In League With Paton

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – Dig! Lazarus! Dig! (Mute, 2008) This latest instalment in the increasingly prolific saga of Nick Cave, so far ...

Toumani Diabate – The Mande Variations (World Circuit, 2008) A true master of his craft, Toumani Diabate is capable of adapting the Kora to ...

Vandermark 5 - Beat Reader (Atavistic, 2008) The Chicago jazz scene is frighteningly alive right now. From the inter-connected post-rock art...

All those with an interest in the creation and manipulation of sound may well feel saddened by the recent deaths of Teo Macero and Joe Gibbs...

Nick Lowe - Jesus of Cool (1978, Reissued by Proper 2008) I’ve felt for a while that Nick Lowe is one of the most underrated and unfairly ma...

Wildbirds and Peacedrums - Heartcore (Leaf, 2007) The title is such a straightforward and obvious play on words that it seems staggering tha...

Gwilym Simcock @ The Vortex, London 24/2/08 The sedate, candlelit, table-and-chairs set up at London’s Vortex Jazz Club provides an appropri...

I know I’m a few years behind the times with this piece, but one of the joys of blogging is that you can openly admit when you’ve been a lit...

Mariee Sioux - Faces in the Rocks (Grass Roots, 2007) Now here’s a classic example of how the blogosphere can be a force for good (eat that ...

I've ranted on here about ticket sales for event concerts before, but I'm going to raise the issue again. Logging on to my ticketmas...

Steve Lehman - On Meaning (Pi, 2007) Ach! This eccentric, technically accomplished and highly individual album actually slipped out at the t...

Pat Metheny with Christian McBride and Antonio Sanchez - Day Trip (Nonesuch, 2008) Some critics in America appear to be hailing ‘Day Trip’ a...

REM - Up (Warner Bros, 1998) Conventional wisdom dictates that REM are a great band who have lost their purpose, and that new album ‘Acceler...

kd lang - Watershed (Nonesuch, 2008) Fascinatingly, it took an album of covers to get kd lang (I still find the insistence on lower case let...

It's diva-ish behaviour enough to walk off stage mid-show and cancel two further performances because of a common cold (compare it with ...

Hot Chip - Made In The Dark (DFA/EMI, 2008) Hot Chip’s third album, and their first to be released to a palpable sense of anticipation, is p...

No Country For Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007) When asked why his songs were always so achingly sad, the great Roy Orbison once wisecrac...

Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette – Setting Standards: New York Sessions (ECM) Manfred Eicher’s ECM label is celebrating the 25th...

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (XL, 2008) I’m always somewhat cynical and suspicious about over-hyped ‘hot tip’ debuts such as this. My p...

Cat Power - Jukebox (Matador, 2008) This might be the trickiest album I’ve had to review on these pages. I’ve been an admirer of Cat Power, ...