Category: Indie
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Tim Fredericks: Singer Songwriter
This album, which we guess is a labour of love (they’re giving it away) is from a band that if not local is at least regional: members are from Crewe, Macc, Stoke and Manchester. The tracks on this were recorded between 2015-19, so we guess when money was spare. The opener is a full band…
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The Limiñanas: I’ve Got Trouble In Mind Vol II, Rare Stuff 2015/2018
French band The Limiñanas seem to get better with each album, even though, as with this, it’s a re-issue of old singles that weren’t meant to be a collection in the first place. This latest outing is rooted in cool French sixties pop, with some Ennio Morricone thrown in for good measure, and some solid…
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Beans On Toast: A Bird In The Hand
Beans On Toast (aka Jay McAllister) sings the same song over and over; the words might change but his musical accompaniment has a small range, and exists to make words melodic. He’s a mate of, and like, Frank Turner, just less grand. Early on, he explains his modus operandi to listeners, saying he’s “at it…
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Emily Lockett: My Imagination
Lockett is a local teenage singer and this is her new album, but she gets the same scrutiny as the signed bands we review … and comes up pretty well, (always a relief). She cites Taylor Swift’s early work and Avril Lavigne as influences, so we listened to some Lavigne, and it’s not a bad…
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Tea Street Band: Frequency
The Press release for this claims the band follows in the wake of “tunefully idiosyncratic” Liverpool bands like The Coral (partly true) and are closer to artists such as Tunng (not really). The partial truth is that they are tuneful but it’s not really idiosyncratic and Tunng would not readily spring to mind —…
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Estrons: You Say I’m Too Much, I Say You’re Not Enough
This is billed as punk but it’s somewhere between indie — proper early indie, when it was an approach and not a genre — and rock. If they could be accused of lacking the genuine feel it’s because they can play their instruments far too well (“The Damned can play three chords, The Adverts can…
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Powersolo: Bo-Peep
This is one of those odd albums that some people will love, most people will hate (“Has someone been stabbed in there?” a person passing the Review Corner asked as it played). Powersolo is Kim Jeppesen and the Press notes, which try and make him seem like an enigmatic man with no name, say the…
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Penguins Go Pop: 20th Century Pop
This is an album we wished we’d heard 30 years ago — it’s one of those albums you love in your youth, and ever more it remains a musical comfort blanket. It’s not quite garage rock and it’s too layered to be called DIY, but there’s an endearing homemade quality to it. This is not…
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Larry And His Flask: This Remedy
The most surprising thing about Larry And His Flask are that they’re not from the UK: their festival-friendly Mumfords-meets-Pogues drunken folk is akin to Brit bands such as Skinny Lister and Ducking Punches, but this crew hail from Oregon and not English suburbia. We guess they’re great live, a band for dancing and spilling beer…
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Darwin Deez: 10 Songs That Happened When You Left Me With My Stupid Heart
Deez had his success around 2010, with an eponymous album and well-played tracks such as Constellations, Radar Detector and Deep Sea Divers. He came over as a nerdy guy, slightly baffled by relationships, making music in his bedroom with a cheap synth but lots of energy. The music was crisp and almost dry, and a…
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