DanDanDan - Happy Happy Joy Joy (EP Review)

Ok. I’m going to make one thing perfectly clear. If you like pop music, music that’s easy to listen to or understand then steer way clear of DanDanDan. If you like clever noise-pop, distorted, crunching guitars that eat your and your kids as an appetiser before streaking naked down Leith Walk making love to every redirected bus on the way, then this is your new favourite band.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk (Album Review)

“Blues runs this House”, “There is a House in New Orleans”, “House that blues built”. At this point i've heard all the puns based on combinations of “House” and “Blues” when it comes to this album. But really this isn't House playing the blues. Its Hugh Laurie playing the blues.

Written by: Craig Willis | Date: Monday, 30 May 2011

Beatsteaks - Boombox (Album Review)

In countries where pop/rock music isn’t currently of the “highest standard”, you often find that some distinctly unremarkable bands are ruling the airwaves. In their native Germany, Beatsteaks are pretty gigantic and 'Boombox', their latest record, is no exception.

Written by: Jonny Rimmer | Date: Monday, 30 May 2011

Secret Cities - Strange Hearts (Album Review)

I was surprised to learn that Secret Cities’ sophomore effort, 'Strange Hearts', was recorded in a Kansas City basement.

Written by: Jonny Rimmer | Date: Monday, 30 May 2011

F***ed Up ‘David Comes to Life’ (Album Review)

After playing a 12-hour-long gig in New York, releasing a cover of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ with members of Vampire Weekend, TV On The Radio and the Wu Tang Clan, and getting away with being played on MTV with one of the most outrageous names in the industry, what could Toronto-based hardcore sextet Fucked Up possibly do next to top such accomplishments? Well, on this occasion, they’ve gone for the less than small feat of recording a punk rock opera. But this is no ‘American Idiot’ – this is the real deal. Split into four acts, the album tells the odd and convoluted story of our hero David, supposedly set against the backdrop of our own United Kingdom during the 1970s. However, if you find yourself struggling to follow this rather elaborate tale, you’ll be pleased to hear that, lyrics and vocals aside, this is an extremely well-structured composition where the music itself is brimming with raw emotion, telling a story the whole way.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Monday, 30 May 2011

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis ‘Smoking in Heaven’ (Album Review)

Who would have thought it would take three young siblings from London to revive classic American rhythm and blues music in such a genuinely authentic style? However, that is exactly what brother and sister trio Kitty, Daisy and Lewis have done on their second album ‘Smoking in Heaven’. Following the release of their eponymous debut in 2008, which saw the group mix a selection of traditional genres and earned them a number of well-known followers such as Amy Winehouse and Chris Martin – the latter even invited them on Coldplay’s US tour – Kitty, Daisy and Lewis have taken things further still on their latest offering.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Monday, 30 May 2011

Cults - 'Cults' (Album Review)

Graduating from the Arctic Monkeys school of DIY, word of mouth-type promotion – with a bit of help from the World Wide Web – Cults are here with their dazzling, hypnotic and, more often than not, cheery-sounding debut album. For those that are as yet unfamiliar, Cults are a boyfriend and girlfriend duo from San Diego in California, who are currently based in New York and are signed to Lily Allen’s new record label In The Name Of. For their first effort, Cults seem to be proudly wearing their influences on their sleeve, although not as you might expect. Even though the album does frequently drift into oddly familiar territory from yesteryear, the overall feel of the record manages to capture a very personal and unique style from this new fascinating new band.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Thursday, 26 May 2011

Is Tropical - The Greeks (Single Review)

Is Tropical have gone to the Klaxons school of song writing. With the major exception being that this song, lyrically, makes sense unlike anything Klaxons have ever released.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Fink - Perfect Darkness (Album Review)

Imagine it, you’re a minimalist Techno DJ spinning the vinyl at some of the country’s top clubs around the turn of the millennium. You’re rising through the ranks and then you sit down with a guitar and start making Indie music, releasing three albums of it since 2006. It’s not the usual route for the average musician, but for Fin Greenall, aka Fink, it’s worked pretty nicely.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome (Album Review)

Albums these days: They’re generally written, rehearsed, recorded, mixed, edited and put on the shelves every, say, two years or so. Bands rarely start the next album properly before bringing out the current one. Danger Mouse, however, has allowed this Rome project to slowly gestate for five full years, tweaking, perfecting, messing around with the songs, the instrumentalism, the order, everything about it, and you know what? It’s bloody fantastic.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Wednesday, 25 May 2011

The Computers - This Is The Computers (Album Review)

2011 is shaping up to be a brilliant year in the world of alternative music. Where the mainstream is littered with countless meaningless dance tracks, all of which instruct their listeners to ‘hit the flo’ or ‘feel that 808’, elsewhere albums much like ‘This is the Computers’ are appearing.

