Author: Simon Jay Catling

David Bowie - The Next Day

David Bowie - The Next Day

Though the common-held perception of David Bowie is one of a true pioneering visionary, an artist that started trends and styles, the truth is a little more calculated. What made Bowie great in the 70's...

Review posted on 5th March 2013

Eels - Wonderful, Glorious Album Review

Eels - Wonderful, Glorious Album Review

Following the release of his bleakly personal double album Blinking Lights And Other Revelations in 2005, Mark Oliver Everett - better known simply as E - seemed to spend the rest of that decade spent....

Review posted on 1st February 2013

Adam Ant - Adam Ant is The BlueBlack Hussar In Marrying The Gunners Daughter Album Review

Adam Ant - Adam Ant is The BlueBlack Hussar In Marrying The Gunners Daughter Album Review

It takes 65 minutes for Adam Ant to exorcise the near-18 years between this album and his previous, 1995's Wonderful - and we feel every last second of it. This was never going to be...

Review posted on 21st January 2013

David Bowie - Where Are We Now? Single Review

David Bowie - Where Are We Now? Single Review

It's amazing the difference a hiatus makes in music these days - even David Bowie looks likely to feel its benefits. The explosion online that greeted the announcement of a new album in March and...

Review posted on 8th January 2013

Rihanna - Unapologetic Album Review

Rihanna - Unapologetic Album Review

Seven albums in for Rihanna and as each one passes you can't help but feel that you're witnessing another step in the Barbados-born singer's slow morph from human into marketing algorithm. Pop sells product, it...

Review posted on 14th December 2012

Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox Album Review

Bruno Mars - Unorthodox Jukebox Album Review

Bruno Mars' success has been odd in that he as an artist and his marketing team have always been in slight conflict about where he stands demographically. Aesthetically everything about the Hawaiian-born singer suggests an...

Review posted on 6th December 2012

A Week In Music featuring: Jack White, DJ Shadow, Rita Ora, Aerosmith, Alt-J, Willy Moon And Much More!

A Week In Music featuring: Jack White, DJ Shadow, Rita Ora, Aerosmith, Alt-J, Willy Moon And Much More!

Music In the News...Jack White has been awarded an honor for musical excellence, from University College Dublin. The James Joyce Award was presented to the former White Stripes frontman, who is currently touring with Willy...

Review posted on 5th November 2012

Robbie Williams - Take The Crown Album Review

Robbie Williams - Take The Crown Album Review

In 2005, just as Robbie Williams was really starting to get his arms fully elbow-deep in the sort of faecal-quality material that in the end was only really useful for building motorways in China, he...

Review posted on 1st November 2012

A Week In Music Featuring: Alicia Keys, Bat For Lashes, The Gaslight Anthem, The Rolling Stones and much more!

A Week In Music Featuring: Alicia Keys, Bat For Lashes, The Gaslight Anthem, The Rolling Stones and much more!

A Week In Reviews... Natasha Khan may have caused a stir with her nudity on the front cover of her latest album but it's the content within that we should all really be talking about....

Review posted on 29th October 2012

A Week in Music Featuring: Why?, Angus Stone, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Lumineers, The Chevin, Joe Strummer and Much More!

A Week in Music Featuring: Why?, Angus Stone, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Lumineers, The Chevin, Joe Strummer and Much More!

Albums of Note... Breaking away from their successful sibling recording partnership, Angus and Julia Stone have both begun releasing equally impressive solo material and this week, we take a look at Angus Stone's latest solo...

Review posted on 22nd October 2012

A Week in Music featuring: Ellie Goulding, Green Day, Paloma Faith, Axewound, The Vaccines and much more!

A Week in Music featuring: Ellie Goulding, Green Day, Paloma Faith, Axewound, The Vaccines and much more!

Albums of Note... That 'difficult second album' phase is probably even more difficult when - in between your first and second album - you have performed at the Royal wedding, had your songs splashed all...

Review posted on 16th October 2012

Ellie Goulding - Halcyon Album Review

Ellie Goulding - Halcyon Album Review

The have and have not of artistic credibility used to be pretty clear cut in the UK music scene in the 1980s. You had your pop stars, appearing on Top Of The Pops, wearing ridiculous...

Review posted on 11th October 2012

A Week In Music Featuring: Nas, Bat For Lashes, Efterklang, Gaggle, The Weeknd and Much More!

