Author: Jim Pusey Page 5
Mumford And Sons - Babel Album Review
It would be understandable if Marcus Mumford had approached the prospect of Mumford & Sons' second album with some trepidation. Many bands which have experienced a similar meteoric rise into the public consciousness over a...
Review posted on 24th September 2012
The Killers, Battle Born
The Killers fourth studio album Battle Born is a frustrating record. Thankfully it abandons some of the keyboard and synth excesses of 2008's Day & Age, but you still get the feeling that Brandon Flowers...
Review posted on 20th September 2012
Matchbox Twenty - North
Matchbox Twenty's fourth album North seems to have caused somewhat of a stir amongst critics, and not in a good way. Perhaps it's the 10-year hiatus the band has taken since their last full-length studio...
Review posted on 11th September 2012
Mark Knopfler - Privateering
Mark Knopfler's now produced more studio albums as a solo artist, than he did with the band that he will forever be remembered for, Dire Straits. Discounting various soundtracks and side projects, his seventh solo...
Review posted on 3rd September 2012
Various Artists - Isles Of Wonder
Isles Of Wonder is somewhat of an oddity. It's a soundtrack to a Danny Boyle production, but it's also a historical document of a moment that galvanised the British public on a world stage. Now...
Review posted on 30th August 2012
Alanis Morissette - Havoc And Bright Lights
Amazingly, it's 17 years since Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill stormed the charts. Her new record, Havoc And Bright Lights, is her fifth album since that moment where she graduated from being a pop princess...
Review posted on 28th August 2012
Saint Motel - Voyeur
LA based quartet Saint Motel's debut Voyeur is an assured and ambitious effort. The record's few failings can be chalked up to its nature as an opening statement from a band that certainly promises much...
Review posted on 7th August 2012
Giant Giant Sand - Tucson
Any record subtitled a 'country rock opera' is doubtless going to achieve two things; firstly, it's a statement with intentions of grandeur while secondly, many listeners will also question what they're going to get. At...
Review posted on 9th July 2012
The Hives - Lex Hives
Sweden's answer to The Stooges have returned with album number five. Despite an elongated hiatus caused by endless touring and a split from Universal, little has changed in the last five years for The Hives....
Review posted on 11th June 2012
John Mayer - Born and Raised
John Mayer's fifth studio album is very much a back to basics affair, full of nostalgia, introspection and dreamy melodies. It's also the album that Mayer needed to make at this point in his career....
Review posted on 28th May 2012
Best Coast - The Only Place
Best Coast's second studio effort, The Only Place, doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. In fact, it picks up where its predecessor, Crazy For You, left off, only this time there are subtle studio flourishes...
Review posted on 15th May 2012
Dan Mangan - The Hope, Brighton (27th April 2012)
Fresh from winning two Juno awards, Dan Mangan arrived in Brighton for the first of his UK shows to support his third record Oh Fortune. Mangan's appeal is growing quickly outside of his native Canada,...
Review posted on 1st May 2012
Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Listening to a Spiritualized album can be an emotionally exhausting experience. Their seventh album is no different from its predecessors in that respect, however it's also obviously been informed by Jason Pierce's choice in 2009...
Review posted on 24th April 2012
Various Artists - The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond
For the cynical music fan, there's much to be suspicious of when looking at The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond. On one side of the coin, it's a companion album (not actually...
Review posted on 12th April 2012
Chuck Prophet - Temple Beautiful
Back in 1995 The New York Times described R.E.M.'s album Monster as a "Big, dumb, rock record. Except it's not dumb at all". It's a description that could equally be used for Chuck Prophet's 12th...
Review posted on 12th April 2012
Melodramas - Kids
Portsmouth based Melodramas' new EP Kids promises much. They've supported both Taylor Hawkins and David Johansson in the past couple of years. Here they've roped in two of the brains behind Supergrass to give Kids...
Review posted on 2nd April 2012
Paul Weller - Sonik Kicks
At the age of 53 you'd be forgiven for thinking that Paul Weller may have left his angry young man persona far behind him. But unlike the hazy and melodic songwriting he demonstrated during the...
