Previewed by "Twerk" -- their booty-disco, "Maniac"-quoting team-up with Yo Majesty -- plus the uplifting perfection of the five-star track "Raindrops" -- sung by member Felix Buxton with Auto-Tune on the assist -- Scars is an obvious return-to-form effort for Basement Jaxx, reigning in the big conceptual ambition displayed on Crazy Itch Radio for better or worse. Getting back to everyday business sounds like sweet relief on tracks like the good-timing "Twerk," and while this is the lunk-headed party theme you'd expect from such a pairing, two of the other marquee-worthy collaborations far exceed expectations. First up is the hot-stepping, Santigold cut "Saga," which suggests that a shared love of the Clash and the Specials was discussed ahead of time. More stunning is the Yoko Ono team-up "Day of the Sunflowers (We March On)" which takes a "Walking on Thin Ice" strategy, supporting Yoko Ono's stark poetry reading with a razor sharp, no wave dance track. The wistful "My Turn" with Lightspeed Champion is like that grand, danceable dreamer that shows up towards the end of the best Pet Shop Boys albums, leaving only the Amp Fiddler effort, "A Possibility," up for debate, since adding new, rather average lyrics to Santo & Johnny's classic instrumental "Sleepwalk" seems an unispired move from this innovative crew. Still, it hardly breaks the album, and there's nothing here you could write off as true filler, but that perfect flow that made their masterpieces so thrilling is missing, plus the increased number of doubtful or regretful numbers referenced by the album's title seems to come from a totally different song cycle than the busy, rump-shaking stunners. Even if this is a bumpier ride than expected, Scars is a worthwhile throwback to the freak attitude that kicked off their career over a decade earlier. Anyone excited by the idea will find plenty to love.

1. "Scars" (feat. Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk) 4:15
2. "Raindrops" 4:10
3. "She's No Good" (feat. Eli "Paperboy" Reed) 3:26
4. "Saga" (feat. Santigold) 2:42
5. "Feelings Gone" (feat. Sam Sparro) 3:42
6. "My Turn" (feat. Lightspeed Champion) 4:52
7. "A Possibility" (feat. Amp Fiddler) 2:45
8. "Twerk" (feat. Yo! Majesty) 3:30
9. "Day of the Sunflowers (We March On)" (feat. Yoko Ono) 5:59
10. "What's a Girl Gotta Do" (feat. Paloma Faith) 4:04
11. "Stay Close" (feat. Lisa Kekaula) 3:01
12. "Distractionz" (feat. Jose Hendrix) 5:03
13. "Gimme Somethin' True" (feat. Jose James) 5:29

Back in 2007/2008 we were told by certain music publications that Hadouken were a band worth caring about. Fast forward a few years to 2010 and the same publications are now telling us that the Leeds formed Watford based band aren't worth bothering with at all. Hmm, that's quite a U turn isn't it? Could this be due to the fact that they no longer stand behind the nu-rave scene with which they were perhaps unfairly mixed in with? Perhaps. But it seems that sometimes bands that are part of scenes are allowed to get away with murder, just as long as they bolster a movement that keeps young and impressionable music fans buying into it. Their last effort, Music For An Accelerated Culture didn't exactly wipe the bored in terms of reviews, but it was given the benefit of the doubt on the grounds that it was 'tongue in cheek' Well after hearingFor the Masses, it's quite obvious that it really wasn't as the same sentiment remains.

Recorded in Holland, with Dutch electronic producers Noisia, this is a record that's as violent and spiky as its predecessor. If anything it's even more rough around the edges, with its Prodigy moulded beats and bleeps making an appearance on every track. Its attempts to be intimidating unfortunately fall short by some length, most notably in the cases of Mic Check and M.A.D. This is despite singer James Smith hiding his middle class accent with more success than he did last time around.

There are times when the sickly beats/aggressive lyrics formula works though, and that's in the case of Turn The Lights Out. With its lyrical bile of 'This is your last chance boy/get ready for the rough and tumble if you wanna be starting something' spill out over an equally heavy beat, its melodic chorus will probably give it a chance of some radio play. Similarly Bombshock with its vibrating, electrifying presence makes itself hard to ignore as it grates into your consciousness uninvited.

