Review of 'Cheek to Cheek' by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga prove an unlikely but remarkable pairing on this selection of jazz standards and covers set to some fantastic big band instrumentation. 

Review of 'Unknown Memory' by Yung Lean

Meet Yung Lean. He’s a white kid from Sweden whose musical style has been described as ‘sad rap’.

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 24/09/2014: Run the Jewels, Jessie Ware, Lil Dicky and more...

I’ve been listening to some more music on my gramophone this week and here are my findings. Enjoy :) You can check out last week’s track reviews here.

Review of 'This is all Yours' by alt-J

This is all Yours kicks off with some choppy, octave jumping ‘la-la-la’ harmonies. It then dives into some brief singing and pounding, sharp drums. This sets the scene for the unique indie-folk-electronic sound that is alt-j.

Review of 'Songs of Innocence' by U2

U2 are clearly getting worried that they’re starting to lose relevance and hence fans. As a result the Irish rockers decided to dish this album out for free to everyone – fans and haters combined. Over 500 million iTunes users worldwide woke up to find that this album had been unwillingly downloaded onto their computers. The reactions have been mixed:

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 17/9/2014: Flying Lotus, Craig David, Calvin Harris and more...

So, this is what’s going to be happening every week. I’m going to listen to a bunch of new songs and then I’m going to collect the best and the worst and serve them up to you, splitting the songs into two categories - 'good’ and 'bad'. There is no lukewarm category here. There is no ‘ugly’. I spend too much of my life sitting on the fence. It’s been starting to give me haemorrhoids.

Review of 'Pale Communion' by Opeth

Swedish ex-Death Metal band, Opeth, continue their evolution as a prog rock band. 

Review of 'LP1' by FKA Twigs

I was in the lobby of Colombo airport at 4am when I first listened to this album. I don’t usually listen to albums in such exotic and strange locations, and maybe the setting had an effect on me, but this record truly mesmerised me from start to finish.

Review of 'Green Language' by Rustie

Rustie's latest EDM album feels excessive.

Review of 'Jungle' by Jungle

Two male singers, one of whom has mislaid his testicles and sings entirely in falsettos, the other of whom mutters a couple octaves beneath, harmonise together accompanied by some sweet and punchy 70s grooves and Disclosure-esque synth splashes. 

Review of 'True That' by Michael Cera

Hollywood actor, Michael Cera, shows off his musical side, serving up a selection of strange jazz and folk instrumentals. It’s a creative little album, I’ll give him that. Unfortunately, the whole thing sounds like it was recorded with a potato.