Having achieved a glut of critical acclaim courtesy of 2007's Mercury nominated 'We Can Create', James Chapman (a.k.a. Maps) could have been forgiven had he chosen to plough the same furrow as it were. Successfully...
Review posted on 16th September 2009
Review of Through Forms self-titled album released through Invada.Hailing from Bristol and signed to Portishead mainstay Geoff Barrow's Invada imprint, its still quite beguiling what to expect from Thought Forms, bearing in mind their mentor's...
Review posted on 14th September 2009
Those of us whose musical flames are usually ignited by loud guitars and astute lyricism rarely venture forth into the forbidden zone known as the dancefloor. Until the first coming of rave and acid house...
Review posted on 14th September 2009
Review of Orbital's album Orbital 20 released through Rhino.As undoubted pioneers of the whole warehouse rave-cum-techno/rock crossover scene, Orbital shouldn't need any introductions to anyone whose slept in a muddy field in the name of...
Review posted on 14th September 2009
Review of Field Day 2009 held at Victoria Park, London on 1st August 2009. Whoever's idea it was to close the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines today of all days should be put against a wall...
Review posted on 5th August 2009
Review of Wild Beasts album Two Dancers released through Domino Records. From the first few notes of early single 'Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants', it was always plain to see that Leeds-via-Kendal four piece Wild Beasts...
Review posted on 3rd August 2009
Latitude Festival17th, 18th and 19th July 2009Live ReviewIt wasn't that long ago that spending three days in a farmer's field with no proper drainage, unusable Portakabins blocked by mid-morning on the first day masquerading as...
Review posted on 22nd July 2009
Latitude Festival 2009PreviewNext weekend (16th-19th July) sees the fourth Latitude Festival open its doors, and Contact will be there in full force providing a full review of the weekend's events. Here, we preview our picks...
Review posted on 9th July 2009
Review of Girls' single Hellhole Ratrace released through Fantasytrashcan/TurnstileCalling your band Girls can lead to all kinds of assumptions, most probably forming around the notion that you're almost certain to be purveyors of synthetic, r...
Review posted on 8th July 2009
Review of The Domino State's single Firefly released through Popfiction.Having been climbing up the radar for the past eighteen months, there was always going to be a point where The Domino State couldn't get any...
Review posted on 8th July 2009
Review of Johnny Foreigner's single Feels Like Summer released through Best Before.Despite having countless platitudes thrown their way since 2007's 'Arcs Across The City' mini-album heralded their arrival, Johnny Foreigner have always left this critic...
Review posted on 8th July 2009
Album Review of The Fireflow Trade from SwimmingNottingham based five-piece Swimming have been slowly edging their way down the back straits of ascendancy for a good few months now. Having served their time as members...
Review posted on 2nd July 2009
Review of God Help The Girl's self-titled album released through Rough Trade. I guess it was inevitable that at least one member of Belle And Sebastian would eventually branch out towards the world of screenplay....
Review posted on 1st July 2009
Review of Dinosaur Jr's album Farm released through Pias/JagjaguwarThe word 'legends' gets bandied around all too often, and mostly without any associated thought or context to the subject that's been unduly tagged. However, Dinosaur Jr...
Review posted on 18th June 2009
Review of Maria Taylor's album Lady Luck released through Nettwerk.That Maria Taylor is perhaps better known for her romantic 'liaison' with a certain Conor Oberst perhaps says more about the ignorance of the general public...
Review posted on 18th June 2009
Review of Our Brother The Native's album Sacred Psalms released through Fat Cat Records. Michigan-cum-California based three-piece Our Brother The Native really are an exercise in creativity over any thesis of commercial nous. Their experimental...
Review posted on 10th June 2009
Review of Crystal Stilts single Love Is A Wave released through Angular Records. In recent times, the resurgence of American bands - not least from the Brooklyn area of New York - with something more...
Review posted on 9th June 2009
Review of Sonic Youth's album The Eternal released through Matador. If any other band who'd been around for the best part of the past three decades announced the release of their latest album, many -...
Review posted on 9th June 2009
Review of Eels album Hombre Lobo released through Vagrant Records. For someone who has been making music in one form or another over the best part of a quarter of a century, Mark ‘E’ Everett...
Review posted on 5th June 2009
Review of Icy Demon’s album Miami Ice released through Leaf Label.Maybe its just a sign of the times but more and more musicians seem to be embarking on side projects that in some ways, usurp...
Review posted on 5th June 2009
Review of Manic Street Preachers live at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Monday 1st June.If 2008 was something of a year for musical underachievement, then 2009 must surely go down as signifying the 12 months when...
Review posted on 3rd June 2009
Review of Kasms single Male Bonding released through Trouble Records.Having never been one to pay that much attention to the capital's ubercool music "scene", it seems we've stumbled across a band from within such a...
Review posted on 20th May 2009
Review of We Were Promised Jetpacks album 'These Four Walls released through Fat Cat Records. In recent years, heading north of the border has been something of a treasure hunt as far as discovering new...
Review posted on 20th May 2009
Review of The Great Escape Festival in Brighton taking place over 14/15/16 May 09.So, we're only halfway through May and already Contact's liver feels like its been shot several times over thanks to the excessive...
Review posted on 20th May 2009
As London's long-established homelier cousin of Texas A&R shindig South By Southwest, The Camden Crawl is the musical equivalent of Good Friday; the first long-awaited Bank Holiday weekend of the year only with the added...
Review posted on 29th April 2009
Review of The Thermals album Now We Can See released through Kill Rock Stars. Portland trio The Thermals have always been a bit of an anomaly to these ears. Sure, there's no denying the band's...
Review posted on 22nd April 2009
Review of The Virgins self-titled album released through Atlantic Records. With New York's music scene currently resembling something out of Oxford or Reading circa 1989, its something of a surprise to hear a band like...
Review posted on 9th April 2009
Review of Black Sabbath's album Paranoid (Deluxe Edition) released through Universal Music. Times may change but the course of history can never be altered, so no matter that the name of Ozzy Osbourne has become...
Review posted on 9th April 2009
Review of Official Secrets Act live at Nottingham Bodega Social on 25th March 2009.Turn around for thirty seconds and then face the stage as the headline band appear and you could be instantly forgiven for...
Review posted on 8th April 2009
Review of Dead Confederate’s album ‘Wrecking Ball’ released through Razor & Tie. Mention the Athens region of Georgia in a musical context and people immediately jump to the conclusion you’re discussing the merits of a...
Review posted on 8th April 2009
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
Ahead of the imminent release of his second solo album - Dekker, aka Brookln Dekker, took time out to let us know about the musical project he...
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