Review
by Jordan Dowling
Or: how Battles shrug off every half-arsed label pinned to them in four and a half minutes and write the single of the year...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Sometimes it’s as subtle as the ebb and flow of the tides, sometimes it’s a gaping chasm; either way, the difference between style and substance is always notable under scrutiny. You can hear it in the mistiming of a snare hit or the late strumming of a guitar, and similarly you can hear it in slight breaks of faux-accents. Tonight stands as a stronger contrast, as The Enemy (pictured) begin their tour as support to The Fratellis...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
New Jersey-based duo Dälek, a.k.a. MC Dälek (vocals) and the Oktopus (production), have always stood out from the crowd, whichever one it is you care to put them with. The pair are too brutal to be hip-hop, too beat-orientated to be labelled rap-metal, and they use enough layered white noise to earn comparisons to My Bloody Valentine...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Conqueror kicks off with the title track, a detuned riff rising like a phoenix from a translucent haze of hushed electronics. Here Broadrick's vocals are strangely dry, sticking out uneasily against the warm, cloistering atmosphere of his doom-metal squalls...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
With North American support dates for The Walkmen and The Kaiser Chiefs beneath their collective belt, Annuals are already well on their way to perforating the mainstream. But they will need to put a lot more drive into their songs before they do the same to long-term memories...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Like Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah before them, The Besnard Lakes have released an indie classic from completely out of the blue...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
It would be so easy to slap a big fat zero on 30 Second To Mars’s latest single and be done with it...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Pretention Alert - Code Yellow
Wessex's Reigns introduce their second album with a subdued wave of radio static, seemingly obscuring a frog chorus. Somewhere in between a dull voice, heavily coated in distortion, mutters something indescipherable...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
A couple things to clear up. If some sentences seem a bit broken up, its for dramatic effect. honestly. Plus i have a longer version of this review, but i think keeping it short and sweet works well here. Jordan*»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Those expecting anything resembling the post-metal wall-of-soundscapes of old may be found wanting as on My Heart Has A Wish..., velocity and intensity wise, Aereogramme have shifted several gears down...»
In Depth by Jordan Dowling
As the sun sets in the Nottinghamshire sky so does a chapter in the story of iLiKETRAiNS. The band are ready to draw a line under their old material, catalogued most comprehensively on the seven-track Progress Reform EP, and begin expanding their horizons...
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Review
by Jordan Dowling
Slow burning is all well and good, but there has to be enough fuel for the fire and here Leicester-based six-piece redcarsgofaster fail to deliver...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Okay, first things first: if it wasn’t for the shock success of Gogol Bordello on these shores it’s unlikely that Kultur Shock would be anywhere close to the radar - the fact that they have played six European tours in the past four years to apathy attests to this. However, that shouldn’t put you off, because here another off-kilter gem that brings the traditional songwriting structures of old and fuses it with the energy of punk-rock unearthed...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
“That’s it, I’m going to listen to no more music for the rest of my life, if need be I will cut off my ears with a rusty razor blade and throw them away like trash"»
In Depth by Jordan Dowling
DiS speaks to Napoleon IIIrd: “I find it very difficult to write music with other people: I generally know what I want from a song and take criticism, constructive or otherwise, very badly"»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Here, the band shows a great amount of promise with an album that houses more ideas per song than most bands do in their entire back-catalogue. Once they manage to weed out all the bad ideas, Hot Club De Paris will be an extremely exciting prospect...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
What you have here is a showcase in mediocrity...»
News
by Jordan Dowling
Former Can and Kraftwerk vocalist Damo Suzuki is looking for gigs in the UK between the dates of 14th November and 29th of November 2006...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
On its own, 'Sapphire Eyes' is an impressive song that deserves to be held up to the spotlight. As an introduction to a wonderful band, though, it has as much worth as an Ashley Cole lecture on hard graft...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Sometimes labeling a band stoner-rock can seem like a cop out...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
It is quite impressive when the main problem you can find with a band is that they are too smart for their own good. Indeed, you feel that Leeds four-piece The Butterfly would rather have a long discussion about how they are influenced by the works of Tolstoy or Greek tragedy than put across the sonic qualities of their new EP Impatient Orchid...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
The Rapture have kept all the ingredients from their previous successes, but they have forgot to ignite the oven...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
It is almost impossible to carve a niche in a genre as restrictive as post-rock, but with their Heaven-sent melodies and plunging riffs of brimstone Red Sparowes have drilled a planet-sized chasm...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Dear Human has a zen-like quality that, when focused on completely, can clear the heart, the brain and the soul of pessimistic thoughts...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
In the live environment the seamless blend of emo, pop and electronica combusts with a spark of unadulterated emotion, but here the tone is too sunny to add any atmosphere to the song, and yet its tempo prevents it from becoming joyous or uplifting...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
'Guilty pleasure': never has such a usually worthless description been so fitting. Okay, a poor introduction, but its hard to know where to start with Awoo, the second Hidden Cameras full-length to reach our shores...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
It's a frightening one, littered with dead ends and periods of jet-black darkness. It's a journey you will want to take again and again...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
In adding a new ingredient into the Q-friendly indie-rock formula, Heliconia have created something even more predictable and dreary than its original form...»
Review
by Jordan Dowling
Although there are some songs during which Tortoise reach their full potential, for the most part this compilation is hideously excessive and stacked with at least two CDs' worth of filler...»
In Depth by Jordan Dowling
In late May 2006 Sika Redem released their long-overdue debut album Entheogen, to a bank of hushed praise. The nine-track album received 9/10 or 4/5 reviews in several magazines and webzines, but the band have had a conspicuously slight amount of press coverage...»