Other than those brief shots of inventiveness, the rest of the album struggles to deliver on its obvious intent. Its attempts to shock and intimidate fail on both counts as its violent lyrics and offensive sounds coming across as cheap gimmicks.For the Masses does however contain two tracks with mainstream capabilities. And it's in the form of Bombshock and Turn The Lights Out that suggest Hadouken may have hope for the future.

1. "Rebirth" 4:30
2. "Turn the Lights Out" 3:53
3. "M.A.D" 3:26
4. "Evil" 3:56
5. "House is Falling" 4:10
6. "Mic Check" 3:26
7. "Ugly" 4:05
8. "Bombshock" 3:54
9. "Play the Night" 4:13
10. "Lost" 4:16

Imagine a cross between the Prodigy and 2 Unlimited (yes, it is possible), and Hadouken! are the band that achieved that unlikely pairing on their debut full-length album, Music for an Accelerated Culture. Track three was titled "Game Over" and computer gaming featured high on Hadouken!'s list of influences, even down to their name, which reportedly came from a specific fighting attack move in the Street Fighter game. Using computer-generated bleeps and synthesized sounds to create a kind of wall of sound behind James Smith's vocals, tracks such as "That Boy That Girl" began to surface on the Internet as early as February 2007, and some of the tracks had also appeared on the EP Not Here to Please You, which was issued only as a downloadable set of tracks or on the relatively new format of a USB memory stick. The band waited until May 2008 to release its first proper album, which featured a programmed drumbeat and bassline throughout, making most of lyrical content almost irrelevant. One doubts Hadouken! knew too much about the Dutch techno band from the early '90s named 2 Unlimited, but the synth riffs bear a remarkable similarity. Near the end of the album was the track "Liquid Lives," a song that became a reasonably sized hit (well, number 36 for one week) in the early summer of 2007. Perhaps the album was a classic example of a band waiting too long to release it officially, and fans' excitement had already faded.

1. "Get Smashed Gate Crash" - 3:21
2. "That Boy That Girl" - 3:32
3. "Game Over" - 3:35
4. "Declaration of War" - 3:11
5. "Mr Misfortune" - 3:17
6. "Crank It Up" - 3:00
7. "What She Did" - 3:18
8. "Driving Nowhere" - 3:48
9. "Liquid Lives" 2:51
10. "Spend Your Life" - 3:13
11. "Wait for You" - 4:00

Just when it seemed 2009’s trash-brat electro scene (3OH!3, LMFAO, Shwayze) was about crumble under its own weight, rapper/singer/songwriter Ke$ha became the genre’s biggest star, graduating from being Flo Rida’s backup singer (she provided the hook on the rapper’s massive single “Right Round”) to superstar when her debut single, “TiK ToK,” set a digital sales record with over 600,000 downloads in a week. Her climb to the top includes bizarre factoids like she once lived in the house where the Eagles recorded Hotel California, plus she once vomited in Paris Hilton’s closet. Working on Hilton's album was the reason she was at the house, so it’s hard not to appreciate how Animal makes Ke$ha sound nothing like an industry vet who used to write for the Veronicas. Here, she’s a gum-snapping, alcohol-abusing Facebook jockey straight out of the suburbs who spits sophomoric but fun putdowns, come-ons, and sig files all over electro beats. Opening with “Maybe I need some rehab/Or maybe just need some sleep,” Animal is upfront about its unwillingness to face the real world, and prefers a garbage chic reality with a liberal shot of the ‘80s. “Party at a Rich Dude’s House” could have fallen off the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack, while the word “gross” makes a serious comeback throughout the album. The music is heavy on gimmicks — Auto-Tune, vocoders, and silly samples are all here in abundance — while able folks like Dr. Luke plus Mim and Liv Nervo are in charge of the colorful electro-pop productions. As far as subversion goes, “Boots and Boys” presents the lusty, “Suicide Blond”-type track from a rare female point of view, but a couple of unexpected and completely unsatisfying ballads are the type of fluff anyone with an edge would avoid. Snooty taste makers and parents should avoid Animal at all costs, but with so many fun, “TiK ToK”-type tracks, the album has plenty for both brats and the bratty at heart.

