Demob Happy

The devil in the detail 8/10 David Fincher’s brave take on Robert Graysmith’s book gets to grip with the obsessive complexity of the source, evoking its spirit through compelling analysis of the minutiae of the case. Those expecting a thrilling cat and mouse chase in the mold of Seven may be disappointed, but comparisons to [...]

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Timely collection 9/10 There may never be agreement on the best tracks of such an important, much-loved band. Universally successful groups like REM reach a great variety of people with diverse tastes, connecting with different sides of their musical personality. This, their second Best-Of, covers REM’s albums with Warner, incorporating their most commerically successful period [...]

REM - Ebow the letter [ 5:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A piece of my mind … 6/10 Anne Michaels’s book is a highly evocative yet frustrating read. She is well-equipped with atmospheric language to describe the seasonal sights and smells from Poland to Greece and Canada. There are long and dreamy passages devoted to the sensations of time and place – the aromas and tastes [...]

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Race In to Battles 8/10 Call them Math Rock, Postrock, call them whatever, Battles are a progressive act in the truest sense of the word. Whereas aforementioned genres can conjure images of po-faced musical purism, Battles’ sound is approached with a maximilist, more-is-more attitude. There are shades of Tortoise’s jazz-rock leanings here, ooioo’s tribal freak-outs, [...]

Battles - Leyendecker [ 2:44 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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‘No More Distance Left to Run’ 7/10 This album certainly marks the end of an era, whether it be Britpop, the 1990s or Blur in their original formation, before Graham Coxon left the band. Whereas the brilliant Think Tank could be said to be a Damon Albarn project in the vein of Mali Music, Gorillaz [...]

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’4AM At Toumani’s’ 8/10 Damon Albarn’s Mali Music project is an overlooked album of beautiful mood and texture that barely belongs to the hideous ‘category’ of world music. This is very much a subjectivised, western account of African moods and musicianship, taken largely from muddled field recordings and mixed down in London. Mostly the range [...]

Spoons - Mali Music [ 5:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Beguiling second album 8/10 Not being familar with her first solo effort or previous (pre-Broken Social Scene) encarnations in the Canadian punk scene and beyond, it was something of a surprise to come across this album. Such is the massive (frequently brilliant) overloading of Broken Social Scene’s musical pallette that Feist’s vocals are often buried [...]

Feist - Sealion Woman [ 3:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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