When you consider the humble beginnings of Malian Tuareg desert blues collective Tinariwen as rebel fighters / part-time musicians, and their current status one of the most popular -world’ music acts, it’s the finest example of how extraordinary music can transcend borders, or in Tinariwens case, the entire Sahara Desert, no matter what it’s linguistic…

Last years Workout Holiday from Austin Texas trio White Denim was a high energy punk rock debut, and its raw garage sound not only stood out but stood up, in a year which from a critic’s point of view was dominated by more experimental and folksy records. These guys certainly haven’t wasted any time in…

A little bird told me before I listened to this album that Broken Records were the Scottish Arcade Fire. They’re not, but you can see where some of the comparisons have come from – there’s seven members in each band, live shows are full-on, with instruments being circulated as frequently as joints, and the songs…

What’s so likeable about London’s newest hip-hopper Speech Debelle is her youth, the lack of bling and her resistance to shouting and cussing her way through masculine hip hop beats as many of her female predecessors. She may be on the Big Dada record label which also hosts Roots Manuva but judging by this debut…

If 80′s synth pop played by boys in Phil Oakey hair-do’s isn’t your thing, once you hear -True Romance (True blues No. 9)’, the current single and title track from True Romance…, you’d be forgiven for leaving this album on the shelf and reaching for Will Oldham or Bill Callahan’s latest. But take a

When will Brooklyn stop churning out these wonderful indie rock groups, full of inventiveness, fun and oodles of originality? OK, Harlem Shakes don’t have the oodles as say TV on the Radio, but they are very fun and very inventive, and whereas Technicolor Health… their debut album won’t set the world alight or have us

Camera Obscura are your archetypal Glaswegian indie pop group, melodic, sweet, and harmless. You could go as far as to say that if Belle & Sebastian and Teenage Fanclub decided to have a love-child, the result would be this lovely 6 piece.
My Maudlin Career…, album four since 2001 sees them reunited again with

Nevada’s Alela Diane now residing in the musically fertile Portland, Oregon is an extremely extremely (yes I’m saying it twice) talented guitar and song lady, it’s infuriating to read of genre tags of ‘Psych Folk’ and ‘New weird America’ (which actually mean nothing) attached to her, it’s an insult and takes away her grace as…

The dark cloud hanging over Immolate Yourself…, the third release by electronic duo Telefon Tel Aviv was the death of founding member Charles Cooper just days after the album’s release in January of this year. It’s chilling to open the band’s website, only to find a black screen with Cooper’s name and the dates