Modern Vampires of the City by VAMPIRE WEEKEND [REVIEW]
“…an album full of brilliant nuances that keep on cropping up as new discoveries upon returning listens.”
Wilderness by THE HANDSOME FAMILY [REVIEW]
All the tracks on the tenth album from husband and wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks aka The Handsome Family are named after animals, and, according to the press release, explores “little-known enigmas of the natural world: immortal jellyfish, woodpecker tongues, dancing octopi, fly royalty, the secret language of crows, and mysterious ant spirals”…
Nocturnes by LITTLE BOOTS [REVIEW]
A music reviewer on The Guardian website recently queried “Why doesn’t Victoria ‘Little Boots’ Hesketh have her own Robynesque cult of admirers?”. The reviewer postulates, presumably, based on the four-star review, that this should be the case….
Thr!!!er by !!! [REVIEW]
To be honest any album that sneaks in the words “But I’d rather worry about my existential crisis” within it’s first five minutes amid a funk’d background, then rhymes it with “Layin’ on a beach where the sun sets the nicest” before a saxophone jazzes out in a mid eighties style has got to be a winner in my books….
Silence Yourself by SAVAGES [REVIEW]
A wee while ago, before Savages were on my radar, I postulated that “music should be inconvenient” …
Freakish by JOE GIDEON & THE SHARK [REVIEW]
There are elements of this record that I absolutely love; and then there are elements that I absolutely loathe. But here’s the rub; the more I listen, the more I find myself really liking the bits I loathe because they make me feel so uneasy. Equally, I begin to find the bits I like really annoying. But, then, I end up liking that they annoy me. It’s not easy being a contrary bastard at times; but here it’s presenting win/win situation for me….
Hi Beams by JAVELIN [REVIEW]
“Hi Beams is not a life changing or affecting record by any means; but it’s a bunch of smart electro-indie-pop fun that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which, for me, is a breath of fresh air in it’s particular musical landscape.”
Absolute Zero by LITTLE GREEN CARS [REVIEW]
Dublin five piece Little Green Cars wander into the folk-pop middle of the road with their debut album, produced by Markus Dravs (who produced Coldplays ‘Mylo Xyloto’ and Mumford and Son’s ‘Sigh No More’ and ‘Babel’ (and interestingly also Arcade Fire’s ‘Neon Bible’ – which, it seems, is the one one out, in that it’s not wallpaper for ears)….
Overgrown by JAMES BLAKE [REVIEW]
From the first notes sung ever-so-sweetly – as in stevia; not saccharine – on the title and opening track from the sophomore album from James Blake right through to the spacey pulsed vocal refrains that close Our Love Comes Back it’s one pleasure after another….
Bankrupt! by PHOENIX [REVIEW]
Bankrupt is Phoenix’s 5th album in a career spanning fourteen years – but it’d be fair to say that many people might think it was their sophomore; because, let’s face it, it wasn’t until the bands Grammy winning Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix in 2009 that they really became pop-stars. With that album, they forayed from guitar to synth pop and , it seems, here with Bankrupt they’ve stuck with that as a defining sound…
Paradise Beach by WILBERFORCES [REVIEW]
“Paradise Beach is strangely uncomfortable and addictive. I want more.”
Victim of Love by CHARLES BRADLEY [REVIEW]
“…with his warm delivery he evokes a mutual empathy – not only do you begin to feel his pain, it seems like he feels yours, too. “
Ghost on Ghost by IRON & WINE [REVIEW]
I can’t iterate enough how very good lead single Grace For Saints and Ramblers is….
Delta Machine by DEPECHE MODE [REVIEW]
“I’m not saying one should lower expectations to avoid disappointment, but rather, just be realistic. They are just a band and this is just a good record. Which isn’t bad”
Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze by KURT VILE [ALBUM REVIEW]
KURT VILE’s new album’s title might be, at first glance, well, a bit dubious, but once you’ve listened to it, it makes sense – it actually does feel like it says on the cover.
Here’s Willy Moon by WILLY MOON [REVIEW]
I was so very dubious when, 12-18 months ago, I Wanna Be Your Man first got it’s five minutes of internet flurry as people who either should have known better or really, genuinely, actually have no idea started filling up Facebook feeds with posting the “quirky” video….
Bad Blood by BASTILLE [REVIEW]
News alert : Mawsynram, the village in North Eastern India is at risk of losing it’s biggest claim to fame. With an average annual rainfall of over 467 inches, the settlement has laid claim to being the wettest place on Earth. Until, that is, London’s Dan Smith, under the moniker of Bastille, released this album; it’s a soggy rag of a record, shit, it makes Coldplay seem edgy….
If You Leave by DAUGHTER [REVIEW]
Fans of The xx are, I am sure, the most likely to appreciate the sparse atmospherics of this album; replete with delicate guitars and percussive skitterings; but it’s the darkness and weariness of Elena’s brittle, at times understated yet confident voice, that really maketh the record….
Specter At The Feast by BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB [REVIEW]
This is BRMC’s seventh long player and it’s twelve years since their debut album – which, really, if you think about it, is actually pretty impressive – especially when you consider that they can still deliver, as evidenced here, interesting and rewarding albums without losing their way up their own asses…
Wolf by TYLER THE CREATOR [REVIEW]
To be honest, I still really can’t tell if this is amazing satire or if Tyler is actually all the way up his own ass with this, his third long player.
The Invisible Way by LOW [REVIEW]
From the very first moments of opening track Plastic Cup; gently strummed in, the brand new album from Low, produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, no less, I knew I was listening to something quite special….
In Guards We Trust by GUARDS [REVIEW]
Madeline Follin from Cults’ brother Richie is the main dude in Guards and, armed with that snippet of family tree it’s really hard to not consistently, while listening to this debut long player, draw harmonic similarities….
Mala by DEVENDRA BANHART [REVIEW]
So, I confess, a part of me really doesn’t want to like Devendra Banhart’s new album Mala. I recently got to speak with the man for an interview (yet to be published) and…
Exile by HURTS [REVIEW]
It’d be fair to say that previous output from British duo Hurts has been a bit, umm, how to say, like the YSL fragrance Jazz advertising circa late eighties / early nineties. Now,…
Ballet in the Badlands by THE CHEMIST [REVIEW}
Western Australian quartet The Chemist’s debut long player is a solidly composed collection of alternative rock songs. Sonically, there’s nothing to complain about; they tick the right boxes but for me, I’m finding…
Comedown Machine by THE STROKES [REVIEW]
Lots of people have said that lead track One Way Trigger, when it was released earlier this year, sounded like A-Ha… and I’m pretty sure that they didn’t mean that in a complimentary…
Homosapien by PVT [REVIEW]
Sydney trio PVT apparently used to have vowels; depending on what you choose to believe the change was either due to threats of legal action or because there’s a character limit on Twitter….
Pedestrian Verse by FRIGHTENED RABBIT [REVIEW]
There’s a charming back story that accompanies FRIGHTENED RABBIT. Thankfully, rabbit is not some weird tangental nickname earned at an all-boys school based on Scott Hutchison’s surname; HUTCHinson – Rabbit Hutch – gettit?…
