Morning:
14°c
Some fares could fall by more than a third when Oyster is extended to every national rail station in London, it has emerged
More...
New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Wizard: Newton Faulkner is seeking a larger audience
Smooth soul: Common's seventh album is a melodic collection
Good future: Great things may be about to beckon for GoodBooks
Quirky: The Bad Plus
Magnificent: Bob Brozman weaves together many influences
Young wizard of the acoustic guitar, Newton Faulkner, Chicago rapper Common and jazz trio The Bad Plus are among the CDs of the week.
POP
Newton Faulkner
Hand Built By Robots (Ugly Truth/RCA)
**
Newton Faulkner is a young wizard of the acoustic guitar who has been taken to the bosom of the UK surfing community, and is now seeking a larger audience inland. Take the board away from a surfer and you are left with a fit hippy, and this music reflects that with a selection of mellow vibes and earnest vocal entreaties. The titles of the songs give the game away - UFO, People Should Smile More, Sitar-y Thing all sound exactly like you'd think. It's a pity Faulkner didn't follow the direction indicated by a very decent cover of Massive Attack's Teardrop, which illustrates a talent for melancholy atmospherics recalling the great John Martyn. Instead, for the most part, he is content to be James Morrison with a spliff. PETE CLARK
Amy Macdonald
This Is My Life (Vertigo)
****
Nineteen-year-old Amy Macdonald was inspired to write her own songs after seeing Babyshambles. She must've thought if that bunch of chancers can make a living, anyone can. Macdonald crams her full-blooded, richly nuanced folk-pop with all kinds of hooks and melodies, some a little fresher than others. This Is The Life, for instance, manages to weld Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire to The Cranberries' Zombie and not sound horrid. But she has far better songs. Poison Prince, a lightly disguised volley of scorn in the direction of Pete Doherty, is a highlight, as is Footballer's Wife, which nicely skewers the likes of Coleen McLoughlin. PAUL CONNOLLY
Common
Finding Forever (Island)
****
One of the most positive things Kanye West has done since his huge success is engineer a career resurgence for Lonnie "Common" Lynn, a fellow Chicago rapper five years his senior. Common was losing listeners fast after the self-indulgent experimentation of 2002's Electric Circus, at which point West stepped in to give him a new smooth soul sound on the Grammy-nominated Be. He repeats the favour here on Common's seventh album, producing a melodic collection, steeped in samples of vintage horns and keys, that perfectly complements the calm, thoughtful rhyming within. There's a chance of a pop hit with the rolling drums and catchy chorus of Drivin' Me Wild, featuring Lily Allen, but Common will be happy to leave superstardom to West. DAVID SMYTH
GoodBooks
Control (Columbia)
***
As Maxïmo Park and Bloc Party are discovering, being literate and fiercely intelligent is all rather pointless if the songs don't cut the melodic mustard. GoodBooks, fresh out of Sevenoaks, understand this too. They sing of the First World War on Passchendaele, of sapphic love affairs on Alice and of the Old Testament on The Curse of Saul. Wisely, while they often sound more sludgy than they should, they don't forget the tunes. Walk With Me constantly sounds like its about to burst into You Keep Me Hangin' On, while elsewhere they merge swaggering choruses with clipped, Franz Ferdinand/Talking Headsesque guitarwork. Control meanders too inconsequentially at times to be the finished article, but great things may be about to beckon. JOHN AIZLEWOOD
JAZZ
The Bad Plus
Prog (Emarcy/Do the Math Records)
***
The whimsical Django Bates is a big fan of this brainy US trio, who object to jazz taking itself too seriously. Their short, quirky pieces deconstruct the piano-trio format to the point of sending up the genre entirely.
Modulating from roar to whisper, they can transform pop tunes in an instant, as they do here with Tears for Fears' Everybody Wants to Rule the World and David Bowie's Life on Mars. They can also groove, but their horror of background music demands frequent changes of mood and tempo. Live, their hyperactive drummer David King is the star, but on record the subtle interplay of bassist Reid Anderson and pianist Ethan Iverson comes into sharper focus. This, their fourth album, is the most expertly crafted so far. JACK MASSARIK
WORLD
Bob Brozman Orchestra
Lumiere (Riverboat)
****
Over the years American guitarist Bob Brozman has collaborated with musicians around the globe, from Hawaii to Okinawa, from West Africa to Réunion. On this extraordinary album he weaves together a lot of the influences he's picked up and, most spectacularly, the instruments.
Remarkably, the Bob Brozman Orchestra consists of over-dubs of just Bob Brozman playing 27 different guitars - as seen on the cover. Clearly, it's a brilliant technical and musical feat in itself, but the results are magnificent, with 12 seductive musical postcards, many of them illustrating Brozman's love of island sounds. They range from the Hawaiian-flavoured Aloha Laie to the Indian-inflected Chaturangui Gazal. The only problem: it's going to be a difficult album to tour. SIMON BROUGHTON
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