1. Your Love Is My Drug (3:07)
2. Tik Tok (3:19)
3. Take It Off (3:35)
4. Kiss N Tell (3:27)
5. Stephen (3:32)
6. Blah Blah ft. 30H!3 (2:52)
7. Hungover (3:52)
8. Party At A Rich Dude's House (2:55)
9. Backstabber (3:06)
10. Blind (3:17)
11. Dinosaur (2:55)
12. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (3:29)
13. Boots & Boys (2:56)
14. Animal (3:57)

After eighteen years, they still soldier on... After a somewhat revised version of Tindersticks broke their five-year recording silence with 1998's The Hungry Saw, it took less than two years for the group (again with a few modifications to the lineup) to compound that successful return with another new album -- their eighth overall -- which stands as perhaps even more of an achievement and pleasant surprise than its very fine predecessor. While Saw offered a few rare glimmers of positivity and sweetness from Stuart Staples and company, it was essentially business as usual for the perennially moody Britons. Falling Down a Mountain isn't exactly a major reinvention, either, but it does back up the golden-hued sky gracing its cover with some of their most upbeat and optimistic songs to date (keep in mind those are relative terms), and a liberal extension of the looseness they've been gradually settling into since 1999's Simple Pleasure. The six-and-a-half minute title track is immediately striking, with its simmering, asymmetrical, jazzy groove buoying a hypnotically simple vocal riff and some uninhibited soloing from trumpeter Terry Edwards. "Harmony Around My Table" is a bouncy soul-pop number that might hardly be recognizable as Tindersticks if not for Staples' inimitable quavering baritone (as always, an acquired taste, like fine wine), while the low-key lovers' duet "Peanuts" sports a charmingly simple, slightly silly lyric, and the twinkling ballad "Keep You Beautiful," though a typically mellow affair, is uncharacteristically, almost achingly sweet. Elsewhere, the album takes on a vaguely Western tinge (again echoing the dusty cover landscape), with the galloping, lustful "She Rode Me Down," Edwards' lonesome flügelhorn on the Morricone-esque instrumental "Hubbard Hills," and the gritty, downright driving "Black Smoke." Eventually -- this being Tindersticks, after all -- the darkness does creep in: the deceptively buoyant "No Place So Alone" seethes with the jealousy of a jilted lover, and by the penultimate "Factory Girls," we find Staples brooding alone, doused in melancholy, feebly asserting that "it's the wine that makes me sad, not the love I never had." It's a typically mournful, typically lovely Tindersticks moment, made all the more exquisite here in contrast to the increased stylistic range that came before it. Sometimes, it just takes a slight change in scenery to help you appreciate what you've always had.

1. "Falling Down A Mountain" - 6:33
2. "Keep You Beautiful" - 3:23
3. "Harmony Around My Table" - 5:06
4. "Peanuts" - 4:37
5. "She Rode Me Down" - 3:18
6. "Hubbards Hills" - 3:04
7. "Black Smoke" - 3:43
8. "No Place So Alone" - 3:12
9. "Factory Girls" - 5:55
10. "Piano Music" - 5:46

If you were of the opinion that Tindersticks may have gone through some kind of drastic sea change brought on by their five-year hiatus and the absence of founding member and co- architect of their trademark sound, Dickon Hinchliffe, you are dead wrong. The band weathered the storm and on their seventh studio album, The Hungry Saw, the three remaining members of the band retain every last aspect of what made the band special (the inventive arrangements, the cinematic sweep of the songs, Stuart Staples' distinctive vocals) but also manage to sound rejuvenated and fresh at the same time. The last album they made before their split, Waiting for the Moon, seemed like it was just another in a long line of excellent releases by the band. The Hungry Saw is hungrier, more dramatic, and if not exactly urgent, it feels like the work of a band with something to prove. Staples, in particular, brings something extra to both his vocals (clearer than usual and with more bite) and lyrics ("The Hungry Saw" has some of his most powerfully visceral words to date). It is one of his best performances in a long career full of them. The arrangements too are given extra care. The horn arrangements by longtime associate Terry Edwards are superb and the strings sound rich and suitably dramatic on the heavy ballads and breezy on the light ones. The addition of Suzanne Osborne's wordless backing vocals on the lovely and harrowing "All the Love" are a welcome touch of sunshine too. As is the candy sweet melody and acoustic strum of the almost poppy "Boobar Come Back to Me." Not that the record is a smile fest by any stretch, there is still enough chill blowing through it to make your teeth hurt. It wouldn't be a Tindersticks record without that, and songs like "The Other Side of This World" and "Mother Dear" have enough sadness coursing through them to satisfy the needs of any gloom junky who has come to count on the band for a quick fix. Indeed, Tindersticks have never failed to satisfy anyone looking not only for sadness but also those looking for albums that make you feel and songs that will stick with you for a long time. The Hungry Saw is classic Tindersticks.

