Our latest reviews
Cinema: The Cat Empire
Melbourne pop/funk band The Cat Empire exploded onto the scene in 2003 with their debut album. It was a huge hit and since then they’ve gone from strength to strength. Cinema is studio album number four and features more of…
Big Echo: Morning Benders
One of my favourite 2010 releases so far, Big Echo is a sometimes cheerful, occasionally serious but always wonderful blend of indie pop and 1960s-era soaring voices, run through with tinkling keyboards, lovely strings and addictive guitar riffs.
Standouts include…
Stones in Exile DVD: The Rolling Stones
This is the perfect documentary to accompany the recent reissue of the Stones’ masterpiece Exile on Main Street. It features fantastic archival footage from the now-legendary recording sessions, which took place in the basement of Keith Richards’s villa in…
Saint Bartlett: Damien Jurado
Recorded over the course of a week with producer/musician Richard Swift on production duties, Saint Bartlett sees American troubadour Damien Jurado in a more stripped-back mood than on previous offerings.
There is a sense of shade and space on this…
Close-Up: Volume One: Suzanne Vega
When I was a teenager, Suzanne Vega blazed the trail for the re-emergence of singer/songwriters in the mid-to-late 1980s, which included Tracy Chapman, Tanita Tikaram and Shawn Colvin. Vega’s first two records are classics of that genre, and her decision…
Astroblast! Code Blue: Bob Kolar
Guess what? Astroblast is a blast! It’s a brilliant early reader that has nifty rhyming text and fun activities that sneakily involve simple literacy and numeracy, as well as shape matching and the always fun maze puzzle. From its cool…
Seasons: Blexbolex
Everything about Seasons is enticing. It’s a gorgeously presented book with thick art-paper pages, rich colour and superb illustrations. One for artists, book designers and oh yeah, I forgot, children!
At the start we are offered the four seasons in…
April Underhill, Tooth Fairy: Bob Graham
In one sense, this lovely picture book is a classic tooth fairy story; it tells how the fairies come to young Daniel’s bedside to swap his tooth for a coin, and are nearly discovered. But it’s much more than that…
The Sky is Everywhere: Jandy Nelson
The unthinkable has happened to seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker: her, beautiful, talented older sister Bailey has died suddenly and tragically while rehearsing Romeo and Juliet. Left with her Gram and her pothead uncle Big, Lennie struggles to cope. She considers herself…
Volupté: Music for Viola & Piano
Once again Melba Recordings has come up with the unknown and interesting. This time the viola takes centre stage with music from the early twentieth century and music that seems oddly nostalgic – as if seeking something not remembered.
It…
Browse our reviews by category
