Album Review: EL VY – Return to the Moon

When the formation of EL VY was announced, I was particularly excited. A duo combining the giddy electronica of Menomena with the refined introspection of the national, seemed like something only dreams could be made of. When the lead single and the album’s opening track ‘Return to the moon’ hit the blogosphere, it was anything […]
Prior to the album release, Bradford Cox revealed Concept Map listing the influences of the album, which seems to have acted as a handy companion to any press release. Most reviews already posted seem to pick a circle of the map and use that as the premise for their review (see Ian Cohen of Pitchfork’s focus on […]

Album Review: Deerhunter – Fading Frontier

Album Review: Pretend – Tapestry’d Life

Tapestry’d Life is the brand new album from post-rock American quartet Pretend, released on October 9th. The group have been playing and writing together since 2004, and the time taken to mould their experimental sound and approach to music certainly shows, creating one of the most exciting albums I’ve listened to this year. A musical […]
Dodge and Burn is Nashville supergroup The Dead Weather’s 3rd album, through Jack White’s own Third Man Records. The band are an amalgamation of Raconteurs, with bassist Jack Lawrence and Queens of The Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita joining Jack on Drums and The Kills Alison Mosshart on vocals. Any project of Jack’s is guaranteed top billing, and this […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE DEAD WEATHER – DODGE AND BURN

ALBUM REVIEW: GNOOMES – NGAN!

This one is hot off the press – not much is known about Gnoomes. Google, inevitably, will insist that you actually want to search for ‘gnomes’, but persistence leads you to Facebook and Twitter pages that are yet to take off. This needs to be put to rights. Gnoomes are vocalist/bassist Alex Pyankov, drummer Pavel Fedoseev […]
It is evident that Protomartyr singer Joe Casey, ten years senior to the rest of the band, is on a mission to make the band stand out amongst the flotsam of modern music. In recent interviews Joe Casey explains that he “needed this, needed Protomartyr”. He states that he didn’t want to end up singing […]

Album Review: Protomartyr – The Angel Intellect

Album Review: John Grant – Grey Tickles, Black Pressure

If you were to judge the new album from John Grant on the title alone, you may surmise that this was going to be heavy going. Especially when you find out that Grey Tickles… is the literal Icelandic translation for mid-life crisis, and that Black Pressure… is from the Turkish word for nightmare. Having listened to this […]
Pressing play on a Mercury Rev album is like the aural equivalent of opening a volume of fairy tales. You know you’ll be in for an intense and evolving series of narratives infused with melancholy and introspection best enjoyed in its entirety as an immersive experience. For a band with a track record of creating […]

Album Review: Mercury Rev – The Light In You

Album Review: Shopping – Why Choose

October sees the return of Shopping with their first full length since their 2013 début Consumer Complaints (difficult to find on a search engine on two counts, I know). The band have been busy of late, having supported Montreal post-punk outfit Ought on their UK tour last month, the London trio continue with a plethora […]
I just wanna point out straight away, this music isn’t my cup of tea at all. However, I do respect its beauty and inoffensive nature, which you can’t really say a bad word about…well, except “bored shitless” maybe. Track 1, ‘Never Change’, is just a little dull to be honest. Dreary. Trying to find the […]

Album Review: Kodiak Deathbeds – Kodiak Deathbeds