Norah Jones - Little Broken Hearts (Album Review)

Like a swan's head craning awkwardly backwards revealing a gaping, bloody wound in it's neck, transformations don't come more dramatic than Norah Jones' new album, a captivating indie set produced and co-written by Danger Mouse.

Written by: Helen Grant | Date: Thursday, 17 May 2012

TrioVD - Maze (Album Review)

This album sets itself up so well. An avant-garde jazz metal fusion bonanza thing of an album like 'Maze' needs to go straight for the jugular and, in the mind boggling 'Brick', it does just that. With more than a slight twinge of Norwegian loony geniuses Shining, it turns up and flattens listeners before they have a chance to even think what it is that is actually going on. Sadly, 'Maze', whilst always threatening to do the same thing again, never quite manages to quite keep hold of the listeners it has flawed early on.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 16 May 2012

Pulled Apart By Horses - Wolf Hand (Single Review)

Pulled Apart By Horses emerged in late 2007, making a reputation for themselves as an exciting live act before releasing their self-titled debut in 2010. Two years down the line PABH are still injecting their unparalleled humour and energy into their shows and live recordings alike. 'Wolf Hand' is the follow-up single to 'V.E.N.O.M' off the band's second album, 'Tough Love'.

Written by: Steven James | Date: Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Mothlite - Dark Age (Album Review)

Daniel O’Sullivan, the man behind Mothlite, is nothing if not varied in his musical travails. His work with Ulver is notable for its dark ambience and, often breath-taking, sonic experimentation. 'Dark Age' meanwhile is more like a pop record trying desperately to claw its way out of an experimental electronic record. There are hooks galore here but O’Sullivan seems determined to hide them as well as he possibly can.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 11 May 2012

Hot Water Music - Exister (Album Review)

I wouldn’t have placed any bets against Hot Water Music reforming. I possibly would have placed bets against Hot Water Music releasing a comeback album that lived up to expectations. That would have been a stupid move. 'Exister' is pretty much everything you could have wanted the band’s comeback record to be.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 11 May 2012

Black Shape Of Nexus - Negative Black (Album Review)

How can one describe Black Shape of Nexus? Imagine you took an early Mastodon song, played it half the way through and then thought you’d stretch out the enjoyment a bit…so you stuck it on Cubase and made it about six times longer than it actually was. That is a little bit like what Black Shape of Nexus sound like. They have the same punishing reliance on horrifically overdriven distorted guitar; you know the sort, it makes you feel like someone has hit you several times in the gut with a hammer. Sludgy though this is however, where Black Shape of Nexus stands out from the crowd is with their drone influences.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 09 May 2012

Sennen - Lost Harmony (Album Review)

Considering their status as perennial outsiders, Sennen have been in the game for a while, pushing forth their trenchant brand of dreamy indie rock for a decade now. Based on their latest offering, I would imagine that any hopes of a breakthrough would only be clutched as firmly as straws. There is not a lot wrong with 'Lost Harmony' per se; rather, there is a not a lot full stop.

Written by: Jonny Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 08 May 2012

Billy Vincent - She (Album Review)

Billy Vincent are clearly not a band to do things by halves. Despite its fairly ordinary folk rock/country aesthetics, 'She' is a rather overwhelming blast of heart over pretty much anything else. Billy Vincent want to be believed and, to give them their dues, much of the time they do come across as pretty sincere.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 08 May 2012

Nate Hall - A Great River (Album Review)

It perhaps isn’t much of a surprise to see Nate Hall putting his name to a folk record. His work with the band US Christmas has always had undercurrents of traditional music underneath its layers of psychedelic contortion. Here those influences are taken by Hall and, although there are still elements of the sound for which he is already respected, this is mostly an alarmingly stripped back record.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 08 May 2012

Taproot - The Episodes (Album Review)

Most people who have heard of Taproot in this country will remember early hit 'Poem', that looped around various rock music TV channels with a huge rotation. But then again, everyone loved heavy rock and metal in 2002, and since then bands like Taproot have been quietly existing, releasing albums and going on tour to little or no fanfare. Will 'The Episodes' bring them back to the front or do they just go through the motions?

