• Meat Puppets – Rat Farm

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    It’s something of a miracle that the Meat Puppets’ last three of their fourteen records have been among their most chilled-out, considering the trauma that’s plagued their careers in recent years – one notable exploit being bassist Cris Kirkwood’s 21-month prison sentence for assault on a police officer in 2003 – but despite, and perhaps in spite of these things, the brothers Meat have come full-circle. Starting out as a bunch of Deadhead hippies, Curt and Cris Kirkwood soon discovered hardcore and had several bouts of musical schizophrenia before Kurt Cobain propelled their name to alt. rock cult heroes via…

  • Pastels – Slow Summits

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Late last year, your intrepid album reviewer found himself in the lounge of an apartment in the west of Glasgow. Wintery sun poured through a large bay window, which looked out of over the University’s imposing clock tower. Across the room sat Stephen McRobbie, one of the original members of The Pastels. Stephen had invited me to Scotland to become one of the first people – outside the band’s close circle of friends – to hear several tracks from ‘Slow Summits’, the first album in over 16 years from the iconic and hugely influential Scottish indie-pop group. I remember experiencing…

  • Solar Bears – Supermigration

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Despite having moved out of their bedrooms and into a professional studio to record the follow up to 2010’s She Was Coloured In, Irish duo Solar Bears are in no mood for reinvention on their second LP. Indeed, with John Kowalski and Rian Trench having spent a considerable amount of time since their debut perfecting their live set, much of Supermigration is focused on refining their psychedelic,  ambient-pop style- and what a style it’s become. The duo’s shared love for science-fiction films and krautrock-inspired electronica is as prevalent as ever and, perhaps most impressively, as seamless. It’s hard to tell…

  • Phoenix – Bankrupt!

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Having finally succeeded in their quest to break the back of success for the last nine years, French synth pop heroes Phoenix are back with ‘Bankrupt!’, a collection of songs which banishes the ghosts of their early eclecticism, busting  them using synthesizers for proton packs. Following 2009’s million seller ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’ (unless they spent all their royalties on keyboards) Phoenix are anything but bankrupt… This is a band who have discovered the key to their sound in the last few years and while ‘Bankrupt!’ may not be as instant as their last outing, it certainly cements their intention to…

  • Alana Henderson – Wax and Wane EP

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Alana Henderson’s debut EP is a strong statement of intent. These dark folk songs are dominated by her powerful, nuanced cello playing and clear voice, with an able supporting cast complimenting each dramatic stroke with subtle harmonic flicks, background croons and interpretive percussion. It’s a beautifully organic sound, one which should appeal more to followers of the US indie end of the folk spectrum than to Mumford devotees. The opening title track is a thing of wonder, immediate and striking but revealing more of itself with every listen. Henderson’s confident cello stabs take centre stage, plucking, swooning and swelling round…

  • Vanilla Gloom – Vexed EP

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Vanilla Gloom. It sounds like the sort of thing a depressed Willy Wonka might create. A grunge gumdrop, say. Just a taste and you’re transported back, back, back in time, all the way to the early-Nineties and a rain-slicked Seattle. Creatures in plaid lumberjack shirts and distressed jeans stalk the land, stomping their enemies under their Doc Marten-ed heels, paying tribute to King Kurt. Times are heavy. Times are good. Vanilla Gloom’s Vexed EP will take you back to those times just as surely as any magic lozenge. They’re a new-fangled, guitar-toting, female three-piece. They’re from Derry, originally, now based…