SINGLE: The Jim Jones Revue – High Horse

The feeling is right. It’s raucous, punching, bleary eyed, spinning, upbeat, honky-tonk ruff rock’n’roll blues. But the song’s simple structure is nothing original, and the use of the radio effect on the singer’s voice is a style that gets old – it does not standout as anything to be noticed. The music video shot for this song is […]
I listened to this record once and thought it was absolutely terrible. Now normally, that’s OK because I can listen to crap over-and-over and rip it to pieces. The whole review process is done in a day or two and I can relax. ‘Jah Warriors’ was so bad that I had to hide for a week […]

SINGLE: Roots Manuva meets Wrongtom – Jah Warriors

SINGLE: Klaxons – Echoes

Gorillaz once described winning the Mercury Music Prize as, “Like carrying a dead albatross round your neck for eternity”. With such a widely lauded and awarded debut album, when it comes to the Klaxons it’s not the Prize that will weigh them down, but the album itself, and you can substitute that albatross for a […]
After the organ moving sub bass of “Love Dub”, and the kicked back beauty of “Weekend Fly”, Cooly G comes in strong with her next release on Hyperdub. “Up In My Head” follows in the flow of “Love Dub”. Tender synth stabs open, swiftly followed by the cushioned drums bouncing onto the track. Cooly’s vocals […]

SINGLE: Cooly G – It’s Up In My Head/Phat Si

SINGLE: Ikonika – Dckhdbtch

After the brain shaking goodness of “Contact, Love, Want, Have”, the genius that is Ikonika steps forth once again with “Dckhdbtch”, the latest release in the Planet Mu series. From her first release to this latest Ikonika never fails to amaze me. The depth bestowed in her tracks both musically and in their engineering is […]
Firing another round in the seemingly unstoppable force of the Hyperdub mega-weapon, Terror Danjah steps up with two powerful stabs of sound. Bruzin VIP sets the pace with a fuel injected shuddering rework of the original. Late 90s gaming sfx hang nicely in the design. Slowly warming then springing into action, energy bursts at the […]

SINGLE: TERROR DANJAH – BRUZIN VIP/ HYSTERIA DOK (ft. TD)

SINGLE: Crystal Castles – Baptism

Baptism not Celestica was the obvious choice of début single from Crystal Castles part deux. It serves up the elements of Crystal Castles we already know and love. Namely, Alice shrieking unforgettably, Morse code verse bleeps that are as hooky as Leatherface‘s larder, and something new in the pounding trance overtones that are more  grievous bodily harm […]
Only a robot could claim that these made-on-a-coffee-break remixes (almost certainly, with use of a laptop) are capable of arousing emotion. Exhibiting all the range of Belgian duo Mustang’s barely-there reworking to the equally Belgian Surfing Leons’ 8-bit ‘afternoon’ mix, these uninspiring cuts succeed only in the sense of being instantly forgettable. This is no […]

SINGLE: Morcheeba – Even Though Remixes

SINGLE: GORILLAZ – ON MELANCHOLY HILL

I’m going to get a lot of flak for this. Right, I know that Damon Albarn is a musical rainman, a rarified walking, talking lump of prodigious talent and anti-establishment cool. I realise that criticising the man is tantamount to drawing cocks on a bible. I also accept that under the guise of Gorillaz he […]
I reckon it’s fair to say that the various incarnations of Pendulum are arguably so different in style and content that it makes little sense to compare and contrast them. Of course there are core elements that resonate throughout their music, but their evolution from underground drum and bass to radio-friendly beats and guitar thrashery […]

SINGLE: Pendulum – Witchcraft