1. "Introduction" - 3:32
2. "Yesterdays Tomorrows" - 3:49
3. "The Flicker of a Little Girl" - 3:30
4. "Come Feel the Sun" - 2:28
5. "E-Type" - 2:54
6. "The Other Side of the World" - 4:12
7. "The Organist Entertains" - 2:33
8. "The Hungry Saw" - 3:46
9. "Mother Dear" - 4:19
10. "Boobar Come Back to Me" - 3:58
11. "All the Love" - 4:53
12. "The Turns We Took" - 8:01

The fact that Waiting for the Moon isn't much more than another addition to Tindersticks' discography will be enough to keep the devout fans pleased. At this stage in the band's existence, it is mightily impressive that a mediocre record has yet to slip out of the den. However, neither this nor Can Our Love... threatens, at any point, to rival Simple Pleasure -- let alone anything that preceded it. Apart from the increased vocal presence of arranger and multi-instrumentalist Dickon Hinchcliffe, who provides a much-needed bittersweetness to counter Stuart Staples' familiar warble, there's not much to add apart from the fact that numerous dimensions from the band's past are sprinkled throughout. So, even more so than before, the casual fans will have difficulty pinning down the minor differences and developments that distinguish this album from the one that came before it. "Say Goodbye to the City," similar to the most fiery moments of the band's first record, builds a dramatic, storming rush of rumbling rhythm, blaring guitars, droning strings, and demented Tijuana brass. Just the same, "4.48 Psychosis" is a noisily agitated spoken word piece that gleans from Sarah Kane's same-named play. Though "Sometimes It Hurts," an elegant duet with Lhasa de Sala, makes the album seem all the more like a trip through the past, the still-present soul influences that ran through the previous two albums seem more like a logical extension. Few bands can get away with being in a holding pattern like Tindersticks. When they remain this potent -- indicated from the very first lines of the album, "My hands 'round your throat/If I kill you now, well, they'll never know" -- it's all but impossible to wish for the band's end.

1. "Until the Morning Comes" – 3:34
2. "Say Goodbye to the City" – 4:30
3. "Sweet Memory" – 4:29
4. "4.48 Psychosis" – 5:13
5. "Waiting for the Moon" – 2:51
6. "Trying to Find a Home" – 5:44
7. "Sometimes It Hurts" – 4:39
8. "My Oblivion" – 7:00
9. "Just a Dog" – 3:28
10. "Running Wild" – 4:14

'Can Our Love...' reeks of mouldy Stax LPs and Staples even allows himself a not entirely ridiculous Isaac-Hayes-style spoken intro on 'No Man In The World'. So have they allowed themselves to be consumed by joy in their darkest hour? No. C'mon, this is the Tindersticks.

"Can our love grow any further?" asks Staples on the title track. For an Al Green or a Marvin Gaye that would be a statement
of pure elation but for the 'Sticks, it's a mournful reading of an emotional bank statement - 'that's our love? That's all there is.'

The same old sombre samba, perhaps, but with a renewed sense of direction, it's threatening to take them somewhere fantastic. "We never understood what we had, never knew how to deal with it", mumbles Staples on 'No Man In The World'. 'Can Our Love...' is proof that the Tindersticks will never make that mistake again.

