Category: Pop rock
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She Keeps Bees: Eight Houses
She Keeps Bees play rootsy, stripped down music that’s somewhere between indie and blues. The songs are mostly led by Jessica Larrabee’s soulful voice; they’re from Brooklyn but there’s a swampy aroma of Louisiana about this. Apparently the duo’s previous albums had a loud/quiet thing going on, and while this is lacking here they still…
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Gerard Way: Hesitant Alien
We were never massive fans of My Chemical Romance (too theatrical) but we like this solo album from the band’s main man a lot more. There are shades of MCR on here (No Shows) but mostly it’s arty glam/pop — Way is obviously a fan of British music from Bowie and Bolan to Britpop. Way’s…
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Emma Stevens: Waves
All those people buying “music” by X Factor Cowell clones should stop what they’re doing and buy this instead. Stevens is talented: she started playing guitar as a nipper, had cello and piano lessons, joined the Surrey Youth Orchestra and started songwriting at 13 or so. She’s so talented she helps out the less able…
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Allo Darlin’: We Come From The Same Place
We were most delighted to get this, as we thought Allo Darlin’ had split up. Their debut, 2010’s Allo Darlin’ is one of our favourite indie pop albums of recent years (and it’s proper indie pop, not manufactured guitar music). The follow up Europe was a bit slicker and not as immediately likeable; we play…
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The Pineapple Thief: Magnolia
You might not have heard of The Pineapple Thief but every time the Review Corner mentions their name someone will say “great band”. A bit like Biffy Clyro, they’re cult heroes who’ve spent their underground years honing their sound. We reckon this new, more commercial one will give them the mainstream success they deserve —…
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Inspiral Carpets: Inspiral Carpets
We reviewed this a few weeks ago but the release date got pushed back and it gave us time to play it a few more times. We can’t get past the fact that it’s no better than ok. The album starts off strongly with Monochrome, Spitfire, You’re so Good for Me and A to Z…
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Marmozets: The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets
Marmozets are two sets of siblings, who formed the band while at school. They still have an average age of 18. If you’re the same age and want a band that’s “yours”, these are going to press all the right buttons: loud and fast, full of spunk, and with the right mix of metal, shredding,…
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Andy Burrows: Fall Together Again
Our main reaction to this was “Good on yer, son!” Burrows has been gaining in confidence since leaving Razorlight, first with tentative acoustic material then a decent-but-lacking-confidence full solo album. Now this, which is impressive. The lad’s fulfilling his potential at last. Fall Together Again is a sunny pop album. It would be stretching it…
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Famy: We Fam Econo
This is the debut album from Famy, out on 8th September and it’s the sound of a band trying hard to elevate their average music to the heights of cultdom. In sound it’s somewhere between the tribal indie of Wu Lyf and the more cerebral indie pop of Cave Painting; the former released an excellent…
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