Blog: galactic mystery solvers

Arcade Fire's second full-length is marked by maturity and downbeat lyrics: the results are mixed, but never less than engaging. Win Butler 's voice has developed: instead of the awkward yelp of 'Funeral', his vocals are deeper and more controlled – still quavering, but this time not with fear and confusion, but with outrage, anguish and pride. Think Springsteen: Win clearly has done. Behind him, the band's all-in whistles-and-bells approach has been streamlined: horns and strings work with the rhythm section, rather than against it, creating a new urgency that makes their recent Clash covers [...]

Bradley's Almanac has a nice Shearwater show. Sounds like Simon Bonney to me. Aquarium Drunkard has an astonishing picture of Will Oldham and Dwight Yoakam. The goggles, they do nothing. Passion of the Weiss has a moving tribute to Anna Nicole Smith. Pur out a little liquor. 50 and Cam'ron take it to the studio. 50's video looks like an episode of 'Pimp My Branch Davidian' Cormega's back. Cormega LOVES guns. Via Nahright . Excellent [...]

Delayed gratification has been the keynote of RZA's career for the best part of a decade. His touted solo "masterpiece", 'The Cure', has been promised since before the release of 'Wu-Tang Forever' in 1997, and currently resides in the same bracket as Dre's 'Detox', the new My Bloody Valentine record and (surely nobody really believes) 'Chinese Democracy'. In the meantime, RZA hasn't been lazy – contributing to Wu albums, solo joints, soundtracks (in particular, to 'Kill Bill' and 'Ghost Dog'), and albums as RZA and Bobby Digital. But all of these releases came with a pre-loaded defence mechanism against heightened [...]

It's easy enough to lump Patrick Wolf in with fellow travellers in the new-weird vanguard such as An tony , Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart. But in the live arena, what's common to those three is a focus for the more outré aspects of their music: for Antony , the voice, often accompanied by minimal instrumentation; for Joanna, the harp; for Devendra … it's [...]

Having toyed with the avant-garde , twee , and noise-pop , extremes of the psychedelic genre across their twelve year recording career, the Apples in Stereo return after a four-year hiatus with the controls set for the heart of the indie mainstream. 'New Magnetic Wonder' sets its store out early, with the energetic 'Can You Feel It' – an introductory celebration reminiscent of 'Turn It On' on Flaming Lips' 'Transmissions (From The Satellite Heart)', or the opening track of practically any Cheap Trick album. From there on, the tone is positive, inclusive and unchallenging: the Apples aim [...]

Talib Kweli's been solid but stolid since his critical high-point, the 1998 conscious-rap classic 'Black Star' collaboration with the similarly-frustrating SUV salesman Mos Def, almost a decade ago. In advance of his slightly-anticipated new album 'Ear Drum' he's decided for a change of approach: throwing his ouevre at the wall and seeing what sticks. So we get impresario-veteran Kweli, showcasing his Blacksmith protégés (including the impressive Jean Grae) on the 'Movement' mixtape, which boasts an odd and slightly exhausting mixture of clever wordplay and gangsta posturing. And then we have the crossover-potential Kweli [...]