Review Corner

Category: Indie

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    The Sad Song Co: Saudade

    We Googled the title and it means “a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one cares for and/or loves … it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be had again … the recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events…

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    Teen Creeps: Forever

    Teen Creeps are from Belgium but the sound of Joram De Bock, Ramses Van den Eede and Bert Vliegen is rooted in another land and another time: Northern Ireland, 1989, to be precise, because that is when Ash formed. Teen Creeps sound like they want to be the Ash of Belgium, though as Ash is…

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    Jim White: Misfit’s Jubilee

    The Press release calls Mr White an “ever-elusive Americana maverick,” famous for his “dark ruminations on all things Southern”.This new album is varied, from White calling like a circus barker to a stadium-friendly song that wouldn’t sound out of place in a U2 set.The album opens with a fake tannoy train announcement but Monkey In…

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    Still Corners: The Last Exit

    Still Corners are, as they say, a dreamy pop duo who tweak their sound with every album, from pop to a more synthy sound to this, more Americana and even Tex Mex: half of Still Corners, Greg Hughes, grew up Arizona and Texas so perhaps not surprising. Tessa Murray is English, and the two met…

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    Arcade Messiah: The Host

    We first came across Arcade Messiah years ago, when we had a double (?) CD to review; we thought it was the career-end of a US cult prog band but they must have been very early releases from Arcade Messiah, and now we feel bad. Particularly as he gave this album away.Arcade Messiah is one-man…

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    Bearcraft: Fabrefactions

    This is a peculiar album, in that we can’t make our minds up. At first we thought it started off strongly and tailed off to be rather forgettable, yet track nine turns out to be a proper earworm. It’s electronic pop with pretentions to grandeur that means it’s more than just electronic beeps with a…

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    Nick Faber … presents The Lost Highway Tapes

    It’s always a problem reviewing albums from bands like Biffy Clyro or Foals: you know the sound, you expect the quality, and unless they cover Agadoo badly, you’re not going to be surprised. It might be the pinnacle of musical perfection, but it’s hard to get worked up about. The flipside is that albums from…

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    Ward Richmond: Highly Meditated

    This charmer of an album is both interesting – Richmond has been in bands for years but now reflects on getting sober, becoming a father, yoga and meditation – and melodic. The first song is either nihilistic, or about some kind of meditative revelation. Before the music even starts he’s telling us: “I’m thinking about…

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    Asylums: Genetic Cabaret

    Asylums first album Killer Brain Waves was great: heads down no-nonsense rock played fast and tight but with lots of melody and a nice DIY ethos about it; a good band having fun. They obviously did ok out of it (and the second, which we missed) and this new one sounds more expensively made ……

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    Alec Benjamin: These Two Windows

    Singer-songwriter Alec Benjamin reportedly made his name in 2019 with a mixtape, which was streamed 540m times worldwide. This is his debut album. Our first observation would be that Benjamin has an androgynous voice. The first few plays we assumed he was a girl named Alec; when we Googled him, we seriously considered that we’d…