#769: Slut Magic - Show Me

 

Hypnotic and propulsive, ‘Show Me’ is the latest single from Brooklyn punks Slut Magic and oozes all the effortless cool you might expect from such a band. Self-described as a “ransom note as music”, it’s both sultry and sleazy, though it’s you-show-me-yours-I’ll-show-you-mine message might not be what you think.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#768: Glass Towers - Nobody Walks In LA

 

Regardless of when and where one grew up, there’s an argument to be had that everyone is trying their hardest to recapture a misspent youth. Whether subconsciously or otherwise, music is the perfect evidence for this argument. Instantly nostalgic, it harbours an ability to immediately transport listeners to a specific time and place regardless of genre; a universal effect that can be as personal or as inclusive as one needs.

This review was written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#766: Maisie May - Lost My Love

 

Though 2020 has affected everyone differently, one wouldn’t have though nostalgia would have been a feeling conjured by a global pandemic. Still it was one felt by New York’s Maisie May, who when quarantining upstate in her childhood home, the nostalgic feelings this in turn evoked manifesting in her latest single ‘Lost My Love’.

This review is originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#765: Celiin - Marilyn

 

Referring to your tracks as ‘love letters’ might well appear twee to the uninitiated, but Norway’s Celiin couldn’t be less twee if she tried. Since emerging in 2019 with her debut single ‘Leonardo’, and the first of her First of the Love Letters Trilogy, Celiin has made a name for herself crafting exquisitely understated alt-pop offerings that bridge the gap between romance and depression. The latest of which, ‘Marylin’ not only concludes the trilogy, but also finds Celiin at her darkest and most primal.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#764: Stefano Fasce - Human

 

While it might not often be possible to convey a narrative without lyrics, it is possible to convey feelings and emotion, something that Stefano Fasce manages to do effortlessly on ‘Human’, the lead single from his forthcoming album Solitary Places.  A fitting title for a single inspired “by the experience of being in a remote place and gaining a new, hopeful perspective on our reality”.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#763: Sarah King - Nightstand

 

Murder ballads have long been a staple of folk culture, and as such, have long been a staple of American folk culture also, with the likes of The Doors and Bob Dylan drawing influence from their often allegorical and always dark narratives. Though varied in their perspectives and their outcomes, it was rare for the point of view to be sang from a female point of view, so what happens when you flip that perspective on its head?

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#762: China Bears - Jolene

 

As a music critic, being able to distance oneself from the music your reviewing is a valuable trait to learn. Though perhaps seemingly counterproductive (after all what’s music if it doesn’t invoke an emotional response) it allows writers to form balanced opinions and maintain a sense of professionalism that hyperbole for entertainment’s sake might otherwise not. There are times however, when the emotional response is too much to ignore, and any sense of professionalism falls by the wayside.

This review was origanally written When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#761: YAWN - Wasting Time

 

Seeking to explore the strange space between nature and technology, Canadian songstress YAWN has recently been turning heads on both sides of the Atlantic.  Her latest single ‘Wasting Time’ looks set to continue the trend, while succeeding in striking a balance between the organic and the contrived beautifully.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#760: Rila's Edge - Coast

 

Exploding out of the starting blocks with barrage of Joy Formidable-esque bombast and electronic urgency, ‘Coast’, the new single from Berkshire five-piece Rila’s Edge, quickly establishes itself as bold, brash and optimistic, before the breaks are applied somewhat and its complexities are allowed to blossom.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#759: WEIRDO - Insomniac Ideas

 

While it might be easy to dismiss WEIRDO’s moniker as being a result of his idiosyncratic style, scratch beneath the surface and it becomes apparent that though WEIRDO’s world might be a disorientating descent into debauchery, beneath the ski-mask feelings of isolation alienation, and anxiety manifest.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#758: Corey Taylor - CMFT

 

For my generation (insanely baggy jeans and dog collars anyone?) Corey Taylor needs little introduction. For those that like to make me feel old, he’s best known as the masked frontman of contemporary metal legends Slipknot. With that out the way, it may come as something as a surprise that Taylor harbours a softer, more melodic side as well.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#757: All Night Dining - There Must've Been A Reason

 

Style over substance has been something long synonymous with Manchester’s music scene. I should know, I live here. While this may well earn me a certain degree of criticism, it doesn’t change the fact that for every band or artist with heart and integrity, there’s another 4 harbouring dreams of swaggering their way to Gallagherdom.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#756: Yammerer - Boa Constrictor

 

Frantic, frenetic and ferocious, Liverpool five-piece Yammerer are impossible to pigeon-hole, let alone cage. Lazy comparisons might see the quintet compared to the likes of The Fall, or perhaps even Idles, though while there are similarities, especially as far as the former are concerned, there’s a sense of something unhinged at the core of Yammerer that not even Mark E Smith could channel, no matter how many tantrums he threw. 

