His Purple Badness returns
And Damon and Kinnear are joined at the hip

News discs reviewed from the pocket-sized funkster Prince, euro-psychobillies the Nekromantix, punkers the Beatsteaks and Ima Robot and Aussie pop-rockers Just Orange and Luxury. Also on offer, ambient electronica on the Switches compilation and a couple of real treats from The Mendoza Line and Seafood.
    At the movies, Val Kilmer stars as John Holmes in Wonderland, Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear join up in Stuck On You, Ashton Kutcher changes the past in The Butterfly Effect and Elisha Cuthbert changes lives in The Girl Next Door. Back real soon . . .

I see dead people
Grand Theft Parsons, Buffy and zombies!

Interviewed: The subject of the movie Grand Theft Parsons; Gram Parsons' former tour manager Phil Kaufman tells the story of rock's most amazing heist. Also the director of The Station Agent, Tom McCarthy give us the background to one of the year's finest movies. Finally, Darrin Pfeiffer and Brian Arthur of punk heroes Goldfinger sit in the counterculture hotseat.
    On DVD: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Seven rolls the end credits for Sunnydale, and Placebo turn up the heat in Soulmates Never Die - Live In Paris 2003.
    On CD: N*E*R*D's Fly Or Die, Sugarcult's Palm Trees And Power Lines, Fear Factory's Archetype, Black Label Society's Hangover Music Vol. VI and Dirty Americans with Strange Generation.
    On The big screen: A zombie remake with Dawn Of The Dead, zombie romantic comedy with Shaun Of The Dead, twisted thrills in Fear X and racism, prejudice and, er, cricket in Wondrous Oblivion.

Haven, The Wildhearts, Soulfly . . .
And the best new movies

New discs reviewed from Haven, The Wildhearts, Soulfly, Tarantino faves The 5.6.7.8's, 36 Crazyfists, The Loves, The Servant, ex- Geraline Fibber Carla Bozulich, Forest Giants, Madrugada, Vaux, and Katie Melua and Stevie Wonder on Jazz Café: The Soul Mix.
    At the movies; The Station Agent, Johnny Knoxville in Grand Theft Parsons, and Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson recreating '70s cult cop drama Starsky & Hutch.
    One of the most original CDs to pass our way last year was Large Number's Spray On Sound. This time out we talk to the woman behind Large Number, ex-Add N To (X)-er Ann Shenton.

One banana, two banana . . .
Jamie Cullum, Air and The Dickies!

Live in York: Jazz prodigy Jamie Cullum. Live in Cambridge: Parisian electronica from Air.
    On CD: Brit pop-punk from Crackout, Euro punkabilly from HorrorPops, earnest indie from Drew and adventurous synth-pop from Seabound.
    Closing things down there's a live DVD from the Banana Splits punk veterans - The Dickies: An Evening With The Dickies - and an exclusive interview with Penny Woolcock, director of the new Brit-flick The Principles Of Lust.

Sugarcult to Squarepusher
More articles than ever before!

Deep breath . . . new CDs reviewed from Incubus, Squarepusher, The Stills, The Banner, Crime In Stereo, Every Time I Die, Scarlet, At A Loss, Ilya, Long Since Forgotten, Chimaira and Roberta Flack.
    Live action from A Perfect Circle with support from Auf der Maur in Manchester, and Matchbook Romance in Leeds.
    Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts star in 21 Grams, Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly go head-to-head in House Of Sand And Fog and Penny Woolcock makes her big screen directorial debut with The Principles Of Lust.
    Interviewed: Sugarcult, Matchbook Romance and ex-Genesis man Steve Hackett.
    Wrapping things up we've got U.K. Subs: Warhead - 25th Anniversary Marquee Concert and Backstage Pass on DVD, and comedy fantasy from Andy Secombe in Limbo II: The Final Chapter.

The latest from 2004
The best from 2003

On CD, Courtney Love dons the mantle of America's Sweetheart, Gallic beat maestros Air communicate with Talkie Walkie, political punks Red Tape meltdown on Radioactivist and Cracker team up with Leftover Salmon for a bluegrass take on their back catalogue on O' Cracker Where Art Thou? Elsewhere, 80s Aussie heroes The Church hit album number 17 with Forget Yourself, The Experimental Pop Band fail to impress on Tarmac & Flames and All One Surface debut with Such Is The Way To The Stars.
    To wrap things up, we finally take a look back at our highlights of last year in 2003: Albums Of The Year and 2003: Movies Of The Year. Enjoy!

Cleaning out my closet
And so it begins . . .

After protracted technical glitches counterculture returns with the first of many. On CD Weezer's Pat Wilson teams up with ex-Rocket From The Crypt man Atom Willard in The Special Goodness, Ensign get cover happy and NYHC stalwarts Kill Your Idols hook up with new kids on the block Crime In Stereo. Also, some of last year's best hip-hop makes it onto Kiss Presents Hot Joints.
    On the big screen, actress of the moment Scarlett Johansson stars opposite Bill Murray in Lost In Translation and opposite Colin Firth in Girl With A Pearl Earring.
    In print, teen trauma in Graham Gardner's Inventing Elliot and John Brindley's Amy Peppercorn: Living The Dream.