Having won both critical and commercial acclaim for their debut album, HOPES AND FEARS, British band Keane pushes the hook-infested keyboard-rock on their sophomore effort in a darker, moodier direction. But UNDER THE IRON SEA features an intense, romantic brand of melancholy, with the trio of Tom Chaplin, Richard Hughes, and Tim Rice-Oxley vamping their way through vaulting rock melodies and power ballads, all without the aid of a single guitar.

There are plenty of deliciously chewy guitar-like sounds, though, that Keane achieves by feeding electric pianos and synthesizers through various effects pedals and studio gear. The album begins with the gloomy pop gem “Atlantic,” in which Chaplin broods over layers of swelling synths and insistent drum work before the song resolves into a clearing of pure melody. The song showcases Chaplin’s soaring vocals, which are at points as tortured as Thom Yorke’s and at others smoothly reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. On “Is It Any Wonder?” the verses strut along anxiously until a barely-in-control keyboard riff winds the song up into its gleeful chorus. Filled with moving, melodic rock, Keane’s solid second effort points to further sonic expansions to come.

Tracklisting
1. Atlantic
2. Is It Any Wonder?
3. Nothing In My Way
4. Leaving So Soon?
5. A Bad Dream
6. Hamburg Song
7. Put It Behind You
8. Crystal Ball
9. Try Again
10. Broken Toy
11. The Frog Prince

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.70) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[With] bigger doses of atmospheric keyboard…it offers some of the same tuneful pleasures of the debut, with big-voiced Tom Chaplin digging into his big bag of swooping choruses.”

Spin (p.90) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[With] lovely, piano-driven sounds….UNDER THE IRON SEA boasts an embarrassment of melodic riches…”

Entertainment Weekly (p.69) – “UNDER THE IRON SEA coats the group’s typically hand-wringing lyrics with layers of symphonic embellishment.” — Grade: A-

Q (p.108) – 4 stars out of 5 — “The lyrics may be downbeat, but musically there’s all sorts of festival-friendly, stomach-clenching brightness…”

Q (p.126) – Ranked #6 in Q Magazine’s “100 Greatest Albums of 2006.”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) – 3 stars out of 5 — “Opening track ‘Atlantic’ has dark, dreamy quality they haven’t displayed hitherto, ‘Broken Toy’ is jazzy and swoonsome…[and] ‘Hamburg Song’ is a gorgeously wistful ballad…”

In 2000, a small wave of British pop bands clearly heavily influenced by Radiohead’s brand of anthemic mope rock arose, with Travis, Muse, and Coldplay at the forefront. Coldplay are the most clearly Radiohead-like, compared to the poppier Travis and the more electronic-oriented Muse, and their US debut, the 10-song PARACHUTES, should appeal to any fans of OK COMPUTER or THE BENDS who found KID A too weird for their tastes. (Coldplay even swipe a song title, “Don’t Panic,” from Douglas Adams, as Radiohead did with “Paranoid Android.)

The soaring yet depressing single “Shiver” is a masterpiece of swelling emotion, and the fact that the other nine tracks, even the instrumental fragment of a title track, sound like variations on its theme is more a matter of conceptual and musical unity than a lack of ideas. This album deserves the hype it got on release.

Tracklisting
1. Don’t Panic
2. Shiver
3. Spies
4. Sparks
5. Yellow
6. Trouble
7. Parachutes
8. High Speed
9. We Never Change
10. Everything’s Not Lost

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (10/26/00, p.111) – 3.5 stars out of 5 – “…Straight-ahead, melodic Brit pop that strives for ’significance’ with a capial ’s’….[The album] rises above its influences to become a work of real transcendence…”

Spin (1/01, p.73) – Ranked #19 in Spin’s “Top 20 Albums of the Year [2000]” – “…[They] hoist their blue guitars and tug on Radiohead’s cape….evoking the forgotten shoegazers like Ride….Chris Martin makes early-’90s nostalgia seem like the next frontier.”

Q (10/01, p.73) – Ranked #21 in Q’s “Best 50 Albums of Q’s Lifetime”

Q (1/01, p.91) – Included in Q’s “50 Best Albums of 2000″ – “…[The] soundtrack to cheap vino-and-fag sessions…”

Alternative Press (12/00, p.94) – 4 out of 5 – “…Shimmering guitars haunt tormented tunes, dark gravel growls vie with Thom Yorke-y high notes….songs dawdle out of either a gentle whisper of sound or an awesome blurge of noise…”

NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.77) – Ranked #6 in NME’s “Top 50 Albums Of The Year” – “…Effortlessly moving and hugely popular at the same time…”

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For those not in the know, the overture is that tune at the start of a musical, which features all the little excerpts of melodies from all the songs in the show. All woven into one, flowing drama of its own. The scene is set, boy met, conflict engaged, tension built, hope all but lost and then in a final twist, the hero emerges and resolution unfurls itself on a world still obscured by curtains, and drowned out by the murmurs of ushers.