Written by: James Ball | Date: Monday, 07 May 2012

Orbital - Wonky (Album Review)

Orbital are a British electronic dance music duo consisting of rave brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Most known for their album, ‘The Middle of Nowhere’, released in 1999, which reached Number Four in the UK album chart. Orbital were around at the beginning of the acid house scene in the early 90’s, they helped to create the shape of electronic music to come in the next 20 years, however they have been disastrously left behind.

Written by: Marcus Colley | Date: Friday, 04 May 2012

I Like Trains - The Shallows (Album Review)

There really is something about I Like Trains that is uniquely appealing compared to many of their fellow British alt/post-rock bands. They have never been afraid to push the boat out a little, as evidenced by the conceptual nature of much of their output, and, perhaps more importantly, they have been lucky enough to pick up on the qualities that every interesting band of their ilk desires; i.e. they can write interesting music and proper songs at the same time. 2010’s 'He Saw the Deep' proved this in hugely impressive fashion and 'The Shallows', benefiting from some new facets added to the band’s sound, is another excellent offering from the Leeds quartet.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 03 May 2012

Emmure - Slave To The Game (Album Review)

When my friends and I speak of Emmure, many similar things come up. They don’t often tread new ground with their music and could perhaps push the boundaries a bit more; to their credit however, if you love big breakdowns, Emmure have always had your needs catered for. So, as attention turns to their fifth album ‘Slave To The Game’, one has to question if this will mark an improvement from their previous release which was, personally, a tad disappointing.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 30 April 2012

Holy State - Electric Picture Palace (Album Review)

Norfolk quartet Holy State have already announced that they will be splitting up following this album release. As such, it is hard to look at 'Electric Picture Palace' as merely a full- length debut but more what it now effectively is…their entire career on one forty minute CD.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 30 April 2012

Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion (Album Review)

The difficult thing about long awaited collaborations is that there is that the weight of expectation is always likely to render anything but the most spectacular of end products irrelevant to the ears of many listeners. That is, of course, assuming that the two high profile collaborators have worked together to produce something of the style expected. 'Storm Corrosion', whilst it may come as no surprise to seasoned followers of its two protagonists, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree / No-Man / Solo) and Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), to more casual fans of the pair this record is going to be a tremendous disappointment.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Sunday, 29 April 2012

Cheryl - Call My Name (Single Review)

Capital FM were the lucky ones to première the comeback single from Cheryl Cole. Having formerly dropped her ex-husband Ashley Cole’s surname, she wants to now be known as Cheryl.

Written by: Lara Rainsforth | Date: Monday, 23 April 2012

T Rex - Electric Warrior (Reissue Album Review)

Preceding with a string of iconic hits that lead to a chart-topping, yet brief success, T. Rex ascended from the early 70s’ as one of glam’s greatest contrivers of all time. And who’d have thought that when the band put out their sixth studio disc, leader Marc Bolan would have just six years left to sustain his iconic legacy.

Written by: Gemma-Louise Johnson | Date: Monday, 23 April 2012

Felix - Oh Holy Molar (Album Review)

It’s hard to know what to make of Felix. The trio, comprised of pianist and vocalist Lucinda Chua, guitarist Chris Summerlin and drummer Neil Turpin, got a bit of a break when Stars of the Lid backed them ahead of signing to the renowned Kranky Records. However their music shares almost nothing with their illustrious fans in the ambient world. The songs here are essentially two or three minute piano led pop songs or, at least, they are masquerading as such.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 20 April 2012

JK Flesh - Posthuman (Album Review)

Is there anything Justin K. Broadrick hasn’t tried his hand at yet? He’s done the whole pioneering metal thing (at least twice over). He’s done the whole epic post-rock shoegaze thing. He’s dabbled in the worlds of ambient, drone and electronica yet now he’s decided to take on dubstep. Sorry…what?

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 20 April 2012

Thin Lizzy - Fighting (Reissue Album Review)

So, the year is 1975. Tom Baker has just settled into his role as the Fourth Doctor; The Beano comic cost 4p per issue, Margaret Thatcher was still four years away from becoming one of Britain's most famous Prime Ministers, and I was still a full ten years from being born.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Friday, 20 April 2012