Written by: Abby Fletcher | Date: Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Slaves To Gravity - UNDERWATEROUTERSPACE (Album Review)

Hailed as one of Britain’s best upand coming bands in the last couple of years, Slaves To Gravity have had a lot of support over their musical course. Having said that, I must admit that I entered the review process of their latest offering, ‘Underwaterouterspace’, with a high level of scepticism. Not being overwhelmingly grabbed by them over the years I had seen and heard them, I decided this was the chance to give them another try – and I found myself pleasantly surprised.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Mexicolas - The Minerva Suite (Album Review)

For those in the room down on their history, Minerva was the mythological goddess who Romans believed invented music. This might be enough of a basis to conjure images of an epic concept album that transcends the beauty of sound as we know it. But instead, 'The Minerva Suite' is the second album by the distinctly unambitious Mexicolas.

Written by: Jonny Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Pure Reason Revolution - Live At Scala (DVD Review)

Pure Reason Revolution (or PRR for the twitter generation) are one of the most innovative bands to have come out of the United Kingdom in recent years. In a rough climate where bands often have to conform to label pressures or perish, PRR can claim to have carved themselves a truly unique place in independent music.

Written by: Jonny Rimmer | Date: Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Lady Gaga - Born This Way (Album Review)

A lot has been said about Lady Gaga over the past three years and pretty much everybody on the planet knows of and has an opinion of Ms. Gaga. When 'Just Dance' hit the dancefloors back in 2008, most people realised that a new star was born. Not many people would have realised just how big a star she would end up being.

Written by: Liam Gascoigne | Date: Friday, 20 May 2011

Sara Bareillas - Kaleidoscope Heart (Album Review)

From the very first track, 'Kaleidoscope heart', you know that you're in for something different and very very special from one of the most talented, most underrated young artists around. 

Written by: Sophie Monk | Date: Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Beastie Boys ‘Hot Sauce Committee Part 2’ (Album Review)

“Here we go again/give you more nothing lesser” yells Adrock on the aptly-titled ‘Make Some Noise’, the opening track from the Beastie Boys’ long-awaited eighth album. How, indeed, could we expect anything less? 25 years on from their chart-destroying debut ‘Licensed to Ill’ and the New York trio are back with their latest effort ‘Hot Sauce Committee Part 2’. Over the past quarter-century, the boys have given us plenty of reasons to expect great things. On their previous six albums since ‘Licensed to Ill’, the Beastie Boys’ sound has matured, evolved and expanded to transform them into one of the most diverse and highly-regarded acts in the world, successfully redefining them at a more gradual and convincing pace. Long gone are the days of pop hits such as ‘Fight for Your Right to Party’, although an amusing nod towards their early classic is made here.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Amoriste - The Mascot (Single Review)

Any song that features the iconic James Alexander Gordon, not just via lyrical mention, but also by featuring a soundbytes of him reading out scores from the nPower League Two during the closing seconds deserves nothing but an excellent review. The man is a king.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Monday, 16 May 2011

Flashguns - Passions Of A Different Kind (Single Review)

If there ever was a band that sounds exactly like todays indie music scene, then Flashguns are exactly it. 'Passions of a Different Kind' brings to the table a slightly moody, if upbeat twinkle of emotive jangly guitar pop rock. Even the vocals by frontman Sam Felix Johnston have a particular wail about them that doesn’t really set them apart from their peers. So, while this song is about as original and fresh as anything U2 have released in the last ten years, that doesn’t mean to say it’s bad. After all, Radiohead sounded like Pixies when they started out, and Muse sounded like Radiohead. Look what’s happened to the pair of them now.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Monday, 16 May 2011

Stealing Sheep – The Mountain Dogs (EP Review)

The very first thing I thought when playing the title track of this EP was that I was going to get a boring country tinged piece of American bore. Not that country music is bad in any way, but any country music that isn’t excellent is awful. There seems to be no in-between. Anyway, I’ve digressed. So, when the lo-fi harmonious female vocals popped in for a tea party, flitting between the childish and playful, I was honestly surprised by what I was hearing. It’s certainly not country.

Written by: James Ball | Date: Monday, 16 May 2011