1. "Dying Slowly" – 4:36
2. "People Keep Comin' Around" – 7:11
3. "Tricklin'" – 2:15
4. "Can Our Love..." – 5:57
5. "Sweet Release" – 8:55
6. "Don't Ever Get Tired" – 3:07
7. "No Man in the World" – 6:06
8. "Chilitetime" – 7:34

With a title like Simple Pleasure and songs like the disarmingly up-tempo opener "Can We Start Again?," at first listen Tindersticks' fourth proper album seems buoyed by a guarded optimism totally absent from previous outings; dig deeper, however, and it's all a come-on -- frontman Stuart Staples still inhabits a netherworld where nothing is ever simple, pleasure is an illusion, and starting again merely means making the same mistakes yet one more time. Nothing truly changes, which has been Tindersticks' point all along, of course -- hopes are still meant to be dashed and hearts still meant to be broken, and Simple Pleasure is neither the time nor the place to begin pretending otherwise. Staples' songs remain the very essence of romantic despair, stunning in their funereal beauty and devastating in their tormented desperation; likewise, much of the record prowls familiar musical ground, although "Before You Close Your Eyes," "I Know That Loving," and the closing "CF GF" all draw heavily on long-simmering soul and gospel influences, while the disc's highlight, the achingly gorgeous "If You're Looking for a Way Out," transforms Odyssey's 1980 disco hit into a ballad of surprising tenderness. That same tenderness colors much of Simple Pleasure, in fact, making it not only Tindersticks' most giving record, but also their most poignant, revealing a vulnerability even the bravest face can't mask.

1. "Can We Start Again?" – 3:51
2. "If You're Looking for a Way Out" – 5:06
3. "Pretty Words" – 3:18
4. "From the Inside" – 2:54
5. "If She's Torn" – 5:43
6. "Before You Close Your Eyes" – 6:15
7. "(You Take) This Heart of Mine" – 4:23
8. "I Know That Loving" – 5:48
9. "CF GF" – 6:10

Curtains finds Tindersticks exploring the same dark, string-drenched territory as their first two albums, and while it shares a surface similarity with its predecessors, there are subtle differences that make it a rewarding listen. The tone of Curtains is slightly brighter than that of the second album, with the songs unfolding into lush, affecting laments that recall Scott Walker at his finest. Though the sound is seductive, what is most impressive about Curtains is the songwriting. The Tindersticks have become more assured writers, letting the songs gradually develop into intimate epics. Stuart Staples' lyrics are similarly textured and subtle, with alternating layers of pathos and humor. Curtains, in many ways, functions as the culmination of what the Tindersticks set out to accomplish with their first two albums, and the results are appropriately stunning.

1. "Another Night In" – 5:11
2. "Rented Rooms" – 5:12
3. "Don't Look Down" – 4:18
4. "Dick's Slow Song" – 4:09
5. "Fast One" – 1:52
6. "Ballad of Tindersticks" – 7:37
7. "Dancing" – 2:56
8. "Let's Pretend" – 3:21
9. "Desperate Man" – 3:21
10. "Buried Bones" – 4:03
11. "Bearsuit" – 2:11
12. "(Tonight) Are You Trying to Fall in Love Again" – 3:07
13. "I Was Your Man" – 3:39
14. "Bathtime" – 4:03
15. "Walking" – 5:25

Tindersticks' second consecutive, eponymously titled double-LP set refines the approach of their debut; while every bit as ambitious and adventuresome, it achieves an even greater musical balance, stretching into luxuriously long compositional structures and more intricate arrangements. While Stuart Staples' songs remain as obsessive and haunted as before, he wards off his demons with fits of pitch-black humor (the narrative "My Sister") and a more tender perspective; similarly, while his funereal vocals remain the focus, there's a new reliance on extended instrumental passages, and even a pair of duets (the centerpiece, "Travelling Light" -- a gorgeous collaboration with the Walkabouts' Carla Torgerson -- is akin to a Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra record trapped in emotional purgatory). Another awesome triumph of mood and atmosphere.

