Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Various Artists – Album Roundup

    The Interceptor (a creative alias of the musically promiscuous Chris Saunders, a man who seems to join or form a new band every week), is a purveyor of electronic music; there’s a definite 8-bit vibe but these tracks are far from purist chip-tune territory. Looking at the project’s fairly minimal online presence we can discern… Read more

  • Review Of The Year 2012, Part 2: 12 EPs

    Review Of The Year 2012, Part 2: 12 EPs

    In previous years I’ve assembled my annual review solely from album length releases; it’s interesting to note that the vast majority of music I come across, whether I actively discover it or somebody sends it to me for review, is in something resembling album format (notwithstanding that most of it reaches me as a sequence… Read more

  • Review Of The Year 2012, Part 1: 12 Albums

    Review Of The Year 2012, Part 1: 12 Albums

    It’s that time of year again, the nights drawing in, the pointless over-consumption going into overdrive, and the music bloggers arranging releases into spurious hierarchies of how hip they think they make them look. Well, let me issue the same caveats I always do: I don’t claim that these are the best albums of the… Read more

  • Various Artists – Straight Outta B.C. – Tape One (hip-hop)

    Various Artists – Straight Outta B.C. – Tape One (hip-hop)

    B.C. Birmingham City. Britain’s second city, and crucible of the world’s first industrial revolution; ask most people in Britain about it though, and they’ll probably think it’s just some Midlands city, and they certainly won’t think of music at the first mention of the name. Unlike Liverpool, Manchester or London, Brum is not associated in… Read more

  • The Echelon Effect – Field Recordings (post-rock/ ambient)

    The Echelon Effect – Field Recordings (post-rock/ ambient)

    The development and inheritance of stylistic traditions is rarely as linear or orderly as is commonly imagined; the evolution of art seems to follow a process of cultural selection analogous to the biological processes identified by Charles Darwin. In art, as in nature, developmental processes diverge, converge, intersect and run parallel in unpredictable ways; just… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Why do I write reviews? Largely so that I can blag free music instead of buying it like everyone else, and so I can kid my conscience that my inane ramblings are an adequate substitute for paying musicians their due. Of course I can (and will, given half a chance) list any number of more… Read more