Album Reviews
Album Review: Pet Shop Boys – Super
You can’t keep a good man down. That’s the saying, isn’t it? Well in this case it’s two good men. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have been together as The Pet Shop Boys since the eighties, and have always prided themselves on creating inventive electronic pop music. You either love them or hate them, but …
Album Review: Babymetal – Metal Resistance
After the undeniable success of their debut self-titled record it was interesting to see just how Babymetal could validate their impressive rise to fame. The elephant in the room when discussing a band like Babymetal is always whether they are simply a gimmick aiming for short time success or an actual long term prospect in …
Album Review: Palace of Worms – The Ladder
Combining the sounds from multiple black metal scenes comes Palace of Worms, a solo project which allows the bands mastermind, Balan, to express himself both musically and emotionally. His latest album, entitled The Ladder, is a record seeping with raw emotion as he details both the light and dark sides of humanity. Despite only being …
Album Review: Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness
Listening to Explosions in the Sky for me has always been like that lump in your throat moment in a great film. The tragic losses, the triumphant successes, and the moment when you realize everything is going to be all right despite all the downs you’ve gone through to get there. They soundtrack both figuratively …
Album Review: Vessels – Dilate
The main difference in the development of Leeds five piece from 2011’s Helioscope is their seeming embracing of electronica which has replaced their penchant for post-rock for new album Dilate, out now through PIAS. And while their debut was an album that showed interest and no little ambition, Dilate – with its various nods at …
AlBum Review: Eliza and the Bear “Eliza and the Bear”
Eliza and the Bear have their biggest disclaimer on their twitter profile: “No one in this band is called Eliza” and it needs reiterating just in case you confused them for one of that popular trend of female fronted acts like Florence + the Machine, Marina and the Diamonds or Betty and the Werewolves. Nope, …
Say Psych: Album Review, House In The Tall Grass by Kikagaku Moyo/ 幾何学模様
Kikagaku Moyo/ 幾何学模様 is one of our absolute favourite bands here on Psych Insight/ Backseat Mafia. The group’s last two albums made our ‘Essential’ list in 2014, and we have been wowed by their exciting live performances,. As a result the levels of expectations for a new album are sky high, and went up a notch when …
Say Psych: Album Review, Sunshower by Psychic Heat
Psychic Heat are a band who are new to me. A four piece from Lawrence, Kansas (USA); they are, with apologies, from a place that I’ve never heard of before either. Mapping the band’s music, however, takes me into more familiar territory. According to the band themselves they “draw…inspiration from the British neo-psych pop scene …
Album Review: The Last Shadow Puppets – Everything You’ve Come To Expect
Alex Turner and Miles Kane are back as the Last Shadow Puppets, still playing at the Riviera bad-boys like Morecambe & Wise at their cinematic best. As on their debut album, they skid on Shirley Bassey strings arrangements like dogshit in a badly-lit car park, and merge Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ histrionics with 50s pizzazz, yet still …
Say Psych: Album Review, Stellar Prophecy by Black Rainbows
I have only recently come across Italian three-piece Black Rainbows. The stoner rock band’s ‘Hawkdope’ album from last year was one that grabbed me immediately when I first heard it a month or so ago. So when I found out that the band had a new impending release I was all over it like a …