The Fall – Your Future, Our Clutter
The Northern white crap that talks back are... back. Smith and Co. hit the 21st Century in style with album number 277 or thereabouts.
Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band
Eric D. Johnson’s Fruit Bats sink their teeth in a third album of sweet pop with The Ruminant Band.
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Amadeus, Amadeus, rock me Amadeus! Phoenix's fourth album is a show stopper without a Salieri in sight.
Pernice Brothers – Goodbye, Killer
All killer, no filler, Joe Pernice and Co. turn up the volume and turn in one of their most enjoyable records to date.
The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound
SideOneDummy, 2008 [9/10] The ’59 Sound starts, fittingly, with a sound of romance and antiquity -- a needle laid to vinyl. A spindly guitar riff echoes faintly in the distance, then suddenly erupts into an
Vivian Girls – Interview on Valentine’s Day in London town (2009)
Flowers and chocolates? We brought neither but Brooklyn three-piece the Vivian Girls graciously didn't hold that against us.
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
"Bitte Orca is an album for the background of a high concept coffee shop on your hipster street". I'm getting that Reality Bites feeling...
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
Sounding more like a theme park ride than a band, Ariel Pink pulls off both with a little 70's funk and 80's new wave self-exploration.
Taken By Trees – East of Eden
Ex-Concrete Victoria Bergsman heads to Pakistan to seek inspiration for her second album as Taken By Trees.
The Morning Benders – Big Echo
Oh, summery shimmery albums. Why must you hook us so? Berkeley, CA's, The Morning Benders serve up a treat.
The White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights
Visual document of The White Stripes Canadian invasion of 2007. No Seven Nation Army required.
The Monochrome Set – The Independent Singles Collection
Cherry Red, 2008 [7/10] England 1979 -- punk was morphing into the more experimental post-punk and saw landmark releases from PiL, Gang of Four, The Cure, Joy Division and The Pop Group. And then...then there
Versus – On the Ones and Threes
Out of nowhere comes a near perfect album by a near forgotten band that rewrites their own history in one superlative-inducing swoop.
Mark E. Smith – Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith
Viking, 2008 [rating:6/10] It begins at the end, or the supposed end, where having retired the old guard for a succession of young guns, Mark E. Smith faces up to a musician mutiny on The
Pete Fijalkowski – Interview about Polak, Adorable and Broken Heart Surgery (2008)
Pete Fijalkowski former frontman for two of England's most criminally ignored bands, Adorable and Polak, talks about his solo album Broken Heart Surgery.
Wild Beasts – London – 8 October 2009
Having given us one of the most lurid and arresting albums all year in Two Dancers, the Leeds-based Wild Beasts are let loose on London and give us such a performance that we (as they say) still got the taste dancin' on our tongues.