Category: Indie
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False Advertising: False Advertising
We’ve played this a lot in the past couple of weeks and despite its charms it’s just failed to hit the spot. We can’t make a connection with it in the way you do with albums you really like. False Advertising are from Manchester and play grunge; you could add “indie punk” to that description…
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Darktown Jubilee: City of Light
This is the second album from Manchester band Darktown Jubilee and it’s accomplished and mature. We did an internet search thingy and among their recent gigs was Knutsford Beer Festival. Honestly! Talentless no-hopers on television being milked by Simon Cowell on one hand and a talented band playing for tipsy Knutsfordonians on the other. Pah.…
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Darwin Deez: Double Down
Deez (Darwin Merwan Smith to his mum) released an improbably successful self-titled debut in 2010. We say improbable: on the flimsiest body of work known to man he sold some copies and landed good slots at festies. The album had a handful of good songs and the rest you could overlook because he was so…
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Paul Smith and the Intimations: Contradicions
Smith is the singer with Maxïmo Park, who have a hard-core following (which includes the Review Corner) but have sold comparatively few albums — I think I saw a lifetime total of 2m the other week. Two million albums is good, but it’s not Oasis. A fair chunk of that was the A Certain Trigger,…
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Aero Flynn: Aero Flynn
Something to do with flying and an alcoholic who swung from chandeliers: we weren’t expecting much from this. In fact — stunning. It’s vying with Mounties and Malpas as our album of the year. Flying swashbuckler Aero Flynn is really Josh Scott, and he’s a mate of Justin Vernon, whose own alias, Bon Iver, is…
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Joanna Gruesome: Peanut Butter
The most surprising thing about this album is that Rolling Stone reviewed it. We’d guess a mention in RS is something many bands dream of, so why a cult noise/punk outfit from Car-diff should make it we don’t know. They’ve got interesting back-story: the name is a reference to harp-playing Joanna Newsom, whose music is…
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Twin Shadow: Eclipse
It’s good to have an artist making pop for adults, and we’ve been playing Twin Shadow a lot. The initial impression — for older readers — is John Hughes and Atlantic 252. For younger readers, the latter was an Irish music station broadcasting on longwave, playing American-style radio friendly hits: Richard Marx was on a…
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Du Blonde: Welcome Back To Milk
Du Blonde is Beth Jeans Houghton, of Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves of Destiny fame (ok, relative fame), whose album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose we found proficient but a little twee, not to say dull. One Review Cornerer did profess fondness for it and took the CD but we never heard it played. It…
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Danny and The Champions Of The World: What Kind Of Love
This is a great album, and you should go and buy it. Off you go. Danny and his boys are British but play American-style blues rock, in a life affirming, happy, cheerful way. They’re somewhere, musically and in spirit, between Bruce Springsteen (anthemic), Tom Petty (chilled), Dexy’s Midnight Runners (for the brass and Celtic soul)…
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