It sets the scene by tempting you with all the drama and intrigue that the full story will bring, but snatches it away before your coat is even checked. Perhaps, that’s why Sarah Blasko has chosen “The Overture & The Underscore” as the title of her very first album. An encapsulation of the many intertwining narratives and textures her musical life promises, and a defining moment in its progression so far.

Sarah Blasko’s debut album speaks largely for itself. Eleven new compositions including the already namedropped “All Coming Back” & “Don’t U Eva”. The engineering & production skills of Wally Gagel. The amazing drumming of Joey Waronker, whose tub-thumping has been heard in the music of Beck & REM. The studious studio arrangements of Sydney indie-rock mainstay Robert F Cranny. And the sublime songwriting, inimitable intuitions and unique voice of Sarah Blasko. All delicately and painstakingly crafted in one ridiculous mad rush, somewhere beneath the world’s most famous real estate sign.

Tracklisting
1. All Coming Back
2. Beautiful Secrets
3. Always Worth It
4. At Yer Best
5. Don’t U Eva
6. Counting Sheep
7. Perfect Now
8. Sweetest November
9. Cinders
10. True Intentions
11. Remorse

A Hard Day’s Night was the first Beatles album of all-original material, and the first to feature George Harrison playing his Rickenbacker electric 12-string guitar (on the opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night,” for instance). The distinctive sound of the 12-string inspired countless guitarists including Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of the Byrds. The film from which these songs hail remains a classic combination of happy ’60s na‹vet‚ and nascent hipster wit. Many of the most important rock bands to emerge in the latter half of the ’60s came into being because of A Hard Day’s Night’s irresistible vibrancy. The tunes flow like the finest red wine, as the title track leads to the glorious harmonica of “I Should Have Known Better” and the powerfully poignant “If I Fell.”

A Hard Day’s Night not only was the de facto soundtrack for their movie, not only was it filled with nothing but Lennon-McCartney originals, but it found the Beatles truly coming into their own as a band. All of the disparate influences on their first two albums had coalesced into a bright, joyous, original sound, filled with ringing guitars and irresistible melodies. A Hard Day’s Night is where the Beatles became mythical, but this is the sound of Beatlemania in all of its giddy glory. Decades after its original release, its punchy blend of propulsive rhythms, jangly guitars, and infectious, singalong melodies is remarkably fresh. There’s something intrinsically exciting in the sound of the album itself, something to keep the record vital years after it was recorded. Even more impressive are the songs themselves. Not only are the melodies forceful and memorable, but Lennon and McCartney have found a number of variations to their basic Merseybeat style, from the brash “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Any Time at All” through the gentle “If I Fell” to the tough folk-rock of “I’ll Cry Instead.” It’s possible to hear both songwriters develop their own distinctive voices on the album, but, overall, A Hard Day’s Night stands as a testament to their collaborative powers — never again did they write together so well or so easily, choosing to pursue their own routes. John and Paul must have known how strong the material is — they threw the pleasant trifle “I’m Happy Just to Dance With You” to George and didn’t give anything to Ringo to sing. That may have been a little selfish, but it hardly hurts the album, since everything on the record is performed with genuine glee and excitement. It’s the pinnacle of their early years.

Tracklisting
1. A Hard Day’s Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can’t Buy Me Love
8. Any Time At All
9. I’ll Cry Instead
10. Things We Said Today
11. When I Get Home
12. You Can’t Do That
13. I’ll Be Back
14. A Hard Day’s Night Documentary

Professional Reviews
Ranked #1 in EW’s “100 Best Movie Soundtracks” – “…A blitzkrieg of black-and-white imagery that changed the way we see the world. We can’t think of a better definition of a great soundtrack.”

Q (Magazine) (9/99, p.136) – Included in Q Magazine’s Best Happy Albums of All Time – “…the sound of young men almost astonished by their fecundity and melodic gifts….they never sounded happier.”

