The Brown Note Movie Review

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) Movie Review

The first post slap-heard-around-the-world Will Smith movie, is another broadly successful entry into the unexpectedly rebooted franchise, though with far less narrative ambition than its predecessor.

DIIV - Frog in Boiling Water (2024) Album Review

Perhaps alongside Beach House as the most well established of the second wave of Shoegaze and Dreampop bands, though on this immaculately presented effort, sadly not as prepared as to offer variety or imagination to their sound.

Burial, Kode9 - Phoneglow / Eyes Go Blank (2024) EP Review

The Hyperdub label head and his head honcho team up and not for the first time. After Burial's recent extremely punishing EP, this is one of his most commercial sounding releases. Full of light skipping 2step beats and UK garage flourishes, plus a heap of hooky vocals and synths. Kode9 ably backs it up veering into early 90s rave and Drum n Bass. Undemanding but in a good way.

Gone But Forgotten: Terry Reid - River (1973) Album Review

My intermittent series on albums/artists/films that were either denied classic status on release or forgotten since. Both in this case. Forever he will be known for the tragic element to his career, for not reaching superstar status, after turning down the offer at the end of the Sixties to become the front man of Led Zeppelin. And Deep Purple. But his talent as a guitarist and one of the finest ever British rock vocalists can perhaps be enjoyed best on his third album River, the kind of music pretty much anyone would like, sitting equidistant between Blues, Folk, Rock and RnB.

Verraco - Breathe​.​.​. Godspeed EP (2024) EP Review

Colombian  JP López turns in possibly three of the best electronic tracks of the year on one powerhouse 4 track EP, that seems to be more inspired by the more experimental post dub-step UK artists than Latin Club music per se.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) Film Review

I was annoyed when they couldn't help themselves in the endless rebooting of existing projects cycle that is modern cinema, given the recent films were the best SciFi-Fantasy trilogy since The Lord of the Rings. However, the odd quibble aside, this is far better than we could've hoped for and again, much better than Dune 2.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) Film Review

George Miller's unexpectedly reborn Mad Max franchise is now more consistently great, than its peers, The Terminators, Predators and Aliens, with the latest falling just shy of the heights of the instant classic Fury Road, a film it actually deepens. It's also a miles better SciFi-Fantasy than Dune 2.

Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown (2024) Album Review

The question isn't whether the debut solo album by the iconic Portishead singer, lives up to the unbearable weight of expectation, it's whether it will be my album of the year.

Mach-Hommy - #RICHAXXHAITIAN (2024) Album Review

The New Jersey via Haiti mystery that is Mach-Hommy seems to be circling closer to the mainstream with a worthy follow up to 2021's Pray for Paris, in a year that seems a standout in rewarding old heads with actually decent rap albums.

Actress - Statik (2024) Album Review

Although I've been fonder of the more intense and dense albums by the UK's Darren J. Cunningham, unlike the recent Four Tet release, this at least goes on a cohesive journey and ends up being more than the sum of its parts.