A Week In Music Featuring: Nas, Bat For Lashes, Efterklang, Gaggle, The Weeknd and Much More!

Albums of Note… Copenhagen band Efterklang release Piramida, an album named after a Norwegian ghost town. Befitting of such a theme, the music itself falls somewhere between Brian Eno, Sigur Ros and The Blue Nile....

Review posted on 8th October 2012

A Week in Music Featuring: Muse, Mumford & Sons, Alpines, Miguel, Of Monsters and Men, Alt-J And Much More!

A Week in Music Featuring: Muse, Mumford & Sons, Alpines, Miguel, Of Monsters and Men, Alt-J And Much More!

Albums of Note...After writing one of the official tracks for the London 2012 Olympics, Muse release their latest album, Supremacy. Our reviewer finds something lacking in the band's latest full-length offering, remaking that it sounds...

Review posted on 1st October 2012

A Week in Music - September 24, 2012

A Week in Music - September 24, 2012

This week, we have a new video from The Spinto Band. The five-piece from Delaware return with 'Muesli,' the latest release from their 2012 album Shy Pursuit. The song has a retro-tropical feel and the...

Review posted on 24th September 2012

A Week in Music Featuring: Band of Horses, Skunk Anansie, Blood Red Shoes, Tu Fawning, Bob Dylan and much more!

A Week in Music Featuring: Band of Horses, Skunk Anansie, Blood Red Shoes, Tu Fawning, Bob Dylan and much more!

Interview Highlights... We caught up with Band of Horses as they hit the promo trail in London, ahead of their iTunes festival slot, which saw them sharing a stage with Jack White. The band are...

Review posted on 18th September 2012

A Week in Music Featuring: Lucy Rose, Theme Park, Gallows, Tim Burgess, Smugglers Festival, The Rolling Stones and much more!

A Week in Music Featuring: Lucy Rose, Theme Park, Gallows, Tim Burgess, Smugglers Festival, The Rolling Stones and much more!

This week, you can catch up with some more artists that we spoke to at Leeds Festival, including Lucy Rose and Gallows and check out all the latest video and album releases.Chatting to Contactmusic, Lucy...

Review posted on 10th September 2012

A Week in Music Featuring: Of Monsters & Men, Alt-J, Roots Manuva, Leeds Festival, Beacons Festival, Summer Sundae and much more!

A Week in Music Featuring: Of Monsters & Men, Alt-J, Roots Manuva, Leeds Festival, Beacons Festival, Summer Sundae and much more!

Festival season is still in full swing and we have been catching up with some of this summer's brightest new stars, as well as some established headliners. Here's the pick of the crop:We spoke to...

Review posted on 3rd September 2012

The Week in Music featuring: Alberta Cross, The Noisettes, Rachel Sermanni, Cast of Cheers, Leeds & Reading Festival, Creamfields and much more...

The Week in Music featuring: Alberta Cross, The Noisettes, Rachel Sermanni, Cast of Cheers, Leeds & Reading Festival, Creamfields and much more...

A Week in Video... A gentle, folky number, rich with strings and rounded drums, the video for Rachel Sermanni's 'Waltz' errs on the side of the surreal, ending as it does with the singer dancing...

Review posted on 28th August 2012

A Week in Music featuring: The Milk, Duke Special, The Features, Saint Motel, King Tuff, Rage Against The Machine and Much More!

A Week in Music featuring: The Milk, Duke Special, The Features, Saint Motel, King Tuff, Rage Against The Machine and Much More!

Albums of Note... The Milk release their debut album, Tales from the Thames Delta, via Sony records. Their nostalgic sound is tempered by modern electronics, which they use to segue between tracks and add an...

Review posted on 21st August 2012

The Week in Music featuring: Olympic Closing Ceremony, The Who, Blur, Chuck D, The View, Jessie Ware and much more!

The Week in Music featuring: Olympic Closing Ceremony, The Who, Blur, Chuck D, The View, Jessie Ware and much more!

Music in the news... After months of speculation, the lid was finally lifted on the Olympic closing ceremony, with a veritable feast of UK music stars past and present bringing the 17 day sporting event...

Review posted on 13th August 2012

The Week in Music featuring: Plan B, Alicia Keys, Ben Folds, Tom Jones, Emily Barker and much more!

