indie albums
Album Review: The Polyphonic Spree-Yes, It’s True
The Polyphonic Spree has always had this air of overwhelming positivity. Even on their darkest album, 2007s The Fragile Army, despite the black jumpsuits and black eyeliner they came across as pensive, yet hopeful. I think that quality has always endeared me to them. Tim DeLaughter and Wayne Coyne are like the opposite sides of …
Album Review: Franz Ferdinand-Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
How many of you like me were enamored with Franz Ferdinand back in 2004? It’s hard to describe, but something about that debut album lit a post-punk fuse in me. I’d just begun listening to Gang of Four and had dabbled in The Jam as well. These cats were just the right modern take on …
Album Review: Medicine – To The Happy Few
When you hear a song like “Long As The Sun” -the opener on Medicine’s excellent new album To The Happy Few– you don’t think that this is a band that has essentially been stored in moth balls for 18 years. You think you’re hearing The Beach Boys ran through the Jesus and Mary Chain warpulator. …
Album Review: Whirr-Around
Whirr are lumped into that genre we Generation X oldsters affectionately call “shoegaze”. And while some of my favorite music is lumped into this category, I have to say it’s getting used way too much. It’s become this generic term used to describe anyone that looks at the floor more than ten seconds in order …
Album Review: Speedy Ortiz – Major Arcana
You know, I try to be “with it”, and “in the know”. I want to be “up to date” on all the relevant music of today. Even as a kid in short pants growing up in rural Hoosierville I was always buying cassettes at my local record store. If there was some new band everyone …
Album Review: Eleanor Friedberger – Personal Record
Eleanor Friedberger’s first words to us on her new long player Personal Record are “I don’t want to bother you”, and I believe her. She seems like the type of gal that would rather keep her business to herself. She seems like more the listening type than the talking type. Yet, when she gets going on this …
Album Review: Editors – The Weight of your Love Track By Track
Birmingham based five piece Editors have just released their fourth album, The Weight of your love. Not a great deal to talk about then except for that their looking for their third consecutive number one album. The band, Tom Smith on lead vocals, guitar, piano, Russell Leetch on bass guitar, synthesizer, and backing vocals, Ed Lay …
Album Review: Deerhunter-Monomania
I’ve been sitting with this new Deerhunter record for well over a month now. I thought like all of their past records there were layers that took time to reveal and that I shouldn’t jump the gun on some opinionated 500 word piece on it. Much like the owl trying to get to the center …
Album Review: Camera Obscura – Desire Lines
My falling for Camera Obscura was a whirlwind romance, some years ago. I heard them on John Peel on the Tuesday (Disclaimer: before we go any further, these dates may be wrong in my head), went to see them at the Water Rats in London on the Wednesday, and popped into my local cd/record emporium …
Album Review: Curry Quiche – One Seed, No Leeches
Coming out of nearby Rotherham, which is just about as close to Sheffield as you can get, are alt-rockers Curry Quiche The band, Steve Fidler on Vocals & Guitar, Shaun Sowray on Vocals & Keys, Bassist Jonny Haynes, Adam Flannagan on Guitar and Brian Waller who (according to the band) does Drums, Mixing and is …