Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle - May 2011 Pocket Jury.net - May 16th, 2011

Series Two of Stewart Lee’s alternative stand-up comedy show. The idea of irreverent stand-up comedian Stewart Lee being given a BBC series was hard to believe several years ago and its return for a second curtain call is borderline unimaginable. Since the original series of Comedy Vehicle aired back in 2009, Lee has toured constantly,…

The Feelies – Here Before - May 2011 May 16th, 2011

The Feelies sprouted in New Jersey in 1976, their debut Crazy Rhythms following in 1980, a re-tread of The Velvet underground’s melodic moments played with a neurotic, new wave, energy. Here Before is only their fifth album in thirty-five years. Glenn Mercer’s Loud Reed-style, New York school, vocals have slipped an octave but those simple…

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle - May 2011 The Guardian - May 12th, 2011

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle (BBC2) is back, with conditions. The conceit of the new series is that Lee was only allowed another go if he promised to put more jokes in and be more accessible. The idea that Series 2, which started last week, is Lee at his most accessible is itself part of the…

The Fuzztones – Preaching To The Perverted - May 2011 May 8th, 2011

Forming four years after their fellow New Yorkers The Fleshtones, The Fuzztones’ take on Sixties punk is fundamental to the point of religious fanaticism, with bad trip condensed vocals, paranoid analogue organ sounds, and loping slide guitar. If The Fleshtones sound like they’d buy you a beer, The Fuzztones would spike your drink with something…

The Fleshtones featuring Lenny Kaye – Brooklyn Sound Solution - May 2011 May 8th, 2011

The late Seventies garage punks revered their Sixties forerunners, having been hipped to their culturally distant cousins when Patti Smith’s guitarist Lenny Kaye assembled the Nuggets compilation of forgotten trash. In a world where time has been kaleidoscoped by the instantaneous availability of everything, the fact that The Fleshtones still sound like 1976 doing 1967,…

Martin Carthy – Essential Martin Carthy REISSUE - May 2011 May 8th, 2011

Martin Carthy, English folk pioneer and national treasure, celebrates his 70th birthday at the Royal Festival Hall next weekend, and here’s a two disc career overview. The hypnotic, chunky, acoustic guitar style arrives fully-formed on the earliest tracks, from ’65 and ’66, pulsating round the purloined ur-folk licks on which Paul Simon and Bob Dylan…