1. "El Diablo En El Ojo" – 3:32
2. "A Night In" – 6:25
3. "My Sister" – 8:11
4. "Tiny Tears" – 5:45
5. "Snowy in F♯ Minor" – 2:28
6. "Seaweed" – 5:14
7. "Vertrauen II" – 3:19
8. "Talk To Me" – 5:00
9. "No More Affairs" – 3:49
10. "Singing" – 0:57
11. "Travelling Light" – 4:51
12. "Cherry Blossoms" – 4:19
13. "She's Gone" – 3:29
14. "Mistakes" – 5:44
15. "Vertrauen III" – 2:20
16. "Sleepy Song" – 4:37

A thrilling, revelatory debut, Tindersticks is a chamber pop masterpiece of romantic elegance and gutter debauchery. Within the framework of a remarkably consistent and mesmerizingly dank atmosphere, the group covers a stunning amount of ground -- "Her" is a crashing flamenco number, "The Walt Blues" is a tipsy organ instrumental, and "Paco de Renaldo's Dream" is an impenetrable cinematic monologue punctuated by subdued guitars, pianos, and strings. Stuart Staples' bacchanalian songs are obsessed with fluids, both bodily ("Blood," "Jism") and otherwise ("Nectar," "Whiskey and Water," "Raindrops"); no topic is too personal or too disturbing -- "Piano Song" is frightening in its callousness, while "City Sickness" is an unflinching examination of emotional and physical desperation. Fascinatingly constructed and strikingly ambitious, Tindersticks is insidiously labyrinthine: the music speaks softly but carries tremendous weight, and its hold grows more and more unbreakable with each listen.

1. "Nectar" – 2:40
2. "Tyed" – 4:11
3. "Sweet, Sweet Man Pt. 1" – 0:41
4. "Whiskey and Water" – 5:51
5. "Blood" – 4:52
6. "City Sickness" – 4:00
7. "Patchwork" – 4:40
8. "Marbles" – 4:30
9. "The Walt Blues" – 1:08
10. "Milky Teeth" – 2:52
11. "Sweet, Sweet Man Pt. 2" – 1:05
12. "Jism" – 6:03
13. "Piano Song" – 2:40
14. "Tie-Dye" – 4:00
15. "Raindrops" – 6:15
16. "Sweet, Sweet Man Pt. 3" – 1:44
17. "Her" – 3:29
18. "Tea Stain" – 2:07
19. "Drunk Tank" – 4:44
20. "Paco de Renaldo's Dream" – 4:22
21. "The Not Knowing" – 4:58

In 1998 Gus Van Sandt directed a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal masterstroke Psycho. Many people generally dismiss remakes out of some sense of propriety, but a good redux may just add a new perspective onto a work. Van Sandt decided, however, to remake the film shot for shot. It was a terrible idea for one simple reason: it undermined artistic integrity and simply flipped the bird at the audience, and probably even Hitchcock himself. For all intents and purposes, Van Sandt helmed the film with certain aplomb and the players fulfilled their roles successfully. But that didn’t take away from the fact that the whole affair just felt dirty. While indie-rockers Get Well Soon aren’t so blatant, their latest release Vexations falls into the same trap of “been there done almost exactly that” to ill-effect. In short, if you’re an indie-kid then chances are you have this music in your library somewhere, under another moniker, done much better.

When you open your album with an “ambitious” piece that features minimalist strings and a female voice speaking some sort of passage from some sort of book... oh wait, this is pretty much just Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks with vocals, but minus the Swinton and the Kafka and the overall quality. In fact, this type of criticism is easy to lob at Get Well Soon. Each song seems to open an entry point into some other band who have crafted a similar sound. Sweeping, syrupy strings lead to harmless crescendos that only reach moderate levels of intrigue. Coldplay, The National, Death Cab for Cutie, Noah and the Whale all spring to mind and as much as dislike using other bands as a reference for a band’s sound, there is no way around it. This is just very derivative by nature, with very few interesting components. “Red Nose Day” simply drifts along with no real defining quality, and three filler tracks (“We Are Still...”, “We Are Ghosts”, “A Burial At Sea”) that go nowhere take away from the already poor flow of the album.

If anything is worthwhile on Vexations, it is “Seneca’s Silence” and “5 Steps / 7 Swords”. The former is one of the few up tempo tracks, and although it apes The Killers a little too much, the trumpet lead finale is easily the shining moment on the album. “5 Steps / 7 Swords” utilizes a swaggering drum beat and morose horns to lead to the most interesting vocal passage on the disc. But with only two real shining moments and a few near misses, the bulk of the album collapses into a mess of mediocrity. There is nothing obtrusively poor about the quality of the songs, but with nothing really to inject a sense of importance, these pieces end up treading water. So to borrow from the tired cliche, the total is less then the sum of its parts, and those parts weren’t all too high to begin with.

