Album Reviews
Album Review: Papir – IIII
Not too long ago I found this little slice of musical heaven located in Denmark. It’s a little record label that goes bythe name of El Paraiso Records. It was started by some guys in a band called Causa Sui in order to release their records to the listening public. As well as releasing Causa …
Album Review: Mogwai – Rave Tapes
It was July of 2004 and my best friend and I headed to Chicago to the Curiosa Festival. We were psyched, man. The Cure, Interpol, The Rapture, and a bunch of other bands. Who cares who else was there? The Cure and Interpol, that’s all we needed to know. So we arrived in the early …
Album Review: Tom Brosseau – Grass Punks
There are certain records that seem like they are nurtured, almost organically, like a gardener in his allotment allows things to grow. North Dakota songman Tom Brosseau’s new record, his first in five years, but his seventh overall, certainly has that feeling about it. That was perhaps expected in his music to a certain extent. …
Say Psych: Album Review – Sky Is Hell Black by Has A Shadow (Captcha Records/ Fuzz Club Records)
In the past musical trends have tended to be broadly geographical: the Merseybeat scene, West Coast Flower Power, German Krautrock, NY Punk, Coventry’s Two Tone, Madchester – I could go on. One of the amazing things about the current psychedelic scene, however, is that it is truly global. Facilitated by social networking and the digital …
Album Review: Quilt – Held In Splendor
As soon as Quilt’s new long player Held In Splendor begins playing you get the feeling you’ve been transported to 1968. The room is a little wobbly, the air is thick, and the beanbag you’re sitting in is strangely comfortable. A goofy grin forms across your face and opening track “Arctic Shark” has done its job. …
Album Review: A Great Big World – ‘Is Anybody Out There’
Of all the albums coming out this first quarter, this has been the one I’ve been looking forward to most. When you listen to a lot of albums that try to be deep & meaningful this and concept that it’s always nice to return to an album that has just simple and honest good music. …
Psych Insight: Album Review – Hello Griefbirds! by The Shine Brothers (Cardinal Fuzz)
To say that Cardinal Fuzz are on a roll would be an understatement. The label has a series of vinyl releases under its belt which have, to my ears, all been winners; and my previous recommendations of albums by The Dead Sea Apes and Vision Fortune might lead you to believe that I have some …
NOT FORGOTTEN – JELLYFISH – BELLYBUTTON
The early 90s were an unexpectedly fertile time for power-pop. The Posies blended harmonies and overloaded guitars with dreams of joining Big Star, Matthew Sweet proved it was possible to be a power-pop solo artist, Del Amitri were a little more rock, but were more than welcome to sit at the table, Crowded House were …
Not Forgotton: Northside – Chicken Rhythms, and new spring tour dates
For me, it started with an apple. For there, in my local record emporium (the glorious Left Legged Pineapple in Loughborough) as I thumbed through Cocteau Twins, King of the Slums, Fuzztones, A.C. Marias, Blur, Diesel Park West, Lush and Bridewell Taxis records, I kept coming back to this record, with nothing more than an …
ALBUM REVIEW – TOY – JOIN THE DOTS
TOY have a lot of nerve. There’s not many bands that would gamble releasing their second album during the second week of December, a time of year the music industry primarily dedicates to releasing nigh profit margin compilations, or the dreaded Christmas Album. There’s also not many bands that would open that same album with …