Q (Magazine) – Ranked #5 in Q’s “100 Greatest British Albums”

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After establishing herself on the 2007 Matador-released album THE GREATEST as the indie world’s answer to Norah Jones, Cat Power’s Chan Marshall returned to the format of 2000’s THE COVERS ALBUM for JUKEBOX, tackling tracks made famous by Hank Williams (”Ramblin’ (Wo)man”), Bob Dylan (”I Believe in You”), James Brown (”Lost Someone”), and Frank Sinatra (”New York”), among many others. Marshall proved herself a unique interpreter on THE COVERS ALBUM, deftly folding a diverse set of songs into her own dark, dreamy sonic world. She expertly stays the course on JUKEBOX, sublimating the masculine bravado of songs by these artists into her own muscular yet decidedly feminine musical template.

JUKEBOX contains only one new Cat Power composition (”Song to Bobby”), but the many facets of Marshall are on full display here. And though the soul influence of THE GREATEST appears only fleetingly, it makes for what is perhaps the album’s best performance, “Woman Left Lonely,” a song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham and made famous by Janis Joplin. The track finds Marshall offering her audience, as she did on THE GREATEST, a glimpse of her raw vulnerability stripped bare of any arty concessions to the tortured psyche by which she defined herself for so many years.

Tracklisting
1. New York
2. Ramblin’ (Wo)man
3. Metal Heart
4. Silver Stallion
5. Aretha, Sing One for Me
6. Lost Someone
7. Lord, Help the Poor & Needy
8. I Believe in You
9. Song for Bobby
10. Don’t Explain
11. Women Left Lonely
12. Blue

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.62) – 4 stars out of 5 — “She refashions material from other artists and makes it seem like it’s been hers all along.”

Spin (p.p.95) – 3 stars out of 5 — “She’s unafraid to be unfaithful and that’s JUKEBOX’s greatest strength….With Dylan acting as a bridge between the covers and her originals, Marshall finds intriguing new shadows to stalk.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.70) – “Best of all is Marshall’s redo of her own ‘Metal Heart,’ a hushed fugue from ‘98 that’s been spurred into full bloom as a fiery rocker.” — Grade: B+

Uncut (p.80) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]he music does get swampy and dark, but the atavistic urgings of the group are held in check by the gentle clarity of Marshall’s voice.”

Alternative Press (p.114) – 3 stars out of 5 — JUKEBOX begins to mesmerize when Billie Holiday’s ‘Don’t Explain’ gets a Spartan, darklands-country overhaul, and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Blue’ seems beamed in from a Holiday Inn lounge run by David Lynch.”

No Depression (p.71) – “Marshall has an extraordinary voice….JUKEBOX is comprised of vast, arid patches of affect broken up by occasional tiny outbursts of emotion.”

Q (Magazine) (p.91) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[H]er most polished record to date….It still catches the light and the imagination.”

Blender (Magazine) (p.96) – 3 stars out of 5 — “Marshall works subtly. She revels in sly, unexpected phrasing, flickers in an out of hope like a candle and turns meanings inside out with a single, haunting phrase…”

Harp (magazine) (pp.91-92) – “[S]he’s accompanied throughout JUKEBOX by her stellar Dirty Delta Blues touring band…”

Clash (magazine) (p.107) – “‘Song To Bobby’ is a touching reflection on the writers who have changed her life, a suitable tribute from one major talent to another.”

Record Collector (magazine) (p.87) – 3 stars out of 5 — “Amusingly, she opens with a self-referential take on the ultimate cover, ‘New York, New York,’ which, almost incredibly, finds new life in the tired old words.”

In 2000, Coldplay appeared seemingly out of nowhere and immediately advanced to the head of the Britpop class in the UK, while easily outdistancing the likes of Oasis and Blur in terms of US popularity. The most striking thing was that they did it with zero attitude and unassuming, melodic tunes humbly presented with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of memorability. That trend continues on the band’s second album, A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD.

There’s little stylistic alteration from PARACHUTES here, which is just fine, considering how enormously and instantly appealing that style is. While Travis, Elbow, and other entrants in the Britpop sweepstakes offer a not dissimilar sound, none can communicate with the honest immediacy and directness of Coldplay. Part of the key, apart from melodies so ridiculously catchy as to make Belle & Sebastian sound like Public Image Ltd., may be their working-class sense of all-for-one proletarianism (though not in the breast-beating Oasis manner). Even on “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face,” when Chris Martin goes so far as to offer a few boastful phrases, the ultimate sentiment that comes across is the refrain “your guess is good as mine.”

Tracklisting
1. Politik
2. In My Place
3. God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
4. Scientist, The
5. Clocks
6. Daylight
7. Green Eyes
8. Warning Sign
9. Whisper, A
10. Rush Of Blood To The Head, A
11. Amsterdam

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (12/26/02, p.103) – Included in Rolling Stone’s “50 Best Albums of 2002″

Rolling Stone (9/19/02, pp.97-8) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…A nervier, edgier, thoroughly surprising album….the band has figured out how to let loose and rock out…[it's] first-rate guitar rock with some real emotional protein on its bones.”

