indie albums
Album Review: Promise and The Monster – Feed the Fire
As someone that written album reviews for over a decade, I’ve learned to accept that there are some reviews which just don’t come easy. Sometimes because it’s difficult to put into words just how mind-fryingly amazing some music is. Or sometimes it’s the flip of that, where there are no words strong enough for you …
Album Review: Suede — Night Thoughts
Suede* is the band that many forget actually kickstarted (or possibly hotwired) Britpop. Night Thoughts is Suede’s seventh album and only the second since their welcomed reunion in 2010, a bit close on the heels of 2013’s Bloodsports. For fans who started to lose interest after Coming Up, this may well be the album to …
Album Review: Tuff Love – Resort
If you’ve already been seduced by Tuff Love’s fuzzy indie pop, you probably own the three EPs they released between 2012 and the end of 2015. If so, you can stop reading this review. Go and listen to those EPs back to back and congratulate yourself on having great musical taste. Everyone else please read …
Album Review: Eleanor Friedberger – New View
“Oh Eleanor, it’s going to be alright. Things may seem down right now, but I promise things will get better. People come and people go out of our lives, but we will always have the memories of those people to put a smile on our face. Or, bring a tear to the eye. Regardless, you …
Album Review: The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum
The Besnard Lakes sound like a cloudburst in the middle of an emotional breakdown. Absolute beauty in the midst of some psychic turmoil. Towering melody and cavernous harmonies ride on psychedelic riffs and proper rock and roll drum bashing. Ever since the very beginning back in 2003 the Montreal-based husband and wife team of Jace …
Album Review: King Charles – Gamble For A Rose
Things are changing for singer-songwriter Charles Costa AKA King Charles. His 2012 album ‘LoveBlood’ was a bouncy and quirky collection of pop gems. But January sees the release of its follow-up, and it couldn’t be further removed. Those big pop hooks have been replaced with something else; something more honest, and raw. After his collaboration …
Album Review: Hinds – Leave Me Alone
With the release of their highly anticipated debut album, ‘Leave Me Alone’, Hinds melt away the January blues with twelve songs full of attitude, charm and Spanish warmth. The Madrid quartet started out as a duo called Deers in 2011 before Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote were joined by Ade Martín and Amber Grimbergen …
Album Review: Turin Brakes – Lost Property
To me Turin Brakes are like an old friend I’ve lost regular touch with over the years that I bump into in my local one evening. We’ve not seen each other for a while, but after some initial awkwardness, we end up having one of those nights out that sticks in your memory and reminds …
Album Review: Villagers – Where Have You Been All My Life?
I liked Villagers from the moment my friend Susie slipped their debut album into her car CD player as she gave me a lift to the train station one lunchtime in early 2011. The fact that they were effectively a him (Conor O’Brien), that he / they were signed to the ever-dependable Domino Records and …
Album Review: Skunk Anansie – Anarchytecture
Remember the first time you ever saw Skunk Anansie? Lead singer Skin was unlike anyone else on the scene at the time; a scary looking woman with a shaved head, in camo trousers and Docs. You wouldn’t have wanted to bump into her on a dark night. The music no doubt went hand in hand …