Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here

Editions Mego (2010) While very enjoyable, last year’s What Happened was a somewhat ephemeral delight, awareness of its quality fading into the dark recesses of memory. Perhaps a very clever reference to the inherent temporary nature of beauty. Or not. Whatever the case, that fact occurred to this reviewer when listening to Does It LookContinue reading “Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here”

Jaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit

Ninja Tune (2010) Half a decade after the gorgeous What We Must, Jaga Jazzist finally return with a band album. Lars Horntveth did recently release an album of his own, the forty-minute song Kaleidoscopic. And he was involved in the second National Bank album, in 2008. But it’s not the same: you hear something asContinue reading “Jaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit”

Shining – Blackjazz

Indie Recordings (2010) Recent Shining single ‘Fisheye’ was initially showcased on Norwegian TV, and seemed uncharacteristically violent for the Oslo band. Granted, they changed completely from the reasonably polite sax-led jazz of Sweet Shanghai Devil (2003) to the epic, soundtrack-inspired In the Kingdom of Kitsch You Will Be A Monster in just two years. ButContinue reading “Shining – Blackjazz”

Warpaint – Exquisite Corpse

Manimal (2009)See it pon de posh new FACT site ere. There is lush ‘n’ longing, and then there is Warpaint. You remember on Beavis and Butthead, when our brace of budding reviewers used to assume Pantera was just the singer, and not the band?* Warpaint is a quartet from Los Angeles, but on the basisContinue reading “Warpaint – Exquisite Corpse”