Articles
leetle_john has written the following articles:
Therapy? - Crooked Timber
You could be forgiven if your first thoughts on hearing this album were WTF? Therapy? are still going? Well they are, and the ‘?’ in their name is still ruining the flow of sentences in their reviews. »
Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
Their album title may sound like it belongs on the cover of a kids’ book, but Fight Like Apes clearly not only know their music, but also the place they’d like to occupy with it.»
Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Whether they're having the likes of J. Mascis, Moby or Les Savy Fav's Tim Harrington guest at their recent twelve hour gig in New York, or appearing on the (admittedly hidden-in-a-bag-of-free-gifts) cover of NME, Fucked Up certainly seem to be the hardcore band du jour. »
Tilly and the Wall - O
Of all the bands to spring out of Omaha, Nebraska in recent years, there are probably few more Omaha than Tilly and the Wall; two of them used to be in a band with Conor Oberst, they’re signed to his Team Love label and he even produced their first album.»
Noisettes - I-WE
It's strange to think that this is Noisettes’ debut single as it feels as if their name has been bandied about for ages – perhaps because of their reportedly incendiary live show. Much has been made of frontwoman Shingai’s star quality – often, you suspect, by male journalists – but whatever it is she does have, it comes across in spades here.»
The Evenings - Louder in the Dark
Tricky sorts to pin down, these Evenings, at least when all four tracks on this EP seem to offer something quite different. The charmingly named 'Fizzy Piss' sounds like a rollicking electro take on a horror movie soundtrack bringing to mind Transylvanian castles and frightening dark streets (Curtain Road, for instance). »
Nizlopi - JCB Song
OK, you must have heard this by now. It’s everywhere, like bird flu and criminals and charity muggers. So what’s so bad about it? Is it just too nice? »
Napoleon IIIrd - EP2
Those who think music has got just a little too clever for its own good lately may falter at the first few broken up bars of this EP, but let’s hope they’re patient as it quickly unfolds into something quite fantastic.»
Gemma Hayes - Happy Sad
Despite almost universal plaudits for her debut album Gemma Hayes has not quite hit the big time yet but she’s moved to LA anyway. Whether she’s drinking Hennessey with Morrissey has yet to be confirmed but her music, pitched somewhere between Cardigans prettiness and angry woman rockiness, certainly has the potential to catch the ear of the mainstream.»
Timid Tiger - Timid Tiger & A Pile of Pipers
Say what you like about Timid Tiger but you can’t fault them on presentation. I’m not sure there’s ever been a concept album where the concept is a lurid orange cartoon tiger but that’s what this appears to be; drawn by Klaus Cornfield the booklet that accompanies this record sees the titular hero in a number of scrapes, all rendered in migraine inducing red and yellow. »
The Kills - No Wow
Menacingly insistent, No Wow gets its point across like the best horror films; it’s all about what you don’t see. From the tense synthetic drums at the start to the escalated climax (‘There ain’t no wow no more!’) there has probably never been such focused use of stop start guitar and a measured dry vocal. »
Eels - The Trouble With Dreams
Taken from recent tune laden double album Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, Trouble with Dreams is vintage Eels in that from the off it pretty much sounds like a fairytale gone wrong; as the mischeivous tinkerbell riff and spooky hammond creep along you can imagine Tim Burton’s camera descending on a snow covered village of claymation monsters. »
Bright Eyes, The Faint, Cursive, Azure Ray - Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek
Saddle Creek must be one of the better known labels around right now; despite their relatively small size there is still something inherently cool about putting out your mates records and being very successful. Spend an Evening... marks their first ten years with what pretty much amounts to a South Bank Show on themselves, only without Melvyn Bragg bookending things in a sports jacket and wafting cologne.»
King Creosote - KC Rules OK
For about ten years King Creosote has been releasing endless amounts of albums through his own label - Fence. Generally released as CD-Rs to local record shops; you don't need Henry Rollins to tell you that KC's unfashionably timeless school of acoustic-DIY songwriting doesn't rock, but even the thicknecked former Black Flagger would have to admit that that's pretty punk. But things have moved on since then and DiS dives into a release with a wider audience.»
The Dandy Warhols - Smoke It
Never one to miss an opportunity, the Dandys are releasing the lead-in single to album number five barely a month after DiG!, the Courtney-narrated documentary they shared with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, finally appeared in cinemas.»
The Stands - Horse Fabulous
Amid the hype and excitement of the Stands official biography you can’t help but notice that Howie Payne seems to smart a little at his band being saddled with the retro label. It has earned them the kiss-of-death patronage of Noel Gallagher and the attendant big tours with Oasis so their mood is obviously defiant; as a result there is little on their sophomore album that is likely to thwart their critics.»
Joy Zipper - 1
Eagle eyed Zipper-watchers will recognise this from the mini-album the Stereo and God from all the way back in November 2003 which, along with two others, has been re-recorded for the latest long-player The Heartlight Set. A bit cheeky you might think but the jury is veering in their favour as 1 is as lush and undeniably lovely as a summer single should be (and it is still summer, I checked).»
Clor - Outlines
It can’t be easy following up Love + Pain, already an easy contender for single of the year, but Brixton’s Clor must have the resolve of champions as that’s exactly waht they've achieved. A story of eyes meeting across a crowded dancefloor, Outlines is the perfect soundtrack to those seeking romance down the local indie disco and is fittingly told with plenty of toots and squelches.»
Johnathan Rice - Trouble is Real
At the age of 21 Johnathan Rice has toured with Martha Wainwright and (as of July) REM, been cast opposite Joaquin Phoenix in a new Johnny Cash biopic, worked with Saddle Creek’s Mike Mogis and to top it all is apparently squiring Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley; with all this in mind it’s hard to know whether to listen to this album or choke with jealousy.»
Tsar - Band-Girls-Money
Let's make one thing completely clear: Tsar like to rock. They drink Jack Daniels neat from the bottle. They wear leather trousers, probably without underpants. They've read Motley Crüe's The Dirt and they like girls. Musically they're one half Guns 'n' Roses, one half eighties Bon Jovi and their album includes song titles like 'Superdeformed' and 'The Love Explosion'. That's right: this is hair metal.»
Nine Black Alps - Not Everyone
Ah, time was when all bands tried to sound like this. Not Everyone’s insidious four chord riff grabs you by the scruff of the neck like an angry father and drags you over three and a bit minutes of madly exciting scowl-rock. A quite simply fantastic pop song dressed in lo-fi grunge threads, it stands out perfectly in a current climate of bands who spend a bit too long styling their hair.»
The Bravery - Fearless
Three singles in and chances are you’ve already decided whether you like the Bravery or not, what with all the band catfight blather and 'An Honest Mistake'’s blanket airplay.»
Yards - The Yards
Chris Helme is probably best know for singing ‘Strap-on Sally chased us down the alley, we feared for our behinds’ as frontman for John Squire’s post Roses band the Seahorses and it was hard not to feel a bit of sympathy when the grumpy guitarist disbanded the group shortly after their debut album, leaving yet another set of bandmates scattered in his wake.»
The Boxer Rebellion - Exits
A quick reading of the pass notes makes it clear the boxers have paid their dues; their short career is littered with health emergencies and binned recording sessions.»
The Tears at Zodiac / Academy 2, Oxford, Tue 14 Dec
It might seem funny to all you young’uns out there but in 1994 the Brett and Bernard split was just as big news the Pete and Carl saga today...»