indie albums
Album Review: FFS – FFS
FFS are a supergroup in the purest sense. Two musical acts, seperated by a generation, combining to release an album which will hopefully combine the best bits of their respective sounds. It’s particularly interesting for me though, as I’ve had contrasting fan-relationships with the two acts. I liked Franz Ferdinand from the moment I heard …
Album Review: Girlpool – Before the World Was Big
When The World Was Big, the debut album from lo-fi duo Girlpool, is one of those albums that welcomes you in, makes you feel happy and keeps you pleasantly engrossed right to the very end. As the title suggests, many of the songs take you back to the time we were growing up, a time …
Album Review: Everything Everything – Get To Heaven
Everything Everything’s third album Get to Heaven thankfully does not veer far from their first two witty, dark records. This time around they feel very confident about their work and rightly so. In fact, it contains probably their hookiest pop song yet, the first single “Distant Past” and other flashes of danceable despair. Bass player Jeremy …
Album Review: The Fratellis “Me And The Devil”
It’s been over two years since “We Need Medicine” but Glasgow’s favourite indie trio The Fratellis are back! They’ve got a brand new song “Me And The Devil”, an upcoming album “Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied” and have just announced a few live dates in the UK followed by a US tour in September. It is …
Album Review: Other Lives – Rituals
There’s no doubt there’s something to Stillwater, Oklahoma trio Other Lives, just ask endorsees Radiohead and Bon Iver, and Rituals, the bands third album, certainly has plenty of moments where their balance of the ambitious, the cinematic and the (at least previously evident) earthy folk strands pull together to make something that reminiscent of, well, …
Album Review: Sarah Cracknell – Red Kite
In 1993 I had the pleasure of meeting Sarah Cracknell at a signing at an HMV store. It was Sheffield sound city and the Saint Etienne were doing the signing ahead of their set. I took along my copies of ‘Foxbase Alpha’ and ‘So Tough’. I had never really met any singers or bands before …
Album Review: Gengahr – A Dream Outside
A lot of the time these days we’re constantly reminded that yes; guitar music is dead, or no; guitar music isn’t dead. Then we have punky bands like The Vaccines, Palma Violets and Catfish and the Bottlemen that resurrect rock music like Frankenstein’s monster. But I’ve been of the mind that instead of insisting that …
Album Review: Palma Violets – Danger in the Club
The London based Indie Rock outlet Palma Violets broke through to the mainstream with their debut album 180, released in 2013, after a successful lead single and significant promotion from the likes of NME. Comparisons have been drawn from the likes of The Libertines, The Strokes, and the whole Garage-Rock revival. Admittedly, I was not …
Album review: I Am Kloot – Hold Back The Night
It seems to be a great mystery why smug dullards like Elbow are packing out arenas when the infinitely superior Kloot are operating a couple of levels below. This splendid live album provides the answer as the sort of people who love soulless stadium shows would pee their pants faced with John Bramwell’s twisted poetry …
Album Review: Tracey Thorn – Songs From ‘The Falling’
My love for Tracey Thorn goes way back. From those early beautifully mellow ballads she did with Everything But The Girl, to the ultra-cool dance tracks such as ‘Missing’. and ‘Walking Wounded’. The thing that has always astonished me about her, is her ability to portray so much raw emotion in her vocals, without even …