Binaural
It's been nine years since Pearl Jam put genius onto disc in the form of Ten, and still they rock. While they have come a long way since Alive reaffirmed everyone's vitality, their most notable development has been to work within their limits. Awards for lyrical intricacy are not headed in their direction, but Eddie Vedder possesses a voice of rare resonance. This album is yet another ideal showcase for its splendour. His singing the alphabet would be worth listening to, and here offerings like Light Years and Nothing As It Seems look set to add to the band's growing catalogue of classics....
Music: Wadstock Music Festival, Wadham College
Glastonbury has David Bowie and Travis. Reading/Leeds has Pulp and Oasis. But Wadstock 2000 had The Incredible Fuck Wits and several barbershop quartets. Yes indeed, the undisputed king of the music festivals on offer this 'Summer' took place last Saturday and the proverbial good time was had by all.
Music: Roni Size & Reprazent Secret Gig
A capacity crowd at the Zodiac on Friday night witnessed the return of Roni Size and Reprazent, two years since their last appearance at the Reading Festival. That's not to say that the Full Cycle family of Roni Size, Krust, Die, Suv and MC Dynamite have been silent in that time - all four main artists released a slew of underground anthems, Roni and Die unleashed their Breakbeat Era project and Krust got all abstract as he dropped his debut album. The collective, joined again by vocalist Onallee, bassist Si John and a new drummer whose name was lost amidst a flurry of beats, returned to the studio this year to commence work on the follow up to the Mercury Music Award-winning New Formss. Although some of the resulting tracks have been circulating in the hands of a few privileged DJs, Friday was the first time that any of them had been performed live. Reinforcing the Oxford connection (Suv originally hailed from this very city; Roni and Krust first met Dynamite whilst playing a rave in Didcot) the collective chose Timeless Recordings' Source night to break from cover. Largely unpublicised, news of the event spread by word of mouth, ensuring a sell-out audience at what was effectively the band's warm-up for this Saturday's Homelands festival....