Album Review: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Winterland (BBC Music)

What can you say about Jimi Hendrix that hasn't been written already? Well, with four CDs of live recordings from the man's legendary 1968 shows at Winterland, you'd think it might inspire one or two new observations. Find out whether that's true here.

"Even the most hardened of cynics cannot deny the power of performances that robbed Eric Clapton of his reputation as the world’s best guitarist..."

Album Review: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Winterland (BBC Music)

Album Review: Art Of Noise - Who's Afraid Of The Art of Noise (BBC Music)

There's a short entry in my 1986 diary about how badly I want to get hold of The Art Of Noise's latest single, 'Moments In Love'. A quarter of a century later, I find myself reviewing a deluxe reissue of the very album from which it came for the BBC. You can't read my diary, but you can read the review here.

"Remarkably, this debut was accessible enough to spawn hit singles, including Close (To the Edit), arguably the only record ever to include the sound of a VW Golf stalling as its central motif..."

Album Review: Art Of Noise - Who's Afraid Of The Art of Noise (BBC Music)

Album Review: The Waterboys - An Appointment With Mr Yeats (BBC Music)

He's been promising it for years, but finally Mike Scott and his Waterboys have 'teamed up' with William Butler Yeats for an album. The BBC sought my opinion, and I was happy to offer it here.

"It could have been a risky concept – accusations of pretension are never far from anyone who undertakes to put poetry to music – but Scott’s conviction, alongside his years of preparation, ensures that this is a genuinely successful experiment."

Album Review: The Waterboys - An Appointment With Mr Yeats (BBC Music)

Album Review: St Vincent - Strange Mercy (BBC Music)

Annie Clark, you've rocked my world for a while, but I'm not so convinced any more. Find out why here. But, as a quick hint, allow me to say that Strange Mercy is "full of ideas but struggling to find a coherent voice..."


Will you ever forgive me...?

Album Review: St Vincent - Strange Mercy (BBC Music)

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)

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: Planningtorock - W (BBC Music)

It's time for something brooding: the latest Planningtorock album for the rather splendid DFA label. "Rostron imagines a darkly melodramatic world of shadows and sleek metallic edges, her electronic setting industrial and semi-gothic in a similar fashion to current critical faves EMA and Zola Jesus." Read all about it here.

Album Review: Planningtorock - W (BBC Music)

Album Review: Nils Frahm & Anne Müller's '7Fingers' (BBC Music)

18 months on from his last album of solo piano improvisations, Nils Frahm is back, this time collaborating with Berlin's own Anne Müller. The first, teeth-fixated fruits of their work can be found on the fine Erased Tapes label, and the BBC asked me what I thought. "Frahm is no more averse to surprises than he is to collaboration," I claimed, "and it’s clear that the inspiration he found working with Müller has led him to focus on more contemporary aesthetics." The rest is here.

Album Review: Nils Frahm & Anne Müller's '7Fingers' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Ensemble's 'Excerpts' (BBC Music)

How I wish the revelation that Olivier Alary sings like Red House Painter's Mark Kozolek had struck me earlier. Still, I did my best to nail this intriguing album here, where I highlight that "he has an ear for the experimental, but he’s not afraid of sweetening the pill with a haunting melody or two". Which, I hope you'll agree, is fair enough...

Album Review: Ensemble's 'Excerpts' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Jesus & Mary Chain's 'Upside Down - The Best Of' (BBC Music)

"To declare, as this CD’s artwork does, that East Kilbride’s The Jesus and Mary Chain are "arguably the last great British rock’n’roll band" is almost as provocative as the music with which they kicked off their career..."

And so begins my review of this retrospective of the legendary Scottish Reid brothers' career. Read it all here.

Album Review: Jesus & Mary Chain's 'Upside Down - The Best Of' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Francesco Tristano - Idiosynkrasia (Uncut)

3/5
Luxembourgian brings the piano into the 21st Century

This unlikely collaboration finds Detroit’s legendary Carl Craig producing Juillard-trained pianist Tristano for a groundbreaking hour of rewired techno, house and classical music. Like a less abstract Murcof – who produced Tristano’s debut – the results blur boundaries between acoustic and electronic sounds, Craig treating Tristano’s grand then sending it shimmering over layers of percussion and effects. So “Mambo” builds to a stormy climax from a bass line stabbed out on a Hauschka-like muted piano amidst minimalist electronica, while “Idiosynkrasia” eagerly eyes the dancefloor. But it’s the hypnotic 11-minute “Hello – Inner Space Dub” that flies furthest.

Album Review: Francesco Tristano - Idiosynkrasia (Uncut)

Album Review: Silje Nes' 'Optiks' (BBC Music)

And so, yet another musician decamps to Berlin to work on their new record. Norwegian Silje Nes' second album, Optiks, is, according to my random word generator, a "soothing collection that sounds like it was recorded late at night under threat of eviction". Other words either side of this extract can be read here.

Album Review: Silje Nes' 'Optiks' (BBC Music)

Album Review: a-ha's '25 - The Very Best Of' (BBC Music)

It pains me now to think of the way I dismissed my sister's love for a-ha when I was growing up, though she has since told me that she no longer understands what she saw in them. I, meanwhile, have somehow come round to the Norwegian popstars. "This thorough 39-song survey leads one to the unexpected conclusion that they were the Coldplay of their generation," my BBC Review suggests, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, as you can see here.

Album Review: a-ha's '25 - The Very Best Of' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Neil Young's 'Le Noise' (BBC Music)

What a pleasure and a privilege to be asked to review the latest album from a veteran like Mr Neil Young. "There are," I suggest, "no drums, no hurricane solos and, it has to be said, no great signs of a melody." But does that mean it's bad? Possibly not. Find out more here...

Album Review: Neil Young's 'Le Noise' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Timber Timbre's 'Timber Timbre' (BBC Music)

Canadians Timber Timbre caught me off guard with their third album. The full story is here.

"Filled with the kind of tunes that sound as though they were conceived specifically with the likes of True Blood in mind..."

Album Review: Timber Timbre's 'Timber Timbre' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Ten Ken's 'For Posterity' (BBC Music)

Righteous anger but just slightly out of tune... Ten Kens reviewed for the BBC here.

"... they’ve fortunately messed with the formulae, throwing in healthy doses of hardcore, post-punk and even goth..."

Album Review: Ten Ken's 'For Posterity' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Phil Selway's 'Familial' (BBC Music)

I guess I must be becoming part of the establishment now. I get to review the solo debut from Phil Selway - rock legend Radiohead's drummer - for the BBC, no less. Read all about it here.

"Even the most fervent of Radiohead fans might lack the patience to get excited about this humble collection. But therein lies its charm..."

Album Review: Phil Selway's 'Familial' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Slowdive's 'Pygmalion' (BBC Music)

Sometimes it's great to have an excuse to visit a band's back catalogue, and the arrival of Slowdive's was no exception. BBC Music gave me the chance to explore their final album in depth right here.

Album Review: Slowdive's 'Pygmalion' (BBC Music)

Album Review: Dean & Britta's '13 Most Beautiful... Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests' (BBC Music)

Dean Wareham and his wife Britta Phillips get to grips with Andy Warhol's slow motion portraits, providing a soundtrack for a Baker's Dozen of 'em. Read about the results here.

Album Review: Dean & Britta's '13 Most Beautiful... Songs For Andy Warhol's Screen Tests' (BBC Music)

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)