Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down release date: 5 September 2011 For a short while, it looked as if the great guitarist and songwriter Ry Cooder would become better known for his collaborative efforts and soundtrack works than for his long career as a solo artist. There was his support, both musical and promotional, for the musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club, and there were [...]
S.C.U.M – Again Into Eyes release date: 12 September 2011 For the critic, like a 90-year-old spinster in an asbestos-walled council flat in Glasgow, time is not on your side. Preconceptions are entirely unavoidable. Assuming your first impression is accurate and valid enough to form the basis of the opinion you shall foist on the world is taken as a right, a necessary evil to satisfying the temporal pressures on [...]
Nick Lowe – The Old Magic release date: 12 September 2011 As career resurgences go, Nick Lowes has been as understated and quiet as the man himself. In spite of being Johnny Cashs son-in-law. a major part of the Stiff Records family and producing the early Elvis Costello albums, Lowe has never exactly been fashionable, even his best songs being somewhat guilty pleasures (especially Cruel To Be Kind). Later in [...]
Patrick Wolf – Lupercalia Released: 20 June 2011 Genre: Pop The fifth album from London-based pop romantic is a reminder that smart pop doesn’t have to be gloomy. Named after an ancient festival which involved Romans running around naked smearing themselves in goat’s blood, Lupercalia finds the precocious Patrick Wolf adopting a more positive stance than on his previous albums. He is in love and it shows. Cloaking his previous [...]
Lanterns On The Lake – Gracious Tide, Take Me Home release date: 19 September 2011 Carried along on a wave of elegant, dewy-eyed romantic folk, Gracious Tide, Take Me Home is the debut album from Newcastle natives Lanterns On The Lake. Born from the embers of various local bands, the six-pieces atmospheric leanings mine the rippling, plaintive, hazy and electronic tinged oeuvres of Sigur Ros, Mum and Low whilst avoiding [...]
Jay-Z and Kanye West – Watch The Throne Released: 8 August 2011 Genre: Hip-hop It was never going to be a bad record, but does Watch The Throne live up to the hype? Hip-hop’s self-crowned kings assemble their court of global popstars, respected producers, classic soul samples, rising stars and Mr Hudson to create their magnum opus. An album which succeeds in giving kudos to the genres past as well [...]
