"Making noise" was UK duo Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze's initial remit, with Furze's former alliance with Berlin techno-punk 'terrorist' Alec Empire hinting at a possible template. So The Big Pink's wall-of-sound pop classicism over synchronised, st...
Verdi's Requiem is a work of undeniably epic proportions, but more often than not (and thanks to the ubiquity of the Dies Irae in television and film) the public hear only snippets of it. Consequently, audiences can see it as something of a marathon ...
New York's Steely Dan were one of the most swinging, groovy and erudite rock bands of the 1970s. When founder members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker split, frontman Fagen was the more visible flag-bearer of the two - except that he rather took his ti...
The Broadway Project's Compassion was one of the great records of 2001; akin to a 2 am session with your vinyl junkie mate playing his or her favourite cosmic jazz, prog rock and psychedelic obscurities on 3 sets of turntables simultaneously, it was ...
Craig Finn describes himself as the kind of writer who sits in the back seat of the car driven by his characters, taking notes. For the sake of his sanity and general health, this is doubtless a good thing. On Lord, I'm Discouraged, a song from The H...
Cass McCombs' worldview can be nailed by his pithy response to being asked what he'd like on his tombstone: "Home at last." The comment, worthy of Tony Hancock or Spike Milligan (who, when asked the same question, chose "I told you I was ill!") has e...
