Having more or less perfected their sleek electro-noir with 2008’s savagely brilliant Velocifero, and distilled their career into the rapturously received Best Of 00â€"10, it’s natural that Ladytron would want to shake up their formula with this fifth album. Where previous albums have given equal weight to...

Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s 1986 follow-up to their Welcome to the Pleasuredome debut was always going to seem like a let-down, so comprehensively did that debut double-album, and its attendant three chart-topping singles (and number two-peaking title-track), dominate 1984-85. If anything, it represented a volte-face after the OTT...

Where exactly has Tom Vek been for the past six years? Even his much vaunted comeback spearheaded by the well received album, "Leisure Seizure", had failed to attract a sizeable crowd to the Festival Republic Stage. Such early promise but this slot felt like a chance to start over and...

The elements turned out in favour for Friendly Fires as the teeming rain halted just in time for their Main Stage performance. The lack of beaming sunshine still judged their attire of Hawaiian shirts as near inappropriate. Perhaps the grey conditions were to blame but opening with 'Lovesick', Ed McFarlane's...

With Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green and Dizzee Rascal all managing to bridge the gap between street and chart without losing face or sales, British hip hop has never been in a stronger position. On his third album, West London's Elliot ‘Example’ Gleave takes...

After being previously enchanted by Rubicks releases of 'Is This Love?' and 'Giddy Up' way back in 2010 which both ruffled our feathers with crunchy beats, distorted, emotionally charged, husky female vocals and infectious beats, here comes their sophomore album, "The Rise Of The Giddy" which incidentally includes those two...

If their debut, 1995’s Exit Planet Dust, set the Chemical Brothers stall out as purveyors of large beats and chunkin’ funk, then Dig Your Own Hole shot them right into the stratosphere. With its number one singles, Grammy award and multi-platinum status, Dig Your Own Hole took Tom Rowlands...

This, believe it or not, is Robots in Disguises' testimonial year. After three albums, "Happiness v Sadness" marks the fourth full-length effort from the British and German duo, with ten years removed from their debut. This album has been funded by the innovative Pledge Music crowdsourcing scheme, which means that...

Prince may have neglected to mention it, but 1999 actually belonged to Groove Armada’s Vertigo and Moby’s Play. Along with Air’s Moon Safari, released a year earlier, they were standard-issue discs in even the most causal of music collections at the end of the 90s. These...

For some reason, Fischer-Z were always inappropriately compared to Talking Heads. A more inappropriate comparison I could not think of. The two bands share almost nothing in common. Talking Heads were about art, Man, art. Fischer-Z were about life, growing up, politics - everyday stuff with an everyday relevance to...