I have to admit, neigh, confess, that Researching The Blues by Red Kross has sat in it’s review copy sleeve on my desk for a while gathering little more than a glance of distain as it found itself on top of that other CD / piece of paper with a very important idea on it / bill / stapler (I still have an untidy desk). Mostly I had assumed it’d be yet another shitty reformation record. Let’s face it, any record introduced by the words “their first album in 15 years” is a safe-bet to avoid. Then, the other day, in a fit of frustration that the fucking CD was on top of a paperclip or something that I really, really needed I threw the pesky thing into the nearest CD player. And what the fuck…. It’s great!

It’s tight-as-fuck garage rock with the right measures of ooh-s, aaah-s and pop sensibilities and none of that slackness that is sometimes considered a fashionable aesthetic (and only really works in a handful of cases). Guitars jangle and riff in bountiful power-pop measures and it’s undeniably good times to be had all round. Fifteen years? WTF. Paperclips are for squares and accountants, anyway. - review by Andrew Tidball

GREAT

Cheese on Toast is phasing in a new album ratings system. I have always struggled with a numerical scale; it feels so finite and arbitrary. So the new scale looks like this :
FREAKIN’ AWESOME / JUST AWESOME / REALLY GREAT / GREAT / GOOD  / PRETTY COOL / NOT BAD / COULD BE BETTER / PRETTY BAD, ACTUALLY / NOT RECOMMENDED FOR EARS