When it comes to film and music video projects I have a saying: “In Spike Jonze I trust” so upon viewing the trailer for his upcoming Where The Wild Things Are adaptation I was suitably excited. I enjoyed the warm, fuzzy visuals and felt the use of Arcade Fire as the trailer’s soundtrack was fitting and worked well. So when I received a copy of the film’s soundtrack I was more than a little disappointed to find the French-Canadians entirely absent, replaced a little more dubiously with Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs fame.

Let me qualify the following review by saying that I’d never call myself a YYY fan – I tend to find Karen’s banshee/kicked dog yelps an acquired taste, one I have yet to properly acquire. I’ve given both Fever To Tell and It’s Blitz a couple of spins each and found the best moments to easily be much quieter, reflective tracks like the ubiquitous ‘Maps’. Read more

The first time I popped this new offering from Anglo-Greek Athena Andreadis into my stereo I was immediately confused and thought I’d left my copy of ‘Finally Woken’ by Jem in the stereo by mistake.

The opening few seconds are so entirely similar to the opening of ‘They’ by Jem I was quite surprised. While the melody to ‘They’ is of course already a lift itself, it was still enough to perplex me.

Anyway, that minor gripe aside I genuinely did come to enjoy ‘Pretty Things’. It feels like the perfect kind of song to come home from a busy day and crack open a bottle of wine to – more than that, it feels like a genuinely great summer song. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://uk.youtube.com/v/d3rnKmXAM2A” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Read more

Eugene MachineFirst and foremost let me establish here and now I am not a connoisseur of electro/dance music. I don’t mind the odd dance on a Saturday night but it’s not the genre I exactly rush to in my local record shop.

My first impressions on Eugene Machine were not favourable. I let out a literal groan at the single artwork – yes I here you cry ’don’t judge on appearance’ – but still, part of how a band functions is their style and attitude. Hopping on the whole ’day glow colours that clash are cool’ bandwagon, the artwork mixes pink with green to glaring effect. Read more