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#755: ASTER - Unaware Bliss

 

Four minutes of otherworldly folk-pop, ASTER’s latest single ‘Unaware Bliss’ is ethereal as it is understated. A statement of intent (‘Unaware Bliss’ is the first taste of a forthcoming EP) self-produced over lockdown, it seeks to explore that strange feeling of euphoria often experienced in the early stages of grief (in this case the inevitability of the end of a relationship), and in doing so has crafted not so much a song, but a soundscape - a gently unfurling sonic tapestry in which the peaks and troughs are as emotional as they are musical.

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#754: Touche Amore - Lament

 

Not counting last year’s tenth anniversary release, it’s been four years since LA’s Touche Amore released their last full album. Though it’s the longest the band have gone between LPs, for anyone familiar with 2016’s Stage Four that break will come as little surprise. 

This review was originally written for When the Horn Blows. Click here to read in full.

#753: October Drift - Naked

 

It feels like a lifetime ago that Octob­­er Drift released their debut album Forever Whatever. Realistically it was only 10 short months ago, and though a lot has happened in that time, it’s a record I’ve found myself going back to countless times, for countless reasons.

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

#752: Two Weeks In Nashville - Homeward Bound

 

Like many of my generation, I was introduced to indie music in the 90s. Though while bands such as Oasis or Blur managed to perfectly encapsulate the aspirations and optimism of Blairite Britain, it’s difficult to convey that to a 7 year, regards of how politically astute they may be.

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

#751: The Slow Readers Club - 91 Days In Isolation

 

While it goes without saying that the UK’s lockdown changed the lives of millions of people, and indeed continues to do so, for musicians and those in bands it’s meant a whole rethink to their operations. After all, how does a band write, record, even practice properly without being in the same room as one another?

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

#750: Peak Low - Transition

 

Peak Low, the stage name of Derbyshire’s Nathan Till, is a somewhat fitting name for the artist behind Transition, itself a fitting title for the debut album from Peak Low. Inspired in part by Till’s escape from a strict religious upbringing and the struggles that came with trying to adapt to the world outside such a life, Transition is eight tracks of soaring and optimistic indie rock born from trying and testing times.

This review was originally for RGM. Click here to read in full.

#749: Children of the State - Hot Money

 

Dark, and harbouring more than a sense of danger, ‘Hot Money’ is the first song to be taken from Children of the State’s excellently titled forthcoming EP Tragic Carpet and the Magical Wasp Gang from Notre Dame, and indeed the first to be released since the band’s move to Manchester. And one can’t help but feel the pervading influence of the city’s bleak industrial history past at play within the track’s inherent claustrophobia.

This review was originally for RGM. Click here to read in full.

#748: The Lathums - I See Your Ghost

 

For anyone who likes to think they’ve got their finger on the pulse of the UK’s wider indie scene, it’s been near impossible not to see or hear The Lathums mentioned in conversation, played on the radio and shared on social media. But then again, they’re not a band that one would want to avoid.

This review was originally for RGM. Click here to read in full.

#747: Cabbage - Amanita Patherina

 

Manchester five-piece Cabbage have always gone about things their own way. And though their idiosyncratic brand of acerbic post-punk and ramshackle indie rock might on occasion find the Mossley quartet with their tongues in cheeks, while they might not always take themselves too seriously, we certainly should. At least if their new record is anything to go by.

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

#746: Bang Bang Romeo - Starve

 

It’s difficult to put a finger on Bang Bang Romeo. With tracks that would be at home on the stages of Download Festival, as well as those that are more suited to sweaty club dancefloors, they’re a rare example of a band who almost literally have something for everybody. From the nostalgia flecked “Bag of Bones” to the angular and frenetic “What’s Up” or the empathically uplifting pop of the Example featuring “Love Yourself”,  they’re a band with multiple aesthetics, each linked by an overarching message of empowerment. Personal or otherwise.

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

#745: October Drift - Like the Snow We Fall

 

The thing with writing about music is, there’s just so bloody much of it. As such, some bands and artists will pass you by completely, some will dawdle on your periphery, dipping in and out of earshot with an occasional single or album, and others will become something of a permanent fixture in your life. October Drift fall into the latter category.

