Feature: The Real Story Of Life - Dean Wareham On Galaxie 500 and Lou Reed (The Quietus)

I can still remember how excited I was to discover that Galaxie 500 had written a song about my birthday, July 4. I can also remember the first time I heard Luna's version of 'Indian Summer' and how it hypnotised me. It was a pleasure, therefore, when Dean Wareham got in touch to tell me about his latest project, 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests. My formal interview is here.

"Orwell said somewhere that no one ever writes the real story of their life. The real story of a life is the story of its humiliation..."

Feature: The Real Story Of Life - Dean Wareham On Galaxie 500 and Lou Reed (The Quietus)

Feature: The Joy Of Text (The Quietus)

A chance encounter at the Berlin Film Festival led to a ticket to see 'Howl', the story of how Allen Ginsberg's poem changed America. I loved it. Read my story here.

"There is no truth, only opinion"...

Feature: The Joy Of Text (The Quietus)

Album Review: Max Richter's 'Infra' (BBC Music)

Max Richter continues to blur the boundaries between electronic and classical music with his latest release, Infra. My review for BBC Music is right here.

"Now, it seems, you've got every chance of finding what used to be termsclassical music on your favourite indie label..."

Album Review: Max Richter's 'Infra' (BBC Music)

Feature: When Athletes Attack (The Quietus)

With World Cup Fever in full flow, but England flailing, it's time to look at other sporting heroes who've given us (for the most part) something to laugh at. The Quietus presents ten of my Musical Sporting Heroes here.

"'I thought I did well,' Jacklin later defended himself to Golf Digest magazine, 'yet somehow I never overtook The Beatles in popularity.' He should have used a Norwegian Wood."

Feature: When Athletes Attack (The Quietus)

Album Review: Mantler - Monody (Uncut)

3/5
Toronto’s antidote to Jamie Lidell’s pastiches

With a soft voice reminiscent of Robert Wyatt, Chris Cummings’ understated take on neo-soul is unashamedly blue-eyed, leaning as heavily on Hall & Oates as on Marvin Gaye, though opener ‘Fortune Smiled Again’ also hints at Steely Dan in its pristine sound. Monody, however, is more focussed on moody grooves than flash production, with tunes like ‘Fresh And Fair’ perfect for Californian poolside cocktails. Collaborators include Owen Pallett and Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan, but it’s Cummings’ 1970s Wurlitzer that takes centre stage, especially on the beautifully laidback ‘Also Close To The Rainbow’ and the minor key ‘Author’.

Album Review: Mantler - Monody (Uncut)

Album Review: Klak Tik - Must We Find A Winner (Uncut)

3/5
Intricately arranged orchestral folk

The improbably named Soren Bonke, the London based Dane behind eight piece Klak Tik, clearly knows his baroque US indie. Opening track ‘The 2nd Wave Is Bigger’, with its brass, glockenspiel and gently strummed guitar, recalls the creaking charm of early Lambchop, while ‘With Ernest & George’ offers the same vulnerable intimacy Sufjan Stevens perfected on Come On Feel The Illinoise and ‘I Am Your Memory’ the abstract complexity of Gastr Del Sol. But though the prevailing mood is melancholic, there’s room for plenty of surprises, with ‘Knuckles, Depressed’ straddling the divide between Tom Waits and Calexico.

Album Review: Klak Tik - Must We Find A Winner (Uncut)

Album Review: The Soundcarriers - Celeste

4/5
A great leap backwards in time

It can’t be coincidence that The Soundcarriers’s second album opens with ‘Last Broadcast’: the Nottingham four piece gorge on the same ‘60s psychedelia and cosmic folk as Broadcast, with stoned Gallic harmonies floating over valve amps, Hammond organs, flower-power flutes and Krautrock rhythms. ‘Morning Haze’, with its shimmering keyboards and lowslung bass, is a soft-focus summer delight, while ‘Rolling On’ sounds like The Free Design reared on Motown. In fact – like predecessor Harmonium – Celeste recreates the era so authentically even DJ Shadow might suspect its natural reverb and split stereo had been rescued from David Axelrod’s vaults.

Album Review: The Soundcarriers - Celeste