Reviews

Belated DVD release for Stephen (Blade) Norrington's flaccid 2001 meditation on the nature of, wince, 'celebrity culture'. Max Beesley, ineffably irritating in Alfie mode, is Billy Byrne, a talentless wannabe whose driving desire for fame sends him on a Hellish Journey™ through London's criminal drug-dealing S&M underworld. Hateful characters, no discernible narrative voice, and hackneyed visuals. A mistake.

Inspired by a Bowie gig, Trilogy sees The Cure perform three of their LPs in full over two nights at Berlin's Tempodrom—the classics Pornography and Disintegration plus the more recent Bloodflowers. With the band, as usual, brilliantly lit and the event shot with 12 separate cameras, this is far superior to normal live fare. The music, too, benefits from perhaps the band's strongest line-up. Pornography, originally performed by a trio, here becomes a maudlin monolith, with the ageless Smith somehow reinfused with a bitterness now 20 years old. Thrilling.

Berlin avant-dub maestro goes hip hop

Philadelphian psych-rockers continue their long, strange trip

Spiritualized renegade teams up with Watchmen creator

Third album but first British release from Australia's answer to The Be Good Tanyas

Low-key sequel to a modern classic

Sixties group and session work from Britain's first truly 'modern' guitarist

First four solo albums by overlooked psychedelicist

Sly, subversive rap romcom