In League With Paton

Opulent, camp, grandiose, extravagant, excessive, theatrical, operatic, romantic – these are all words that spring immediately to mind when ...

Whilst it would be a Herculean task to argue that ‘Sky Blue Sky’ is in the same league as Wilco’s best work, the critical reaction to it has...

I’ve been wondering what to write about this show, given that my entire experience of the night was soured by a particularly thoughtless cou...

So here's a list of things I need to blog about, lest I should forget myself: Cat Power live at the Forum last week Dava (about whom onl...

I’m aware that this is going to sound incredibly snobbish, but there’s this lingering sense that the rock and pop press consistently underes...

There are some bands, perhaps those that display their creative ambitions most explicitly, that we want to push themselves further and furth...

…Or so says a line from Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons used by Terence Davies in his masterful film ‘The Long Day Closes’ from 199...

It’s immensely pleasing to report that Feist ’s ‘The Reminder’ is every bit as wonderful as the sampler I received two weeks ago suggested. ...

I’ve been going to Bob Dylan London shows since 2002, and watching with grim fascination as he’s struggled to reinterpret his back catalogue...

I can remember having quite an in-depth conversation with Emmy the Great about Animal Collective during a car journey from the Brixton Windm...

It's worth taking some time to mourn the passing, and celebrate the life of one of my American heroes, the great writer Kurt Vonnegut, w...

All this playing with identity is really rather tedious, isn’t it? Following in the pretentious footsteps of Prince and, a more obvious conn...

This isn't a full review, as I've not heard the whole album yet, but I've spent part of this evening listening to a sampler of w...

When I interviewed Kings of Leon at Glastonbury 2003, they proved themselves tedious and frustrating interviewees. Barely able to get more ...

Tim Berne has been a leading creative force (and a fiercely independent one too) in the New York free jazz scene for over 20 years, but only...

The three Rhino CD reissues of Warren Zevon albums released this week seem to have been in the pipeline for ages and ages. It also seems tha...

Apostle Of Hustle - National Anthem of Nowhere (Arts and Crafts) El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead (Definitive Jux) A couple of alb...

I spend a lot of time on this blog criticising professional music journalists, unpicking their casual assumptions and questioning the dubiou...

The Stooges - The Weirdness Oh dear, oh dear. How exactly did we get here? I steered clear of the reunion shows from The Stooges , even whe...