, Guillemots are back and Kate is very excited based on what she’s heard. Here’s the video to the band’s new track Get Over It, featuring a rather windswept Fyfe being driven through a lot of blurry lights by Aristabal, who’s at the wheel of an extremely flash car. There’s also a cameo [...]
Music: Reviews
Those Dancing Days – Hitten
Those Dancing Days – Hitten (Wichita Records) February 11th, 2008 4.7/6.0 In the mad kerfuffle over Brit soulsters Duffy and Amy Winehouse, one of Wichita Records’ 2007 signings have escaped virtually unsullied by mainstream hype machines. They’ve been picking up a good slice of attention on numerous blogs, as well as notable spot plays from [...]
Music: Reviews
Beth Rowley – Oh My Life
Beth Rowley – Oh My Life (Blue Thumb Records)
3.0/6.0
March 3rd, 2008
While one can hardly take issue with an industry zeitgeist that not only opens doors to women, but actively grabs them by the hair and pulls them over the threshold, the success of the Winehouses and Duffys of this world has apparently had the dubious effect of giving A&R spies carte blanche to hand contracts out to anyone with lungs and lady-bits.
Case in point is Beth Rowley. On her new single Oh My Life, her undeniably pretty voice lilts platitudes over a mail-order big band backing track, and the…
Album Reviews
An (Industry) Storm in a Teacup?
Duffy – Rockferry (Polydor/A&M)
March 3rd, 2008
3.0/6.0
With the industry storm surrounding Duffy threatening to reach Force 8 on the McNicholas-Scale, you would be forgiven for securing all loose debris and adopting the brace position. So, after tying myself to the sofa, I sat with eager anticipation to hear if the girl from Nefyn’s debut album Rockferry would blow me away.
The album opens with her debut single and title track Rockferry, the song that set about propelling her to the brink of the big time. It is, indeed, a promising start. With the smooth wash of 60s-soul…
Album Reviews
Quint-Essential
Eels – Meet The Eels: Essential Eels, Volume 1 (Universal/Polydor) January 21st, 2008 6.0/6.0 I think it is the perfect time for Mark ‘E’ Everett to release a greatest hits compilation. The album and its partner Useless Trinkets go hand in hand with his new book, Things The Grandchildren Should Know. E has spent the [...]
Album Reviews
Feeling Good
The Feeling – Join With Us (Universal/Island)
February 18th, 2008
5.0/6.0
I’ve had a bit of a soft spot for The Feeling for a while. I think it stems from a stint that lead singer Dan Gillespie Sells did on a Never Mind the Buzzcocks Christmas special. Anyone that can playfully deflect that pesky tyrant Simon Amstell’s ribbing gets an A+ in my book.
Fugitives (Collective and Site News)
More website tweaks this weekend.
Hey all,
Kate is still slaving away on the website layout, and probably will be for the next few weekends. Hope you like the changes to the sidebars! We’re also about to trial an “auto-excerpt” feature which will show only the start of long posts on the main page and index pages, whilst providing a “read more” link for you to click on to see the rest of the post!
Again, we’ll do our best to keep downtime to a minimum.
k x
Music: Reviews
Watch “The Making of Grounds for Divorce”
Wondered how all that re-winding and fast-forwarding on the brand-spanking new video to Grounds for Divorce was created? Well, click on the shiny new press shot of the band below and you will be transported to your default video player as Messrs Garvey, Jupp, Potter, Potter and Turner talk you through it all.
Grounds for Divorce is released on March 10th through Fiction Records, and new album The Seldom Seen Kid follows on March 17th. The band will also be appearing on BBC One in the UK tonight (February 22nd) as the musical guests on
Music: Reviews
Guillemots – Get Over It
Guillemots – Get Over It (Universal/Polydor)
March 17th, 2008
4.8/6.0
Unlike previous Guillemots fare, Get Over It almost passes you by at first. It’s more conventional and more polished than much of their earlier output (for starters the production’s got a whiff of that vast, FM radio-friendly sound that can sometimes make a track sound emotionally void), but over time, it slowly and decisively reels you in.