Wild Beasts - Smother (Album Review)
My personal anticipation for Wild Beasts’ third long player has actually been, to my surprise, minimal. After being more than impressed with their debut 'Limbo, Panto' and then being blown away, along with everyone else, by 'Two Dancers', at the start of 2011 I pinpointed 'Smother' as an album to get excited for. But if I’m honest, I sort of forgot all about. I never got around to listening to 'Albatross' when it was first posted to the net, which, in hindsight, I’m pretty happy about. Missing those singles and coming to an album totally in the dark is always the best way to experience music. So, let me tell you now, 'Smother' is all kinds brilliant.
Written by: Rhys Morgan | Date: Thursday, 12 May 2011
Maybeshewill - I Was Here For A Moment, Then I Was Gone (Album Review)
When Maybeshewill first sprung up from the murky depths of the post-rock world they were often dismissed as mere 65daysofstatic copyists. Of course this was utter rubbish. They may have shared 65dos’s passion for combining traditional soaring post-rock with electronic elements but Maybeshewill were always a whole different beast at heart. 65dos have always been more of an electronic act deep down and in recent times have even chosen to practically abandon the guitar from their recordings. Maybeshewill on the other hand have frequently ventured into the genre’s heavier realms and even verged on metallic territory at times. The band’s third album, the excellently titled 'I Was Here for a Moment, Then I Was Gone', is another journey into sonic bliss, although one that differs subtly from its predecessors.
Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 10 May 2011
Tom Moriarity - Fire in the Dolls House (Album Review)
I begin this review with a confession. I can hardly contain my excitement about this next album - 'Fire in the Dolls House' by Tom Moriarty.
Written by: Craig Willis | Date: Monday, 09 May 2011
Twenty Twenty - Small Talk (Album Review)
Twenty Twenty are a band who are on the verge of breaking into the mainstream. They have created a little buzz around them which is growing very nicely with their brand of pop/rock which could see them sit alongside the likes of McFly in the pop market.
Written by: Steve Wellman | Date: Monday, 09 May 2011
Sound of Rum ‘Balance’ (Album Review)
While the likes of Dizzee Rascal and other so-called leaders of British hip-hop are trading in their streetwise, socially-conscious lyrics for songs about dancefloors, discos and holidays, it’s refreshing to discover a new act that still manages to bring the rawness of genuine UK rap music while continuing to keep things sounding fresh and exciting enough to prevent the genre from going stale. Anyone who agrees will be pleased to hear that Sound of Rum are offering exactly that.
Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Monday, 09 May 2011
Mojo Fury - Visiting Hours Of A Travelling Circus (Album Review)
Having played with everyone from recently departed legends Oceansize to fellow countrymen And So I Watch You From Afar on recent UK tours, Mojo Fury’s debut full-length comes highly anticipated by many who have been impressed by the Northern Irish quartet’s spiky live shows. The impressively titled 'Visiting Hours of a Travelling Circus' is a record in which Mojo Fury try to forge their own sound whilst also paying tribute to the bands that have clearly influenced them along the way.
Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 09 May 2011
The Libertines - There Are No Innocent Bystanders (Film Review)
There was much anticipation surrounding the upcoming Libertines film ‘There Are No Innocent Bystanders’ which premiered at the opening gala of the East End film festival. For members of a certain generation, The Libertines were the dirty-faced champions of national pride, and so the fact that this film premiered in the week of the royal wedding, as London stood draped beneath a thousand Union Jacks, seemed sweetly ironic.
Written by: Victoria O'Hagan | Date: Monday, 09 May 2011
Jeudah - While We Sleep (Album Review)
If there is anything to be said about the new Jeudah record While We Sleep, it is that time and distance should never be seen as a barrier to creativity. A collaboration between Kristian Karlsson, multi instrumentalist with Pg.lost, and Khoma vocalist Jan Jämte, While We Sleep substantiates that not everything needs to be done within the constraints of convention.
Written by: Patrick Gormley | Date: Thursday, 05 May 2011
Comodo - To The Sun (EP Review)
There’s a very thin line in music between an amateur and a professional. That line is raw talent. Well, fortunately for us Oli Shilling aka Comodo has more than enough to step him over that line and have him sprinting towards the upper echelons of the unsigned music world.
Written by: Rhys Morgan | Date: Tuesday, 03 May 2011
The Procession - Sometimes (EP Review)
The opening fade-in to this debut EP’s title track marks a breach of middle-of-the-road indie flooding clubs across the land. 'Sometimes' is a three-and-a-half minute tour through the band’s best qualities: genial guitar subtlety over muted vocals, bass and drums doing more than keeping pace; the song in isolation contains half a dozen memorable hooks book-ended by enticing guitar drone. The song’s chorus first sounds like a conflict of interest between lead guitar and vocal, but somehow the two fit. The build-up first and cut-away second verses indicate genuine intelligence on the musicians’ parts: rather than loud/quiet/loud, we are treated to writhing bass and clever use of snare.
