Review Corner

Category: Indie

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    Sunflower Bean: Twentytwo in Blue

    This patchy album is more a promise of what could be to come than what is. At peak Bean they drop sharp indie pop, with lead singer Julia Cumming’s crystal voice contrasting with the scuzzy guitar. In other places it’s less convincing (a polite euphemism for forgettable). Opener Burn It is good, a plea to…

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    Tom Misch: Geography

    Years ago, we briefly flirted with trip hop/funk (Hull’s Fila Brazillia were a favourite) and this new album from Misch (born five years after Fila Brazillia formed) takes us back to those days: sleek, jazz-tinged funky pop that’ll be playing in any wine bar you care to enter for the next few years. There’s a…

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    Speak, Brother: Young and Brave

    Just to get the negativity over first: Speak, Brother are aimed at the Mumfords market, without the world-class songs that made the latter famous. Despite the mockery that followed Mumfords for a while because of their omnipresence, they did write some very good songs. That they were nice guys and being good live also helped,…

  • Thomas Truax: All That Heaven Allows

    We’ve not Googled Truax as we like the fact he is a mystery; to find out he’s called Gary and the son of an accountant from Manchester or he’s really called Dwayne from Ohio would spoil the mystique. The best comparisons with Truax’s music are from film: Donnie Darko or David Lynch (upon whom Truax…

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    Field Music: Open Here

    We guess you can either write tunes to make money or write what you feel you need to, sod the market and keep your self-respect. Field Music are in the latter camp; from what we can gather brothers David and Peter Brewis make minimal money from their music but have accumulated a back catalogue to…

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    The Xcerts: Hold On To Your Heart

    The Xcerts have been going for years, formed by 13-year-olds Murray Macleod and Jordan Smith in 2001, and have toured with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Fightstar and Taking Back Sunday. They were meant to support Guns N’ Roses but for “logistical reasons” all the support bands were forced to drop off of the tour.…

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    The Wombats: Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life

    Another decent album from The Wombats, who survived being lumped in with the landfill indie mob and morphed into a decent pop band playing upbeat tunes. It’s more than a decade since the band’s Let’s Dance to Joy Division was a hit, and they’ve managed to keep going despite a lack of hits. We’d guess…

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    DeStijl: Debut

    DeStijl love a joke: they formed before White Stripes released their album De Stijl in 2000 and so released an album White Stripes in 2011. This album is not their debut. As you all know, De Stijl is Dutch for “The Style”, aka Neoplasticism, a Dutch artistic movement founded in 1917 in Leiden by artists…

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    Black Swan Lane: Under My Fallen Sky

    We have a soft spot for Black Swan Lane in the Review Corner. Their sound doesn’t change but they do what they do well; we should imagine they have a rabidly devoted fanbase (who must be delighted, it’s got to be several years since their last album). Black Swan Lane is a US/UK indie rock…

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    The Sad Song Co: Worth

    The Sad Song Co is Nigel Powell and Mr P is representative of what we call the Mr Bloom factor: Mr B is a gardener on kids’ television and you tend to assume he’s just some guy who can garden a bit and fell lucky. Then you see him live (or you do if you…