In League With Paton

...or so one of their rather threatening new songs seems to suggest. I'm not sure who it's all directed against! I finally caught up...

Bob Dylan – Brixton Academy 23/11/05 Maybe it’s just that the Brixton Academy is a much more suitable venue for the current Bob Dylan band’s...

In a bid to start work on my final albums of the year list, I've updated my 2005 tracking list over at Rate Your Music. http://rateyourm...

A proper analysis of the superb set of releases from October 17th was promised a month ago – at last it is now here! The most eagerly antici...

Kate Bush - Aerial Twelve years! When Kate Bush last released an album (the criminally underrated 'The Red Shoes' in 1993), we had a...

The mixtape still has a proud home in my ageing car stereo - so glad to see that others support its dying cause! http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/co...

Jamie Lidell – The Scala, London 3/11/05 Yet again, the Scala was packed out for another Eat Your Own Ears promoted extravaganza, this time ...

I’ve been quite fortunate in 2005 to catch some significant bands in their debut appearance on these shores – not least the remarkable Arcad...

Uncut have already published their albums of the year list - with, ahem, this blog's 2nd favourite album of 2004 (The Arcade Fire) at th...

Mike Leigh’s Two Thousand Years is conventional and disappointing Part of my high expectations for Mike Leigh’s return to the stage for the ...

Animal Collective/Caribou/Aoki Takamasa and Tojiko Noriko/Kieren Hebden – The Scala, London 25/10/05 Bloody hell – I should really make it t...

Colonel Bastard - Halcyon Days At last - a proper album from these very fine quirky popsters from Cornwall via Cambridge. Wisely, it gathers...

Back in June, the NME, with its finger firmly on a great cross-promotional marketing opportunity, eagerly declared June 6th to be 'Super...

Forgive me for sounding like one of Petridish's dreaded Guardian reviews for a moment, but there have been two notable trends in 2005 - ...

New albums from Jackson and His Computer Band, John Cale, Calexico/Iron and Wine, Bill Frisell, The Bad Plus and Ryan Adams hit the In Leagu...

Neil Young's 'Prairie Wind' It's somewhat appropriate that I should return from Canada just in time for the latest release f...