So like Van Sandt’s “homage” to [i]Psycho[i], it might just be best to stick with the original. While Get Well Soon’s Vexations is not exactly a remake, it seems like we’ve been down this road before. And like Van Sandt’s work, it won’t hurt you to listen to this album, but it might make you feel uneasy. It isn’t good listening music, it isn’t good background music. It just quite simply isn’t very good at all. If you’re in the mood for down tempo, melancholic, string laden indie-rock, go find something else to listen to that’s a little more interesting. And vaguely hip/ironic song names like “Werner Herzog Gets Shot” doesn’t help the cause at all. At least The Shin’s masked their influences with about 40 years as a gap.

1. Nausea (3:13)
2. Seneca's Silence (4:21)
3. We Are Free (4:17)
4. Red Nose Day (4:33)
5. 5 Steps / 7 Swords (4:32)
6. We Are Still... (1:07)
7. A Voice In The Louvre (5:31)
8. Werner Herzog Gets Shot (3:45)
9. That Love (5:48)
10. Aureate! (4:32)
11. We Are Ghosts (4:19)
12. A Burial At Sea (6:33)
13. Angry Young Man (4:51)
14. We Are The Roman Empire (4:59)

Rest Now, Weary Head! You Will Get Well Soon is the debut album by the German Indie pop band Get Well Soon released on January 4th 2008 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the City Slang record label, in UK and Ireland in June 2008 on Nude and in France in September that year.

The album took three years to produce and was met with maninly positive reviews from most German music magazines. The lyrics were pointed out as a particular strength for their often philosophical and cynical nature. In the UK NME, Uncut and The Guardian amongst others highly rated the album.

The album entered the German Album Charts at 28 and the resulting tour consisting of 19 almost completely sold out shows secured the tour as the most successful newcomer tour in Germany for 2008.

1. Prelude (2:55)
2. You/Aurora/You/Seaside (3:11)
3. Christmas In Adventure Parks (3:27)
4. People Magazine Front Cover (4:29)
5. If This Hat Is Missing I've Gone Hunting (4:09)
6. Help To Prevent Forest-Fires (5:14)
7. I Sold My Hands For Food So Please Feed Me (6:39)
8. We Are Safe Inside While They Burn Down Out House (5:13)
9. Born Slippy Nuxx (4:54)
10. Your Endless Dream (5:33)
11. Witches!Witches! Rest Now In The Fire (3:59)
12. Ticktack! Goes My Automatic Heart (3:54)
13. Lost In The Mountains (Of The Heart) (5:21)
14. Coda (1:08)

On a busman’s holiday from Supergrass, Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey kick out the cover jams as the Hotrats. The very presence of Nigel Godrich, producer of Radiohead and Beck, is a pretty good tip-off that their 2010 album, Turn Ons, isn’t quite the straight-ahead romp as it may initially seem. Sometimes Turn Ons is as heady as its title, traveling down some trippy side roads -- appropriately so in a cover of the Doors’ “Crystal Ship” -- and sometimes turning songs inside out, envisioning “Up the Junction” as a psychedelic lament, and recasting two perennially snotty anthems of rebellion, “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)” and “EMI,” as clever acoustic-based rockers, but this ain’t an art project shepherded by Godrich, this is a noisy rock & roll party that’s over and out in just over a half-hour. Gaz’s guitars are cranked so they spit, Danny pounds out animalistic rhythms, even during the stately march of Pink Floyd’s “Bike,” and there’s fuzz bass splattered on every other song -- it’s focused madness, with Godrich layering in details, accenting the corners with unexpected colors. All this flair reveals itself slowly, but Turn Ons retains its explosive energy with repeat spins: “Pump It Up” never rocked harder, “Queen Bitch” zeroes in on Bowie’s gleeful snarl, “Lovecats” and “Love Is the Drug” dive into the gutter, while the Velvet Underground’s “I Cant’ Stand It” finds an actual groove. It’s a hell of a good time and it does what a great covers album should: the band never lets their deep, enduring love get in the way of inspiration or imagination.

