ALBUM: ALASDAIR ROBERTS AND MAIRI MORRISON – URSTAN

If you had asked me a week ago my thoughts on Gaelic folk music, I would have to be honest and say that it isn’t exactly my cup of tea. But this album is something a little different; Urstan is one of those collaborations that makes so much sense that you have to wonder why […]
The Pretty Things’ 1967 album ‘S. F. Sorrow’ is the tragic story of the life of Sebastian F. Sorrow (“nobody knew what the ‘F’ stood for, and nobody really cared”); from humble beginnings, interrupted by war and destroyed by the death of his life-long love. It has been referred to as “the first rock opera” […]

Album Review: Fruits de Mer Records – Sorrow’s Children

Album Review: Hal – The Time The Hour

After a 7-year hiatus that apparently saw main man David Allen ply his trade around the US on his own, Hal returned in February with a 4-track EP, Down In The Valley. Their second album, The Time The Hour, combines that EP’s best track and worst track with eight other new songs. It’s my sad […]
‘Wonky’ is the work of true masters in their field. Or in any field (speaking geographically). Many will be familiar with Phil and Paul Hartnoll’s story, as prominent producers of early 90’s ambient techno. Lying on an Ibiza beach as the sun comes up, listening to ‘Belfast’, was high on everyone’s list of things they’d […]

ALBUM REVIEW: ORBITAL – WONKY

ALBUM REVIEW: IMPERIAL LEISURE – DEATH TO THE ONE TRICK PONY

Not sure what the One Trick Pony ever did to Imperial Leisure, but this sophomore album forms a riotous call to arms. That poor pony is punked. I grew up in the same part of the capital as the band and remember their early gigs in various, nefarious down-at-heel North London pubs. They’ve come a […]
Rarely do you find a band that makes you want to take the singer to the best indie disco in town for a drink and a proper chat and then dance like an idiot for the next ten hours. This is that band. By all accounts Performance have been through the wringer: record label misdemeanours, […]

Album Review: Performance – Red Brick Heart

Album Review: Efterklang – Magic Chairs

It’s a tricky thing coming at a band that you’re not entirely familiar with, that also ride on a wave of critical praise. It’s as if you have to like them, and if you don’t, your opinion is somehow defective. Nothing forces a person into their shell further than the feeling of being forced to […]
Warm, evocative and quintessentially English, the press release’s claim that King Of The Down was recorded in pastoral Wiltshire before a crackling fire rings true here. Craig Fortnam (usually of North Sea Radio Orchestra semi-fame) weaves textured tapestries of dazzling intricacy from his guitar, fusing classical and folk stylings via nylon and steel strings, with […]

Album Review: Arch Garrison – King Of The Down

Album Review: Marina & The Diamonds – The Family Jewels

The beauty of the music industry is that, just when you feel that you’ve heard it all, and that you’re about to be buried under a welcome wave of apathy, some wide-eyed Turks slap your face, twist your nipples and wake you to its latent vibrancy. Marina and her spangly Diamonds are those Turks, and they’re […]
The first impression Jackknifed & Slaughtered gives you, as heralded by the macabre album title itself, is one of bristling threat. It’s as if The Tenebrous Liar don’t want you to listen to them because they fear you won’t be able to take it. You won’t be able to handle the truths enclosed, and you’ll […]

Album Review: The Tenebrous Liar – Jackknifed & Slaughtered