• Snowbird – Moon

    January 14, 2014 - By 

    Snowbird is a transatlantic duo. Stephanie Dosen, a singer songwriter from Wisconsin, provides vocals over tracks originating from piano sketches by Simon Raymonde. Dosen already responsible for a couple of solo albums has also toured as vocalist with Massive Attack and provided vocals for several songs on The Chemical Brothers‘ 2010 album Further. Raymonde who has run the Bella Union label since 1997 was previously a key member of dream-pop pioneers Cocteau Twins. While the duo’s sound is admirably fleshed out by an impressive indie alumni (Midlake, Lanterns on the Lake and even a couple of Radioheaders) it’s plainly the…

  • Lesser Known Pleasures: James Brown – Get on the Good Foot

    November 22, 2013 - By 

    Lesser Known Pleasures is dedicated to celebrating great albums that are often overlooked in the hope of gaining them some more of the attention they so deserve. This time, from a surprisingly large choice of decent James Brown full lengths, Get on the Good Foot receives the LKP treatment for it’s breadth and because, for a funky pop album, it gets plain nutty… It is perhaps fair that James Brown is considered a singles artist. From the mid-50s on he was responsible for an endless stream of 45s saturating the R&B market. Served up in what seemed like throw-enough-at-the-wall tactics…

  • The Chancer’s Guide To… Frank Zappa

    November 5, 2013 - By 

    December 4th will see the 20th anniversary of Frank Zappa’s death. Inevitably between now and then, we can expect a dramatic increase in discussion about the man, his legacy and his broad ranging musical output. So in order to stay ahead of the game, it’s time for a refresher. Refresher that is, for those of you in the know. For all the chancers out there it’s more like a crash course allowing you to pretend to be less of an ignoramus online or in the pub or wherever you try to inject your tuppeneth, welcome or otherwise. The Chancer’s Guide judgeth not.…

  • Lesser Known Pleasures: Stereolab – Chemical Chords

    October 22, 2013 - By 

    The latest Lesser Known Pleasure is a Stereolab album overlooked in favour of their earlier classics Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Dots and Loops. By 2008, their sound may have shifted, mellowed and lost some edge but not necessarily to it’s detriment. Chemical Chords has LKP criteria in spades. It came late in their career long after their heyday, long after their coolness quotient was no longer a factor. The band had endured numerous lineup shifts, side projects and the end of the personal relationship between the songwriting team of Tim Gane and singer Laetitia Sadier. However in 2002, following the…

  • Lesser Known Pleasures: Brian Eno – Music For Films

    October 9, 2013 - By 

    Lesser Known Pleasures is an overdue hurrah for albums that live in the shadow of an artist’s more renowned or successful work. Great records, that for one reason or another, failed to tear up the charts or wow the critics, yet on further inspection are undeniably damn fine indeed. Lesser Known Pleasures are the albums that demand that the scales of justice be re-calibrated. This time around it’s the turn of Ambient pioneer, Art Pop legend and all round musical genius Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. But you can call him just plain Eno. The album…

  • Lesser Known Pleasures: The Boo Radleys – Everything’s Alright Forever

    September 18, 2013 - By 

    Lesser Known Pleasures is a look at albums that live forever in the shadow of a classic. An artist’s “other”. Great records that were possibly a little too far ahead of their time. Perhaps fame had dimmed but the artist peaked creatively outside the spotlight. Maybe a grand artistic statement was greeted by bemused critics with disdain or worse, a cold shoulder. Lesser Known Pleasures won’t be found on the latest Best Albums Ever! list. They aren’t obscure enough to be Great Lost Albums either. They are albums that are less revered than they might be and deserve a wider…

  • The Fall – 5 Albums

    September 4, 2013 - By 

    A story less visited than the personnel changes of The Fall is that of the myriad labels they have called home over the years. Despite Mark E Smith’s aversion to nostalgia, many fans would no doubt look back at the 5 years they spent in the care of Beggars Banquet with fond regard. Coinciding with (Smith’s first wife) Brix’s tenure in the group, 1984-89 marked (amongst other things) their unlikely flirtation with mainstream success – with a few proper singles actually making the actual proper charts. This 5 CD box set is perhaps optimum illustration of why that success was…

  • The Chancer’s Guide To… Sebadoh

    August 14, 2013 - By 

    Are you constantly in need all powerful knowledge yet can’t be arsed with the little detail of actually putting in any effort? Do you always have to have an opinion during the latest online/pub/party based music debate but don’t have the time to do the homework? Maybe, you’re the bass player with a third division landfill indie band who, following an old school, major label hype, managed to get a poxy novelty cover version to number 37 in the real charts then, with your renowned comic manner and hilarious monkey face, you’ve found yourself invited on Never Mind the Buzzcocks…

  • The Chancer’s Guide To… Beck

    July 16, 2013 - By 

    Beck has been quiet for an uncharacteristically long time. During the five years since the Dangermouse produced Modern Guilt he has formed a Record Club in which he and a bunch of musician friends re-record classic albums (Skip Spence – Oar; INXS – Kick to name but two). He also completed Song Reader, a 20 song album only available on sheet music (meaning you need to gather together your own musician friends and play the songs yourselves if you want to hear them). Finally though, new music, written and recorded by Beck, is beginning to filter through. With two albums apparently…

  • Guided By Voices – English Little League

    July 9, 2013 - By 

    At this stage, fourth album in, may we at least pretend that we all know Guided By Voices are back? Is it ok for The Thin Air to skip the history lesson and pass over the obligatory “Robert Pollard is prolific” spiel? OK, good! We will try not to look back. And so onwards to the future and for now the present and another GBV album. English Little League reveals that the reformed “classic line-up” may not have quite hit the ground running with 2012’s three albums, but instead it seems they were paying their dues all over again. These…