Review Corner

Category: Pop rock

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    Joel Rafael: Baladista

    Rafael is the real deal if you want folk: born in 1949, he’s known in the States as an interpreter of Woody Guthrie’s lyrics and music, though despite a long life he’s released only eight albums (two of which were Guthrie: both called Woodyboye: Songs Of Woody Guthrie). Musically: it’s mostly Rafael and his acoustic…

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    Young Kato: Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow

    Young Kato are the Haircut 100 of the 2010s. For those who don’t remember 80s pop, the Haircuts popped up early in that decade and scored a handful of hits. They released an immaculate pop album that was, as radio stations like to say, the sound of summer. They’re an under-rated band, mainly because while…

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    Frogbelly and Symphony: Blue Bright Ow Sleep

    Frogbelly and Symphony are one of those bonkers bands that come along from time to time with no idea of genres or niche marketing, and play whatever they want. On this album, there’s the sound of Libertines, a hymn, Swedish indie pop band The Concretes, a Slash-style guitar solo, funk, soul and folk, and more.…

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    They Might Be Giants: Glean

    They Might Be Giants remind us in spirit of Chumbawumba, who could write mindlessly catchy pop tunes if they so wanted: we heard that the Chumbas, a political group, wrote their biggest hit Tubthumping just to prove they could. Chumbawumba were political but They Might Be Giants are simply intellectual, and churn out clever tunes…

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    Balthazar: Thin Walls

    This Belgian band produced one of our albums of the year not long back. We’d guess they’re quite big in their native land, but didn’t do so well over here, which is a shame because they play distinctive indie pop with a sound that’s very much their own. It’s a bit hard to describe but…

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    Justin Townes Earle: Absent Fathers

    Justin is the son of the legendary Steve. The first time we heard Earle’s debut, Guitar Town we realised he was a major talent, but the son bares his talent more subtly. This is not his first album, but it is the first we’ve heard and the title suggests he’s wringing material from his troubled…

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    Django Django: Born Under Saturn

    This lot were critically adored for their debut album, although we’re not sure that translated into sales (we think we read they sold about 50,000 copies). If you missed them then, they play a distinctive style of indie pop, distinctive because it’s very percussive, the band being led by a drummer. The new album opens…

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    Various: Synth Pop

    This triple CD made us realise how much times have changed. It’s not that the tunes are bad — far from it, it’s an excellent compilation — but we remembered the first time we heard Oh Yeah by Yello. It’s a catchy little tune and one you’d want to hear over and over, but back…

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    Death Cab for Cutie: Kintsugi

    We have to declare an interest: we love Death Cab For Cutie and would give any album a glowing review, but even we have to admit that the band have left the glory days of 2003’s Transatlanticism far behind. The early songs were about new-found love and hope, now they’re all getting older and more…

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    Lord Huron: Strange Trails

    We were a little surprised at how country this album was, though we shouldn’t have been, as the first album, Lonesome Dreams, was equally so. Dreams did lean more to a spaced-out sound and we’d mentally bundled it up with Bon Iver’s For Emma Forever Ago, for some reason. Americans living in huts or something.…