Author Archives: Jason Holmes

ALBUM: Syd Arthur ‘Apricity’

Rating: These ten, sweetly crafted Canterbury songtales come from the Kentish four-piece at a time when musicians are once more feeling the urgent need to write proper songs, rather than fling half-baked ideas onto tape – as some of the…

ALBUM: Smoove & Turrell ‘Crown Posada’

Rating: After three LPs, this one has swung and dipped out of left field and landed slap bang on the Radio 2 Playlist. But forget the whys and hows of it. It’s here amongst us, rattling the radio speakers and…

ALBUM: Devendra Banhart ‘Ape In Pink Marble’

Rating: On first hearing it, you may find yourself describing this album as the music of the spheres, but no matter, it took some balls to make it. It refreshes parts other tracts of sound fail to reach via a…

ALBUM: The Rifles ‘Big Life’

Rating: On 2 May 2014, the Shepherds Bush Empire was enjoying a full house. The bars were busy, the punters in good spirits, the early evening as muggy as only London can conjure. It was three days after Bob Hoskins’…

ALBUM: Viola Beach ‘Viola Beach’

Rating: The youthful Warrington swagger evident on this album is reminiscent of all the great melodies that ever once swirled out of the UK’s north. Unconsciously steeped in all of them, Viola Beach was the latest in a long line…

ALBUM: Lou Rhodes ‘theyesandeye’

Rating: Lou Rhodes‘ amused, gimlet eyes are the giveaway. She’s on to something, they impute, lifting up and away from the promotional photography, fixing you with a keenness to tell that she is no ordinary chanteuse in pursuit of her fifteen…

ALBUM: The Monkees ‘Good Times!’

Rating: The ads that ran in The Hollywood Reporter and the Daily Variety did their trick back in 1965. The casting call was quick and professional and Bob Rafelson (the man who would go on to be the director responsible…

ALBUM: Gregory Porter ‘Take Me To The Alley’

Rating: There’s a new album out by Gregory Porter. It comprises 12 tracks of soul-jazz. “Like Gil Scott-Heron? Like Marvin? Or Doug Carn and Leon Thomas?” I hear you cry as you rise from your chairs. Think again. Said music historian…

ALBUM: Brian Eno ‘The Ship’

Rating: For the liner notes for his 1978 album, Ambient 1: Music for Airports, Brian Eno concluded with the sentence: “Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be…