Blacklisters - I Can Confirm (Single Review)

It seems that Leeds mob Blacklisters could not quite bear to let the year escape without giving us one last reminder of their jabbing hardcore influenced noise. Thankfully “I Can Confirm” is not just gratuitous noise making. Blacklisters do have something about them, something that makes this scribe think that their forthcoming debut record will be pretty spectacular when it is finally released next year.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Thursday, 22 December 2011

Under The Driftwood Tree - If Only If (Single Review)

Cardiff five piece Under the Driftwood Tree have toured the UK and Ireland tirelessly for the last two years and have built up quite a following for their acclaimed live shows. Likened to Folk heavyweights Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver and hailed by Radio 1 BBC Introducing as ‘Completely unique’, Under the Driftwood tree describe their music as a mixture of Surf, folk and ‘dancey stuff’. ‘If Only If’ is their first studio recording; released following a particularly successful year which saw them play numerous festivals (including Secret Garden Party, Beach Break Live, Green Man) and saw them win the Isambard NuFolk Award.

Written by: Tim Cox | Date: Wednesday, 21 December 2011

The Black Keys - El Camino (Album Review)

Across their career The Black Keys have been applauded for following the example of Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver, by breathing new indie life in to a style of music your dad will be confused to hear you playing. The Ohio double act that is Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach are making old school bluesy rock and roll cool again with a sound that’s reminiscent of Eric Clapton as much as it is with say, the Raconteurs.

Written by: Owen Sheppard | Date: Wednesday, 14 December 2011

Alice Gold - Wondrous Place (Single Review)

A cover of the Billy Fury song, this version is more instantly recognisable from a recent advertising campaign for beer. Whether these songs then ever get rid of that tag once they are released is another question, but thankfully Alice Gold already has a foundation of song-writing of her own and live appearances under her belt, which already puts her miles ahead of the likes of Babylon Zoo.

Written by: Helen Manley | Date: Tuesday, 13 December 2011

The Feeling – Singles 2006 – 2011 (Album Review)

The Feeling have always been a bit of a marmite kind of band. Too cheesy to be alternative and too guitar based to be pure pop - a band that have probably been described as a guilty pleasure on more than one occasion. Yet despite the doubters, The Feeling have managed to win an Ivor Novello Award, been Brit-nominated and have platinum selling albums under their belts. Not too shabby for a five year career and counting.

Written by: Katie Territt | Date: Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Hawk Eyes - Mindhammer (EP Review)

Hawk Eyes are from Leeds. They used to be called Chickenhawk. Now that we have got the tedious explaining out of the way let us get on to the matter of said band’s very excellent new EP “Mindhammers”.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Monday, 12 December 2011

Tunng - Live From The BBC (Album Review)

After years of being told by radio DJs, friends and, more recently, a very talkative gasman, to check them out, I have finally started listening to Tunng. The British band’s four albums to date have been periphery successes, with their unique experimental folk sound turning alternative heads across Europe and prompting an array of BBC sessions in the UK. For any British band, the first live session at the beeb is a rite of passage, a ‘you’ve made it’ moment, with support from the likes of Peel, Harris and Lamacq. Looking back at a series of radio sessions since their early days in 2005, Tunng saw they had an album’s worth of material, which has now been compiled into the career-spanning LP, This Is Tunng… Live From The BBC.

Written by: Tom Bevan | Date: Monday, 12 December 2011

The Milk - B Roads (Single Review)

The Milk are a very interesting four-piece from Essex. 'B-Roads' is their second single, following their debut '(All I Wanted Was) Danger'. The track is taken from the wider EP 'B-Roads and B-Sides' and has earned the band their first airplay on national radio on Huey Morgan's 6Music show. Having recently been signed, the band are well in the running for 'Best Breakthrough Artist' at The UK Festival awards. There will be hype.

Written by: Steven James | Date: Friday, 09 December 2011

Gorillaz - The Singles Collections: 2001-2011 (Album Review)

Cool Britannia poster boy Damon Albarn may have predicted, shaped and driven the early years of the Britpop revolution as the frontman of Blur in the early 90s, yet almost twenty years later it is unlikely the gold-toothed maestro could ever have imagined the groundbreaking exploits and global success he would enjoy as the mastermind behind virtual band Gorillaz.

Written by: Mark Molloy | Date: Friday, 09 December 2011

Robinson - Without Love (Single Review)

It is fair to say that when you’ve run out of things to write songs about, there is always one subject to turn to…. LOVE.