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

#744: Ian Brown - Little Seed Big Tree

 

Being from Manchester is pretty good. I don’t subscribe to the idea that it’s “the best city on earth” like some Mancunians but generally it’s a great city that feels largely independent and self-sufficient, harbouring a burgeoning community of artists, musicians and bands that give the city much of its reputation. But lately, some of our bigger exports are giving the rest of us a bad name.

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

#743: Phongramma - Mon President Est Egoiste

 

Often something is better in theory than in practice. And it seems that might be the case as far as Russian electronic duo Phonogramma go. A project founded at the beginning of 2020 by two well-established Russian producers Mike Von Gall and Slava Voroshnin, the duo have no fixed vocalist and instead employ a variety of writers and vocalists from around the world to record with them.

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

#742: Scott Helman - Nonsuch Park

 

Music journalism is a fickle thing. On the one hand, keeping up with trends and being knowledgeable about the freshest new acts can help one remain feeling young. Conversely, and somewhat paradoxically, it’s these trends and next big things that can also leave one feeling old. Very old. As far as Nonsuch Park goes, the second album from Canada’s Scott Helman, for this writer, in particular, it was the latter.

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

#741: The Front Bottoms - In Sickness and In Flames

 

The criticism most often levelled at New Jersey folk-punk duo The Front Bottoms, is that their sense of humour and lyricism come across as juvenile. One only needs look at the name to see that where such critics are coming from. Agreeing with them wholly however would be missing both the point, and the charm, of the band.

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

#740: NOFX/Frank Turner – West Coast Vs Wessex

 

These days, the idea of a split is a nostalgic one. Archaic almost. Originally conceived in the early 1980s, it was a cost-effective way for smaller independent imprints to push their lesser known artists. Times have changed since then. As has the way in which labels will promote their bands. As such, in the era of Spotify and YouTube, split releases are something of an anachronism rarely seen outside of the punk/hardcore underground. It’s for that reason that the West Coast vs Wessex is such a tantalising prospect.

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

#739: The Lawrence Arms - Skeleton Coast

 

Since forming in 1999, Chicago trio The Lawrence Arms have gone on to release seven studio albums while carving out their own niche in punk history. As a result, they’ve been name checked as influences in interviews and supported (punk) household names throughout their career. Despite this, they’re still very much a “band’s band”, and as such, have often found themselves overshadowed by the more mainstream likes of fellow Chicagoans Alkaline Trio.

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

#738: Black Foxxes - Black Foxxes

 

​​With 2018’s Reiði, Black Foxxes succeeded in creating a record that was both deeply personal, yet also massively cathartic for all who listened to it. Taken from the Icelandic word for rage, the fittingly titled Reiði’s saw Black Foxxes brainchild Mark Holley exercising his own demons over the course of ten tracks.

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

#737: Pup - This Place Sucks Ass

 

It’s been a year and a half since Canadian pop-punkers PUP released their most recent album Morbid Stuff. A lot has changed in that time, and while that record fantasised about the world exploding, little did PUP know that 12 short months later the world would actually be hell bent on imploding.

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

#736: Biffy Clyro - A Celebration Of Endings

 

Biffy Clyro have always been a band with two distinct personalities. From the grunge, metal and math-rock of their early albums, to the radio-friendly anthemia of their later releases, they’ve never been afraid to explore and toy with dynamics, often exhibiting both sides of themselves across the same record, if not the same song.

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

#735: Marsicans - Ursa Major

 

Anyone familiar with West Yorkshire four-piece Marsicans will already be accustomed, if not addicted, to the bands inimitable brand of technicolour indie-pop. Going into Ursa Major, the band’s debut album, expecting nothing but that won’t leave listeners disappointed, but they might be surprised to learn that there’s much more to the quartet than they first assumed.

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

#734: Ellie Goulding - Brightest Blue

 

It’s been five years since Ellie Goulding released her last record, 2015’s Delirium. A long time in anyone’s eyes, in pop music terms, it’s a lifetime. It’s not like she’s been out of the picture, however. Far from it in fact.

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

#733: Johnny Lloyd - Cheap Medication

 

When Johnny Lloyd disbanded Tribes back in 2013, it was at the height of their success. Despite two top 40 records, support slots with PIXIES and The Rolling Stones and plenty of critical and commercial acclaim, the frontman still seemed creatively stifled, something apparent in the difference between the band’s records. While their debut was a scuzzy, grungy affair beloved by indie kids, their second was richer and warmer, its influence taken from the long highways and heat haze on the other side of the Atlantic.