The Week in Music featuring: Plan B, Alicia Keys, Ben Folds, Tom Jones, Emily Barker and much more!

Albums of the Week.. With ILL manors, Plan B has reconciled the two elements of his career that seemed for some time as though they may remain disparate. His hard-hitting rap jostles for attention, alongside...

Review posted on 6th August 2012

The Week in Music featuring: Antony & the Johnsons, Hot Chip, The Killers, The Vaccines, Arctic Monkeys, Santigold, Bruce Springsteen and much more.

The Week in Music featuring: Antony & the Johnsons, Hot Chip, The Killers, The Vaccines, Arctic Monkeys, Santigold, Bruce Springsteen and much more.

Albums of the Week... Cut the World is an album of live renditions and re-workings of Antony & the Johnsons' back catalogue. The material was recorded with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra last year and...

Review posted on 30th July 2012

Bloc Party - Four

Bloc Party - Four

Rewind back to three years ago and things weren't, on the surface, going swimmingly for team Bloc Party. The group's third album Intimacy was their worst critically and commercially received album thus far, whilst one-off...

Review posted on 26th July 2012

Antony and the Johnsons - Cut The World

Antony and the Johnsons - Cut The World

If it sometimes feels that the more choice there is the more conservative our music tastes are becoming, one only need look at the on-going success of Antony Hegarty as proof that there is still...

Review posted on 24th July 2012

A Week in Music feat: Gallows, Elton John & Pnau, Gaslight Anthem, Best Coast, Charli XCX, Jake Bugg and much more!

A Week in Music feat: Gallows, Elton John & Pnau, Gaslight Anthem, Best Coast, Charli XCX, Jake Bugg and much more!

Albums of Note... Much has changed for Gallows over the last year or so. They lost their singer, Frank Carter, who went and set up his own band, Pure Love. With this self-titled album, though,...

Review posted on 23rd July 2012

A Week in Music featuring: Frank Ocean, Fun., B.o.B, Walk The Moon, Madonna, Lounge On The Farm and much more!

A Week in Music featuring: Frank Ocean, Fun., B.o.B, Walk The Moon, Madonna, Lounge On The Farm and much more!

Albums of the Week... Frank Ocean's major label debut was released early online amidst a storm of hype and news coverage. For those of you who have been in an internet-blackout for the last fortnight,...

Review posted on 16th July 2012

The Week in Music Featuring: The Cult, Lianne La Havas, Pnau, Slow Club, Little Richard, Frank Ocean and Much More!

The Week in Music Featuring: The Cult, Lianne La Havas, Pnau, Slow Club, Little Richard, Frank Ocean and Much More!

Album of the Week... The Cult are bucking the trend for bands reforming and re-hashing old material, by continuing to release new material. Back in 2010, they may have given the impression that they were...

Review posted on 9th July 2012

A Week in Music featuring: Liars, Deny May, Hadouken, The View, Lauryn Hill, Peaking Lights and much more!

A Week in Music featuring: Liars, Deny May, Hadouken, The View, Lauryn Hill, Peaking Lights and much more!

A Week in Video... There's a whole raft of new videos on the site this week and we've selected some of the best ones for you. Liars return with a great new video that totally...

Review posted on 3rd July 2012

The Cult - Choice of Weapon

The Cult - Choice of Weapon

If most old rock bands don't die but just settle for reformation tours and the middle class dollar, The Cult are making an anti-career for themselves as one of the mould breakers. Not content to...

Review posted on 2nd July 2012

Suggested

Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate

Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate

On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...

Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying

Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying "true to yourself" [EXCLUSIVE]

Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.

Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review

Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review

Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.

WYSE talks to us about her

WYSE talks to us about her "form of synaesthesia", collaborating with Radiohead's Thom York and the prospect of touring with a band [EXCLUSIVE]

With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...

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Bay Bryan talks to us about being a

Bay Bryan talks to us about being a "wee queer ginger", singing with Laura Marling and being inspired by Matilda [EXCLUSIVE]

Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...

Keelan X talks to us about staying true to

Keelan X talks to us about staying true to "your creative vision", collaborating with Giorgio Moroder and being "a yoga nut" [EXCLUSIVE]

Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.

Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]

Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]

Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...

Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and

Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and "going through a year of grief and sickness" [EXCLUSIVE]

Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...

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