indie albums
ALBUM REVIEW: Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
Memphis-born Julien Baker returns with her haunting, ballad-filled 3rd studio album, that you would have to be oblivious to not be enamoured with. In her first solo album since Turn out the lights in 2017, Julien Baker is showing that she is back and better than ever before with a slowcore, self-produced album that is …
Album Review: Bradford release ‘Bright Hours’: a magnificent follow-up to ‘Shouting Quietly’, 31 years on
SOME things change and some stay the same. Whereas before, with debut album Shouting Quietly, there was a car journey home from nearby Loughborough, Left-Legged Pineapple bag strewn on the floor, I pored over the lyrics typed onto the inside sleeve, studied who played what, did what, wrote what and where; anticipation building, found the …
EP Review: Crossfire Eagles – ‘Major Arcana’: New seven-track release from Sheffield indie rockers
There’s a moment in BBC 4’s ‘Smashing Hits! The 80s Pop Map of Britain and Ireland’ when some old boy talks about how you could walk down any street in Sheffield and hear the Human League rehearsing at one corner, ABC at another and Def Leppard at a third. That tradition of South Yorkshire rock …
ALBUM REVIEW: The Weather Station – Ignorance
Building up on the career of an accomplished artist, Ignorance is no doubt one of the first “headline” albums of 2021. Full of lush and classy orchestrations, the album exudes music craftsmanship throughout its canonical ten tracks, evoking smoky, nocturnal, slightly alcoholic, Closing Time soulscapes. Following 4 years after the last installment in Tamara Lindelof’s …
EP: Tender Tones – Youth Retirement Club
Out now on Bandcamp, via Shore Dive Records is the debut ep – Youth Retirement Club, by French Dreampop/Shoegaze/Electronica duo, Tender Tones. This ep starts with, ‘In Dreamed Lives’; a pulsing Electronica-driven tune with hypnotic synth guided phasing and luscious multi-voice vocal delivery, setting a sense of mood and onward direction. The beat is pulsating …
Album Review: Sun June – ‘Somewhere’
I could use a road trip right about now, and Sun June‘s new, beautiful tapestry of an album ‘Somewhere‘ would be playing on repeat throughout. It’s a prom record you never knew you needed, achingly bringing you back to a time where your youth would cry out for change. You could be travelling through the …
ALBUM REVIEW: Weezer – OK Human
It’s clear that Weezer represent an easy target for any tongue-in-cheek listener. Even if New Radicals have come back on stage for an impromptu reunion celebrating Biden’s presidential inauguration, it’s not so frequent now to listen to stuff that could be aired on Mtv 25 years ago or so.Weezer have been crucified for all possible …
ALBUM REVIEW: Robbie & Mona – ‘EW’
The album is a hypnotic work of dreamscape electronica that prompts comparisons with The XX and James Blake, now while those may be more mainstream artists, the ambition of this partnership cannot be overstated and the ability to deliver on this level is both mesmeric and entrancing
Album review: The Sonder Bombs – Clothbound
The zest that comes through the speakers throughout this album is paramount to its success. It’s a joy to listen to. Bear witness to a band harnessing the power of live performance into an album of real skill and capability
Album Review: The Notwist – Vertigo Days
I’ve been quiet on this thing lately, and reviewing The Notwist’s new record Vertigo Days was as close to a perfect step back into the game as I could have asked for. It’s the band’s first album in 6 busy years…and when they say busy they mean really busy- from scoring films to running a …