Q-Tip: Hip Hop Zulu Master
With Q-Tip’s new album The Last Zulu set to hit the stores this summer, we go deep into the Abstract rapper’s career and back catalogue… Growing up in Queens, New … Continue reading
20th Anniversary Focus: UK Garage and its thoroughly unlikely origins.
Two decades down the road, UK garage has broken out of the club scene, ridden the charts, been forced back underground, spawned new genres and come full circle too. But … Continue reading
Days That Changed Rock: Rickenbacker Visit The Beatles
8th February 1964: A telephone call has just been taken at the Savoy Hilton, Manhattan. It’s a winter’s afternoon in New York City and a young English music entrepreneur staying … Continue reading
Life-Changing Music: Roni Size/Reprazent – New Forms (Mercury Records, 1997)
Although release in 1997, it was late in ’99 when I discovered a new obsession. I was aware of drum’n’bass from school mates but was then a serious guitar freak. … Continue reading
Album of the Year: Beady Belle – Cricklewood Broadway (Jazzland Recordings 2013)
Forsaking the folk/country experiments of recent albums, Beady Belle returns with a fascinating concept album, based on Zadie Smith’s novel White Teeth. Here, the Norwegian electronic jazz poppers have managed … Continue reading
Black Sabbath: Live at the O2 Arena, London, 10/12/13
Guitarist Tony Iommi’s sick, and it’s a scary thought that he may not be with us much longer. The king of six-string doom has lymphoma. This was probably the main … Continue reading
20th anniversary focus: Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream (Virgin 1993)
Seeing that it’s Halloween, and some unlucky households will be dining on their fair share of the orange fleshed gourd, now’s a more than timely reflection on a certain Chicago … Continue reading
Everything Everything: Live at the Forum, Kentish Town, London, 26/10/13
To be honest, you can’t avoid Everything Everything at the moment. Apart from appearances on Glastonbury or Later…With Jools Holland, listen very carefully and you’ll hear them in the background … Continue reading
Beady Belle: Live at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London, 16/10/13
It’s been ages since Beady Belle played in London. It’s a rare event, having been eight years since their last headline date at The Borderline, where they met with pop … Continue reading
Soundgarden: Live at O2 Academy, Brixton, London, 18/09/13
“This is another one from our new album” – not what you usually want to hear on a comeback tour. But, considering King Animal is such a great come-back LP, … Continue reading
The Isley Brothers 1973-1983: The 3 + 3 era
The Isley Brothers have been around longer than most. Not even the aging Rolling Stones can compete with their mammoth six decade career that stretches back to 1954, when Elvis … Continue reading
Volcano Choir – Repave (Jagjaguwar Records 2013)
Nowadays, the TV seems packed with adverts appealing to touchy feely twenty-to-thirtysomethings, promoting the latest smartphone or finest oak-aged whiskey, replete with young beardy men in open weave knitwear. Volcano … Continue reading
20th anniversary focus: A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders (Jive 1993)
The greatest all-rounders in rap A Tribe Called Quest have reunited again for some touring just as their classic third album reaches its 20th birthday. The ‘funky diabetic’ Phife Dawg, DJ … Continue reading
Depeche Mode – Delta Machine (Columbia/Mute 2013)
The kings of alternative synth-pop submitted studio album number thirteen earlier this year, and now that Depeche Mode are into their promotional world tour, I should give Delta Machine a … Continue reading
Depeche Mode: Live at Stadio Olimpico, Rome, 20/07/13
Back at the huge Stadio Olimpico, home of Roma football club, Depeche Mode were causing gridlock on the roads north of the Vatican again. I’m thankful that I’m not in … Continue reading
Me and The Byrds
Forty years since they decided to call it a day, the group continues to permeate many music fans’ lives: Some bands shape our adolescence, but the music we hear … Continue reading
Ennio Morricone: Live at Nelson Mandela Forum, Florence, Italy, 03/11/12
Ennio Morricone has composed a huge range of moving, powerful soundtracks from some of the greatest directors of the last six decades, from Italian masters Leone, Bertolucci, Argento to Hollywood … Continue reading
Soundgarden: Live at Hyde Park, London, 13/07/12
How to break your specs, lose your car keys, mobile and a few articles of clothing. Iggy & The Stooges warmed up the boards with a brief set, mixing in … Continue reading
Level 42 – The Ultimate Collection [2CD] (Polydor 2002) & [3CD Box Set] (Polydor 2003)
Level 42 – The Ultimate Collection [2CD] (Polydor 2002) Spanning two decades from the Early Tapes to Forever Now , this brilliant two-CD goes a long way in improving upon … Continue reading
Depeche Mode 2013 World Tour: Classic Live Album Reflection: 101 (Mute, 1989)
With the prospect of another rare world tour, it’s appropriate to revisit this classic live two-CD, documenting one of Depeche Mode’s career highlights, performing to 80,000 souls at the Rose … Continue reading
Phonograph Dave 