Music & Gigs - What's On

Sunday Sun Stereo

THE BLUETONES — COLLECTION (Universal): If you remember Brit Pop also-rans The Bluetones, it’s most likely because of their biggest hit, 1995’s Slight Return.Read

Ettrick's video of the week

THIS week’s music video features local band Catweasels performing their song, “Up”.Read

World of sound proves a Winwood formula for Nine Lives

CONSIDERING the number of different musical genres Steve Winwood’s tried, Nine Lives seems the perfect name for his new record.Read

Stuntmen pulling no punches

ZANE LOWE has described them as “awesome”, Roger Daltrey called them “fantastic”, their CD has twice been put forward as album of the year . . . and it’s not even out yet.Read

ALABAMA 3 - HITS AND EXIT WOUNDS (One Little Indian): Despite the name, Alabama 3 actually come from the badlands of Brixton, South London . . . and there are considerably more than three of them.Read

Ettrick’s pop video of the week

PAUL GASCOIGNE has been having a bit of a hard time of late, so my video pick this week harks back to the days when he was the golden boy of soccer, and could even crack the Top 20.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

WEDNESDAY 13 — SKELETONS (DR2): Known to his mum as Joseph Poole, Wednesday 13 makes very silly music that can only be described as horror-goth, and Skeletons sees him at the top of his gloomy game.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

NIZLOPI — MAKE IT HAPPEN (FDM): With recent advances in digital recording technology, there can’t be many bands left who choose to lay their tracks down on two-inch tape.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

MIT — CODA (Half Machine): Any band that cites “the city lights of late night Berlin, London and Tokyo” as a key-reference point for their band has got to be worth further investigation.Read

Mariah Carey opens her heart

DRESSED casually in a low-cut top and skinny jeans, Mariah Carey arranges herself into a comfortable position in a New York recording studio.Read

Guillemots go back to basics on new album

WITH a name as outlandish as his, Guillemots’ frontman Fyfe Antony Dangerfield Hutchins was always likely to be famous.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

VOODOO SIX — FIRST HIT FOR FREE (Pinnacle): According to the photos in the booklet, there are but five of Voodoo Six. I hate it when bands do that.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

OPERATOR PLEASE — YES YES VINDICTIVE (Brille): Australia’s Operator Please fitted right into 2007’s Nu Rave scene with their magnificently-deranged single, Just A Song About Ping Pong, which sounded like CSS overdosing on E-numbers.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

BLACK TIDE — LIGHT FROM ABOVE (Interscope): Heavy Metal . . . whether you love it or hate it, you have to admire its resilience as an art form.Read

Sunday Sun Stereo

MALCOLM MIDDLETON - SLEIGHT OF HEART (Full Time Hobby): It’s been less than a year since A Brighter Beat, the last album from Malcolm Middleton, and Sleight of Heart comes across like a more reflective, mostly acoustic companion of the 2007 first release.Read