indie albums
Album Review: Morgan Delt – Phase Zero
The first thing that hits you on Morgan Delt’s excellent Sub Pop debut Phase Zero is the breezy, island sway of “I Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside”. Vocals just shy of a whisper cascade along a mellow, shuffling rhythm with wobbling guitars, synths, and a prominent proper meaty bass line holding it all together. …
Album Review: The Divine Comedy – Foreverland
Now a dozen albums into their career, The Divine Comedy have steadily carved their own unique niche into the musical landscape over the last twenty seven years. While Foreverland breaks little in the way of new ground for Neil Hannon and his bandmates, it continues to steadily build on what has already proved to be …
Album Review: Ed Harcourt – Furnaces
In a music scene still crammed full of post-Jeff Buckley singer songwriters, Ed Harcourt has been criminally overlooked down the years, especially when you consider that he’s only released one album and one single which have hit the top 40 charts here in the UK. Having released a critically lauded debut in Here Be Monsters, …
Album Review: Ezra Furman – Big Fugitive Life
It was the eighties that made androgyny so popular. Huge stars like Prince, Boy George and Adam Ant showed that it was just as cool for a man to rock lipstick and eyeliner as it was the girls. That flamboyancy has gone hand in hand with the music world ever since. Ezra Furman arrived on …
Album Review: Viola Beach – Viola Beach
Valentine’s weekend this year. I was on my way home from British seaside town Scarborough, where Backseat Mafia had just finished a triumphant weekend hosting a stage at the town’s Coastival festival; a fantastic weekend for live music. Or so I thought. It was then that I heard the sad news that Cheshire born indie …
Album Review: Ryan Young & Electric Sunrise – Heat Seeker
Us Sheffield folk have always been a proud bunch. And why shouldn’t we be? From our great bands such as Pulp and Arctic Monkeys to our heritage as makers of the world’s greatest knives and forks. Anyone from the area who follows the local music scene may already be familiar with singer-songwriter Ryan Young. For …
Album Review: Purple – Bodacious
Texas three piece Purple have released their latest album Bodacious, through PIAS. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, think noisey, frayed at the edges power-pop, with a heap of punk attitude and some wonky arty chord progressions thrown in for good measure. It’s this mixture of the quirky and the catchy and the sour that …
Album Review: Bat for Lashes – The Bride
It’s been 10 years since Natasha Khan, aka Bat For Lashes released her first album Fur and Gold (2006) and introduced her whimisical storytelling on the world. She honed her craft on Two Suns (2009), she dealt with dicotomies and alter egos, in the shape of ‘Pearl’ whose personality is strong and full of herself, …
Album Review: Cool Sounds – Dance Moves
Melbourne’s Cool Sounds live up to their namesake. Imagine an alternate universe where Mac Demarco, My Morning Jacket, and a less Beach Boys-centric Dent May formed an indie rock Voltron and put out an album that while never truly rocked it floated along nicely on a cloud of jangly melancholy. That’s what Cool Sounds does …
Album Review: Peter Björn & John — Breakin’ Point
During the recording of Swedish pop wizards Peter Morén, Björn Yttling, and John Eriksson’s latest album Breakin’ Point, after a five-year hiatus, they actually did contemplate splitting up. Instead they brought in a few gifted outside producers for the first time, listened to a lot of ABBA, and created an exquisite collection of some …