Review posted on 20th March 2012
The Decemberists - We All Raise Our Voices to the Air (Live Songs 04.11-08.11)
The Decemberists' crowning achievement to date The King Is Dead featured on many end of year lists for 2011. Now the Portland band is underlining the importance of that record with a live 20 song...
Review posted on 23rd February 2012
LEONARD COHEN - Old Ideas
Leonard Cohen's 12th studio album in 45 years is an understated, spiritual reflection on the virtues of old age. Unlike latter day returns to form for Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, Old Ideas isn't meant...
Review posted on 17th February 2012
Van Halen - A Different Kind Of Truth
When a band releases its 12th studio album after an absence of 14 years, it's only natural to view the record with an amount of suspicion. Add to that the seemingly fashionable move of keeping...
Review posted on 13th February 2012
The Magnetic Fields - Love At The Bottom Of The Sea
Love At The Bottom Of The Sea is a fun record; it's the type of album you want to put on to brighten up the dreariest of days. That much is apparent even from the...
Review posted on 8th February 2012
Lambchop - Mr. M
Kurt Wagner describes Mark Nevers' initial idea for the sound of Lambchop's eleventh studio album as "psycho-Sinatra". While there are moments of anger to be found during Mr. M (Wagner's first line for example is:...
Review posted on 6th February 2012
Red Sky July - Red Sky July
Red Sky July is an interesting prospect; husband and wife team Ally McErlaine (Texas' guitarist) and Shelly Poole (Alisha's Attic) along with Charity Hair and Mark Neary making a proper country record in of all...
Review posted on 30th January 2012
Metallica - Beyond Magnetic
Metallica's new EP Beyond Magnetic is a somewhat belated follow up to their last studio record Death Magnetic. Released initially as a download (without a hint of irony), it's finally getting a physical release some...
Review posted on 30th January 2012
Frank Turner - The Second Three Years
It's refreshing to find an artist that celebrates their musical heritage, no matter how unfashionable it may seem at first glance. In Frank Turner's case an appreciation of his very British roots and traditional folk...
Review posted on 9th January 2012
DJ Food - The Search Engine
Amazingly it's been nearly 12 years since the last full-blown DJ Food record was released through Ninja Tune. In that time the musical landscape has changed somewhat and smaller EP releases have come and gone,...
Review posted on 3rd January 2012
Laura Gibson - La Grande
Delicate, fragile and heartfelt: just three of the words that could be used to describe Laura Gibson's new album. While La Grande's ten songs occasionally sound muddled with an array of musical ideas, there's no...
Review posted on 19th December 2011
Dan Mangan - Oh Fortune
Dan Mangan's accomplished third album Oh Fortune is strangely captivating. The Canadian singer songwriter has created something special that shows real progression musically without sounding laboured. That's certainly a difficult feat for an artist in...
Review posted on 28th November 2011
Portugal The Man - In The Mountain In The Cloud
Perhaps it's by design, but on first inspection the opening bars of Portugal, The Man's new album already sound faintly familiar. They bring to mind the quirky side of Mercury Rev, which can be no...
Review posted on 16th November 2011
Sigur Ros - Inni
Review of Sigur Ros' album Inni released through KrunkSigur Ros' new live album Inni is a strange and wonderful beast. Recorded and filmed over two nights at Alexandra Palace in 2008, it's also taken some...
Review posted on 14th November 2011
Suggested
Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying "true to yourself" [EXCLUSIVE]
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
WYSE talks to us about her "form of synaesthesia", collaborating with Radiohead's Thom York and the prospect of touring with a band [EXCLUSIVE]
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
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Bay Bryan talks to us about being a "wee queer ginger", singing with Laura Marling and being inspired by Matilda [EXCLUSIVE]
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Keelan X talks to us about staying true to "your creative vision", collaborating with Giorgio Moroder and being "a yoga nut" [EXCLUSIVE]
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
![Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]](https://images.contactmusic.com/images/home/homepage/luke-de-sciscio-abof-a.jpg "Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]")
Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and "going through a year of grief and sickness" [EXCLUSIVE]
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
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