1. I Can't Stand It (2:40)
2. Big Sky (3:00)
3. The Crystal Ship (2:34)
4. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!) (3:15)
5. Damaged Goods (3:07)
6. Love Is The Drug (3:42)
7. Bike (2:42)
8. Pump It Up (2:41)
9. The Lovecats (3:03)
10. Queen Bitch (3:02)
11. E.M.I. (3:24)
12. Up The Junction (3:21)

“David Bowie’s greatest hits live!” reads the sticker on the attractive packaging of this newly released, but recorded back in 2003, two-CD set. And nobody’s going to be complaining that the promise isn’t delivered, as Bowie – backed by a solid yet flexible band that hits each peak with precision – runs through elegant renditions of his most-pervasive successes. Under Pressure, Rebel Rebel, Ashes to Ashes, Ziggy Stardust, All the Young Dudes: all present and correct.

Like R.E.M.’s recent Live at the Olympia set, A Reality Tour was recorded in Dublin; the crew must come cheap. That, or fans in the Irish capital are simply unbeatable. The latter argument for the recording location is supported somewhat by the accompanying credits: after listing the various musical contributors, the emotionally charged audiences at the Point Depot” are acknowledged. And there’s no doubt those in attendance make themselves heard, though such is the high-quality mixing work on this release that their vociferous appreciation is kept at a distance until such a time as a roar is absolutely key.

The crowd is stirred into its most feverous state when the bona fide classics are aired – the aforementioned, as well as the likes of 1975’s Fame, old favourite The Man Who Sold the World, and Five Years, the opener on 1972’s certifiable collection cornerstone The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. But comparably lesser-known selections are received well, too. Battle for Britain (The Letter), which takes clangourous industrial rock on a fly-by of drum‘n’bass, convulses to a singular beat; long-in-limbo effort Bring Me the Disco King, finally released on 2003’s Reality (his last studio album), is down-tempo jazz with tangible nostalgia in its lyrics; and Heathen (The Rays) shows that Bowie could still pen disarmingly direct, affecting pop of a very individual inclination 30-plus years after he started.

With 33 tracks stretching well over two hours, A Reality Tour isn’t exactly suited to single-sitting listening. It’s also far from a genuine greatest hits collection, though it certainly does feature a number of Bowie’s most-loved songs. But it is a great document of one of the world’s most inspirational recording artists – and performers – proving that age can’t quench the man’s desire to create, communicate and, ultimately, entertain. A maverick talent whose place in the pop annals was assured long ago, Bowie’s continuing hunger sets a fabulous example for the up-and-coming could-be-‘Heroes’ crowd.

Disc 1
1. "Rebel Rebel" - 3:30
2. "New Killer Star" - 4:59
3. "Reality" - 5:08
4. "Fame" - 4:12
5. "Cactus" - 3:01
6. "Sister Midnight" - 4:37
7. "Afraid" - 3:28
8. "All the Young Dudes" - 3:48
9. "Be My Wife" - 3:15
10. "The Loneliest Guy" - 3:58
11. "The Man Who Sold the World" - 4:18
12. "Fantastic Voyage" - 3:13
13. "Hallo Spaceboy" - 5:28
14. "Sunday" - 7:56
15. "Under Pressure" - 4:18
16. "Life on Mars?" - 4:40
17. "Battle for Britain (The Letter)" - 4:55









Disc 2
1. "Ashes to Ashes" - 5:46
2. "The Motel" - 5:44
3. "Loving the Alien" - 5:17
4. "Never Get Old" - 4:18
5. "Changes" - 3:51
6. "I'm Afraid of Americans" - 5:17
7. ""Heroes"" - 6:58
8. "Bring Me the Disco King" - 7:56
9. "Slip Away" - 5:56
10. "Heathen (The Rays)" - 6:24
11. "Five Years" - 4:19
12. "Hang on to Yourself" - 2:50
13. "Ziggy Stardust" - 3:44
14. "Fall Dog Bombs the Moon" - 4:11
15. "Breaking Glass" - 2:27
16. "China Girl" - 4:18