62 total search results — Page 1 of 4
Johnny Marr – The Messenger
Review — April 1, 2013
The '80s are memorable for many wonderful things, like Pac-Man and Bill & Ted, but perhaps most importantly it was the decade in which a seismic shift occurred in the British alternative music scene that many new bands still consider massively influential today. Enter Johnny Marr, former Smiths guitarist …
husband&wife – Acoustic Recordings
Review — May 14, 2013
The beauty in acoustic albums usually comes from hearing a song you know and love take on a different resonance when it’s stripped back and unpolished. This is definitely the case for the songs on husband&wife’s Acoustic Recordings. All of the songs were recorded in the band members’ homes, …
Emma Louise – Vs Head Vs Heart
Review — May 27, 2013
Emma Louise described the cover art for her debut album Vs Head Vs Heart as expressing "the beauty that can come out of vulnerability". The cover art fittingly reflects the songs on Vs Head Vs Heart, vulnerability is seeping through every song in a flurry of initially …
The National – Trouble Will Find Me
Review — June 11, 2013
DISCLAIMER: Readers, a bold claim is about to be made. The National’s Trouble Will Find Me could, quite possibly, be as essential as air. Tread carefully, the sheer force of the overwhelmingly mournful nature of this album may surprise you with its taciturn but fitting attempts of disbelieving optimism. …
Frankie & The Heartstrings – The Days Run Away
Review — June 11, 2013
Some musicians view making music as a vocation, something that they will entirely devote their lives to, to the extent that it seeps into everything they do. Frankie & The Heartstrings don't do things by halves. In the wake of the release of The Days Run Away, their second …
The Heights – Drag Race On The Moon
Review — June 24, 2013
Torontonians The Heights like Angels & Airwaves. They really, really like Angels & Airwaves, which is the most readily apparent characteristic of “Soldier”, the opening track on their Drag Race on the Moon EP. Thankfully there’s enough tweaking and little digressions on the rest of this …
Tommy & The High Pilots – Only Human
Review — June 24, 2013
Santa Barbara four-piece Tommy & The High Pilots first formed five years ago in 2008. In that space of time they have released two albums (with Only Human being their third) and an EP. Most of Tommy & The High Pilots' songs are, at their core, slices of catchy pop …
I Am Kloot – Let It All In
Review — July 1, 2013
Truly happy yet honest albums are in short supply. If they’re happy they’re usually over-the-top and use cringe-worthy lyrics, but if the album’s songs are bathed in sadness then there’s a risk that it will sound whiny and dull. On Let It All In I Am Kloot have struck a …
The Maine – Forever Halloween
Review — July 1, 2013
Halloween can be an inspiring topic for musicians. The Misfits' "Halloween" evokes dark autumn evenings with snarling vocals and captivating riffs, while AFI's Misfits-influenced All Hallows EP is a punk-rock filled love letter to the holiday. The Maine's Forever Halloween takes a sombre look, presenting …
Lewis Watson – The Wild EP
Review — July 15, 2013
The transition from performing acoustic covers in your bedroom on YouTube to recording original songs in a recording studio and playing in front of a live audience isn't necessarily easy or guaranteed to work, but in this case it absolutely does. Lewis Watson's career initially began when he uploaded covers …
Tilman Hartley – To Basics
Review — August 12, 2013
Guitars guitars guitars. When did you last hear a new band who's main focus is on guitars? Londoner Tilman Hartley's debut album To Basics is all about the guitars, teeming with frazzled barre chords and captivating riffs.Among all the near-faultless guitar playing Hartley's vocals have a tendency to veer …
A Secret Policeman's Ball – Teenage Crimewave
Review — August 19, 2013
Who needs functioning eardrums anyway? A Secret Policeman’s Ball play post-punk indie music with new wave undertones, and there is only one volume their music should be played at: LOUD. The Tennessee band have a penchant for mixing pop-filled melodies with aggressive guitars and vocals that frequently turn into screams; …
Bell X1 – Chop Chop
Review — August 27, 2013
Before delving into the intricacies of Bell X1's latest release Chop Chop, it is important to note that they have written what is arguably one of the best songs to come out of the Irish indie music scene in recent years. "In Every Sunflower", from 2007's Music in Mouth …
Long Lost – Save Yourself, Start Again
Review — September 9, 2013
Long Lost first began life as the acoustic side project of Transit frontman Joe Boynton, shortly after the release of Transit's fourth album Young New England he turned his attention to Long Lost making it his main band. The result of this is Save Yourself, Start Again …
Mainland – Girls Unknown
Review — September 23, 2013
Sounds can create images. New York City based 4 piece Mainland have this effect on "The Stroll". It concocts an image of bright strobe lights that make you even more bleary eyed in your drunken stupor, as you stomp your heels off the sticky floor in time to the drums …
Kodaline – In A Perfect World
Review — October 21, 2013
Mohill is a rural Irish village in county Leitrim, it's nice, quaint and generally doesn't divide opinion. To use an Irishism: sure it's grand. It's also where the majority of the songs on Kodaline's debut album In A Perfect World were written. In effect what Kodaline have done is written …
Papermoons – No Love
Review — November 19, 2013
The press blurb that accompanies Texas-based indie folk duo Papermoons' sophomore album No Love claims that "the idea that you can say a whole lot more without screaming or shouting" is solidified in this LP. No Love is 10 tracks of smouldering, cleverly composed melodies with occasional …
Aaron & The Sea – Cloak & Dagger EP
Review — December 16, 2013
Aaron & the Sea have come a long way from writing dinosaur-themed ballads. The Minneapolis band formed in 2008 when roommates Aaron Rice and Alex Brown started making music together, and later completed their line-up with the arrival of drummer Peter Leggett. Over a year after releasing their debut album …
Mark McCabe – A Good Way to Bury Bad News
Review — January 6, 2014
On one end of an (unscientific) scale of popular male singer-songwriters sits Ed Sheeran, perched comfortably at the top of the charts while still maintaining an air of authenticity, and at the other end is pop supremo Bruno Mars, master craftsman of insuppressible earworms. Somewhere between these …
