• Classic album: Can – Future Days

    July 15, 2013 - By 

    Think of a colour. Think of another colour. Think of things that are the first colour, and imagine them in the second colour. Then think of them in a different shape. This – confusing as it might be – goes some way to explaining the creative processes behind a record like Future Days, a record that simply couldn’t sit back and accept things the way they are. And, in a testament to its success, people are still thinking about things in a different way to this very day. Can aren’t an easy band to get into. But then again, if something…

  • Classic Album: The Band – Music From Big Pink

    July 9, 2013 - By 

    You go outside. The sun is warm on your face, and you smile at the sounds of nature that surround you – the singing of the birds, the wind through the trees, the rushing of the river. You sit down upon the warm grass, and you consider that God is good. You chop some firewood. You do some whittling. Then you go and plug in your electric guitar, turn to Bob Dylan and say, “Let’s cut it.” Without a doubt, there was something very strange going on in the rustic backwater of Woodstock in upstate New York. To this day,…

  • Classic Album: Metallica – Kill ‘Em All

    June 28, 2013 - By 

    You feel it building in your muscles, a tension crying for release.  Your fists clench, and your feet move. The strain spreads into your back, snaking up your spine. Before you know it, you’re thrusting your head forwards, pulling sharply back, your hair flailing. “BANG YOUR HEAD AGAINST THE STAGE, LIKE YOU NEVER DID BEFORE, MAKE IT RING, MAKE IT BLEED, MAKE IT REALLY SORE!” And you’re gone, lost in wild abandon, part of something primal and bigger than yourself. This is 1983, and you are a fan of the greatest thrash metal band the world has ever seen: Metallica. From…

  • Classic Album: Slowdive – Souvlaki

    June 7, 2013 - By 

    If we were to transport someone from the mid-90s to the present day, they’d almost certainly be in for a shock. Not at the political situation of the earth, although that is a cause for great concern in every single person’s life. They might not be shocked by the technological dominance in our society, perhaps seeing that as a sign that they’re in the future, and that far-out space-age technology now exists. They might even wonder where we keep our flying cars. No, the most shocking thing that our mid-90s time traveller would almost certainly encounter would be the continued…

  • Classic Album: The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore

    May 17, 2013 - By 

    It starts with the sound of twilight, that special moment when the air seems to vibrate, and time stands still. Over plucked acoustic guitar, a breathy voice intones warm whispers, comforting and safe. “The sky’s cruel torch on aching autobahn.” It is a moment that signifies change, and just over an hour later, everything is different. Put simply, this was the end of an era. In a career categorised by controversies, Adore perhaps remains the Smashing Pumpkins’ most difficult moment. Music, and the world in general, was undergoing a period of transition, a tumultuous decade finally careering to a halt.…

  • Classic Album: Boards of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Having finally announced Tomorrow’s Harvest – the follow up to 2005’s magnficent The Campfire Headphase – Steven Edward Rainey casts his mind’s eye back fifteen years to revisit Edinburgh duo Boards of Canada’s landmark 1998, Warp-released debut album Music Has The Right To Children. _____ Gazing out at us, stand seven figures. Two are turned away, whilst the remainder are directly facing us. Against a mountain background, this sexless group of adults and children pose for a photograph, immune to the effects of time or geography, their faces rubbed away to reveal a smooth, featureless surface, betraying nothing. In a realistic…