ALBUM: Exit Calm – Exit Calm

‘They don’t feel,’ Exit Calm’s Nicky Smith calls out at the emotional climax of their eponymous debut album’s ‘Hearts and Minds’ — something that could never be said about his band. Indeed, their soaring first full-length is a work of undeniable majesty. It’s best to get mention of the overtones of The Verve out of […]
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 […]

ALBUM: Sandi Thom –Merchants and Thieves

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

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 […]
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 […]

ALBUM: MGMT – Congratulations

ALBUM: William Fitzsimmons – Derivatives

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 […]
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 […]

ALBUM: The National – High Violet

ALBUM: Airship – Algebra EP

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’ […]
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 […]

ALBUM: White Belt Yellow Tag – Methods

ALBUM: Kitsuné Maison 9 – Various Artists

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 […]
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 […]

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