Spin (1/03, p.72) – Ranked #26 on Spin’s list of 2002’s “Albums of the Year” – “…Harder and darker than 2000’s sweetly naive PARACHUTES….gorgeous arena pop.”

Q (12/02, p.65) – Included in Q Magazine’s “50 Best Albums of 2002″

Q (9/02, pp.198-9) – 4 stars out of 5 – “…This is pretty much the apotheosis of post-Radiohead guitar-rock, a collection of vastly moving songs that will render stadiums as intimate as bedrooms…”

Uncut (1/03, p.97) – Ranked #67 in Uncut’s “100 Best Albums of the Year”

Uncut (9/02, p.116) – 5 stars out of 5 – “…the best British rock album since OK COMPUTER…acomplished, original and majestic…”

CMJ (9/2/02) – p.6) – “…There is a cavernous beauty to this album’s melodic depression that can’t be denied…”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.54) – Ranked #100 in Mojo’s “100 Modern Classics” — “[T]his surely ranks as the most intimate arena rock yet wrought.”

Mojo (Publisher) (1/03, p.76) – Ranked #31 in Mojo’s “Best Albums of 2002″

Mojo (Publisher) (9/02, p.94) – “…fragile love songs with a hint of the metaphysic…Coldplay still sound like they care about what they’re doing.”

NME (Magazine) (8/22/02, p.42) – 9 out of 10 – “…An album of outstanding beauty, an organic, wholesome work…”

13 marks Blur hitting the 10-year mark as a band. During their first decade, the band went from being lumped in with Manchester bands such as Happy Mondays to becoming Brit-pop foils to Oasis. Their self-titled 1997 release found them inhabiting the same lo-fi neighborhood as American indie rockers like Pavement. On 13, the London based quartet joins forces with techno-pop producer William Orbit on a record whose inclusiveness manages to find room for both the gorgeous, choir-adorned “Tender” and “B.L.U.R.E.M.I.,” a song that sounds like the illegitimate offspring of Wire, Devo, and Rick Dees.

Blur’s work with Orbit finds them plunging deep into a lake of space-rock overflowing with wondrous sounds such as the pinging, Floyd-like tinkling, and hypnotic rhythms of “Battle,” and the sputtering transmissions and bristling distortion permeating “Bugman.” In straddling the dissolving lines between genres in the late ’90s, Blur manages to trod the same ground as Underworld on “Trailerpark” and subscribes to the aforementioned jittery, lo-fi aesthetics on “Trimm Trabb.” Despite all this experimentation, Blur still sneaks in perfect pop nuggets such as “Coffee & TV,” where cheery harmonies share space with a squealing guitar.

Tracklisting
1. Tender
2. Bugman
3. Coffee & Tv
4. Swamp Song
5. 1992
6. B.L.U.R.E.M.I.
7. Battle
8. Mellow Song
9. Trailer Park
10. Caramel
11. Trimm Trabb
12. No Distance Left to Run
13. Optigan 1

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (4/1/99, p.96) – 3 1/2 Stars (out of 5) – “…their sloppiest, most playful set yet, spiking the mix with church organ, electric piano and shambling drum loops. It’s the kind of album you can’t wait to play for your guitar-geek pals…”

Spin (5/99, pp.145-146) – 8 (out of 10) – “…This is electronica the old-fashioned, pre-digital, Krautrock way: Guitars scrape and scream, ancient synths bubble and belch, the rhythm section grooves as if beaming in from a distant planet….13…applies dance music’s aural fixation to dirty guitar drones, warping and layering crudeness until it’s vastly complicated…”

Entertainment Weekly (3/26/99, pp.82-83) – “…undeniably powerful in its own way.” Rating B+”

Q (1/00, p.83) – Included in Q Magazine’s “50 Best Albums of 1999.”

Q (4/99, pp.92-93) – 4 Stars (out of 5) – “…a dense, fascinating, idiosyncratic and accomplished rock album..”

CMJ (3/22/99, p.3) – “…hazy experimental songs…painfully honest, introspective lyrics….13 is not the type of album that can be fully appreciated in one listen, but if you look beyond its imposing wall of sound, the view is quite beautiful.”

Mojo (Publisher) (1/00, p.31) – Ranked #22 in Mojo Magazine’s “Best of 1999.”

