• Savages – Silence Yourself

    May 9, 2013 - By 

    Someone once said, “hype is a dangerous thing” (which it can be, depending upon who or what is being hyped and, perhaps more importantly, who or what is creating the hype). Just under a year since the release of their debut single ‘Flying To Berlin’, London all-female quartet Savages have been moth-to-bright-light attractive to a very contemporary type of hype – all thanks, that is, to the b-side from the debut single in question. A chromatically descending, shrieking slab of claustrophobic antipathy, ‘Husbands’ felt like a fully-formed masterstroke; a lost post-punk gem propelled by an energy and urgency that came…

  • Peals – Walking Field

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Any time Baltimore crops up in conversation these days, thoughts are likely to turn to The Wire, but the gritty cop saga is far from its only artistic attraction. It’s not the biggest of American cities, but for many years Baltimore has harboured an indie rock underground whose tentacles have spread far and wide. First to make their mark were experimental pop troupe Animal Collective. Then Dan Deacon’s intense and playful compositions began to gain traction elsewhere. Beach House and Future Islands were next to transcend the city’s febrile scene, followed by indie-rock bands Wye Oak and Lower Dens and…

  • James Blake – Overgrown

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Overgrown, James Blake’s second album, is a tender, heart-sore thing. The music itself is soulful, full of yearning and quiet sadness. And that voice. It’s so gentle, soft as a phantom tap on the shoulder and ghost words whispered in the ear. The perfect medium, then, for songs that are as blissful as that sweet, half-light moment when wakefulness is extinguished and you surrender to the Sandman’s embrace. The title track sets the tone. It’s the sort of music that could come with an ‘In Case of Emergency’ sticker – soothing, unhurried, the song as sedative, to be broken out…

  • Hornets – Truth EP

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    With members coming together from multiple bands of varied genre, Hornets’ greatest asset is their three member’s combined experience. Each hailing from very different musical outfits, with that experience they have wisely decided to wait before gigging, to temper and hone their music into something cohesive and mature. The product of this is their debut EP Truth. Was it worth the wait? Opener ‘Truth’ sets the mood for the furious six-song EP and it rarely slows. The first three songs are a blitz of unrelenting noise; ‘No Control’ exhibits some messy guitar dissonance from Andy Shields, and really shows off…

  • The Fall – Re-mit

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    It’s never easy reviewing a new Fall album, mainly because – in the experience of this reviewer at least – Fall albums always sound terrible on first listen. You hear it and think “Boysadear, but this is a lot of ramshackle crap”. Then, insidiously – almost sneakily – some angular guitar hook or muttered guttural utterance embeds itself in your brain; you find yourself inexplicably returning again and again to this record that so baffled and frustrated you; fast forward a few weeks and you’re telling anyone who’ll listen that the new Fall album might just be their best ever…

  • 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…