Category: Indie
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Joe Gideon: Armagideon
Joe must have thought this was a clever play on words … until we got locked down and it became a bit portentous. Gideon has been around a while and had a hit with his sister, known as The Shark (in musical circles anyway). Gideon’s style is a sing-songy way of speaking over dark, layered […]
jerobear
Ancient Space Mariner, Armagideon, baroque, Berit’s Cliff House, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Comet Coming Down, Congleton Chronicle, early, Expandable Mandible, funk, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Joe Gideon, Liquid Sky, music, pop, Quack No Duck, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Rule Roost!, Salty, Scaredy Cat, Somewhere South, soul, The Gaping Yawn -
Jiggy: Hypernova
Whatever you’re expecting, Jiggy is not it. Who would expect trad Irish tunes to mix so well with world and a Stereo MCs-type dance sound? For a start you can’t work out where they’re from; they sound Irish but they sing in French and some kind of Middle-European language at various points. The line-up is […]
jerobear
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Smoke Fairies: Darkness Brings The Wonders Home
We’ve never really warmed to Smoke Fairies (Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies), who’ve been going for years, releasing music every now and then, but this is solid, comforting indie, with injections of goth and blues. The vocals may be your decider, as they’re bold, powerful and to the fore. The album opens with On The […]
jerobear
baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chew Your Bones, Chocolate Rabbit, Chronicle Series, Classical, Coffee Shop Blues, Congleton Chronicle, Darkness Brings The Wonders Home, Disconnect, Don’t You Want to Spiral Out of Control?, early, Elevator, funk, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Left to Roll, music, On the Wing, Out of the Woods, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Smoke Fairies, soul, Super Tremolo -
Bombay Bicycle Club: Everything Else Has Gone Wrong
Bombay Bicycle Club are cursed by the same, er, curse as Foals: everything they do is good, but you expect that, so it’s hard to assess.Their quality control is just really high. We’ve long thought Foals and Bombay Bicycle are the best bands in the UK so we were doubly pleased when both released new […]
jerobear
baroque, Blues, Bombay Bicycle Club, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Do You Feel Loved?, early, Eat, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong, funk, Get Up, Good Day, I Can Hardly Speak, I Worry Bout You, Is It Rea, jazz, Jem Condliffe, l Everything Else Has Gone Wrong, Let You Go, music, People People, pop, Racing Stripes, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Sleep, soul, Wake (Nothing But You) -
Vetiver: Up on High
Vetiver’s Andy Cabic has a gentle voice — it’s a bit like Iain Archer (ex Snow Patrol, doesn’t sound like Snow Patrol). It’s melodic and tuneful yet Cabic’s singing style does not involve much variation. Like Archer’s solo albums (all recommended), it’s a soothing and warm sound. He sings about life; opener The Living End […]
jerobear
A Door Shuts Quick, All We Could Want, baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, Filigree, funk, Hold Tight, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Lost (In Your Eyes), music, Never Asked, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, Swaying, The Living End, To Who Knows Where, Up on High, Vetiver, Wanted -
Feet: What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham
Feet like to be quirky; the band is named FEET with capitals, but we’re not playing that game. They like to play games themselves, with songs that sound like other songs but then shoot off in wacky directions. Good Richard’s Crash Landing sounds — as does more than one song — like early Blur, while […]
jerobear
Ad Blue, Axe Man, baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chalet 47, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Dog Walking, early, English Weather, Feet What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham, funk, Good Richard’s Crash Landing, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, Outer Rim, Petty Thieving [Explicit], pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, What’s Inside is More Than Just Ham, Wiggy Pop -
The Twang: If Confronted, Just Go Mad
The Twang date back to the indie “The band” explosion, along with fellow Thes View, Pigeon Detectives, Wombats, Fratellis, Kooks et al, an era of poor bands and sloppy tracks; Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong didn’t even get to release their finished album, despite us getting a review copy, probably because of a […]
jerobear
baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Dream, early, Everytime, funk, If Confronted, It Feels Like (You’re Wasting My Time), Izal, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Just Go Mad, Kingdom [Explicit], Lovin State [Explicit], Million Miles, music, Nothing Gets Better (feat. Polarbear), pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, The Twang, Time Waits, Tinseltown in the Rain, Went Walking [Explicit] -
Rex Orange County: Pony
Rex, known to his mum Mrs O’Connor as Alexander, grew up in the rock ‘n’ roll heartland — a village in Surrey. (Actually Grayshott: from 1898 to 1900, Flora Thompson, author of Lark Rise to Candleford, was assistant postmistress there; among her customers was Arthur Conan Doyle. That kind of place.) Clearly a talented musician, […]
jerobear
10/10, Always, baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, Every Way, Face To Face, funk, It Gets Better, It’s Not The Same Anymore, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Laser Lights, music, Never Had The Balls, Pluto Projector, Pony, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, Rex Orange County, rock, soul, Stressed Out -
Courteeners: More. Again. Forever.
So: Courteeners make a good album shocker. It’s not that the songs are better, it’s just got a groove. Opener Heart Attack has a fat baseline and will be a song fans probably love. The lyric “Here we go / new tempo / pick another song for the radio” suggests business as usual (and fondness […]
jerobear
baroque, Better Man, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Courteeners, early, funk, Hanging Off Your Cloud, Heart Attack, Heavy Jacket [Explicit], Is Heaven Even Worth It?, jazz, Jem Condliffe, More. Again. Forever., music, One Day At A Time, pop, Previous Parties, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, Take It On The Chin, The Joy Of Missing Out -
The Regrettes: How Do You Love?
We like getting excited about new music, but there does come a point where you’ve heard it all before. The Regrettes do what they do well, a catchy bubblegum rock/pop-punk but it’s nothing new and bands like this come, briefly dazzle and disappear (The Pipettes? Black Kids? That other band whose name we forget?) California […]
jerobear
Are You in Love? (Intro), baroque, Blues, brother, California Friends, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Coloring Book, Congleton Chronicle, Dead Wrong, Dress Up, early, Fog, funk, Go Love You, Has It Hit You?, Here You Go, How Do You Love?, I Dare You, jazz, Jem Condliffe, More than a Month, music, pop, Pumpkin [Explicit], Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, Stop and Go, The Game, The Regrettes
Review Corner 