Indy Choice: Best of the new music
Ease your ears into the weekend with a selection of tasty new albums.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:53:03 +0100 Album: Hurts, Happiness (Sony/Major Label)
Clean-cut Hurts duo Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson are aiming for a kind of
undemonstrative Pet Shop Boys studiousness in their personal presentation,
reflected in the well-manicured lines of their classy pop songs.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:59 +0100 Album: Brian Wilson, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (Disney Pearl Series)
It's no surprise to find the Great Arranger of his era tackling the Great
American Songbook; but sadly, the absence of surprise also applies to the
bulk of the treatments here, which err on the side of schmaltz.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:54 +0100 The Word On... Familial, Philip Selway
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:52 +0100 Album: Stars and Sons, Good Morning Mother (Twice Burnt)
Stars and Sons are part of a new wave of British art-pop that seems to believe
that the more you add to a song, the better it gets, when the obverse is
often demonstrably true.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:36 +0100 Thea Gilmore - Motherhood and the rebirth of a songstress
Why is one of Britain's most accomplished songwriters not better known? Will
her latest release redress that injustice? These are the questions
customarily raised whenever a new Thea Gilmore album arrives.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:34 +0100 Album: Roots Manuva Meets Wrongtom, Duppy Writer (Big Dada)
The Tony McDermott cover arouses welcome memories of albums by Scientist and
Mad Professor, entirely apt for this dub reconstruction of selected titles
from the Roots Manuva catalogue.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:28 +0100 Caught in the Net: Green goes straight into Compton
Cross the Proms' two most popular fixtures ? the Last Night of the Proms and
the Doctor Who Prom ? and you might just end up with the event that's taking
over the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday afternoon. It's a recreation of the
programme you would have heard had you attended the Last Night of the Proms
100 years ago, in 1910.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:25 +0100 Album: James, The Morning After (Mercury)
This companion-piece to this year's The Night Before mini-album is a far
superior effort, a homogenous collection of subtle songs about devastation
which packs a powerful punch.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:24 +0100 Album: Thea Gilmore, Murphy's Heart (Fullfill)
Few songwriters are blessed with Thea Gilmore's ability to coin the kind of
memorable couplets that crystallise characters in a well-chosen phrase.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:20 +0100 Album: Brandon Flowers, Flamingo (Vertigo)
It's blindingly obvious, from first hearing, that the material on Brandon
Flowers's solo debut was originally intended for the next Killers album.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:13 +0100 The Barometer: Kanye West; Matt Costa; Twin Shadow; Phantogram; The Ravonettes; Mona; T-Model Ford
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:01 +0100 Dave Davies' new film takes fans on a mystical journey
As a founder of The Kinks, with brother Ray, Dave Davies was a pioneer of the British music explosion that ignited the Sixties. Yet, while he devised the trademark jagged guitar sound that inspired many other beat groups, the younger of the two warring brothers was also on a more ethereal quest.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:01 +0100 Lammermuir Festival: From Mach 1 to a Bach one
Arts events in unusual locations are becoming more and more commonplace, but a concert on Concorde, taking place as part of the inaugural Lammermuir Festival in East Lothian, Scotland from 10th September, has to be the grandaddy of the lot. The new festival has concerts spread across the county, in venues from smart townhouses to stunning medieval churches, with as much emphasis on beautiful locations as on the music.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:01 +0100 
Cultural Life: La Roux, musician
Music: I saw Fever Ray at the Forum recently. She's Swedish and is from
one of my favourite bands, The Knife. She's cripplingly shy and very rarely
performs live. In order to overcome her shyness she performs in the dark
using nothing but lasers and low-level lampshades on stage. I absolutely
love her music. Other than that, I'm listening to a lot of old disco
records, tracks like Punkin' Machine's "I Need You Tonight" and "Harmony"
by Suzy Q. 'Sly & Robbie and the Taxi Gang Anniversary' is also a
current favourite.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:01 +0100 Robert Plant and His Band of Joy, One Mayfair, London
The Grade I-listed One Mayfair was built in the early 19th century as St Mark's Church, to service the needs of an aristocratic clientele away from their country seats. Restored following its deconsecration in the Seventies, it makes the perfect venue for a secret gig by one of today's rock aristocracy, Robert Plant CBE, up in London from his Worcestershire home to launch his first album with his new group Band of Joy.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:01 +0100 Young guns go for it at Turning Point
The only London festival organised and run by a creative team all aged 25 and under, Turning Point will feature the chart-topping grime crew Roll Deep, Ms Dynamite, Professor Green, Radio 1 DJ Rob da Bank and Toddla T, as well as comedy and cabaret.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:01 +0100 Soulja Boy plans book to coincide with 'The DeAndre Way'
American rapper Soulja Boy Tell'em, who previously topped international charts with his Grammy-nominated single "Crank That," is planning to release a book the same day as his upcoming album The DeAndre Way is set to go on sale, the rapper told MTV News in an interview published September 1. Both the album and the book, Teenage Millionaire, are expected out in November.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100 Most blogged artists: Sufjan Stevens, Acid Washed, Arcade Fire
Indie musician Sufjan Stevens continues his streak as the most popular act on The Hype Machine on September 3, with rapper Kanye West and Philadelphia rock band The War on Drugs remaining in second and third. Acid Washed and Arcade Fire have both re-entered the top ten.
Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100 Take that! How a boy band is born
Unless you are still at school, the chances are that the names Max, Siva, Tom,
Nathan and Jay mean absolutely nothing to you. But for thousands of young
girls ? not to mention a rapidly growing collective of older women ? these
five names inspire scenes of obsession and hysteria every day, for they
belong to Britain's latest, hottest boy band, The Wanted. Accompanied by
screaming fans wherever they go, last month they scored a No 1 single with
their first release, "All Time Low". This is a bunch of guys who
only played their first gig in April, at that renowned music venue, er,
Addington High School, to an audience of less than a hundred people. So how
do you explain their meteoric rise?
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:40:13 +0100 
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