Life’s been hard just lately so this slice of nostalgia is welcome and pleasant. All Time Low have been going for years, starting in 2003. While pretty big, they never hit the heights of Blink 182, although many of the Blink hallmarks are here: catchy hooks, drums given some echo before a build-up, rapid fire […]
Tim Fredericks: Singer Songwriter 2
This is a follow-up to an album that came out last year; they gave away the last one and we guess the same is true of this. It came out before lockdown, so now they can’t even give it away. The songs are by Tim Fredericks and his band, who are from Crewe, Macclesfield, Stoke […]
Koyo: You Said It
Koyo are from Leeds but the sound is American and they’re one of those bands who sell a bazillion albums in the Heartlands but never do so well over here; Hoobastank springs to mind, mocked by snooty critics but selling 10m albums. It’s a sound British bands often fail to do well, either being too […]
Charli XCX: How I’m Feeling Now
This is a very modern album, recorded by XCX at home during lockdown and in consultation with fans via social media. It’s also modern in that it’s mostly style over substance; she can write a melody but it’s hard to recall any of it afterwards. The national critics seemed to love it, but she’s probably […]
Sergeant Buzfuz: Fox Pop
At the end of last year, we reviewed Penguins Go Pop, a Norwich band led by local legend Richard Penguin, formed in the late 80s and reformed in 2013. They played catchy tunes telling quirky stories and were very much the DIY ethos of early indie, originally an approach and not a guitar sound. We […]
Sebastien Tellier: Domesticated
Monsieur Tellier is an exasperating character, his output ranging from brilliant to tedious. Two members of the Review Corner walked down the aisle to his best song, La Ritournelle, then went to see him at a festival where he was such a clown he ran out of time and was closed down by the stage […]
Oliver Tree: Ugly Is Beautiful
Mr Tree is new to us. Wikipedia informs us that he is in fact Oliver Tree Nickell, singer-songwriter, producer, rapper, comedian, and filmmaker. He has said he would retire as soon as this debut was released and plays a character, Turbo, though the track 1993 apparently refers to an alien called Little Ricky ZR3, which […]
Sara Lew: Sunday Morning
Judging books by covers and all that we thought Lew would be country (or western), or maybe an earnest warbler with acoustic guitar but she’s neither. We played it through a couple of times before looking on the web and were surprised to learn she is from Copenhagen, but not surprised that Nis Bysted worked […]
Lack of Afro: I’m Here Now
Adam Gibbons, aka Lack of Afro, is from Devon, born in Exeter but now living in Ilfracombe. Wikipedia reports that he was given the nickname Lack of Afro while a student, when he DJd and played a lot of funk, presumably looking the opposite of the performers he loves. This new one opens with an […]
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