indie albums
ALBUM REVIEW: King of the Slums – Our Favourite Trainers
THEY emerged from Hulme in 1986, breathing sour fire and an eagle eye for unfashionable detail. Second cousins of The Fall in the way they filtered and spat language to reach deeper, following the grimy thread of it back through 21st-century estates and the Industrial Revolution to a lost, almost medieval rural folk tongue, as …
Album Review: Pottery – Welcome to Bobby’s Motel
If you asked a band what was the idea behind their new record and that record was called ‘Welcome to Bobby’s Motel’ and they told you that it was based on an ‘all encompassing alt-reality’ that they had built around themselves where the band is Bobby and the motel is wherever they are….you might think …
Album Review: The Total Rejection – The Time Traveller’s 3rd Will And Testament
Remember when gigs were a thing? Last year I went to a pub in Salford to see Bristol’s The Total Rejection in all their raucous glory. The gig was fantastic, like seeing ‘65 era The Who playing The Seeds or 13th Floor Elevators songs at full pelt and full volume. They may well wear their influences on …
EP: Starflyer 59 – Miami
Out now is new EP ‘Miami’ by Californian indie band Starflyer 59, on Velvet Blue Music. Starflyer 59 have released a multitude of albums, singles and EPs over the last quarter of a century and this is a nice addition to their expansive discography.The title track, ‘Miami’ is an acoustic-driven slice of psychedelic indie, complete …
Album Review: LYR- Call in the Crash Team
The debut album by LYR is an eclectic and ambitious new project, derived from a trio of producer Patrick Pearson, musician Richard Walters and poet Simon Armitage. Besides a slew of solo records and writing for the likes of Gabrielle Aplin and Alison Moyet, Walters previously worked with Simon Armitage on his solo track Redwoods; …
Album Review: Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
The solo artist, boygenius, and Better Oblivion Community Center member’s second album delivers modern perceptions on mental health and weighty musings on relationships, while displaying the effects and symptoms of relationships rather than simply being love songs, across a lurid but vivid instrumental canvas. The opener’s warped, sparse and eerie vocals resonate like an onomatopoeic …
EP: Got.Knees – A Century of Middle Class Love
Sitting somewhere between ambient and alt-rock, Got.Knees – all we know about him/her is that its a solo project from the UK – has released a new EP, A Century Of Middle Class Love. Talking of the release, Got.Knees says its ‘Inspired by the events that precipitated the outbreak of war in 1914, A Century …
Album Review: Gum Country – ‘Somewhere’
The debut album from the duo of Courtney Gavin (The Courtneys) and multi-instrumentalist Connor Mayer, is released via Bandcamp on June 19th. The album is a buzz of fuzz, feedback ricocheting off of walls and eardrums a plenty, Garvin’s open-tuned guitar has a warmness reminiscent of The Breeders and Mayer’s accompaniment is the perfect compliment …
ALBUM REVIEW: Jetstream Pony – ‘Jetstream Pony’
FOR those who study the form, Sussex/Surrey four-piece Jetstream Pony are serious indie thoroughbreds. Four singles under their belts (should that be their harness?) the band’s self-titled debut LP is out now on limited-press coloured vinyl LP, CD and download. A quick earful and you get punky guitars with bittersweet female melodies, ripe to hook …
Album Review – Jehnny Beth – To Love Is To Live
Former Savages member Jehnny Beth is set to release her debut album To ‘Love Is To Live’ 12th June via Caroline International. This is no Savages though, this is all Beth. Her album and her music. A mash up of classical, Jazz, industrial, post punk and spoken word that span the world of sex, violence, …