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

#732: NOTHING - The Great Dismal

 

I don’t need to go into detail when I say that 2020 wasn’t perhaps the year we were all expecting when we ushered it in, eyes bright with anticipation or whatever else had been consumed that evening. For that reason, it’s somewhat fitting that an image of a black hole was NOTHING founder Dominic Palermo’s inspiration for their new album 'The Great Dismal'.

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

#731: Dizzy - The Sun and Her Scorch

 

When Ontario indie-poppers Dizzy released their debut album 'Baby Teeth' in 2018, it blew me away. No mean feat for a record as inherently understated as that was. Hinged on the flippant nuances of teenage emotions, backdropped by a blanket of icy electronics and optimistic indie-pop, it was a record fraught with the feelings of adolescence, yet executed with an effortlessness that far belied the band’s young years.

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

#730: Catching Up With...ist ist

Manchester, as far as cities go, has always been in a state of flux. From the boom of the industrial revolution, to its post-war decline, the slum clearances that pushed Mancunians out to the city’s periphery while expanding its boundaries, to the rejuvenation of the 1990s onwards following the IRA bombing.

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

#729: Los Campesinos! Islington Assembly Hall, London

It’s interesting to see just how important to their fans Los Campesinos! have become in recent years. While much of their early contemporaries have either faded into obscurity or gone to top charts and headline festivals, LC! have entrenched themselves in the hearts and minds of their fans old and new, while flying almost under the radar of everyone else.

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

#728: The Menzingers, Albert Hall, Manchester

With 2019’s Hello Exile cementing Philadelphia four-piece The Menzingers as the kings of melodic punk, it seems that tonight’s show has been a long time coming. Following the band’s triumphant headline-of-sorts at last year’s Slam Dunk Festival, this writer in particular has been clamouring for the band to make a return.

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

#727: False Heads - Fall Around

As a music writer, you soon realise that there are bands you’ll come across in the early stages of their career that wholly resonate with you, whose music speaks to you in such a way that you find it entirely impossible not to write about them.

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

#726: The Menzingers - Hello Exile

With their first two albums, Pennsylvania four piece The Menzingers established themselves as a tour-de-force of scrappy youthfulness and raw emotion. It was their second three however, On the Impossible Past, Rented World and 2017’s After the Party that asserted the band as major players on the melodic punk scene.

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

#725: Slam Dunk 2019: North - Festival Coverage

Though clearly showing my age here, there was a time (and not too long ago) when festivals still felt alternative (though rarely subversive), when arriving on site felt somewhat like a homecoming and when subcultures mixed alongside the heady aroma of cheap weed, cheaper cider and a distinct lack of personal hygiene. Now it seems, at least for those more corporate events, that homogenisation is the key to black bank balances, and that playing it safe with rehashed line-ups is much preferable to taking risks on anything exciting.

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

#724: False Heads - Slease

Having enjoyed a 2018 that saw them release their acclaimed Less Is Better EP, undertake a mammoth tour of the UK and Europe in support of said record, all while still finding the time to be pissed off at just about everything (and justifiably so) going on in the world, it’s understandable that London’s False Heads have started 2019 fairly innocuously.

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

#723: Speilbergs - This Is Not The End

While there’s certainly some truth in the age-old adage ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’, it’s a phrase that harbours negative connotations, even when they’re not warranted. Case in point being Spielbergs, an Oslo-based trio that bridge the gap between indie-pop and contemporary punk effortlessly.

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

#722: Dashboard Confessional, Manchester, Academy 2

15 years ago, Dashboard Confessional were scheduled to play a show at Academy 2. At the time the band were at the height of their popularity, as was emo, the sub-culture of which frontman Chris Carraba was arguably the poster boy. The show never happened and its listing on the Academy website remained as ‘postponed’ for what felt like years before disappearing entirely.

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

#721: MJ Cole - Madrugada

Eschewing the claustrophobic confines are warehouse raves, for his latest album globally renowned producer MJ Cole instead draws his influence from something fleeting, fragile and ultimately much more elegant.

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

#720: Studio Ghibli's Use Of Sound Remains Inspirational

While many of us in the Western world grow up on a diet of Disney from a very young age. From 1985 however, those of my generation nearly 6,000 miles away in Japan, and indeed across Asia, were getting the fix of magic, princesses and pirates from an equally enthralling, though much less American, studio a little closer to home.

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

#719: October Drift - Forever/Whatever

For many, the prospect of counting down the days to an album’s release is an exciting and familiar one, pouring over scraps of news and teased tracks, eagerly devouring anything and everything relating to the release. The flip side of this is, the risk one runs with such anticipation means that we’re often disappointed; a very real worry I had, when faced with the prospect of 'Forever Whatever', the debut album from Taunton’s October Drift.

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