Another month packed with releases, but only a few managed to stick out. Next month is looking like it will be the same, with the Deftones, My Chemical Romance, The Feelers and Brooke Fraser all hitting stores again. Stay tuned! But until then, soak in the latest issue of The Big 5!
Category: Music Page 3 of 5
Well, its time to kick off another new feature. Every month, I hear countless numbers of new albums. Some stick out for good reasons, some stick out for bad reasons, some just get totally ignored. Either way, it’s about time I started sharing the love.
The Big 5 is going to be a monthly column which will run on the last Friday of every month and dispense some of what I have been listening to in the last month. These albums could be new releases, they could be older releases I’ve just started getting into, or they could be CDs I’ve been addicted to for most of the year. Whatever the case, one thing is for sure: you can’t go wrong with them. On with the main event!
CHRIS PHILPOTT talks to Feleti Strickson-Pua – alias MC Sabre of hip-hop group Nesian Mystik – about running the band, their values, and what to expect at their Whangarei concert.
Given his undoubtedly hectic schedule, I was hardly surprised that, when I called Feleti Strickson-Pua, he wasn’t immediately available. But when I finally got hold of him, I was surprised to find it was actually because of the infamous Auckland Power Cut.
“Nice half an hour of work!” he laughs down the phone line. “I was just sitting down for a meeting and then the lights went out!”
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
SELF-TITLED
2.5 out of 5 Stars
Investigate Magazine – May 2006
If the hype surrounding Corinne Bailey Rae is anything to go by then music promoters have been looking for someone to be titled “the next Billie Holliday” for a while and this gorgeous blues singer appears to be the perfect choice to hang it on. Of course, it’s a big expectation to live up to, so the question is whether the music justifies the comparison.
ARCTIC MONKEYS
WHATEVER PEOPLE SAY I AM,THAT’S WHAT I’M NOT
4 out of 5 Stars
Investigate Magazine – April 2006
Enter the Arctic Monkeys, holder of the British record for fastest selling debut album of all time – no small feat for a band whose only real promotion came via internet downloads and word of mouth.
BETH ORTON
COMFORT OF STRANGERS
2.5 out of 5 Stars
Investigate Magazine – March 2006
My last run-in with Beth Orton came when I acquired her 1999 release Central Reservation, following a great performance at the 2000 Big Day Out. Unfortunately my interest waned fairly quickly, and while I enjoyed Comfort of Strangers, I think the same thing is going to happen again.
4 out of 5 stars
Okay, I’ll ask: is this the missing link between The Strokes’ first and second albums? The difference, musically speaking, between 2001’s Is This It? and 2003’s Room on Fire is huge, but First Impressions of Earth seems to fill the gap quite nicely, fitting in perfectly as a step from one to the other, despite following them both.
3.5 out of 5 stars
I’ve never really had any interest in Australian bands, partly because of a bad experience as a teenager (don’t ask). So when Bondi-based trio Cog’s debut album The New Normal crossed my desk, expectations were understandably not very high. Boy do I love it when I’m proven wrong!
1.5 out of 5 stars
I’d like to think I’m fairly open-minded. So when I came across the debut album from a band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, I had to have a listen.
2.5 out of 5 stars
It would be easy to put Pete Murray in a box titled ‘Jack Johnson wannabes’ and let him hang out with Donovan Frankenreiter for the rest of his days, but unfortunately See The Sun, Murray’s second album, doesn’t allow us that luxury.