Indie
Album Review: Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
Not since Seven Swans has Sufjan Stevens put out such a confessional, introspective, and heartfelt record. Even more, while Seven Swans was heartfelt and confessional, it was a generalization of those feelings of life, loss, and love. Carrie & Lowell is an album of grief pulled straight from Sufjan’s own life. The album is named after Stevens’ mom and stepdad, and …
Live Review: Catfish and The Bottlemen and Little Comets, O2 Academy Sheffield, 4.4.2015
Around Valentine’s Day last year, I was sent to the Leadmill to review two indie bands mid-way through their UK tour. Little did I know I would be reviewing those same two bands, together, as they tour once again in 2015 – just bigger venues this time. Catfish and the Bottlemen began as support for Little Comets, …
Gallery: The Gorgeous Chans at Plug, Sheffield, 3.4.2015
In anticipation of Mosborough Music Festival, taking place on Saturday 6th June this year, Plug hosted a special warm-up gig featuring 4 unique bands that drew in a crowd from various corners of the UK. First up was Nottingham-based band the Gorgeous Chans. I last saw these boys at Y Not festival in the summer …
See: Ezra Furman releases video to Restless Year
Ahead of his first album for Bella Union, singer songwriter Ezra Furman has released a new video for the track ‘Restless Year’. Its his first since the well received Day of the Dog, which showed Furman could mix up elements of doo wop, skiffle and garage into something that sounded decidedly modern. Restless Year follows …
Album Review: Stornoway – Bonxie
Oxford four-piece Stornoway are back with a new album called ‘Bonxie’, released on 13th April through Cooking Vinyl. It’s the first of Stornoway’s albums to take the services of a producer, their previous releases being very much DIY efforts, but not DIY in quality I hasten to add. The producer in question is none other …
Album Review: Mark Lanegan Band – A Thousand Miles of Midnight
Since forming the Screaming Trees in the mid-1980s Mark Lanegan has been viewed as a welcome figure on the alternative rock periphery. He has collaborated with everyone from Queens of the Stone Age and Greg Dulli (the Afghan Whigs/Gutter Twins) to Belle and Sebastian’s Isobel Campbell. For about thirty years, his prolific output has varied in …
Track: YAST – When you’re around
Out today on Adrian Recordings is the new single from the Malmö, Swedish slacker band YAST. Its the first glimpse of what’s to come from their second album, due out later in the year. It’s been two years since the five piece released their debut, self-titled album, which took them around the world. It flowers …
See: Many Things release video for Holy Fire
Ahead of their debut album ‘Burn Together’, out this summer on Australian label Dew Process, home to the likes of London Grammar, Circa Waves, Mumford and Sons, James Vincent McMorrow and The Hives, London indie trio Many Things have released a video for their forthcoming single ‘Holy Fire’. Is the first glimpse of what the …
Track: Lorna – Wayne Mills
Out on record store day (April 6th) is the latest single from prolific Nottingham indie poppers Lorna. The six piece release the three track release, Wayne Mills, ahead of their sixth album ‘London’s Leaving Me’, which is due out later in the year on Minnesota record label Words On Music. Recorded in the bands home …
Indie: Jungle Doctors – Settle
Despite not actually being doctors, of either the jungle or indeed everything else, London five piece Jungle Doctors have been prescribing healthy doses of indie rock to an increasingly attentive (and growing) band of listeners. That journey, such as it is, began in earnest with the release of their first EP in 2012, and began …