ALBUM REVIEW – MUSH: DOWN TOOLS

Snappy song titles are a sure way of grabbing attention. Since unleashing ‘Alternative Facts’ as a Too Pure Singles Club release in 2017, Mush have specialised in the sort of titles that suggest a pithy, barbed, obtuse take on the modern world (‘Gig Economy’ with its perfect irony for a band, ‘Hey Gammonhead!’ and ‘Poverty […]
The Wolfhounds’ timing was always askew. Coming to attention at the tail-end of the C86 movement, their debut album ‘Unseen Ripples From A Pebble’ did not fully reflect their garage rock and post-punk racket. By the time they released the far-superior ‘Bright and Guilty’ in 1989, now reissued by Optic Nerve, music press attention had […]

ALBUM REVIEW – THE WOLFHOUNDS: BRIGHT AND GUILTY

ALBUM REVIEW – HARKIN: HONEYMOON SUITE

Although we are officially at the “living with Covid” stage of the pandemic, otherwise known as pretending it no longer exists, the backlog of vinyl releases means that streams of lockdown records are emerging bleary-eyed into daylight. Even if lockdown might not be the overwhelming subject matter of Harkin’s ‘Honeymoon Suite’, the recording process was […]
The post-punk era was a time where the original punk wave had opened the floodgates for DIY bands that were happy to shine brilliantly but briefly before disappearing back into civilian life. Girls At Our Best! were a prime example, releasing three singles and an album in the early 1980s, surely never envisaging that 40 […]

ALBUM REVIEW – GIRLS AT OUR BEST!: PLEASURE (DELUXE EDITION)

ALBUM REVIEW – MONO: MY STORY, THE BURAKU STORY (AN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK)

Over the course of two decades, Japanese band Mono have been leading exponents of instrumental post-rock. Unjustly, they have not received the acclaim accorded to peers like Mogwai but have taken that quiet/loud dynamic which can be every bit formulaic as a verse/chorus pop song and made the journey from a whisper to ear-shattering volume […]
Psychedelia at its best is a kaleidoscopic delight that can transport fans to places deep within the imagination. Of course, often it proves little more than an excuse to grow your hair and indulge in interminable heavy guitar riffs or, at the opposite pole, excessive whimsy. Fortunately, while Kikagaku Moyo definitely fit the hirsute tendencies […]

ALBUM REVIEW – KIKAGAKU MOYO: KUMOYO ISLAND

ALBUM REVIEW: VERO – UNSOOTHING INTERIOR

When you hear that the album you’ll be listening to is called ‘Unsoothing Interior,’ it’s safe to say don’t expect an atmosphere akin to a chamomile tea and a sit-down. Vero has very different ideas on their debut project, which has a lot to say about the chaotic nature of their twenties and evokes the […]
Losing your voice would be a terrifying experience for anyone, let alone a singer who had recently released their debut album. This nightmare situation intermittently afflicted Dana Gavanski for a year after ‘Yesterday is Gone’ was released. It was her luscious voice that had first attracted attention, initially striking for its similarities to Cate Le […]

ALBUM REVIEW – DANA GAVANSKI: WHEN IT COMES

ALBUM REVIEW – FATHER JOHN MISTY: CHLOE AND THE NEXT 20TH CENTURY

Music can delight for many reasons. Often it is not an entire song but an individual moment, be it the audacity of an instrumental flourish or the ecstasy of a vocal yelp. With Father John Misty, while the pleasure may come from the beauty of the song’s orchestration and the early 1970s singer-songwriter melodies, it […]
Despite it being her sixth album, the buzz around Japanese-American songwriter Mitski has remained swarming. Her recent success on TikTok is understandable, and her music has a whole generation in an emotional chokehold, that she won’t be losing grip of anytime soon, especially with the brilliance of newest album ‘Laurel Hell.’ The synthy opening track […]

ALBUM REVIEW: MITSKI – LAUREL HELL