Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: .Coldplay - where on Earth do you start? On the one hand, snubbed by 'real musos' for their broad crossover appeal and uncanny ability to make every song feel like it was written for the next Richard Curtis movie. Nevertheless, when a band achieves such levels of success, you have to accept there's definitely something in their water. In this case, a deft knack for penning arrangements that invoke feelings as big as the stadiums the tracks themselves were built to fill.
Prospekt's March is a great example, but also spotlights the fact that Coldplay isn't just shorthand for rousing chart-friendly soft rock anthems. Originally released in 2008, and taking plenty of almost-made-it tracks from the studio sessions that led to preceding album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, this eight-song offering spans everything from hands in the air sing-a-long hits ('Life In Technicolour', 'Lovers In Japan') to achingly beautiful piano solos ('Postcards From Far Away'), sombre brass balladry ('Now My Feet Won't Touch The Ground') and - wait for it - high-production hip hop ('Lost+').

Review: MOV's all-in-one Curve reissues campaign continues strongly with this new iteration of 'Blindfold', the industrial shoegaze band's debut EP. Establishing the sound they would inevitably grow into, and more or less own, for at least a decade to come, tracks such as 'Blindfold' are as emotional as they are driving, pitting Liz Fraser-esque vocals (courtesy of titan Toni Halliday) against industrial hip-hop/rock beats. The hip-hop influence is further bolstered by a rare rap feature on a shoegaze tune: that of JC-001, the one-time 'fastest rapper in the world'. The formula of a Curve track should be clear enough on finishing this EP; stark, mysterious, sexy and strange, and always with a sense of self-assured, yet pensive, forward propulsion.

Review: Curve's music represents the electronicization of shoegaze, coming at a turning point in the 1990s in which post-industrial sounds and hoover guitars came naturally together. While the duo's sound seems contemporary, 'Frozen', their second EP, came relatively early on in their career. Imagine MBV but with well-mixed instruments and perhaps even a suitability for the club environment - these ingredients form the basis of the vindictive 'Zoo' or the rapturous 'Coast Is Clear'. This reissue comes as a clear white marble edition; confident road-trip struts, fluorescent guitar washes, and gorgeously lethargic vocals complete Curve's neo-shoegaze picture.