Reviews

Commendably lurid directorial debut from Asia Argento—international soft-porn horror princess and Vin Diesel's way-cool goth-vamp co-star in xXx. Dario's daughter not only writes and directs but also stars as a thinlyveiled version of herself, shagging and fighting her way through a sinister, male-dominated, sex-driven film business. Demented, narcissistic, monstrously self-indulgent—all the qualities, in fact, of the very best cult cinema.

One-time Ed Kuepper cohort Hancock has been in various Australian bands since the '80s, and it shows across her maturely enthralling solo debut, on which she sounds like a less fractured Marianne Faithfull. Backed by a fine band who effortlessly blur the boundaries between rock, folk and jazz, her own compositions are marked by arresting observations on the war of the sexes. Yet best of all are her extraordinarily haunting covers of David Crosby's "Everybody's Been Burned" and, more improbably, Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" done country-rock style.

Fine Godspeed-like soundscapes from Montreal collective

Will Oldham-influenced alt.country from Brooklyn

Unremarkable second LP from corporate-minded Californian rockers

Leland, Mississippi blues legend still sounding as freshly minted as ever

Early off-cuts from cultish British eccentric

The Darlings of Wapping Wharf Launderette's first full career best-of

Bizarre and beautiful trio of tragic love stories from Hana-Bi director

Dubious English Civil War saga