Album Review: Brian Eno & Rick Holland - Drums Between The Bells (BBC Music)

Two albums from Brian Eno in less than a year, and still the man proves he's got more ideas per release than U2 and Coldplay, the stadium acts that presumably pay for his buzzcuts, have had in their entire careers. Combined.

"Drums… operates within the realms of electronica, ambience and spoken word, full of the kind of subtle studio trickery that has made Eno such an intriguing personality."

The BBC prints more words like that here...

Album Review: Brian Eno & Rick Holland - Drums Between The Bells (BBC Music)

Feature: We Dream On Cardboard - Staff Benda Bilili's Rise From The Streets (The Quietus)

When I first heard Staff Benda Bilili, I was so inspired that I actually considered flying to the Democratic Republic Of Congo, their home - if you can call the grounds of capital city Kinshasa's zoo a home. These formerly homeless, disabled musicians have since gone on to seduce people all over the world, while I haven't travelled further than Norway all year.

But the release of Benda Bilili!, a documentary about their last five years, was a great excuse to write about the band without risking my life in the world's most dangerous country."'I’m working for our children’s future,' Ricky explains. 'If I die, what will I be leaving them? A sewing machine. They won’t have anything, not even a roof over their heads. With the music I’ve composed, it’s different. If it’s successful in Europe, it’ll bring in money every year. My kids will be saved."' Mumford & Sons they are not. Find out why here.

Feature: We Dream On Cardboard - Staff Benda Bilili's Rise From The Streets (The Quietus)

Album Review: Gonzales - The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales (BBC Music)

He just keeps getting better, and having confounded people with the brilliance of his live two-pianos-and-two-drumkits performances in 2010, he's back with an orchestral rap album that he believes is the world's first. Is it any good? Well, since you ask, "where most rappers would need to reach for their sampler, Gonzales most likely sat down with his brother to hatch the plan over a bag of weed. It certainly sounds that effortless."

There's more on the subject here...

Album Review: Gonzales - The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzales (BBC Music)

Album Review: Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver (The Quietus)

It took me a very long time to get to grips with the appeal of Bon Iver's first album, but I got there in the end, and this new one opens up whole new horizons for Justin Vernon, even if it then closes them down lyrically. "Not for Coldplay the lines "doubled in the toes annex it, it minute closed in the morning did not lose it in the stack's stow, imma lay that call back on ya", sung back to them by a mass crowd waving lighters in the air."

Read my review for The Quietus here.

Album Review: Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver (The Quietus)