The Birthday Party: Mutiny / The Bad Seed EP (album review)
A refreshed review from 2004. I've always been of the opinion that if an artist or band is going to make a final statement, then it should be well-executed and tightly-delivered. This holds true for The Birthday Party's final two EPs, which are collected together onto this single CD by 4AD. [read more]

The Birthday Party: Junkyard (album review)
A refreshed review from 2004. Few album titles accurately describe the content as Junkyard so cleverly does, implying a tangled mess of music, filled with all sorts of sonic detritus. The Birthday Party - Nick Cave, Tracey Pew, Mick Harvey, Rowland S Howard and Phil Calvert - released this album on 4AD in 1982. [read more]

Depeche Mode: A Broken Frame (album review)
Post-Vince Clarke, pre-Alan Wilder, A Broken Frame found Depeche Mode supposedly rudderless without Vince's songwriting abilities. In spite of the headwind created by losing their main songwriter, and sensing accusations of being one-album wonders, Martin Gore quickly dusted down a few songs he'd written as a child, wrote a few more and produced a decisively coherent second album. [read more]

The Normal: Warm Leatherette / TVOD (single review)
A refreshed review from 2004. The Mute Records story began with this seminal 7" recorded by founder Daniel Miller under the alias The Normal. 'Warm Leatherette' is JG Ballard's Crash distilled into an edgy electro track, while 'TVOD' is pure Eraserhead-era David Lynch. [read more]