Mojo (Publisher) (4/99, pp.88-90) – “…repeated playing…reveals an eerie, kaleidoscopic world of haunting, melodies and dazzling sonic detail… [Blur is] an experimental art-rock act, melding US noise with Euro noir electronica; but thankfully, an instinct for great pop still survives…”

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WALKING ON A DREAM is the debut album by Empire of the Sun, the Australian duo that includes Luke Steele of pop-rockers the Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of dance/electronica ensemble Pnau. Together they find a common ground between their stylistically disparate backgrounds, turning out tracks that incorporate both the psych-tinged pop sensibilities of Steele’s previous recordings with the dance-driven snap and sparkling synth flavors of Littlemore’s work with Pnau. There’s a giddiness to the whole affair that lends a spirit of fun to the album, one that could easily appeal to a whole new audience unfamiliar with either man’s past.

Tracklisting
1. Standing On The Shore
2. Walking On A Dream
3. Half Mast
4. We Are The People
5. Delta Bay
6. Country
7. The World
8. Swordfish Hotkiss Night
9. Tiger By My Side
10. Without You

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.61) – 3 stars out of 5 — “‘Without You’ evokes LABYRINTH-era Bowie with its deep, quivering vocals and loopy keyboards.”

Blender (Magazine) – 3 stars out of 5 — “[I]t will haunt your dreams. Acoustic guitars strummed in time with dance beats, tinny vocals and tons of slap-back reverb — it’s like some magical pop formula concocted long ago…”

Swords is a fantastic collection of b-sides, all hand picked by Morrissey, available together on one cd for the first time.

It draws b-sides from many of the singles taken from You are the Quarry, Ringleader of the Tormentors, Greatest Hits and Years Of Refusal.

Although these tracks were originally released as b-sides, heard together and alongside each other on this cd they sound superb as a collection in their own right. Opening with The Never Played Symphonies, the b-side to the top 3 hit Irish Blood English Heart, the album is a wonderful journey through some of Morrissey’s lesser heard tracks recorded over the last 5 years.

Tracklisting
1. Good Looking Man About Town
2. Don’t Make Fun Of Daddy’s Voice
3. If You Don’t Like Me, Don’t Look At Me
4. Ganglord
5. My Dearest Love
6. The Never-played Symphonies
7. Sweetie Pie
8. Christian Dior
9. Shame Is The Name
10. Munich Air Disaster 1958
11. I Knew I Was Next
12. It’s Hard To Walk Tall When You’re Small
13. Teenage Dad On His Estate
14. Children In Pieces
15. Friday Mourning
16. My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye
17. Drive-in Saturday
18. Because Of My Poor Education

FEVER RAY is the much-anticipated solo full-length from Karin Dreijer Andersson, the sister half of Sweden’s the Knife. As on that duo’s breakthrough, SILENT SHOUT, a potentially off-putting eeriness, exemplified most often by heavily manipulated vocals, dominates the mood. Icy clicks-and-cuts and melodies radioed in from outer space keep listeners at a distance, but it’s a pleasant aloofness, one that makes the listener want to get on the same cool page. Andersson also gives the Knife’s dance beats a back seat here, choosing to wallow in stripped-down horror (”If I Had a Heart”), strange sorta-folk (”When I Grow Up”), and warped Peter Gabriel-isms (”Concrete Walls”).

Tracklisting
1. If I Had A Heart
2. When I Grow Up
3. Dry And Dusty
4. Seven
5. Triangle Walks
6. Concrete Walls
7. Now’s The Only Time I Know
8. I’m Not Done
9. Keep The Streets Empty For Me
10. Coconut
11. If I Had A Heart [Multimedia Track]

Professional Reviews
Spin (pp.78-79) – “[The album] slightly tones down the Knife’s electro innovation but turns up the creepy affect, making lyrically tender tracks like ‘Concrete Walls’ and hallucinatory sketches like ‘When I Grow Up’ into reverse Rorschachs…”

Alternative Press (p.114) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “It’s the perfect soundtrack to a midnight walk through a Swedish winter: cold, crisp and gorgeous, with shadows and light intertwined.”

Blender (Magazine) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “[A]lmost every song incorporates shrewd production details, like the clog-dance percussion that kicks ‘I’m Not Done’ forward.”

Pitchfork (Website) – “In addition to many of the same plasticky percussions and goofy synth sounds that the Knife made their stock in trade, FEVER RAY also brims with fragile, more articulated sounds.”

Clash (magazine) (p.110) – “‘If I Had A Heart’ is a great opener — a hypnotic and dark slab of melancholic ambience with much of the album following suit. Cinematic in its scope, the quality never drops…”