indie albums
Album Review: Labasheeda – Changing Lights
Dutch three piece Labasheeda, aka Saskia van der Giessen (vocals, guitar, violin) Arne Wolfswinkel (guitar) and Aletta Verwoerd (drums) make this sort of experimental, unsettling music, that is often mind boggling with its constant changes of direction, often mid song. Over the years they’ve released a handful of increasingly well received records. Their latest, Changing …
Psych Insight: EP Review – Array 1 by Loop
When the Pixies released the first of their three EPs after a prolonged absence, back in 2013, many suspected that the decision to stagger their new material was deliberately made to circumvent the critical emphasis that would have been inevitably placed on the songs, had they been released together in the traditional album format. It’s …
Album Review: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – The High Country
Springfield, Missouri five piece Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, despite the fantastic name, were a band that had largely passed me by. So reviewing The High Country, the bands fourth album – out now on Polyvinyl, was a voyage of discovery for me. As it turns out it was a very enjoyable journey as …
LP Review: Future – ‘Horizons’
Photograph by Arthur Weed Future were one of the many bands on ‘The Reverb Conspiracy Vol. 3‘ that captivated and left me wanting to hear more. Their track ‘Side Effects’, I described as, “an exquisite existential exercise in “sharp guitar riffs, cold melodies and fractured drums”” – as befits their “Cold Wave” self-classification. Thankfully the wait has …
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 …