jsmith has written the following articles:
Serge Gainsbourg’s infamy reached a much bigger audience than his music. Listeners outside France know him almost exclusively for ‘Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus’ – the closest pop music has come to pornography. He achieved more notoriety when, on live television, he told Whitney Houston he wanted to fuck »
Every day we’re told what a dangerous world we live in. Terrorists are ready to detonate a “dirty” nuclear bomb in a major city, say the papers, and rogue states will soon be peppering these shores with weapons of mass destruction. And let’s not forget North Korea recently restarted its nuclear weapons programme»
Whoever designed the promotional posters for 'The Hours' was probably told to leave a big space at the top for all the nominations and awards that would be bestowed on the film. And with good reason - even before its Valentine's day release it had been nominated for nine Oscars, 11 BAFTAs and seven Golden Globes»
While Manchester’s musical history is an embarrassment of riches, Leeds’ is just an embarrassment. Manchester gave us Joy Division, The Smiths and The Happy Mondays. Its Yorkshire rival gave us Black Lace, Chumbawumba and The Music. Young Leeds four-piece Juxtaposition»
Leeds psychedelia revivalists Juxtaposition are about to kick off a five-date tour which will take them from their home town all the way to Cork, calling in at Glasgow, Newcastle and Dublin along the way. The rare live dates will be followed by the release of the band’s five-track debut EP on their »
sea change n. a notable or unexpected change (Oxford English Dictionary) An unexpected change? The real surprise would be if post-modern chameleon Beck made two albums in a row that sounded alike. Since he first shuffled onto the scene with ‘Loser’ in 1993 Mr Hansen has mutated »
Recording songs full of snarling guitars and 60s hooks with a thumping 4/4 beat has been the recipe for success for many a band. Sadly Knoxville four-piece Superdrag lack the mystery ingredient that makes the combination work so well for Weezer, Fountains of Wayne and Teenage Fanclub - bands»
Veteran producer John Parish has one of the most enviable CVs in music, but chances are you don’t recognise his name. If he’s known at all it’s for his work as long-term helmsman for PJ Harvey, but the quiet West Country man can also claim credits on Eels’ ‘Souljacker’, Sparklehors»
There can be few more heinous crimes than being personally responsible for Phil Collins. Of course his parents are the biggest culprits, but Peter Gabriel must take some of the blame. Because, if Gabriel hadn’t decided to quit successful 70s prog monsters Genesis to embark on a solo c»
Before David Byrne made his recent hit-making appearance on X-Press 2’s single Lazy he was best known for wearing oversized white suits and singing paranoid lyrics about nuclear war, government conspiracies and the soul-destroying nature of modern life in general. So it’s a surprise when the »
Why a Cork band who used to practice above a milking parlour would name themselves after one of the Premiership’s least celebrated players is a mystery. Fortunately, any similarity to the lumbering Fulham forward ends with the name. From the opening bars of ‘Soon it Will Come Time to Face the World Outside<»
I had just bought a pristine vinyl copy of Elvis Costello’s Motown-inspired masterpiece Get Happy! for three pounds, my friend having beaten me to a similarly shiny, unspoilt and cheap Three Feet High and Rising by De La Soul. We were now debating whether it would be overindulg»
Ex-Talking Heads frontman David Byrne must have one of the greatest voices ever known to popular music. Almost robotic but with an ever-present hint of stifled angst, his deadpan vocals could make the proverbial telephone directory (or even some of his former band’s more obscure lyrics) sound like the for»
‘Home Truths’ is what The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds would sound like if Brian Wilson had grown up in the dreary suburbs of Wolverhampton. Or Leeds, or Birmingham or any other city you care to mention. Both albums have simple, catchy songs with naïve melodies, but the gap i»
In the words of that great idiot savant Forrest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” Gomez singles, on the other hand, are like a tin of baked beans: you know pretty damn well what you’re going to get. Laid back blues riffs, sing-a-long choru»
Howie Beck has just woken up. Or at least that’s the impression Canada’s favourite bedsit singer-songwriter gives as he takes the stage at a packed Matt and Phred’s, armed only with acoustic guitar and harmonica. “My band couldn’t make it over,” he explains. Laidback but catchy, Beck’»
America in 1970 was a country at war with itself. The utopian aspirations of the 60s – peace, love, civil rights – had never looked so distant and unattainable. Opposition to the drawn-out and bloody war in Vietnam was burgeoning, with details of the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which 200 innocent Vietnamese were murdered »
Gomez have added a second London show to their April tour of the UK and Ireland. The second gig, at the Brixton Academy on April 30th, was scheduled after tickets for the previous night’s show sold out. Tickets cost £16.50. »
There has been a sporadic “rock revival” going on ever since the early-90s, those carefree days when Guns N Roses was required – and in this writer’s sorry case, sole – listening. But since then rock’s self-declared saviours have either been false idols – Kid Rock? Limp Bizkit? – or have made a big»
So many reviews these days end along the lines of “this is average, but it counts as good because it’s better than the usual manufactured tripe/nu-metal rubbish (delete as appropriate).” We’ve all thought that, but you can’t help longing for an album that is unconditionally great. Thankfully, Under Cold Bl»
‘Tiger Flies’ would be a great album if it weren’t for half the tracks on it. That might sound odd, but a handful of the 14 tracks on Candidate’s earthy, folky second record show real class – they’re just swamped by the dross around them. Of course, even classic albums have dud tracks (is th»
A bunch of seventeen year olds shouldn’t be this cocky, or, indeed, this talented. Juxtaposition didn’t waste any time with introductions or asides, instead getting down to the serious business of rocking the Joseph’s Well audience with a blistering psychedelic set. After enduring so many student ba»
The orchestral introduction to There’s a Star is so soaring, pretentious and over-the-top it might have been stolen from TV’s Walking with Beasts. And, now that the BBC has gone as far as it can with prehistoric monsters, it might want to commission a project called Walking with Ash»
Every city, town or village has at least one resident nutter – usually a slightly dishevelled, dirty raincoat-clad man clutching a red-and-white striped carrier bag, muttering to himself at the back of the bus or sitting on a wall watching the world go by. Wherever he is – and judging by ‘Bright Flight’»
Everyone knows three things about Ben Folds Five. One, there were only three of them. Two, they never used a single guitar on their albums – only piano, bass and drums. Three, they split up a couple of years ago. Sadly, few have heard much of their work other than breakthrough single ‘Brick’ from th»
Blur are back in the studio recording their seventh studio album, provisionally titled Sonic Safari.»
