Stewart Lee Live Review – Lyceum, Sheffield. - April 2012 Louder Than War - By David Griffiths - April 27th, 2012

Stewart Lee is undoubtedly one of our finest comedians despite his standing outside of the comedy mainstream. Long time fan Dave Griffiths gave us the following review of one of his recent shows. Like a magician who reveals his tricks, I thought Lee’s book (How I Escaped My Certain Fate) about his stand-up routines and…

Review: Stewart Lee – Carpet Remnant World Cornwall - April 2012 This Is Cornwall - By Rhys Bonney - April 24th, 2012

It took ten minutes of surprisingly accessible topical material and some localised banter about Cornwall and pasties before Stewart Lee turned on us. As a fan, there’s always a worry that you will find yourself in an auditorium of people not accustomed to Lee’s post-ironic deconstruction of his own routine or the acerbic, condescending and…

The Nightingales – No Love Lost - April 2012 April 22nd, 2012

Three consistently contrary decades in, The Nightingales ought to enjoy the sustainably farmed cult status of The Fall; both bands’ last orders philosopher front-men work from similar Karutrock-abilly blueprints, The Nightingales’ more carefully drafted. With his pint pot spyglass, Robert Lloyd leads a crew of grizzled original ‘gales and talented young people into some typically…

Various – Time To Go, The Southern Psychedelic Moment : 1981 – 1986 - April 2012 April 22nd, 2012

The no-budget brilliance of the Eighties New Zealand indie-scene inspired a generation of post-punks, from Pavement to My Bloody Valentine, to stop worrying and splash some sloppy psychedelic Spector-style spillages on their reactionary rockist riffs. Bruce Russel’s insider overview avoids regularly anthologised standards to create a secret mirror history of the DIY decade, from the…

Opposite Sex – Opposite Sex - April 2012 April 15th, 2012

Opposite Sex are a curiously modern proposition, eschewing any especially contemporary musical wave, but nibbling omnivorously the rock and pop detritus on the verges of the information superhighway. Once alternative artists were archaeologists, channeling forgotten styles from deleted vinyl. Now all sounds are easily available to plunder. Opposite Sex’s debut’s opener, Le Rat, has the…

Lee Hazlewood – The LHI Years : Singles, Nudes & Backsides (1968 – 71) - April 2012 April 15th, 2012

You’ll know Hazlewood from the hits he penned for Nancy Sinatra, including These Boots Were Made For Walking. But this collection of lost singles reveals a great pop auteur, who constructed for himself a versatile degenerate cowboy poet character, equal parts Johnny Cash and Paul Verlaine. As usual, Hazlewood plays opposite a string of angelically…