indie albums
Album Review: Mourn – ‘Ha, Ha, He.’
Catalonian four-piece Mourn make a welcome return with 26 minutes of youthful exuberance. ‘Ha, Ha, He.’ (out now via Captured Tracks) is the second album released by Mourn in the past two years. It would have been released even sooner, if it hadn’t been for label issues, and everything about this album adds to the …
Album Review: Minor Victories – Minor Victories
Minor Victories, if you haven’t read our review of debut single “A Hundred Ropes”, are Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), Justin Lockey (Editors) and his brother James (Hand Held Cine Club, responsible for the exquisite videos that accompany some of these tracks). Originally conceived as part of Justin’s intention to make a ‘noise record …
Album Review: Fatherson – Open Book
Scottish trio Fatherson are on the cusp of releasing their sophomore album Open Book, following the critically acclaimed debut I Am An Island released in 2014. The new record will be available on 3rd June 2016, celebrated with a short tour of the Highlands and album launches in both London and Glasgow. ‘Just Past The Point …
Album Review: Cate Le Bon – Crab Day
Cate Le Bon makes music that is happy and sad at the same time. It’s a mix of 60s euro pop and 70s lower east side New York post-punk. The guitars never get too loud, but they’re played with an attitude by Le Bon that brings the Tom Verlaine/Richard Lloyd guitar interplay to mind. 2013s …
Album Review: Nothing – Tired Of Tomorrow
Nothing seem to float in this very unique musical cloud of both inescapable beauty and sharp ugliness. The sounds are both pastoral and urban. Domenic Palermo’s sometimes gritty upbringing in the streets of North Philly comes through in the sounds that come through the speakers. A youth soundtracked by both hardcore and shoegaze comes through …
Album Review: Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Five years. Five long years. That’s how long us Radiohead fans have been sat waiting for this. 2011’s The King Of Limbs left many fans dissatisfied, especially after the wonderful In Rainbows. There were theories; follow up albums and the like. Hell, with Radiohead, anything could drop at any time. But no; we got Atoms …
Album Review: The Posies – Solid States
While power-pop has undergone something of a resurgence in the last decade or so, in truth, it really hasn’t gone away since the hey-day of At Budokan. Prior to that much of power-pop’s groundwork had been laid by the likes of Raspberries, but it was Big Star who are now regularly name-dropped as the cornerstone …
Album Review: We Are Scientists – Helter Seltzer
The ever–growing manufactured pop industry has many flaws, but perhaps it’s greatest crime is the fact that it has continued to redirected the limelight and record label resources away from a whole generation of non-manufactured acts who would otherwise be enjoying big hit singles and be celebrated by being carried shoulder-high through any town they …
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, …
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 …