Sound Screen: Music review - Essence (Sienná)

I was very interested in this offering, which seemed saturated with stylings akin to the likes of Air and Laroca, though it turned out much different to what I expected.

Find out why by clicking here.

inthenews.co.uk: Music review - One Life Stand (Hot Chip)

And in the second of two reviews for Hot Chip, I go by the inthenews.co.uk style guide and scoring system to deliver my verdict on the newest album.

Click here to read all about it!

Sound Screen: Music review - One Life Stand (Hot Chip)

In my first of two reviews for this album - well, the second, as the other is embargoed and going up tomorrow - I attempt to write to two separate style guides and see if I can generally make the best point I can in two separate ways while making both reviews entertaining nonetheless. I chose Hot Chip as it was in demand and a popular enough band. There was also copyright/watermark issues with the promo, so I couldn't exactly give it to the guys at Sound Screen!

Click here for my review.

inthenews.co.uk: Music review - Yeti Lane (Yeti Lane)

With another chance to get my hands on some material from new bands making a name for themselves, I was presented with Yeti Lane, a group who are likely to be big this year.

But does their album reflect this, or are they all hype? Click here to find out.

inthenews.co.uk: Music review - The Big Black and the Blue (First Aid Kit)

It's not often that I get to cover music by Swedish sisters who are either side of the legal drinking age, though you have to do it some time, I suppose.

Have a look at my review of First Aid Kit by clicking here.

Sound Screen: Music review - Handmade Life (Chris Wood)

This one's been out for a little while but after getting hold of a copy of it last month, I felt it necessary to get it covered as soon as I could for (the currently temperamental) Sound Screen.

Click here for the review.

inthenews.co.uk: Music review - Contra (Vampire Weekend)

I was given the chance to cover Vampire Weekend's newest offering, Contra, this week after it became available on MySpace for the week. Happy days, thought I, as the album was a brilliant one to review.

Why? Click here to find out more.

Sound Screen: Music review - Me & Orson Welles Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Various Artists)

And so on to more things for Sound Screen - a veritable backlog of things put back due to Christmas and other commitments. Expect a few of these to come through in the next few weeks and months!

For now, here's the review for the soundtrack to Me & Orson Welles.

Sound Screen: Music review - Brainlove Records / Fear of a Wack Planet (Sound Screen Album of the Year submission)

As part of my Album of the Year megatask, I also submitted my own piece for the feature, choosing Brainlove Records' excellent Fear of a Wack Planet as my entry. I covered it earlier in the year so it's a bit of a rehash for the most part, plus a little more reflection in the months I've had it since.

Additionally, I covered a few others I'd reviewed during the year as my favoured artists alongside those with Brainlove.

I'm in part five of five for the piece, which can be found by clicking here.

Sound Screen: Album of the Year 2009

Start as you mean to go on, right? I'm kicking off this year with the most ambitious thing I've done with my desired career thus far - with help from some great writers, of course. In December, I proposed an Album of the Year piece to fellow writers with Sound Screen as a kick-start to my new role as music editor with the website.

My theory was to bring everyone together in a common cause while also giving them the creative freedom to do what they wanted. As a result, I got 14 people signed up in a matter of weeks and after sending them a template to follow, I managed the separate offerings to ensure there were no crossovers or double reviews. In the end, everyone did a great job and I set about subbing the 7-8,000 words I was given, as well as writing one myself. It included the standardisation of grammar, terminology (album titles, song names, etc) as well as ensuring the template I set out was consistently formatted after having minor changes in each copy.

I split them into five different articles in order to make it easier to digest from the reader's perspective while also giving the groups of three reviews more individual emphasis and attention from anyone looking at them.

On top of this, I created a central landing page which is currently frozen on the front page in order for people to read specific reviews and get the idea of what we're going for.

I wrote the blurbs, posted the photos, messed with the HTML to get it working and also got more to grips with Wordpress. I'm genuinely proud of what I've achieved, though it obviously wouldn't have been anything without the fantastic efforts off my 14 cohorts.

Here's to another few of these contribution pieces, but it's part of the reason I was so low on articles in December (alongside the obvious commitments to Christmas and family, etc).

Here's the link to the Album of the Year landing page.

If you want a mixed bag or lucky dip of entries, here's part I, part II, part III, part IV and part V.