Album Review: Peace – In Love

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past six months (a particularly deep cave, underwater, on Neptune, with a wi-fi connection that even Virgin trains would condemn as “poor”) then chances are you will have heard at least something about Birmingham based quartet Peace. The hype that’s followed this band is bordering on […]
The previous long player from Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Blood Lust, became something of a cult classic almost overnight on its release, partly due to the very limited vinyl version (only 400 copies) that had vinyl junkies foaming at the mouth. Linking that exclusivity with gorgeous artwork and packaging resembling the giallo genre of […]

ALBUM REVIEW: UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS – MIND CONTROL

Album Review: Kurt Vile – Wakin On A Pretty Daze

Smoke Ring For My Halo was my favourite album of 2011, and though, in retrospect it’s now eclipsed by M83’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and Slave Ambient by former bandmates the excellently named The War on Drugs, it remains an album I return to from time to time with real relish. What I like most […]
I took the review for Vondelpark’s Seabed on a bit of a whim – I know nothing about the band; I just know that Vondelpark is also an expansive public open space in Amsterdam*. I spent this morning listening to Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and the Rolling Stones and Seabed is something […]

Album Review: Vondelpark – Seabed

Album Review: James Blake – Overgrown

Following the critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, James Blake is back with Overgrown. An undeniable buzz surrounds this release. Blake himself has been teasing his fans, releasing previews and giving away free digital downloads of ‘Digital Lion’ creating an excitement that should surround release dates. Overgrown has more of a soulful tone than Blake’s debut […]
Jennifer and Jessica Clavin are the two sisters that together make up Bleached. Hailing from LA, and with the help of drummer Jonathan Safley, the trio release their 12 track debut record, Ride Your Heart, on Dead Oceans label. A fast-paced, all-American album, this brings to mind the LA punk-rock scene of the 80s with tones […]

Album Review: Bleached – Ride Your Heart

Album Review: The Flaming Lips – The Terror

As a writer of sorts, I use the advice of others when writing. One quote which I come back to again and again is from George Orwell and it is, ‘If it is possible to cut a word out, cut it out.’ And for me I find that this helps me produce more accurate and […]
Let us forget about the deplorable strip that is King Street, and perhaps the amplified success of The Verve, to wipe our slates clean for Wigan’s next honourable mention – The Shook-Ups, a band whose repertoire includes past/present members of Moco, The Stags, Doktor Combover and The V.Cs. 1960s garage rock is back and, I’ll […]

Album Review: The Shook-Ups! – Bad Reception

Album Review: Public Service Broadcasting – Inform – Educate – Entertain

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when this début album from Public Service Broadcasting popped into my inbox recently. Frustratingly, it turns out that I missed them playing in Bolton by a week or so (review here), and I’m certain that the added live audio visual dimension would’ve enhanced my feelings towards it. From the couple […]
Port St. Willow is the poetically named brainchild of Nicholas Principe, a solo multi-instrumentalist working out of Portland, Oregon. He released his first EP, entitled Even // Wasteland in November 2010. It was a record that, albeit only an EP, carried and conveyed the ambition that we would come to expect from Holiday. This is […]

Album Review: Port St. Willow – Holiday