A God-awful Small Affair

Remember when everyone thought Songs About Jane was cute? Shame on you, world. Sure, it might have contained some pretty songs. She Will Be Loved was quite lovely. Sunday Morning was okay. No really, where was the reasoning behind the hype for them? And now look what you've done - Adam Levine. One of the most unjustifiable egos in music today. So overlooking the fact that Overexposed doesn't contain their overplayed but only solid pop song Moves Like Jagger (I hope you're keeping track of my over- prefixes), there's surely some sort of convincing argument for their global success in 2012 here. Well there isn't. They're working with Max Martin and Ryan Tedder now. All soul was wiped years ago. Stop fuelling this nonsense please. If you must go for a band with a colour in the name: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, the White Stripes, the Black Keys, Goldfrapp, Blondie or even his The Voice co-star Cee-Lo Green would be far better choices.

Only four albums? FOUR!? What on earth... In a career spanning 18 years Fiona Apple has established herself as one of the most frighteningly honest and experimental female musicians. But I, for some inexplicable reason, seemed to have pigeon-holed Apple in the whole Tori Amos bracket of 'weird feminist' nonsense. Much rather, it would now appear, she's alligned in my pretty little head with the likes of Regina Spektor and PJ Harvey in terms of gutsy, independent but still melodic and listenable art. The New York singer courted controversy right from the start with a speech at the 1997 MTV Music Video awards (where Apple won 'Best New Artist'), boldly stating that "this world is bullshit - and you shouldn't model your life... about what you think that we think is cool, and what we're wearing and what we're saying and everything - go with yourself". Her fourth album opens, then, with a quirky mixture of bar-room vocal chants and a lul

I am told that people hate Justin Bieber. It's most unusual. Right from the very start of his commercial success (I believe it was One Time that was his debut single), the online music sphere has reacted with ever-excelling insults and meme-based hatred directed at the Canadian. Everyone's got at least 5 Facebook friends that won't shut up about hating him. Maybe this is a transatlantic difference thing, but I've never quite understood why Bieber sticks out. Amongst the likes of will.i.am., Chris Brown, Pitbull, LMFAO, Cher Lloyd, Cheryl Cole, Britney Spears and Maroon 5 - all far more viable candidates for the 'Worst Thing in Music Right Now' accolade - I've been cautious to criticise him. There's, of course, the fans. They're indeed a massive problem. There's that interview clip where he didn't appear to know what 'German' meant. There're endless low-quality 'clips' of supposed arrogance and rudeness displayed by t

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade there's a strong chance that you've watched a documentary, advertisement or compilation of TV show "highlights" or "best bits" that has been soundtracked by the strange ethereal Vonlenska (made-up language) of Sigur Rós. Their biggest and most widely-known piece, Hoppípolla, has just about featured on every BBC wildlife documentary of the past 5 years, and also been remixed by Chicane as Poppiholla . Now that frontman Jónsi has had a go at a solo record, the band are poised to release their first studio effort in four years. Considering that the playlists of stuff that, recently released, I listen to regularly, contain genres and artists varying from Regina Spektor to A$AP Rocky, Best Coast to Saint Etienne, it's often easy to overlook an artist and their entire uniquity. Prior to listening to this, their sixth studio album, I sort-of treated the prospect with a sense of arrogant assumpt

As perhaps music's most undousable genre, folk has found itself plenty of contemporaries and fans in recent years. The widespread critical acclaim of artists like Fleet Foxes, Laura Marling and the Leisure Society has proved that it still has much to offer after the decline of political masters, and it's even found its way into the mainstream with sleeper hits such as Noah and the Whale, Mumford and Sons and, in 2009, Edward Sharpe's inescapably pretty Home . Now, much to my chagrin, it's impossible to sit through a commercial break without some cutesy folk girl covering a classic song, and hopefully the backlash against the likes of Birdy and Charlene Soraia shall continue to bloom. Saccharine, capitalist nonsense. That pop charts continue to embrace all things acoustic and multi-instrumental might serve as some kind of blow to its credibility, however, is daft. The Leisure Society's 2009 record The Sleeper was one of the strongest and most beautiful albums o

It was with all the finesse and artistry of a whoopee cushion at the Royal Albert Hall that 2010's OMG fell into my ears. Those who knew me then will be familiar with my scrunched up faces and malevolent glares towards anyone who played the track. It was total fucking garbage. Let's admit it and move on. Mistakes were made. Usher's career though has always been a series of peaks and troughs. For every OMG there's a Yeah! For every Without You there's a Confessions Pt. II. The man, now on album #7, might well have earned a new army of haters for inflicting Justin Bieber upon the world, but surely the most reasonable of detractors must be willing to acknowledge his variety of talents. A voice that can melt butter, a knack for the industry and a smooth dancer, Usher has essentially dominated the male R&B scene since 1997. A far more direct (and easier to swallow) influence on the likes of Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Jason Derulo than Michael Jackson (because surel

It feels like a horribly long time since I reviewed a debut album. Maybe it's down to having a university course that I've fallen astray with the whole emerging-musicians thing but I'd like to review more. Few I've noticed have garnered much hype and praise, though, and that too can be said of the Brooklyn fivesome Friends , a cross-generational nostalgic front that's probably a little too varied in its influences and sounds to present themselves as an easily identifiable band. The indie-funk I'm His Girl was their first taste of buzz, though, and its dangerously infectious bassline caught many, including my own, ears. The idea of a female-led indie group with a love of music past and a conveniently cool wardrobe is just about as clic h é d as introducing them in an article headed with an oh-so hilariously weird quote from the band. The Guardian went with " There's a lot of homosexuality among bedbugs ". Bravo. Top notch charisma right

Not since Kelly Clarkson has the idea of an American Idol graduate making an impact on me, the British elitist, been alive. But 3 years ago the release of Lambert's Whataya Want from Me? and For Your Entertainment , former's butchering of the English language aside, certainly caught my eye. Whether it's his image, a sort of camp Sonic the Hedgehog with biker ambitions, the prospect of a male popstar (which, in 2009, was practically unheard-of) or his rather attention-grabbing performances (gasp! He kissed a boy), Lambert, the runner-up that outsold the winner (twice), stands out. What his image didn't need, though, was the shortlived dream of standing in for a certain Freddie Mercury when Queen were set to headline Sonisphere. Thankfully the festival was cancelled, sparing the poor bloke from the wrath of metalheads, but the plans to perform together with shows featuring Elton John should prove some level of the faith in Lambert's abilities. Naturally, as the r

Like Zooey Deschanel, Spektor is heavily represented by the media as a quirky ball of fun that's captured the hearts of hipsters with her eccentricities and stunning natural beauty. Regina Spektor's back catalogue is often, too, described as wildly out-there and whilst there are, undeniably, elements of anti-folk with jagged brushstrokes, this seems like an unfair portrayal. The fact is beneath all of the politics and unusual structures, Spektor has coined excellently simple and beautiful songs. Fidelity , her biggest success of a single so far, was an upbeat romantic popsong at its purest, and Samson was as breathtakingly poignant and adorable as music gets. Considering other tracks of Spektor's have soundtracked (500) Days of Summer and In Bruges there comes the argument: has indie folk, with its British counterparts including Kate Nash and Laura Marling, become so popular that its eccentricities and USP are now redundant? Spektor's 6th studio album contains o