Album Reviews
Album Review : Language of Shapes :: Mother Mountain
Language of Shapes inhabit a musical world all their own. Not that they don’t allow certain musical influences to seep into that world and show themselves now and then, but for the most part LoS score their wonderful little universe all their own. Their self-titled debut from 2012 showed a band brimming and bursting with …
Album Review: Taylor Swift – 1989
I’d intended to go in one direction when I began writing this, that being to just do a straight up review of the record. As it is I’ve ended up going in quite another, taking detours with Billy Bragg, the AMAs, the Spotify row, Bob Harris’ ‘My Nashville’ documentary, and Taylor. ‘1989’ is a high-profile …
Psych Insight: Album Review, Mugstar/ Cosmic Dead split (Evil Hoodoo)
I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of split LPs, I know that they are a great thing for many bands since it gets their music out there for pretty much half the cost, and introduces them to a wider audience; but as a buyer of records I still like the idea …
Album Review : My Drunken Haze – My Drunken Haze
One listen to Athens, Greece quintet My Drunken Haze and their self-titled debut, you can tell they’ve done their homework. Their sound is colored with hues found on a late-60s psychedelic color wheel. They veer more on the side of pop than rock, but that’s not to say a fuzz pedal isn’t engaged here and …
Album Review; Ariel Pink – Pom Pom
I must confess to being late to the Ariel Pink party. His debut album ‘House Arrest’ came out in 2002, completely under my radar. I stumbled across this new album, ‘Pom Pom’ whilst perusing Spotify for something new to listen to. I had no idea what to expect, but it was clear from the opening …
Album Review: Polybius – Be Seeing You
It’s difficult to know whether Polybius were formed, or born, or indeed anything. Best to assume the Sheffield / Rotherham based duo were forged. Certainly the (musical) DNA of Warp and Voltaire and Clock DVA have played heavy on the duo, only known as EV and the Random (“our personal names are irrelevant”) and they …
Not Forgotten – The Shins – Wincing the Night Away
It’s happened to me more times than I like to think – I discover a great band with a small but interesting discography, I’ve just missed them on tour, but great things are expected of their next album. So I patiently wait. And wait. Finally the album is released. It’s not quite as good as …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – War Child
Released in 1974, War Child found Jethro Tull at a crossroads in their career. Having had their previous album, the dense and generally grumpy A Passion Play, critically mauled and a subsequent mis-step by management that saw the band apparently announcing their retirement without their knowledge, War Child was the opportunity for the band to …
Say Psych: Album Review – I’m Your Mind Fuzz by King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard
It was a rainy Thursday night in Leeds, and I had just had a long and full day which I had found pretty exhausting. I’d dragged myself out of the place where I was staying and, even up to the point of getting to the doors of The Belgrave Music Hall where the band were …
Album Review: Underworld – Dubnobasswithmyheadman – Deluxe
Now that the storm of the remastered re-issue is calming down, I feel its time to write about one of my all time favourite albums. One of the main things that struck me while reading through various reviews from a number of fawning critics was that at the time of its release I don’t remember anyone really …