Music
Retrograde ears that fail to recognise the first class, progressive musicianship that Hail to the Thief offers are worthless to their owners. Listen to this and your ears will bleed because, whoever you are, you are a virgin. Thom Yorke suggested it might be acclaimed as OK Computer: Part Two, and so far - in that it is equally beautiful, and evenly stirring - he was not misleading you. ...
Music: Live
This was going to be easy. You were gonna get the punka-party line. Picture for a moment eight persons, playing instruments including a mandolin and harmonica- no doubt you know what they sound like. Trashy pop? Winsome folk? Well, you'd be wrong. Joined by an acute appreciation for the blues, magnified by the desire for pure enjoyment, founding Mules' members James Lesslie (mandolin), Tim Burke (piano) and Ed Seed (vocals, drums) soon found others to share their vision, with Van "Carney" Rothschild and Duncan Brown (guitar) being followed by Dave O'Brien (Double bass) and trumpeters Helen Gibson and Rhydian Griffiths. Yet as Seed explains 'Our meeting was fairly organic; there was nothing suprising in how we met.'...