Written by: Ed Davies | Date: Tuesday, 03 May 2011
Panda Bear - Tomboy (Album Review)
Now I don’t for a second believe that my mind is in any way capable of interoperating half of the shit that goes on in Noah Lennox’s, but I’m going to try my best to do his artistic genius justice. Lennox aka Panda Bear has already released three acclaimed solo albums and as a founding member of Animal Collective, has had his fair share of praise there too. But solo album four, 'Tomboy', is up for a much harder time of it. Being released into a musical landscape post 'Merriweather Post Pavilion', there is widespread expectation where there was none for the post 'Strawberry Jam', 'Person Pitch'. The masses now know Panda Bear and the masses are waiting for something spectacular.
Skindred ‘Union Black’ (Album Review)
Despite earning themselves a strong reputation as one of the best live bands in the country, the success that has followed Newport’s Skindred in their home country over the past seven years has never quite equalled that offered by their transatlantic fans. Unlike many of Skindred’s British contemporaries, American audiences seem to have responded much better to the quartet’s music than they have among the home crowds. Each of the band’s first three albums, along with a number of the accompanying singles, received respectable chart placings in the US and Skindred followed their successes with relentless touring on that side of the pond. Following the deafening buzz created by so-called nu-metallers like Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down, it seemed that American rock fans were only too keen to take to Skindred’s blend of metal, reggae and dance music and the South Wales four-piece were more than happy to provide.
Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Tuesday, 03 May 2011
And So I Watch You From Afar - Gangs (Album Review)
When the curiously monikered And So I Watch You From Afar dropped their debut record on an unsuspecting rock world they more than blew the doors off the poor little Mini Cooper, they blew it to kingdom come...and then some. You see what this band did with their self-titled debut was to release a post-rock album that was a hardcore punk album at the same time. Tracks like the blistering 'Set Guitars to kill' saw post-rock played at hardcore intensity as if that was the way the genre was born to be. Refreshing in its unique approach to what is all too often a stale genre these days, 'And So I Watch You From Afar' was rightly lavished with lashings of critical praise upon its release back in 2009. Now the band has responded to the challenge of providing a suitably monolithic second album in typically confident fashion.
Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 28 April 2011
Ulver - War Of The Roses (Album Review)
It’s astonishing to look at where Ulver are today and to think back to where they have come from. These eclectic Norwegians began their life as a black metal band heavily influenced by their national folklore. Nowadays they are a genre-busting electronica act. Of course the notorious black metal scene, in Norway especially, is not well known for its overwhelming tolerance for other musical creeds...quite the opposite. Along their bumpy ride Ulver have had to put up constantly with the purists scoffing at their departure from the black metal scene that spawned them. Everyone else who has given them a listen in this time meanwhile has been astonished by their musical explorations.
Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Two Against One / BLACK (Double A-Side Review)
Danger Mouse is one of those producers that everyone wants to work with. His collaboration with the then unknown Cee Lo Green sparked Gnarls Barkley and THAT song that was #1 forever. He wrote his own Grey Album, mixing together Jay-Z and the Beatles to create something interesting and new, and he’s also produced Gorillaz second (and arguably best) album. Oh, and he’s having a major influence on U2s next LP too. Basically, everything he touches turns to gold and this double A-side, released as part of Record Store Day, is no different.
Written by: James Ball | Date: Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Fleet Foxes ‘Helplessness Blues’ (Album Review)
As well as leading the way for the recent spate of indie-folk acts such as our own Mumford & Sons and fellow north-westerners The Decemberists, Seattle’s Fleet Foxes have also done a very fine job of crafting their own brand of psychedelic folk-pop since the release of their eponymous debut in 2008. With their extensive use of choir-like vocal harmonies and more instruments than you can shake a stick at, the sextet have managed to create a plethora of warm sunrise choruses, heard in tracks like the conversely-titled ‘White Winter Hymnal’, which somehow capture a range of moods all drawn into one big melting pot of sound.
Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Tuesday, 26 April 2011
The Chakras - We The People (Single Review)
There are a few tips to making a great song: One: you need a killer hook. Two: you need a memorable chorus. Three: you need clever, thought-provoking lyrics. Four: More cowbell.
Written by: James Ball | Date: Thursday, 21 April 2011
Metronomy - The English Riviera (Album Review)
The LA sound? Yes. The Seattle sound? Yes. The Devon sound? Well that’s possibly not one many people are used to hearing, however Metronomy aim to change that with their third album ‘The English Riviera’. Using the resort’s name and logo for this new release, the band have attempted to create an album that gives Devon it’s own sound, because apparently, ‘at the moment it’s crap’.
Written by: Emma Newlyn | Date: Thursday, 21 April 2011
Alessi’s Ark – Time Travel (Album Review)
There aren’t too many artists out there that have released two albums, worked with people from bands as well-known as Bright Eyes and Mumford & Sons and toured with a list of equally renowned artists - all by the time they reach the age of 20. Even fewer have done it with the precision and awe-inspiring manner of Hammersmith’s Alessi Laurent-Marke – aka Alessi’s Ark. Two years after the release of her debut album ‘Notes from the Treehouse’ (which was produced by Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis) and Alessi is back with her second LP ‘Time Travel’.
Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Thursday, 21 April 2011
We Are The Ocean – Go Now And Live (Album Review)
Since cutting their teeth on first album ‘Cutting Our Teeth’, Essex post-hardcore quintet We Are The Ocean have wasted little time in making their big return for second outing ‘Go Now And Live’. A mere one year on from their debut and the band are back with album number two. A quick follow-up maybe, but certainly no less satisfying.
