Release Reviews
Various - Kitsuné Maison 8
If this is the best Kitsuné have then they may well need to go back to the drawing board and start over. If it isn’t then why didn’t we get to hear it instead of being left with this rag-tag bunch of club kid hangers on? »
Digital Leather - Warm Brother
up with Digital Leather’s mindset, rather than the other way round. You’ll have to dig that archaic keyboard sound to some extent, or you won’t be feeling Warm Brother.»
Stereophonics - Keep Calm and Carry on
If ever there’s a title that sums up a band’s ambitions and career trajectory, then Keep Calm And Carry On would be it.»
Various - Rough Trade Shops - Indiepop '09
As London's most influential record store for the past three decades, Rough Trade have been responsible for providing many a fledgling artist a stepping stone from the underground to a far wider audience...»
Polly Scattergood - Bunny Club EP
Being something of a placeholder release was always going to be an accusation you could level at the Bunny Club EP: it's a reasonably lightweight package by any standards, but in Scattergood’s defence, it doesn’t really feel as though it’s intended to be much more than that. »
Ólöf Arnalds - Við og við
One recurring theme with Nordic artists appears to be that their records get released over here on average two years later. This i»
AA Bondy - When the Devil's Loose
When The Devil’s Loose by AA Bondy is a good album, but some way short of being a great one.»
Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
This is the sound of regression, desperately seeking the Ferris Bueller days off, sitting on our Spiderman bedspreads, playing Prince of Persia, Double Dragon and/or Starfox, wearing Karate Kid peejays. This is escapism, going down the Warioland pipe and into a rabbit hole of hazy days which began with bonus levels before breakfast. »
Memory Tapes - Seek Magic
O how you vex me, Dayve Hawke. You vex me because I know you are just one person, yet two of your three alter egos have names in t»
The Northwestern - Ghostrock EP
When new bands form out of the grey ashes of old bands, it is very difficult to escape comparisons with what came before. New Order just about managed it. Test Icicles are mentioned in every other Lightspeed Champion review.»
Various - Dance To The Radio: 4x12" Volume 3
As leading lights of the UK independent scene, Leeds’ Dance To The Radio have not only established themselves as one of this nation’s finest record labels, they’ve also developed a tendency to spot new talent while many of their peers are still chasing the previous year’s media-hyped scene...»
Tune-Yards - BiRd-BrAiNs
On this record, Merril Garbus manages the impressive feat of condensing much of the decade’s more interesting musical trends into one very well delivered tapestry.»
Glass Rock - Tall Firs Meet Soft Location
Glass Rock might seem like the perfect proposition on paper, and in practice they’re every bit as good as they should be. »
Au_ - Versions
One can almost imagine Wyland as a Brian Wilson type of character, bursting with ideas about how each facet of his music should sound. »
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
So a de facto QOTSA album with Grohl and Jones as players and collaborators: good, right? Um, occasionally. »
Gentle Friendly - Ride Slow
Ride Slow is a furious blend of sounds and influences, which apes the grand styles of their forbearers whilst staying true to an admirably lo-fi aesthetic. »
4 or 5 Magicians - Empty Derivative Pop Songs
No-fi may be a 'thing'. If it wasn't a 'thing' in the beginning, it has almost definitely become a 'thing'. That is to say, a genr»
The Raincoats - The Raincoats
Gloriously ragged, The Raincoats are among the better adverts for the DIY empowerment of punk. »
Various - Warp20 (Unheard)
Back in Sheffield it’s 1989 and Warp(ed) records is open for business. Have you heard?»
Apse - Climb Up
The album’s inconsistency simultaneously appeals and frustrates. »
Javelin - Javelin
Plucky New York-based cousins Javelin’s live act sounds like a spectacle worth seeing. Using an FM transmitter to broadcast the »
Mission Of Burma - The Sound the Speed the Light
It’s fair to posit that Mission of Burma are the ultimate example of how rock reformations can be unequivocally A Good Thing.»
Snow Patrol - Up to Now
As Gary Lightbody sits in his ‘Chasing Cars’ mansion with his ‘Run’ model girlfriend, he must thank his Grey’s Anatomy lucky stars and there isn’t a single person reading this that wouldn’t have done the exact same thing given the chance and the circumstances. »
Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be
It seems that without the urge to be a bit weird, gone too is the urge to challenge or confront. »
In Photos: Arctic Monkeys @ Wembley Arena, London
In Photos: The Flaming Lips @ The Academy, Manchester
In Photos: Moby @ The Palace Theatre, London
In Photos: Tegan & Sara @ Shepherds Bush Empire, London
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