Category: Albums

Stalking Horse – Specters

Recently I felt I was obliged, as an avid NME reader, to try and listen to Animal Collective’s 2009 “Masterpiece” Merriweather Post Pavilion. I felt that I was missing out, that many others had gained a deeper appreciation of Pop music because of it’s “artistic depth” and “fierce creativity”. Or something. Turns out that when I did get round to listening to it I got through two tracks that both felt half an hour long and then turned off because [...]

Night Verses – Out Of The Sky

In the States, the great genre of Post-Hardcore hasn’t quite gone overground in the same way it has over here. Meaning that American Post-Hardcore bands have a much higher chance of sounding, interesting, unique and blisteringly heavy than over here, where most of them sound like a less interesting Biffy Clyro. Night Verses in this, their debut E.P have provided the best example of this since Brand New’s Daisy album (however, that particular album reached number 6 on the Billboard [...]

The Wind-Up Birds – The Land

The Land is the debut album from The Wind-Up Birds. An album about community, communication, isolation and pure Englishness – The Wind-up Birds sound about as English as it gets, hailing from northern Leeds. The vocals and lyrics are heavily influenced by Mark. E. Smith of the fall and musically there is a similarity to The Wedding Present and Gang of Four (both bands are also from Leeds). Even the album cover defines Englishness – a football goal in a [...]

FOREIGN SLIPPERS – It All Starts Now EP

Singer Gabrielle Froden is a London based alternative indie artist, author and songwriter from Norrkoping in Sweden. She’s part of the folk and gospel duo Foreign Slippers.

It All Starts Now is released on May 14th, 2012 by Adventures In Gramophone. The simple, enchanting drawing on the album cover suggests the beginnings of a children’s story about birds.

It All Starts Now is a softly sung acoustic number which is surprisingly transformed by an uplifting and powerful chorus. It’s taken from the [...]

Beach House – Bloom

Baltimore duo, Alex Scally (guitar, keys) and Victoria Legrand (vocals, organ) made it again. Their fourth album is right there and I’m streaming it. It’s called Bloom.

In a music world where everything is too fast and we, music lovers, are overwhelmed with new names and new records – some good, many bad ones – the album Teen Dream from 2010 (I know, ages ago) is still present here and there in my playlists. And when shuffle decides to play a [...]

Young Hines – Give Me My Change

It’s a bit of a strange one is Give Me My Change by Young Hines. It’s one of those albums with lots of very likeable individual tracks, but without a consistent sound. Consequently, it lacks a sense of identity. You’ll remember it as a series of moments, as a supposed to a coherent collection of songs that add up to a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
For example, why does the album open with a minute long blues [...]

M83 – Reunion EP

Reunion is the second single released by Anthony Gonzalez and its creature M83 (for some geeks Messier 83) from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. A lot has been said about Gonzalez’ latest album: tedious for some (few), monumental for some others (many). Whatever your point about the album is, Reunion is surely one of its highest points.
Abandoned the shoegazing escapes of the first albums, Reunion is probably the track that most of all projects M83 among the 1980s’ revivalists, with its [...]