Articles
abell has written the following articles:
Thea Gilmore at Leicester The Musician, Wed 10 Oct
If you've ever, for whatever reason, wondered what it's like to feel ancient, then just take a look at the charts. Britney, Christina, Destiny's Child, little Justin Timberlake from N'Sync are all on the cusp of their twenties, yet already multiplatinum selling artistes. Similarly youthful but with less broken sales »
Ladyfest Scotland 2001 at Glasgow Barfly, Sat 01 Sep
A year on from Ladyfest Olympia saw the baton being passed across the Atlantic - Ladyfest Scotland in wet and windy Glasgow was the product of twelve months of hard work from a volunteer staff of 17 women, cramming everything from discussions about menstruation to art exhibitions, bands to performance poetry into a 72-»
The Avalanches - Since I Left You
The lucky feckers who bought this album on import weeks ago (you know who you are) will already know how good it is, as do the rest of us who don't have money to burn and patiently waited for the general release date to see if it really lived up to all those glowing reviews. And they've been glowing more than a»
Kristin Hersh - Sunny Border Blue
Singing songs about mania and disorientation across three decades, ex-Throwing Muse Kristin Hersh was being dubbed the ‘crazy woman of rock’ back when Alanis was still in kindergarten and Courtney in crappy Alex Cox movies. This, her fourth album on her lonesome, is pretty much business as usual: delicate acoustic gui»
Sandy Dillon - East Overshoe
With an undoubted life highlight playing jazz piano to legendary playwright Tennessee Williams, Sandy Dillon’s musical career has been slow to take off ever since those perfomances decades ago - and this album pretty much explains why. Having been described as ‘PJ Harvey’s little sister’ (despite being, like, y»
Beautiful Creatures
If you’re someone with any discernment and taste, the words ‘British gangster movie’ should strike fear into your heart, no thanks to the many legions of godawful ‘Lock, Stock…’ imitations spawned in the last 12 months. Fortunately this, the first full-length feature by director Bill Eagles, doesn’t worship at t»
Lemon Jelly - Lemonjelly.ky
They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but with a record, it’s pretty darn essential. Sleeve art should be a statement of intent, a labour of love, a visual extension of and perfect companion to the music within. ‘lemonjelly.ky’, as well as being blessed with a quite splendid title, is co»
At The Drive-In - Rolodex Propaganda
This should have been a match made in punk rock heaven. Iggy Pop, who was busy making a spectacle of himself when Johnny Rotten was having a crafty fag round the back of the bike sheds, has teamed up with new shouty be-Afro’d kids on the block At The Drive In for a classic slice of bile-dripping emo-core. Or so was t»
PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Hands up who likes ‘Definitely Maybe’? Good. Now hands up who likes ‘Be Here Now’? Thought so. Y’see, most artistes are rarely at their best when they’re happy. If you’ve untold riches in the bank, mountains of cocaine the size of K2, and a woman/man for every day of the week, then you’ve nothing left to prove. T»
Coldplay, Lowgold at Leicester DSU Arena, Wed 04 Oct
Just last June they were dragging their arses round the toilet circuit, supporting the woeful Terris (where are they now?) and routinely blowing them off the stage. One smash hit and Mercury-nominated album later, and now everyone wants to pretend they’ve been into Coldplay since their debut, ‘Brothers and Sist»