David Smyth began writing about music at the Daily Telegraph in 1999 where, as the only employee younger than 78, he was considered an unlikely authority on DJs and clubbing. He became the Evening Standard’s main critic in 2002, and though he usually travels no further than Brixton Academy, he has also covered festivals in Oslo and Texas, thrown shapes at the Berlin Love Parade and spent a night in Amsterdam with Status Quo. He once visited James Blunt’s opulent hideout in Ibiza and gained a previously unthinkable admiration for the tear-stained balladeer. He has also written for Q, The New Statesman and Harper's Bazaar, and is the co-author of The Best Music You’ve Never Heard.

David Smyth anonymously reviewed: