ALBUM: Sandi Thom –Merchants and Thieves

Eric Clapton, BB King, Peter Green, even Seasick Steve . . . there is a hint of all these blues legends in Sandi Thom’s third album, Merchants and Thieves. The harsh truth is that if a man had made this album it would have been instantly derided as a rip-off, yet Sandi’s undoubted feminine charms […]
I try not to let a band’s image or history get in the way of the music – Bowie’s alleged Nazi salutes don’t make Changes any less of a tune – and Bono’s charity do-gooding can’t rescue anything that U2 released after 1995. However, I find it hard not to sympathise a little more with […]

ALBUM: The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – Blood and Fire

ALBUM: MGMT – Congratulations

You have to admire MGMT’s bloody mindedness. They release what were arguably the three finest singles of the noughties (honestly, who can resist the pop euphoria of “Kids”?), and record one of the finest albums in recent memory. A large number of their fans don’t get, skip over, or simply disregard as self-indulgent noodling most […]
William Fitzsimmons has a remarkable story to tell. Born the youngest son of a blind couple in Pittsburgh, he grew up to be a psychotherapist. The eventual break up of his parents’ marriage proved so traumatic that he wrote an album, the recording of which proved so difficult that Fitzsimmons’ own marriage flew off the […]

ALBUM: William Fitzsimmons – Derivatives

ALBUM: The National – High Violet

There is a weight of expectation surrounding High Violet, the fifth album from Brooklyn based band The National.  After a couple of false starts, Alligator (2005) jolted the band out of obscurity, gaining them a cult following and critical adulation. Boxer (2007) was a much grander and better produced effort, which, whilst not quite hitting the same euphoric highs as Alligator, allowed the […]
Manchester band Airship’s ‘Algebra EP’ sounds like it was made by taking the 90′s indie scene and putting it in a blender, but it’s clearly for the modern audience. It fits well alongside the new wave of Scottish bands like ‘Band of Horses’, ‘We Were Promised Jetpacks’ and ‘Twin Atlantic’ (whom Airship recently supported). ‘Algebra’ […]

ALBUM: Airship – Algebra EP

ALBUM: White Belt Yellow Tag – Methods

From one of the worst named bands in a long while comes one of the most boring album titles.  Perhaps this is a deliberate plan from the man who brought you one fifth of Yourcodenameis:milo.  Forget the flashy name and catchy titles let the music do the talking.  The early signs are good, the NME […]
If this is your first taste of Kitsuné, you’d be forgiven for being a tad confused. They currently boast a successful fashion company, Parisian clothes store and a record label. Amidst this indie frenzy  they supply the world with the quirkiest, most exciting new music on regular compilations. Now releasing compilation number nine, “petit bateau […]

ALBUM: Kitsuné Maison 9 – Various Artists

ALBUM: Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Deluxe Edition)

Although ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’ is commonly thought of as an album very much of the 1980s, in many ways it is not at all typical of other big hit pop albums of that decade. In fact it’s a strange mix that, in the end, cannot decide what it wants to be, either musically or […]
Comedian Dough Stanhope once said “Babies are like poems – they’re beautiful… to their creators.” I’m not sure whether the ‘Monkey Poet’ [Matt Panesh] would call what he does on stage ‘beautiful’ – after all, it’s noisy, angry, challenging and unconventional. In all fairness, I think he’d be the first to admit that it’s positively ugly […]

ALBUM: Monkey Poet – Welcome to the UK