Review Corner

Category: Indie

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    Metronomy: Summer 08

    Metronomy’s Joe Mount’s new album recalls when his band first made it big, summer 2008. We think we first saw him the year before, at the 2007 edition of Latitude; after hearing the music floating about a bit, we suddenly realised what he was trying to do with his quirky, out-of-kilter electronic pop. Since the…

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    Hayley Ross: Barracuda

    For reasons relating to hangovers we had this EP on repeat in the Review Corner for one whole day. We’ve probably listened to it more times than anyone accept Ross herself. It’s nice more than anything, and comforting. It’s mainly her and an acoustic guitar and she has a somewhat elfin voice, so it’s a…

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    The Coral: Distance Inbetween

    The Coral were about 12 (ok, 16) when they started and by 20 were big stars. Their first two albums were very good but they tailed off a bit, presumably while they grew up and got their heads together; they’ve keep popping up on other albums and we’ve lost track of the number of relations…

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    She Drew The Gun: Memories Of The Future

    You may well be hearing more of She Drew The Gun: they have won Glastonbury’s emerging talent competition, coming out on top of the live finale and seeing off competition from thousands of other acts in the free-to-enter annual contest. The prize is a slot on one of Glastonbury’s main stages and £5,000 to help…

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    Lucius: Good Grief

    Lucius — Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe — have toured/worked with the likes of Roger Waters, Mavis Staples, Jeff Tweedy/Wilco and David Byrne, so they’re good singers and know their stuff. We’ve found that albums by backing singers can be hit and miss — standing behind a talented songwriter for 100 gigs doesn’t mean some…

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    Man Made: Television Broke My Brain

    This album from new band Man Made is addictive as crack. At first play through we thought it was enjoyable, solid power pop. At the second play through it all sounded happily familiar and at the fourth play we had to force ourselves to take it off the CD player and do some work. Opener…

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    Steven James Adams: Old Magick

    One of the Review Corner’s favourite band stories concerns Steven James Adams’s former group, The Broken Family Band, back when he was merely Steven J Adams. All the band members had good jobs, so band money was band money only. One night while on tour, they went out for a meal and blew the entire…

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    Barry Adamson: Know Where To Run

    We’ve been listening to Adamson for many years without realising it: he played with Magazine, and was on their punk classic Shot by Both Sides in 1977. He’s played with bands ever since, most recently Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on 2013’s Push the Sky Away. He’s a man who’s worked hard at his…

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    Various Artists: Lost in Mali

    This new release from Riverboat Records features up and coming artists from Mali; we’d say “ones you’ve not yet heard of” but you probably haven’t heard of many people from Mali, thought there is a good list: Tinariwen, Amadou and Mariam, Toumani Diabaté, Ali Farka Touré and of course the unique Salif Keita. The tracks…

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    Frøkedal: Hold On Dreamer

      We’ve played this over and over and can’t get a handle on it. It’s her voice, which seems to suck out any excitement. Harsh, very harsh, we know, but it has to be said. The sign of where it fails comes on The Sign, a cheery indie pop tune with nice drums; if the…