The Beat – I Just Can’t Stop It - July 2012 July 7th, 2012

It’s nice that the late Seventies Ska pioneers The Specials have reformed to stash some pension cash, but The Beat, strafing Two Tone’s punky reggae template with taut new wave twin guitars, afro-pop inflections, and dubwise excursions, delivered the movement’s best debut. I Just Can’t Stop It’s sparkling originals still outshine the cover reliant sets…

Toma Gouband – Courant des Vents - June 2012 June 24th, 2012

Toma Gouband rolls flints, stones, and pebbles around on snare drums. Courant des Vents is a quiet, but startling, forty-five minute collaboration with the acoustics of St Peter’s church Whitstable, a room rapidly becoming the Sun Studios of European free improvisation. Gouband never allows his Neolithic clacks to coalesce into tasteful Steve Reich style rhythmical…

The Wonderful World of Stewart Lee - June 2012 The Ocelot - By Jamie Hill - June 24th, 2012

There’s a reason why Stewart Lee is seen as the comedian’s comedian. There’s a reason why he’s been on the receiving end of a whole bunch of awards. And there’s also a reason why he’s never going to be as well-known as the Lee Macks or the Michael McIntyres of this world. Stewart Lee is…

Witch – We Intend To Cause Havoc! - June 2012 June 24th, 2012

Emmanuel Chanda was selling collectors old albums by Witch, the band he lead through turbulent post-colonial ‘70s Zambia, to pay medical bills, before Now Again reissued his back-catalogue as this four disc box. Initially Witch, singing in English, channel American and European influences through chiming folk pop, bubbling hairy funk, locked groove hard rock, and…

Carpet Remnant World – Civic Theatre, Chelmsford - June 2012 The Public Reviews.com - By Kelly McGibney - June 23rd, 2012

Civic Theatre, Chelmsford – Friday June 22 Stewart Lee has had a stand up career which has spanned twenty five years. Due to regular television appearances in the last five or so years he has reached a status that only a handful of working comics can claim: he has become a household name. Lee acknowledges…

Giant Giant Sand – Tucson - June 2012 June 17th, 2012

One in five of the roots rock revisionary Howe Gelb’s incessant releases sees his untrammeled talent torrent coagulate fully coherently. Album fifty. It’s that time again. Doubling his blurred collective Giant Sand to twelve with pedal steel and mariachi brass, hence the elongated name, Gelb’s country rock opera assimilates every style he’s dabbled with, from…