Mud Ensemble 1993 – 1999
Mud Ensemble hail from a time and mindspace when it was okay to take yourself seriously as a musician. Personnel...
Farryl Purkiss’ Fruitbats
The default comparison for Farryl Purkiss, much favoured by lazy music journalists, is Jack Johnson. This appears to...
Six Winters of Laurie Levine
Oh Brother, the opening track on Six Winters, is a sad, naked declaration of a stymied present and a mooted intent....
Mr Cat and The Jackal
Think Gogol Bordello meets The Tiger Lilies, with a touch of Beirut, and you have a fair potted reference for the...
Taxi Violence: Long Way From Home
Taxi Violence: Long Way from Home (Unplugged) There have been a few snide remarks about the wisdom of doing an ...
Mooseknucklehead Music
Says it all, really. Mrs B The Milkshake Revolution “Your girlfriend is sweet/ your girlfriend likes to go down on...
aKing’s Red-blooded years
Sometimes, listening to an aKing song, I can’t help imagining that the vocalist is singing off a...
Sombre beauty from Black Hotels
There are very few wasted moments on a Black Hotels album. Every word means something necessary to the song and every...
The open road with John Hiatt
John Hiatt is one of those musicians who’s respected by his peers, worshiped by diehard fans of solid,...
Dizzee Rascal gives tongue
Dizzee Rascal Tongue n’ Cheek A raucous bunch of fun, aptly named Tongue n’ Cheek. As Mr Rascal sings,...
It’s folk, Jim, but not as we k...
Belshazzar’s Feast (2010) Find the Lady Let me attempt a crude summary of Borges’ “Pierre Menard,...
Praise and Blame and Tom Jones
Tom Jones Praise & Blame Island Records 2010 An initial listening to Praise & Blame, Tom Jones’...
U2 – No Line on the Horizon
On No Line on the Horizon, U2 are a band with the balls to sound like themselves. And there’s no better band to...
Bite this Shark
Tight without sacrificing rawness, honest without being gauche, The Plastics’ new release, Shark, is one of...
6: Not out of 5
One listener’s poetic is another’s ponderous, and I fear I lean towards the latter evaluation of The...
The prisoners of strange
A review of Theory, the excellent new album by Carlo Mombelli and the Prisoners of Strange. Watching a performance by...
Crazy guitar shop
I visited a crazy old guitar shop in Amsterdam, in search of more Wandre vintage guitars. Followers of my bass guitar...
Life of the Mountain Goats
“There’s much beauty here, and much pain.” Mountain Goats The Life of the World to Come (Just...
The Tweeting Chris
- Follow our reporter “@MG_Reporter: #ANC spokesman Keith Khoza just told the media the #Malema NDC appeal announcement delayed til 12h30”
- Follow @mgreporter “@mailandguardian: Follow the latest news on Malema's appeal ruling today with our special report: http://t.co/JDhenDK4”
- Always intr. “@designindaba: Catch Li Edelkoort in Cape Town & Jozi for two-part trend seminar in March. http://t.co/SrzMSLsw @edelkoortinc”
- Odd. Must confirm RT @BrendahNyakudya: Insanity! The AU is a mess! RT @khayadlanga: ? Haiti becomes a member of the AU http://t.co/MjSHg2fw