#694: Frank Turner - Be More Kind

It seems that Frank Turner has been on an upward trajectory since 2015’s Positive Songs for Negative People, both emotionally and professionally. Be More Kind picks up where that record left off, and finds Turner at his most empathetic, and most accessible.

This review was originally written for The Independent. Click here to read in full.

#693: Peace - Kindness is the New Rock and Roll

When Kindness Is The New Rock and Roll opens with recent single “Power”, three minutes of undeniably quintessential Peace, it’s easy to assume that it will set the tone for what’s to follow instantly. And though ideas of upbeat positivity are something that recur throughout, such assumptions are only partially right.

This review was originally written for The Independent. Click here to read in full.

#692: Gaz Coombes - World's Strongest Man

With 2015’s Matador, Gaz Coombes elevated himself from Supergrass frontman-turned-solo-artist into a Mercury Prize-nominated musician that could be taken on his own (substantial) merit. Its follow up, World’s Strongest Man, sees Coombes propel himself further, allowing the more experimental side hinted at on the aforementioned to really come to the fore.

This review was originally written for The Independent. Click here to read in full.

#691: Marine - Fable Electric

On the one hand Fable Electric, the debut album from London quartet Marine, is a bold and brash that’s as uncompromising as it is confident. On the other however, it’s ethereal and otherworldly; its nuanced matched only by its inherently enigmatic nature. The result is an album as beguiling as it bombastic.

This review was originally written for Louder Than War. Click here to read in full.

#690: Cloud - Plays With Fire

There’s something both sad and reassuring about the sheer number of albums released recently that are hinged on the agonies and anxieties of the twenty-something. Reassuring in their messages of solidarity, and in the idea that such feelings are seemingly ubiquitous, yet sad in the sense that such anxieties are as far-reaching as they are, and in the fact there’s little really that can be done to address them.

This review was originally written for Louder Than War. Click here to read in full.

#689: Fickle Friends - You Are Someone Else

Arriving on a wave of icy synths and hyperbole, ‘You Are Someone Else’ is the highly anticipated debut from Fickle Friends and finds the Brighton-based quintet awash in button-bright textures and unashamedly pop production. But while the sugar-sweet indie-pop might well be moreish in smaller servings, the 16 tracks on offer here feel overindulgent, especially on consecutive listens.

This review was originally written for Clash Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#688: The Wonder Years - Sister Cities

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Whenever anyone mentions The Wonder Years, I’m instantly taken back to being at uni, where Get Stoked On It was often the soundtrack to the rare handful of warm days Leeds gets each year. I never dug much further than that however, so it came as something as a surprise to find that not only is Sister Cities the band’s sixth album, but The Wonder Years clearly aren’t the same band that soundtracked fleeting summers several years ago.

This review was originally written for Line of Best Fit. Click here to read in full. 

#687: Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog

With 2015’s Painted Shut, Philadelphia's Hop Along somewhat fittingly made the jump from irresistibly scrappy indie-pop project to a fully realised band. On their third album, Bark Your Head Off, Dog, they take it a step further.

This review was originally written for Line of Best Fit. Click here to read in full.

#686: Black Foxxes - Reiði

Inspired following frontman Mark Holley’s extended trip to Iceland in between records, Reiði is the second record from Exeter’s Black Foxxes. Much like the geography of the country from which it takes its influence, it’s equally as imposing as it is staggeringly beautiful.

This review was originally written for Line of Best Fit. Click here to read in full. 

#685: Moose Blood - I Don't Know If I Can Do This Anymore

Since their inception back in 2012, Canterbury’s Moose Blood have been fusing together the lovelorn sounds of Midwest emo with a distinctly British brand of power-pop, and have been turning heads and breaking hearts ever since.

This review was originally written for Line of Best Fit. Click here to read in full.

#684: Teen Creeps - Birthmarks

Teen Creeps’ aesthetic is one that feels nostalgic, certainly, but succeeds not just in dusting off any pre-assumed cobwebs but incinerating them completely; its angst and anger tangible in the pained delivery of Bert Vliegen, its heartbreak evident in his heart-on-sleeve lyricism.

This review was originally written for DIY Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#683: We Are Scientists - Megaplex

18 years and six albums in, it makes sense that We Are Scientists should know exactly what they want to sound like. Where previously the band claim to have used their records “to educate, to enlighten, to awaken people to the depth and complexity of moral concerns”, ‘Megaplex’ eschews the soapbox in favour of ten tracks of button-bright indie-pop.

This review was originally written for DIY Magazine. Click here to read in full.

#682: Table Scraps - Autonomy

Coming across as the bastard offspring of Big Black and Alice Cooper, Birmingham’s Table Scraps are scuzzy, uncompromising, and more than a little tongue in cheek. As such, second album, ‘Autonomy’, harbours many of those same traits, and though its clattering garage rock may feel familiar for those who spent any time with the band’s debut, it does just enough to distance itself from its predecessor.

This review was originally written for DIY Magazine. Click here to read in full.