ALBUM: The National – High Violet

There is a weight of expectation surrounding High Violet, the fifth album from Brooklyn based band The National.  After a couple of false starts, Alligator (2005) jolted the band out of obscurity, gaining them a cult following and critical adulation. Boxer (2007) was a much grander and better produced effort, which, whilst not quite hitting the same euphoric highs as Alligator, allowed the […]
The people who Rule Britannia go to Eton. The people who Rule The World go to Institut Le Rosney. But the people who really matter – such as Oscar-winners Nicholas Cage and Richard Dreyfus, Emmy-winners Lenny Kravitz and André Previn, and Fellator-in-Chief Monica Lewisnky – are past pupils of Beverly Hills High School. When Ariel Pink was a student of […]

SINGLE: Ariel Pink – Haunted Graffiti

SINGLE: The Big Pink – Velvet

This track so nearly passed me by. I don’t listen to the radio much, I barely watch TV (which ignoring The World Service both so rarely broadcast something of interest), but luckily the night staff at my day job left a music channel running and I happened upon Velvet. You may already know the arrogant […]