ALBUM REVIEW – DESTROYER: LABYRINTHITIS

In the overwhelming majority of cases, it is easy to guess what a band will sound like based purely on its name. Without any knowledge of their respective catalogues, it would not take a genius to work out that Napalm Death were going to have a more abrasive sound than, say, Lush. However, Destroyer are […]
Music has had a long relationship with space, dating back to Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’ through pop music’s early dabbling, such as The Tornados’ ‘Telstar’ and David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’, all the way through to Hannah Peel’s ‘Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia’. Because space conjures ideas of mystery, connection, imagination, infinity and the intangible, it […]

ALBUM REVIEW: BLUE STATES – WORLD CONTACT DAY

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MONOCHROME SET – ALLHALLOWTIDE

When you can count Iggy Pop, Johnny Marr, Jarvis Cocker as fans, you know you must be doing something right. After more than forty years of music making The Monochrome Set are back again with their sixteenth studio album.  From the opening refrains of title track ‘Allhallowtide’ the chamber pop tone for the rest of […]
Johnny Marr’s Crazy Face studio sounds like a great place, an old warehouse, somewhere in the Mancunian suburbs, its industrialist past now given way to a creative future. It’s where, during the last year, Marr’s album ‘Fever Dreams Pts 1 – 4’ has taken shape. Most of the song writing was done by just Marr […]

ALBUM REVIEW: JOHNNY MARR – FEVER DREAMS PTS 1-4

ALBUM REVIEW: METRONOMY – SMALL WORLD

In 2011, Metronomy released ‘The English Riviera’ which stands as one of the 21st Century’s landmark albums, blending Joseph Mount’s earlier creative dance music with sophisticated pop in a loose concept album that reenvisaged Torquay as an elegant resort. Like Magnetic Fields after ’69 Love Songs’ or Sufjan Stevens with ‘Illinois’, the problem becomes how […]
Let’s face it, the thrill of discovering new music, new bands you’ve never heard of before keeps us music fans entertained and constantly striving for the next music fix. Whether it’s digging through the vinyl and CD shelves in your local record shop, hearing something new on the radio, or in this case getting a […]

ALBUM REVIEW: CARAMBOLAGE – CARAMBOLAGE / EILZUSTELLUNG-EXPRES / BON VOYAGE

ALBUM REVIEW: CATE LE BON – POMPEII

Cate Le Bon has been one of the most thrilling performers of the past decade. From hitting her stride with second album, ‘Cryk’, through to 2019’s Mercury Prize nominated ‘Reward’, she has created a string of albums unmatched over the period by finding a perfect balance between experimentation and charming melody. She is blessed with […]
Reviewing an album of covers feels like a good time to consider the value of cover versions. Being in a tribute act has been a lucrative line of work over the past 30 years but, from a critical perspective, covers should act as more than a verbatim take on a favourite song. At the very […]

ALBUM REVIEW: CAT POWER – COVERS

ALBUM REVIEW: VIS-A-VIS – BEST OF VIS-A-VIS IN A CONGO STYLE

One of the joys of recent years has been the retrospective discovery of K Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas. He was often backed by Vis-A-Vis who recorded 13 albums between 1975 and 1982. Toronto based label, We Are Busy Bodies, are now undertaking the admirable work of rereleasing their back catalogue.  In contrast to the […]
Following ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’, an album that found itself on numerous best of 2018 lists, including most improbably Barack Obama’s, was always going to be a difficult task. With ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’, Courtney Barnett has adopted a subtler musical palette and has set to sketching smaller details alongside honest emotions […]

ALBUM REVIEW: COURTNEY BARNETT – THINGS TAKE TIME, TAKE TIME