Category: Pop rock
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Amber Run: For A Moment, I Was Lost
Amber Run play atmospheric indie pop of a kind that you’ve heard before, but it’s got a fresh sound and it’s entertaining. It’s emotional pop with soaring harmonies aplenty and slightly falsetto vocals, the instrumentation lush and multi-layered. It starts off well with Insomniac, an emotive tune that reminded us of Longview. Amber Run also…
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Menace Beach: Lemon Memory
The new year is not even a month old (well it is now, but not as we write) and we have already got two albums that could still be favourites at the end of the year. One is Frank Carter (see elsewhere) and the other is this. Menace Beach are certainly confident — they open…
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The Sad Song Co: In Amber
The name of the band gives it away a little, though “The Thoughtful Band Co” would be apt. The Sad Song Co is the alter ego of Nigel Powell, drummer with Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls. While at school (the independent Abingdon School, said to be as good as Eton, where his current boss…
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Phish: Farmhouse, Junta, Billy Breathes
In a week where we’re low on new releases, we thought we’d review some old albums from a band you’ve possibly never heard of — American jam-band Phish. Anyone who follows US culture will have come across Phish, who are loved in the States but largely unknown over here. We asked A&A Music, and its…
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Non Canon: Non Canon
Non Canon is Barry Dolan, also known as Oxygen Thief, about whom we know nothing: he has supported Frank Turner and InMe so we guess it’s punky folk. Non Canon is more folky, with string instruments to the fore, though Turner is an obvious comparison. This is the kind of act you’d see at a…
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Regina Spektor: Remember Us To Life
It’s hard to know what to say about this. Spektor writes piano-led good songs that tread a line between the arty and the pop, never too whacky not to be enjoyable but never quite pure pop, neither Laurie Anderson nor Adele. She’s a solid performer and sounds like no-one else; the only question is whether…
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The Slow Show: Dream Darling
If The Slow Show’s music was in a film it would a rom com, as the hero walked away into the sunset after finally splitting up with the girl he still loves; as the camera followed him into the middle distance he’d give a little happy skip because, hey, life’s not that bad really. This…
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Jaws: Simplicity
Jaws are a cross between shoegaze, stoner rock and The Cure. They have the same kind of upbeat tempo but downbeat sound that The Cure do well; it’s possible they know this because the opening couple of bars of the first song are almost a Cure-clone but it’s the most Cure-ous moment on the album…
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Bruno Mars: 24K Magic
We obviously know of Mars but never realised how good he was (100m records sold can’t be wrong). This new album is so good it stops you dead. Some of the reviews we read referred to new jack swing as a reference, but Mars is no more or less than Michael Jackson; a couple of…
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