Album Reviews
Not Forgotten: They Might Be Giants – Flood
As the 90s dawned, things were restless in the musical firmament. In the UK, we were coming to terms with the fact that we were still suffering from the hangover of terrible pop songs and even worse production methods that the 80s had blighted us with, and across the Atlantic folks were taking a long …
Album Review: Some Truths – Bliss Abyss
There is a lot that can be said for sobbing acid casualties. What might seem to the Conservative ballot-casting outsider like a drooling comatose corpse slumped in the corner of a dance floor is, in fact, a creature that has traversed the finer fragments of inner space. It has seen truths of unfathomable magnitude and …
Tom Brosseau – Perfect Abandon
One of the first things I noticed about Tom Brosseau’s follow-up to 2014’s ‘Grass Punks’ is the sound. Sure, all the usual elements are there: Tom’s high, clear voice and the spare arrangements. But together, Tom, producer John Parish (sometimes on organ) and the band assembled last year (David Butler on (two) drums, Joe Carvell …
Album Review: Bombay Heavy – Bombay Heavy
Reinvention of the self in the music world is nothing new. It’s been done, ad infinitum. Lennon, Bowie, Bono and Beyonce have all adopted alter egos at some stage in their careers. Reasons vary, as do results. Blur’s Damon Albarn was the unmistakable voice behind Gorillaz’ frontman “2D”, an inspired direction for Albarn heralding a …
Album Review: CHAMPS – VAMALA
VAMALA is a word used by Isle of Wight fishermen for a certain type of dangerous storm that comes in suddenly off the sea. It is also the name of the new album from Isle of Wight siblings CHAMPS. released on 23rd February 2015 by Play It Again Sam. Thankfully for Michael and David Champion, their …
Not Forgotten: Guided by Voices – Motivational Jumpsuit
An overlooked rather than a forgotten classic, Motivational Jumpsuit was the first of two albums by Guided by Voices that were released in quick succession in the first half of 2014, before they once again called it a day last September. Less of a disorientating skip through Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout’s collective muse than …
Not Forgotten: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Hard Promises
For reasons that have never been explained to my satisfaction, the majority of rock fans this side of the pond never embraced Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the same way they did Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for this, both are acts steeped in …
Album Review: A Place To Bury Strangers: Transfixiation
Transfixiation is the best album A Place To Bury Strangers has made. That’s not to say anything that came before it wasn’t worthy of hurting our ears. But this time around Oliver Ackermann has given the already harsh, dark sound he creates something it really needed: a groove. It’s not all about the numbing squall of …
Album Review: Ibeyi – Ibeyi
There’s been a fair bit of fuss about Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Díaz, known to us as Ibeyi and to some as daughters of famed percussionist Anga Díaz. Their first album, a self-titled affair is out today (February 16th) on the XL label and is a joyous mix of their own roots – the French Cuban …
Not Forgotten: Teenage Fanclub – Songs from Northern Britain
Having carved a career critically acclaimed career during the peak years of BritPop, by all rights Scottish power-pop guitar-slingers Teenage Fanclub should have been huge and the fact that they have achieved one solitary top 20 single in the UK (the utterly lovely “Ain’t That Enough”) and a trio of top 20 albums, including the …