indie albums
Album Review: Lazy Legs – ‘Moth Mother’ (vinyl reissue)
OUT NOW on Tartarus Records is the album Moth Mother by shoegaze/slowcore band Lazy Legs, who are based in Portland, Oregon. Although first released last year, it’s just had a vinyl reissue, and is the bands second album, and the follow up to 2016’s Visiondeath. Moth Mother begins with a fiery buzz saw guitar which …
ALBUM REVIEW: Magik Markers – ‘2020’: New England noiseniks’ filthy return
New England noiseniks’ full-length return after a six-year absence is filthy, trippy and even, at points, damn pretty. Righteous and cathartic, be glad they’re back
ALBUM REVIEW: Working Men’s Club – Working Men’s Club: eclectic and rallying
WORKING MEN’S CLUB’S self-titled debut can be counted as one of the better UK releases of 2020, youthful zeal and hard-hitting beats redeeming the occasionally gimmicky lyrical and musical content. The album draws on an eclectic range of influences, from dance-rock and acid house to funk and techno, the constant mixing and rearranging of which …
Album Review: The Bachelor Pad – All Hash & Cock (compilation)
Many folk of a certain age will recall the NME’s 1989 charity compilation video “Carry On Disarming”. One of the standout tracks was The Bachelor Pad’s “Country Pancake” – a riotous assault which fondly recalled the energy of early C86-era Soup Dragons singles with a large slice of lysergic cake thrown into the mix and just …
Album Review – Emmy the Great: April /月音
Emmy the Great (Emma-Lee Moss) released her fourth album on October 9th. ‘April /月音’ (the Chinese script, which translates as ‘Moon Sound’ on Google Translate but is given as ‘Mid-Autumn’ on the first track signifies her origins in Hong Kong). It was a bit of a rushed job, the fastest she’s ever recorded, ironically as …
Album Review: SAD13 – Haunted Painting
To contrast Sadie Dupuis’ work as SAD13 with her work with Speedy Ortiz feels unfair, yet inevitable as they are essentially two different distillations of her own personality. The former is more Dupuis as Dupuis, for sure ,but even the band work was sprung out of her own ideas and therefore could be reasonably approached …
Album Review: Mildlife – ‘Automatic’
Phase, the debut album by Australian band Mildlife, was a bonafide word of mouth discovery upon its release in early 2018. It’s mellow combination of groove propelled psychedelic jazz and disco, performed with a nod to Kosmische, Balearic, Scandinavian and Adriatic favours, caught a wave with a snowballing swell of support that united various scenes’ …
Album Review: Arrest! Charlie Tipper – ‘Red’
STARTING out in 2013 as The Charlie Tipper Experiment, then The Charlie Tipper Conspiracy and more recently adopting the Arrest! Charlie Tipper moniker, these Bristol-based indie stalwarts have certainly kept us guessing about their name whilst releasing a steady stream of quality albums and singles. I once contacted the band to ask who Charlie Tipper …
Album Review: A. Swayze and the Ghosts release the brilliant debut album ‘Paid Salvation’
Emerging from Hobart at the very edge of the settled world, A. Swayze and the Ghosts (AS&TG) are loud, noisy, abrasive, shouty, opinionated and – did I say loud? They are also, somewhat antithetically, the purveyors of some of the greatest intelligent pop songs around. ‘Paid Salvation’, their new album is a triumph – full …
Album: Schlammpeitziger – Ein Weltleck in der Echokammer
Manifesting as the 10th record of multi-faceted illustrator, musician and performance artist Schlammpeitziger, following 2018’s Damenbartblick auf Pregnant Hill (Bureau B), this new album is as elusively innovative as his 1992 beginnings. Jo Zimmerman, the figure behind Schlammpeitziger, gained great renown in making impeccably sophisticated, serene lo-fi krautronica. This burgeoning influence upon music and culture …