Written by: Emma Newlyn | Date: Monday, 05 December 2011

Patrick Wolf - Brumalia (EP Review)

London boy Patrick Wolf returns after a summer of festival appearances with his latest EP, Brumalia. The word itself is the name of the Roman winter festival celebrating the shortest day of the year and the EP lives up to it's title with a pleasantly wintery sound that is completely appropriate for its late-November release.

Written by: Steven James | Date: Thursday, 01 December 2011

Saidah Baba Talibah - (S)cream (Single Review)

“It’s a love song, a statement, telling your baby that they're doing it juuuuust right…” So says Toronto based singer/songwriter Saidah Baba Talibah about new single '(S)cream'.

Written by: V O'Hagan | Date: Wednesday, 30 November 2011

NITKOWSKI - Stay in the Home You Love (Album Review)

Out of all the UK’s fine purveyors of noise dominated rock, Nitkowski are possibly the easiest to love on the face of things. Live at least this is a band that, despite the fact that they love to experiment and bemuse their listeners, packs a pretty direct punch and so are all the better as a result. “Stay in the Home You Love” is the band’s second full-length album and the trio (two guitarists and a drummer) seem determined not to make it as fun as a standard live set.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Wham! - The Final (Album Review)

It’s been 25 years since George Michael and Andrew Ridgely left their Wham! career behind on a high. To celebrate (commiserate?) they released ‘The Final’, a compilation album that documented their short, but amazingly successful career in pop. Now, 25 years later, to celebrate the Anniversary, ‘The Final’ is being re-released to remind everyone exactly what Wham! brought to the music industry – and I don’t mean Andrew’s “air” guitar skills.

Written by: Katie Territt | Date: Monday, 28 November 2011

Thin Lizzy - At The BBC (Album Review)

The passing of members can often be controversial in terms of continuing on in the band’s namesake, none more so than Thin Lizzy minus Phil Lynott. While the band notably reformed initially in 1996 with John Sykes taking over on vocals, in a testament to the band they decided not to release any new material on the tours that followed, instead performing a back catalogue from prior to their break.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 28 November 2011

Staind - Staind (Album Review)

The new self-titled album by hard-rock artists ‘Staind’ takes a step back in returning to the angrier, aggressive basics that loyal fans would have sadly missed as the band transformed into a rock-pop glamour laced with ballads such as 2001 single ‘Its Been A While’. The American band seems to be returning back to the fundamentals that made them so popular back in 1995, and bring themselves back to the studio ready for the release of their seventh studio album – with a conspicuous edginess to all ten of their brand new tracks suggesting that these guys definitely have something to prove to the unsuspecting public.

Written by: Catherine Rea | Date: Friday, 25 November 2011

Master And The Mule – 6ixty 5ive (Single Review)

Unnecessarily cheesy title aside, Master and the Mule’s debut single is a pretty impressive slab of vaguely progressively oriented metal. Comparisons to Tool will no longer waste no time in arriving on the scene but to write off this Leeds based quartet as copyists would be doing a disservice to the passion and verve that they display during this track at least. Vocally dextrous and musically attention grabbing, this band have retained the use of dynamics apparent during their previous existence under the moniker Immune but have developed their songwriting skills if this effort is anything to go by.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Friday, 25 November 2011

Westlife - Greatest Hits (Album Review)

Time and time again we see boybands fleetingly entertain the masses, disappear from view and – if they’re lucky – milk a comeback a few years down the line. So, imagine the sadness the music world faced when the lead success in longevity as a boyband announced their plans to disband in 2012. We are, of course, referring to the Irish wonders, Westlife.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Thursday, 24 November 2011

Rihanna - Talk That Talk (Album Review)

After another successful year and only a year since her 'Loud' album dropped, the Barbadian beauty has now released her sixth studio album ‘Talk That Talk’. There is still a buzz and a sense of hype from ‘Loud’, so the big question is why rush a new release? Well, the girl sure knows how to talk that talk, we cannot deny her talent but it seems like she’s took a step backwards musically this time.

Written by: Charlotte Thandy | Date: Tuesday, 22 November 2011

&U&I - Light Bearer (Album Review)

It would be churlish to fill this review up with references to Blakfish, the band to which all three members of &U&I previously belonged, but so many are interested in seeing how the two acts compare that it is hard not to. For whilst it is best perhaps to look at this band as an act completely distinct from Blakfish, no such association or lack of should at all affect how much listeners enjoy this record. This is one of the best debut albums by a British act in a number of years and announces &U&I as a major player on the British post-hardcore scene.

Written by: Ben Bland | Date: Tuesday, 22 November 2011