In League With Paton

Branford Marsalis Quartet - Metamorphosen (Marsalis Music, 2009) Perhaps the title is laced with irony. Whilst it implies radical change, ‘M...

Alasdair Roberts - Spoils (Drag City, 2009) Whilst I’ve liked everything Alasdair Roberts has recorded, both as a solo artist and as Appendi...

Bat For Lashes - Two Suns (Echo, 2009) At what point did Natasha Khan become a proper pop singer? Was it when ‘Fur and Gold’ received its de...

Big Air – Big Air (Babel, 2009) I’m baffled and intrigued by this album but, ultimately, I’m also mesmerised by it. The ensemble itself is u...

The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (Rough Trade, 2009) I know I’m not exactly hot off the press on this one, but I’ve been pondering exa...

Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Drag City, 2009) From Smog to his own name via a set of confounding parentheses, the moni...

Bob Dylan - Together Through Life (Columbia, 2009) Unusually, I find myself almost agreeing with Petridish in The Guardian. His observation ...

I'll write something again soon, I promise, but in the absence of any new critical thinking, here's another one of those lists to re...

Marianne Faithful - Easy Come, Easy Go (Anti, 2009) Micachu - Jewellery (Rough Trade, 2009) Blimey. If it wasn’t shocking enough hearing Mor...

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men (Samedhi Sound, 2009) Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years (Rough Trade, 2009) Here are two very...

Candi Staton - Who's Hurting Now? (Honest Jon's, 2009) Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It (RCA, 2008/Sony UK, 2009) Here are two albu...

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Beware (Domino, 2009) The cover is deep black, with a remarkably striking portrait of the artist in white si...

Various kinds of work have left me unable to blog for a while now, so I thought I'd post one of those occasional playlists, mainly to re...

AC Newman – Get Guilty (Matador, 2009) Neko Case – Middle Cyclone (Anti, 2009) This week two solo albums arrive from members of the infectio...

The Invisible - The Invisible (Accidental, 2009) It seems only appropriate to follow the tribute to Ian Carr with a review of something invo...

It’s a sad and rare day when I get to write here about a significant figure in British music with a direct and personal influence on my life...

Mountains - Choral (Thrill Jockey, 2009) Lars Horntveth - Kaleidoscopic (Smalltown Supersound, 2009) Joshua Redman - Compass (Nonesuch, 2009...

M Ward - Hold Time (4AD, 2009) Reviewing records is a difficult business sometimes, and as this blog is very much a labour of love, I don’t ...