Album: Joe Bonamassa, Driving Towards the Daylight (Mascot/Provogue)
Sunday 20 May 2012
Old-fashioned musicianly blues-rock, as practised by lank-haired individuals around the turn of the 1970s, with some of the virtuosity of Led Zeppelin but a fraction of the imagination.
Album: Ike Turner, Studio Productions, New Orleans & Los Angeles 1963-65 (Ace)
Sunday 20 May 2012
Out on tour for most of the year with Tina, Ike took to booking studio time wherever he lay his hat, cutting impromptu sessions with members of his soul revue for LA's Modern label, often using the legendary Cosimo's in New Orleans.
Album: Steve Kuhn Trio, Wisteria (ECM)
Sunday 20 May 2012
This is US pianist Kuhn's 10th album for ECM over a period of nearly 40 years, and it's the first time he's played in a trio with bassist Steve Swallow, who joins drummer and regular colleague, Joey Baron.
Album: Beach House, Bloom (Bella Union)
Saturday 19 May 2012
Baltimore “dream-pop” duo Beach House's fourth album proceeds in exactly the same manner as its 2010 predecessor, Teen Dream, which is to say: tediously.
Album: Beach House, Bloom (Bella Union)
Sunday 13 May 2012
For their fourth album, Beach House, the Baltimore dreampop duo of Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand have finessed their vision to perfection.
Album: Garbage, Not Your Kind of People (Stun Volume)
Sunday 13 May 2012
Garbage have always been prime sci-fi enthusiasts, so it's apt this comeback album suggests a hiatus spent in a cryogenic freezer.
Fantasy Band: Delilah
Saturday 12 May 2012
'I'm not even sure Kanye can play the drums, but I bet he'd pick it up'
Album: Richard Hawley, Standing at the Sky's Edge (Mute)
Sunday 06 May 2012
Taken on its own merits, Standing at the Sky's Edge is a classy, well-made record.
Album: Richard Hawley, Standing At the Sky's Edge (Parlophone)
Saturday 05 May 2012
Psychedelia and sunshine fuel a classy reinvention
Album: Norah Jones, Little Broken Hearts (Blue Note)
Saturday 28 April 2012
Classy collaboration with songs straight from the heart
Graham Coxon, HMV Forum, London
Friday 27 April 2012
Boyish Blur guitarist Graham Coxon is clearly multi-talented.
Guitar veteran Bert Weedon dies: Listen to his top hits
Friday 20 April 2012
Guitarist Bert Weedon, who played with stars including Frank Sinatra and inspired millions to pick up the instrument with his Play In A Day books, has died at the age of 91.
Album: Holly Golightly featuring the Brokeoffs, Long Distance (Damaged Goods)
Sunday 15 April 2012
Golightly, best known outside the cognoscenti for duetting with Jack White on "It's True That We Love One Another", is on her 13th album now (not counting her work with Thee Headcoatees, among others), and Long Distance is no radical departure.








