Music Reissues Weekly: Judex - Cult of Judex

JUDEX - CULT OF JUDEX Overview of Philadelphia garage punks reveals unexpected Bowie tie-in

Overview of Philadelphia garage punks reveals unexpected David Bowie tie-in

A compilation album titled Pennsylvania Unknowns was issued in 1982. Its 17 tracks chronicled the US state’s Sixties garage rock and psychedelic scenes. Amongst the bands included were Pat Farrell & The Believers, The Flowerz, The Loose Enz and The Shandells. About the best known were Allentown’s The Kings Ransom, whose moody 1968 single “Shadows of Dawn” was a collector’s staple.

Album: Interpol - The Other Side of Make-Believe

★★ INTERPOL - THE OTHER SIDE OF MAKE-BELIEVE Noughties new wavers return with a sometimes underpowered lockdown album

Noughties new wavers return with a sometimes underpowered lockdown album

Despite not matching the success of their fellow New York post-punk colleagues, The Strokes, Interpol have nonetheless carved out a respectable path for themselves since their 2002 debut Turn on the Bright Lights. Occupying the darker edges of indie rock, they are the shadier counterpoint to the eccentricities of Julian Casablancas and co, their albums consistently making the UK Top 10 for the past two decades.

Album: James Bay - Leap

Hertfordshire's finest hits a primal spot, but is it at the expense of individuality?

James Bay couldn’t be more unhip if he had pelvic removal surgery. He is so middle of the road that he could be a cat’s eye. Everything about him is old before his time – he was inspired to pick up a guitar by hearing “Layla”, he sings in a husky transatlantic semi-Celtic voice, he exists in a continuum of soft rock that runs from the start of AOR through U2, David Gray and the Coldplay imitation explosion of the 00s through to Ed Sheeran and Louis Capaldi.

2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards: baubles, bromides and birthdays

2022 PARLIAMENTARY JAZZ AWARDS Baubles, bromides and birthdays in the 18th edition

A welcome return to in-person for this 18th edition of the awards

The winners of this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards were announced at a convivial ceremony held on Tuesday night at Pizza Express Live Holborn.

Organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG), and co-chaired by John Spellar MP and Lord Mann, the Awards celebrate the vibrancy, diversity, talent, and breadth of the jazz scene throughout the UK.

Album: Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Toast

★★★★ NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE - TOAST Disinterred breakup blues is Neil at his emotional best

Disinterred breakup blues is Neil at his emotional best

Neil Young put Toast to one side in 2001, dismayed at its blue emotional terrain. Depicting his marriage to Pegi Young hanging by a thread, it was recorded with Crazy Horse in San Francisco’s Toast studio, where Coltrane once worked, but rats now crept in from the alley. “Toast was so sad that I… couldn’t handle it,” Young said recently, its sound “murky and dark”.

Love Supreme Festival, Sunday review - eclectic jazz on the Sussex Downs

★★★ LOVE SUPREME FESTIVAL, SUNDAY A heady mixture of jazz forms in a glorious setting

From Sister Sledge to Gregory Porter, a heady mixture of jazz forms in a glorious setting

By day three of any festival things are usually winding down. But there was a sense that Love Supreme have saved the best for last this year with a strong offering of funk and soul, R&B and experimental jazz.

Album: Vyvyan - Y

★★★★ VYVYAN - Y An alias helps composer/producer Bonar Bradberry find a definitive voice

An alias helps composer/producer Bonar Bradberry find a definitive voice

After four years, three releases and a slew of remixes, the identity of spotlight-shunning producer Vyvyan ended up the subject of intense speculation.

There were no obvious clues from the records themselves. Channelling open-armed enthusiasm and rampant eclecticism, the releases were wild rides full of thrilling energy, nodding to the past as they ran full-pelt into the future. Could it be some Berlin-based wunderkind? Maybe the work of an established veteran? Was it Henry, the mild-mannered janitor?

Album: Viagra Boys - Cave World

★★★★ VIAGRA BOYS - CAVE WORLD Tough, goofy stompers from the Swedish retro-futurist punks

Swedish retro-futurist punks fire out another tasty set of tough, goofy stompers

The third album from Stockholm rowdies Viagra Boys doesn’t muck about with what they do, but it’s more persistently punkin’ than their last. There’s more than a snifter of Iggy and the Stooges in both the vocal style and the raucous over-amped riffage, but Viagra Boys spice their sound with electronics and, where early-Seventies Ig was always about untrammelled “Raw Power”, this lot are as happy to offer wry lyrical critiques among the all-out stompers.

Music Reissues Weekly: Ferkat Al Ard - Oghneya

FERKHAT AL ARD - OGHNEYA Superb Lebanese album belatedly gets the recognition it deserves

Superb Lebanese album belatedly gets the recognition it deserves

Oghneya opens with the extraordinary “Matar Al Sabah.” Jazzy, with an overt Brazilian feel it gently swings and swoons. Wordless backing vocals and pulsing but gentle strings add atmosphere. Milton Nascimento comes to mind but the intimate lead voice also feels French, a little bit Julien Clerc. It’s instantly impactful.