Sounding like a slice of classic Prince from his purple reigning heyday, Crying sees Kyp Malone take over the vocal duties from the usual lead, the multi-talented Tunde Adebimpe.
Little Boots - Meddle (50 Bones) August 4th, 2008 3.0/6.0 Listening to Meddle, I can appreciate any Girls Aloud comparisons. This track has that engine...
Justice – DVNO (Ed Banger Records / Because Music) May 12th, 2008 3.2/6.0 It’s almost a full year since the release of Justice’s critically-acclaimed debut...
A Fine Frenzy – Come On, Come Out (EMI/Virgin Records) April 7th, 2008 2.4/6.0 The thing that made Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald so expressive,...
Late of the Pier – The Bears are Coming (Parlophone/Zarcorp) March 3rd, 2008 4.0/6.0 Anyone guilty of throwing scuzzy electro shapes to last year’s Bathroom...
Revere - A Soundless Tree (Albino Recordings)
March 3rd, 2008
4.8/6.0
Serving as a precursor for bigger and better things due to come our way later into the year, Glastonbury Unsigned finalists Revere are described in their press release as standing out “for a reluctance to toe the party line.” If refusing to play ball leads to music as distinctive and gorgeous as this, then get off your backsides now and start wreaking merry musical havoc in your basements. When you get caught out, hell, blame it all on Revere.
The Whip – Trash (Southern Fried Records) March 17th, 2008 3.8/6.0 We are living in worrying times. Without straying too far into the tabloid domain...
Envy and Other Sins – Highness (Universal/A&M)
March 3rd, 2008
4.0/6.0
Reality TV is always a dubious launchpad for a career, but rather unusually, Channel 4’s Mobile Act Unsigned had the sense to restrict entrants to those who actually write their own songs. Possibly even more out of the ordinary is the fact that Birmingham’s Envy and Other Sins were actually deserved winners.
There is a sense of emphasis and annunciation in Ali M Forbes’ vocal that is lacking in the music of his peers, and that invasive hook of a chorus helps them out no end, even if the sound is…
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...
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…
