Reviews

He hasn’t exactly reached for his pipe and slippers but some of the background to Saul “Slash” Hudson’s first solo album is decidedly befitting a man in his mid-40s. The stories behind the collaborations with a laundry list of rock ‘n’ roll legends aren’t littered with trashed penthouse suites, but as another ageing genre pioneer - Billy Joel - might say, it’s still rock and roll to me.

According to Music Radar Slash had sent a tape to Iggy Pop, hoping he would sing on it. Iggy rang Slash and, when he got the answering machine, proceeded to leave a message of him singing the track down the phone with the tape playing on the stereo in the background. “We’re all gonna die,” rings the chorus, “So let’s get high.” Old school, right?

Until you get to the next line. “We’re all gonna die, so let’s be nice.” All together: Naawww. (Note: not all the lyrics are this mainstream. Parental advisory applies, as in do not play in front of parents, especially the mother-in-law.)

Continue reading "Slash the album: a guitar hero’s return to form" »

One of the more accurate musical predictions of the past eighteen months was that the sparkly retro glamour of recent years would give way to a more introverted breed of shoe gazing hipsters. 

What no one saw coming, however, was that the new kids would take a far more confident and far less faddish approach than the recent crop of faux popsters. 

A perfect example is the arrival of The XX, a morose looking bunch of 20 year olds from South West London who have created what must surely be the finest debut of 2009. 

Continue reading "The finest debut album of 2009" »

It’s only when you have finished a job like programming the Sydney Festival that you fully appreciate what a lucky bugger you were.  You get paid to listen to albums, go to shows and exhibitions and then work with those artists you most admire.  And you get paid for it. 

Obviously it’s not without its strains – a friend of mine often cites the excruciating five-hour incomprehensible nonsense we sometimes have to work our way through and claims “I get paid to watch this crap so you don’t have to!”.

The truth is of course, somebody has to do it.  We all want and need someone to trawl through the blizzard of choice and come up with combinations of plays and concerts that have been selected with us in mind.  During my time in Sydney this was particularly apparent when it came to popular music. 

Continue reading "The Yeah Yeah Yeahs release a new stimulus package" »