Review of 'The Church' by Mr. Oizo

Patience is a virtue that I sadly don’t have. Whilst I can see the appeal of atmospheric electronic musicians like Jon Hopkins and the Haxan Cloak, I often find myself clockwatching during the big long build-ups. An artist like loopy French house producer, Mr. Oizo, is much more up my street. He doesn’t allow time to breath, let alone check a watch. Employing AD/HD pacing, he cuts out the foreplay and assaults the listener from the off.

Review of 'Bloodstone & Diamonds' by Machine Head

You can always tell a Machine Head track from a number of motifs – namely lots of harmonic notes, lots of beastly grooves and lots of blood-pumping sing-growling courtesy of Rob Flynn. Over time, the Oakland metalheads have also brought in a number of new stylistic features. The Blackening saw them garnering more progressiveness and old-skool thrashiness, whilst The Locust introduced orchestral strings and more symphonic tracks.

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 26/11/2014: Wu-Tang Clan, Faith No More, AC/DC and more...

It’s comeback week. Wu-Tang Clan, Faith No More, AC/DC and Gwen Stefani have all returned with new singles. As usual, I divide the good’uns and bad’uns. Is bad’un even a word? Too late, I’ve typed it out now, there’s no going back...

Review of 'Cadillactica' by Big K.R.I.T.

Whilst the rest of the southern rap scene have been getting busy riding throwaway trap beats and dropping throwaway punchlines, Big K.R.I.T has been steadily moving away and sculpting his own much more original and quite possibly influential sound. He’s always been a standout character in deep south hip hop, mainly down to his speedily tight and acrobatic flows. He can jump around any beat at any tempo he likes and still perfectly articulate every word.

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 19/11/2014: Dizzee Rascal, Screaming Females, Band Aid 30 and more...

It's that time of the week again where I become Simon Cowell and make fun of musicians whilst vaguely complimenting some of them. This week I hate on a charity single and make tasteless jokes about being a child-killer.

Review of 'Motion' by Calvin Harris

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My Top 10 Favourite Album Covers

I’ve always appreciated album artwork. I still buy physical copies of albums, sometimes just for the record sleeves. In fact, most of the time I throw away the CD and just keep the case.

Review of 'Sonic Highways' by Foo Fighters

When you accompany your album with a HBO TV series and proclaim it as an ‘ode to American music’ you set the expectations bar pretty high. Sonic Highways would have had to be the next White Album for it to have lived up to the stupendous sea of hype surrounding it. No-one can carry that off, not even the Foo Fighters, and they’re the biggest modern rock band we have.

Review of 'Pom Pom' by Ariel Pink

This album is essentially a dude rambling sleazy nonsense over a bunch of lo-fi instrumentals that sound like they’re straight from eighties TV commercials. It’s cheesy. It’s silly. It's, for the most part, terribly uncool. It’s also among one of the best records I’ve heard all year.

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 12/11/2014: Mark Ronson, T-Pain, Lupe Fiasco and more...

It's time again to round up the weeks hits and misses. Don't forget to check out my recent album reviews of the new releases by Les Sins, Azealia Banks and Mykki Blanco. Album reviews of Foo Fighters, Ariel Pink, Pink Floyd and Big Krit still to come...

Review of 'Broke with Expensive Taste' by Azealia Banks

I was convinced I’d be retired and in a care home by the time this album got round to dropping. How long’s it been since this album was first scheduled to be released? Ten years? Twenty years? Fifty???

Review of 'Michael' by Les Sins

Ex-chillwave-producer Chaz Bundick has dropped the ‘Toro y Moi’ pseudonym in exchange for ‘Les Sins’ and is now making more up-tempo, dancey stuff. 

Review of 'Gay Dog Food' by Mykki Blanco

‘I’m too freaky for these n****s/I’m too freaky for these bitches’

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE WEEK 05/11/2014: Jam Baxter, Labrinth, Taylor Swift and more...

It's weekly round-up time again where I single out the singles that made the best and worst impression on me. I hope you all had a happy Halloween/Guy Fawkes Night/Diwali/belated-Easter.

Review of 'Soused' by Scott Walker & Sunn O)))

There are some people who understand the appeal of drone metal and good for them, they’re clearly more open-minded than I am. Personally, Sunn O)))’s schtick - playing one guitar note over and over again at a glacial speed – strikes me as a waste of a fretboard and a waste of my time.

Review of 'RTJ2' by Run the Jewels

There’s no place for heroes in hip hop. It’s a villain’s world and El-P and Killer Mike are out to be the meanest and most cartoonishly evil rappers in the history of the game.