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...

Fool's Gold - Fool's Gold

"Street Clothes"from the album Leave No Trace2011iTunesOn its debut album, the L.A. band Fool's Gold presented an unusual marriage of influences, pairing African melodies with Hebrew lyrics. The record won over legions of fans and caught the attention of critics, who described it with words like "beguiling" and "joyous."Fool's Gold's newest album is called Leave No Trace, and there's little trace left of Hebrew on it â€" the lyrics are mostly in English. In a conversation with NPR's David Greene, vocalist Luke Top and guitarist Lewis Pesacov, the band's two founding members,...

Cribs - Cribs (Latitude 2011)

Despite a gigantic fan base, I still see The Cribs as being a hugely underrated band - pigeonholed into the reputation of being a pretty standard and fairly indistinguishable indie band. But there's more to the Jarman brothers than meets the eye. The band are well respected by some of the top musicians - a prime example being Johnny Marr becoming a fourth member of the band. Marr was originally supposed to play with the band at Latitude, but unfortunately announced his resignation shortly before. In his place was David Jones of Nine Black Alps; not the same as seeing...

Rufus Wainwright - Rufus Wainwright - House of Rufus

Not for Rufus the typical annotated reissue package, compiled a respectable time after the originals first appeared. House of Rufus is more a one-stop career shop, the ultimate extravaganza for the besotted collector. Because it’s a given no Rufus virgin will jump into bed with a 19-disc, 193-track box set, no matter how seductive the red velvet packaging and 90-page hardback (no sniggering, please) book containing handwritten lyrics, art prints and interview gush with the likes of sister Martha and Pet Shopper pal Neil Tennant. So what awaits the committed Rufus lover after all that foreplay?

Setting aside...

Sum 41 - Sum 41 (Sonisphere 2011)

I briefly stopped over at the Saturn Stage on my way through to watch Revoker at Red Bull Bedroom Jam Stage. The band on next is one of the more unusual choices for Sonisphere. The organisers always seem to throw a wild card into the mix when putting Sonisphere together, 2009 it was Bjorn Again and 2010 we had Good Charlotte. This year Sonisphere went all out and headlined Biffy Clyro, but now we also had pop-punk sensations, Sum 41 playing their hits on the Saturn Stage.

Normally I would have avoided this, but having to go past Saturn Stage to...

Cerebral Ballzy - Cerebral Ballzy - Cerebral Ballzy

Brooklyn quintet Cerebral Ballzy trade in the kind of supercharged punk rock that sends kids into dizzy spins at branded festivals and stinking basements alike, but has slightly older observers in the ranks wondering what all the noise is about. On paper, titles like Don’t Tell Me What to Do and On the Run, combined with track durations that don’t leave attentions the slightest second to wander, recall Youth Crew outfits like Negative Approach and Minor Threat. But while said strain of hardcore concerned itself largely with politics and staying sober â€" if it concerned itself with anything,...

Gavin Degraw - Gavin Degraw - Free (2009)

I had the fun of seeing this guy at the El Rey in Los Angeles while he was promoting this album. The El Rey is a smaller venue with great acoustics so it highlighted his sound and vocals tremendously. The set begins with a cover of "Indian Summer" that is down deep bluesy. It has a gospel-like feel going in, but soon turns into a rough version of the song with his guitarist building the songs strength. "Free", the albums title tack, is your classic track the listener can relate to. "Free" is a slow start with a feel good climb....

Chad Vangaalen - Chad VanGaalen

"Sara"from the album Diaper Island2011iTunesChad VanGaalen stays busy. Since 2005, he's released four albums under his own name, as well as the offbeat instrumental Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz as Black Mold â€" opiated pop that falls on the more hallucinatory side of the singer-songwriter spectrum. He produced the two albums made by the excellent (and now-defunct) Vancouver group Women, and he's also an illustrator and animator: Diaper Island features line-art of ominous crustaceans and doomed figures with fungi erupting from their chests. One halfway expects to hear that he'll next...

Coldplay - Coldplay - Parachutes (2000)

Lightly tasteful tablature stories and fables is the best way to describe the debut album that put Coldplay on the maps of the music industry. 

Just like the reality of a Parachute, this album will seem to be taking its time. Truth is, the combination of musical professionalism and lyrical content is truly going the speed of light. Track three, “Spies", resembles an overcast system hovering over beautiful tropic skies. From one environment to another, using every format of creative instrumental technique to blend into one 5 minute and 18 second song. “ And if we don’t buy here, They’re going to find us,...