Stephanie Hladowski & Simon Joynes – The Wild Wild Berry - January 2013 January 13th, 2013

The folk revival of the fifties interpreted traditional songs with rigorous detail, and the young Yorkshire folksinger Stephanie Hladowski and the Cambridge acoustic guitarist C Joynes deploy the same unfashionably sincere and Spartan reverence. On eleven traditional tunes, Hladowski’s willo the wisp vocal recalls the translucent purity of the folk figurehead Shirley Collins. Joynes’ meditative…

Major Stars – Decibels of Gratitude - January 2013 January 6th, 2013

In the late ‘80s, Crystalized Moments’ guitarists Wayne Rogers and Kate Biggar began their arch interrogation of psychedelia, stretching extended wig-outs to breaking point. At the end of the century, as Major Stars, they ditched vinyl-junkie in-jokes to become simultaneously simpler and stranger. Now a trad-ish Who-style combo given to free-jazz informed digressions, and fronted…

Carpet Remnant World. DVD Review ★★★★★ - January 2013 Mail On Sunday - January 6th, 2013

Until recently, Stewart Lee was still flogging his own DVDs in the foyer after his shows, but a couple of BBC2 series of Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle and a pair of 2011 British Comedy Awards have taken him on to the next level, a state of affairs that doesn’t sit entirely comfortably with this most…

Miscellaneous Press Quotes - December 2012 Miscellaneous - December 31st, 2012

‘What could’ve emerged as a monumental act of hubris is rescued by Lee’s humility, wit and intelligence. Together with annotated insight into three outstanding stand-up shows, he mingles obtuse autobiography with acute essays on the state of British comedy from the alternative era onwards.’ Paul Whitelaw, Word (10 Best Books of 2010) ‘…contained unexpectedly deep…

Mission of Burma – Learn How : The Essential Mission Of Burma - December 2012 December 16th, 2012

Mission of Burma infused melodic hardcore punk with chiming serial minimalism, disbanded in 1983 for twenty years, and returned this century as relevant as ever, having cleverly avoided a variety of flimsy fads that their sturdy blueprint was designed to outlast. This selection is split into two discs, post and pre sabatical, with no discernable…

Goat – World Music - December 2012 December 16th, 2012

From the belatedly Christianised northern Swedish village of Korpolombolo, the girls and boys of Goat arrive in leathers and feathers. Their kitchen cauldron soup of Can Kraut grooves, ritualistic chants, and black acid suggests they used Julian Cope’s Faber-endorsed cult rock overview, Copendium, as a rulebook. Begin at Goathead, where surging mercurial lead guitar battles…