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,
Promising: The Last Shadow Puppets, The Age of the Understatement
Promising: The Last Shadow Puppets, The Age of the Understatement
Sketchy: Four Tet, Ringer
Instrumental: Anita Wardell, Kinda Blu
Intimate: Yael Naim & David Donatien
Arctic Monkey Alex Turner's side project, The Last Shadow Puppets, is a debut of extraordinary promise, The Accidental could improve with time and Anita Wardell has an impressive go at scat-singing.
THE ACCIDENTAL
There Were Wolves (Full Time Hobby)
**
Loudly touted as the future of quiet music, The Accidental are three refugees from British indie bands and singer-songwriter Liam Bailey. Their debut album is a hushed, bedsit affair which sidles from the hypnotic Wolves to the relatively jaunty I Can Hear Your Voice in gentle reverie. The results are certainly warm and there’s sporadic evidence of genuine craft, but the whole business is so unassuming, so unmemorable, so cheaply produced and so mealy-mouthed it sounds like a very early template for something which might be quite good at some distant point in the future.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
The Age of the Understatement (Domino)
****
Both the group’s name and the album’s title are artful and knowing, which is surprising given that the creators — Arctic Monkey Alex Turner and Miles Kane of The Rascals — are only 22 years old. They were inspired by a love of Scott Walker and vintage Bowie, which is immediately apparent in the title track. What could have been mannered and moribund is transformed by infectious enthusiasm and no little songwriting skill into a joyful recreation of pop’s golden age. Standing Next to Me could have been a hit any time over the past 40 years and surely will be when released as a single. This is a debut of extraordinary promise.
PETE CLARK
FOUR TET
Ringer (Domino)
***
Much like Portishead and trip hop, Kieren Hebden pioneered a beautiful new sound as Four Tet and then spent years distancing himself from it. His albums Pause and Rounds are two of the finest examples of folktronica — the cutting up of warm acoustic sounds and electronics on a laptop — but he has since spent more time making experimental jazz with drummer Steve Reid. For this 32-minute mini-album, he turns his talents to a subtle, minimal, hypnotic form of techno. Of the four tracks, the bubbling chimes of Ribbons stand out but they sound like stopgap sketches rather than the fresh invention someone of his stature could be producing.
DAVID SMYTH
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