Music Reviews

Music Review: Natalie Imbruglia's Come to Life

Imbruglia's fourth album comes across like a messy vanity project, writes Barry Divola
October 20, 2009, 1:31 pm
Music Review: White Water, White Bloom

Sea Wolf has a tendency to combine folk and country with a bit of dramatics, writes Barry Divola
October 11, 2009, 1:32 pm
Music Review: Rain Machine

Rain Machine all makes sense when you realise it’s Kyp Malone simultaneously channelling Tom Waits and Prince, writes Barry Divola
October 11, 2009, 1:27 pm
Music Review: Black Gives Way to Blue

Alice in Chain’s return is no triumph, says Barry Divola
October 11, 2009, 1:22 pm
Music Review: Backspacer

Grizzled survivors of the 1990s grunge years Pearl Jam have hit rewind and gone back to basics, writes Barry Divola
October 11, 2009, 1:15 pm
Music Review: Dead Man's Bones

As Dead Man's Bones, Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields have made something truly weird, but also quite wonderful writes Barry Divola
October 11, 2009, 1:11 pm
Music Review: Mika

The Boy Who Knew Too Much (Casablanca/Universal) Mika's first album, 2007's Life in Cartoon Motion, sold more than five million copies, and many critics bent over backwards to hate it.
September 29, 2009, 3:11 pm
Music Review: Sarah Blasko's As Day Follows Night

By her own admission, Sarah Blasko is no piano player. So her decision to compose her third album on the instrument was a brave move, but not a surprising one. From the acoustic and folktronica elements of her 2004 debut, The Overture & the Underscore, to the broader grandeur of 2006's What the Sea Wants, the Sea Will Have, she has always rowed her boat in a slightly different stream to most local female singer-songwriters. But as she sings on "Over & Over" from her new album, "so break the rules, it will all make sense if you mean it."
July 30, 2009, 10:07 am
Music Review: Relapse, Eminem

Heath Ledger apparently kept a notebook with him while preparing to film The Dark Knight, jotting down things he felt his character would think. Reportedly, he felt that the Joker would find AIDS funny.
June 4, 2009, 3:52 pm
Herbie Hancock – Then and Now: the Definitive Herbie Hancock (Verve/Universal)

Most people will have heard of Herbie Hancock, but if you aren't familiar with his work this 'best of' collection is a great way to do it and very much worth the effort.
December 14, 2008, 11:25 pm