Era Vulgaris has already been portrayed as a return to form for Josh Homme’s Queens Of The Stone Age, a recovery of their old mojo following the firing of Nick Oliveri in 2004. Don’t get your hopes up though, folks. more… “Queens Of The Stone Age”
Pearly King and Queen outfits on the cover. A title based on a northern English saying. Two songs featuring bagpipes and Scottish-themed titles. Are Jack and Meg thinking of applying for British citizenship sometime soon? Let’s hope so, more… “The White Stripes”
Is this for real? No seriously, because I really don’t know. Somewhere between a mockery of country music and some genuinely good lyricism is ‘Alcohol Tobacco Raygun?’.
more… “Muleskinner Jones”
Normally I’ll listen to a whole album as an exercise in itself. But with this one it was more a case of listening to maybe the first 3 songs while I did something else, until I got bored and put something else on. I don’t say this to be dissin’ the Cornell, but rather to illustrate how his latest creation fails to capture attention or imagination.
more… “Chris Cornell”
Siddartha Khosla is certainly a man of influence, that is, those imposed on him by his Bollywood-laden upbringing and introduction to Western music in the eighties. more… “Goldspot”
Not the long awaited (by some) debut album, rather a collection of their first two mini LPs bundled up into on pocketsized package. more… “The Young Knives”
It seems these days that an album doesn’t even have to have become a classic, loved by millions over the years, to receive the ‘Deluxe Reissue’ treatment. more… “The Knife”
Apparently, this is the Manics’ big, rockier comeback. You know, the one where they go back to their roots and be the band that we thought we’d lost along with James Dean Bradfield’s slender physique a long time ago. If that’s the case, though, then why does it sound like Robbie Williams cribbing guitar solos from Queen?
more… “Manic Street Preachers”
Nu-rave’s been so spoken and written about over the last few months that it’s become something of a cliché, and not a terribly helpful one. Whether it’s comments about Glo-sticks, jokes about the Klaxons, or that Day-glo orange pair of socks you bought last week, we’ve all been guilty in our own little ways. Leaving the clichés to one side, though, and parking the bandwagon safely in a back alley, there’s still some life in the ‘scene’ yet, as this compilation shows. more… “Various”
It definitely sounds as though something wicked has taken over my CD player. It’s possessed by demented flails of nonsensical pop sensibilities, ceremonial rhythms, haunting and infectious vocals and a madcap zoo of instrumentation. more… “The Scaramanga Six”