M83 - M83

"Midnight City"from the album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming2011iTunesIt's been a long and fruitful journey for M83's Anthony Gonzalez. Started in the early '00s, the once-duo-but-now-solo project has been pumping out albums of top-tier electronic shoegaze for the better part of a decade. That said, M83's been kind of quiet since the release of 2008's excellent Saturdays=Youth, but it seems that the time off was a necessary evil: Gonzalez recently announced the imminent arrival of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, an epic double LP due out October 18. With that release date slowly approaching,...

The Chemical Brothers - The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole

If their debut, 1995’s Exit Planet Dust, set the Chemical Brothers stall out as purveyors of large beats and chunkin’ funk, then Dig Your Own Hole shot them right into the stratosphere. With its number one singles, Grammy award and multi-platinum status, Dig Your Own Hole took Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons from the backrooms to the stadiums.

In a year that saw some incredible albums such as OK Computer, Ladies & Gentleman..., and Homework, Dig Your Own Hole sits easily in such company, a joyous melange of psychedelia, acid house, hip hop, funk and colossal beats...

Gomez - Gomez - Whatever's on Your Mind

It’s a long time since Gomez won the Mercury Music Prize. Thirteen years, to be precise, since they beat The Verve, Massive Attack and Pulp to the award back in 1998. And after one spin of this, their seventh studio album, you’ll think it was even longer ago. Perhaps in another life altogether.

To be fair, Gomez have been sliding towards middle-of-the-road mediocrity for a while now. Those first three albums - Bring it On, Liquid Skin, and In Our Gun - were rife with a sense of raw, youthful experimentation, blending British and American folk...

Jeff Buckley - Jeff Buckley - Grace

While Jeff Buckley’s sole complete studio document has achieved two million sales worldwide since its mid-90s release, its impact at the time was far from impressive. And that’s from both critical and commercial perspectives, as although today it’s regularly held in high regard come top-albums lists, a mixed reception greeted it on its initial emergence.

Listening today, almost 17 years to the day after that first release, it’s easy to hear why reviewers weren’t universally moved by Grace. Its best-known track isn’t even one penned by Buckley, Hallelujah being a cover of Leonard Cohen’s haunting masterpiece. Nor is Corpus...

St. Vincent - St. Vincent

"Surgeon"from the album Strange Mercy2010iTunesA couple of Annie Clark's recent live performances under her St. Vincent moniker included covers of Big Black's "Kerosene" and "Big Black Mariah" by Tom Waits. There's a neat thematic link there, not just in the leap from one Big Black to the other, but also in her decision to remodel the work of artists who construct alluringly grotesque worlds out of basic "rock" tools. The best St. Vincent material does that, too. Here on "Surgeon," our first taste of the forthcoming Strange Mercy (Sept. 13), everything feels...

Caribou - Caribou (Latitude 2011)

Electronica music is always bound to go down well at a festival; it's danceable, atmospheric and energetic; the perfect way to keep spirits high and leave the crowds buzzing. Few are better in this field than Canadian Daniel Victor Snaith, with many musical monikers and projects under his belt, but none more popular and with a larger discography than Caribou.

Snaith's set exuded professionalism; entertaining the packed Word Arena with synthesised tracks and complicated time-signatures causing awkward middle-class Latitude-goers (who were already cautiously coming out of their shells) to bop their heads all the more awkwardly, which only added to the...

Edwyn Collins - Edwyn Collins (Latitude 2011)

Edwyn Collins was an act that saved Latitude's soul and kept it true to its roots. His announcement was one that made sense on a Latitude bill, which cannot be said for many of the other acts on this year's puzzling line up.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Collins, once the sexy rocker front man of Glasweigan post-punk band Orange Juice now reduced to walking with a cane and slurred speech as a result of suffering multiple strokes in his lifetime. But this fact has not affected Collin's confidence, nor his performance. Despite his speech problems, the distinctive...

Eels - Eels (Latitude 2011)

Having seen Eels a fortnight prior to Latitude at Main Square Festival, I was appropriately excited for the sublime set I knew was in store. It was a performance that converted me from a casual fan to a full on screaming teenage girl.

Mark Oliver Everett's life has been blighted by tragedy, much of which has been the influence behind his 13 albums. His lyrical black humour, gruff vocals and rock n' roll style instrumentation translates well on stage but what makes E's performance really special is the emphasis on entertainment. The band is visually fantastic, with each member looking identical...

Sigh - Album Review: Sigh - Scorn Defeat

Sigh's history is odd, and for a group of musicians from Tokyo, their larger story begins in Norway. In the early '90s, Øystein Aarseth (also known as Euronymous) created Deathlike Silence Productions, which focused primarily on Norwegian black metal, including Burzum's _Burzum_, Mayhem's,_ De Mystereiis Dom Sathanas_ and Enslaved's _Vikinglir Veldi_. Shortly before Aarseth's murder, Deathlike Silence Productions was expanding its scope to countries and continents outside the Scandanavian borders. Japanese act Sigh was the first and only non-Scandinavian act signed to Deathlike Silence Productions and would not see their debut released until after the death of Aarseth. When it...

Jim Ward - Jim Ward - Broken Songs

Jim Ward's latest incarnation is as a solo artist and his latest single 'Broken Songs' showcases his recent paired down sound, especially on the acoustic version (featuring Tegan from Tegan & Sara) which is a sweet low key number. It's still difficult to listen to his music without all the baggage (At The Drive In and Sparta especially) so it's the A side that really stands out here, as Jim is joined by a band and the song really comes to life. He hasn't lost his ability to write a catchy melody and this tune really soars on the chorus...