Category: Rock
-
The Vegabonds: V
The Vegabonds are from Alabama and play likable southern rock meets country. It’s music to play in bars and tap your toes too, reflecting on that gal you lost, but enjoying happy memories rather than bitterness. It’s not music for crying in your beer. Opener Partyin’ With Strangers is in many ways a work of…
-
Muse Simulation: Theory
It must be great being in Muse. Cool band, everyone’s got a soft spot for you, you can fill stadiums but also pop into Teignmouth Costa and not get mobbed. The main problem with Muse is that everyone takes them so seriously, because they’re clever people and make clever music. One review we read for…
-
Basement: Beside Myself
Basement sound like they’re from California but this slick emo / rock band are actually from Ipswich. Their music is a commercial take on the old emo sound — it reminded us of now-defunct Farewell My Enemy and bands of that ilk — who set the scene for bands such as Jimmy Eat World, My…
-
Shred Kelly: Archipelago
Shred Kelly should be bigger, if they could only get some more variety. They blend folk and rock — almost prog in places — that makes individual tracks interesting, but leaves the listener unsure as to what they’re about. The punning name doesn’t help; they’re not a joke band. The title track opens and promises…
-
The Blinders: Columbia
It’s been a good year for lovers of scuzzy yet intelligent punk, first Idles and now this (shame they added the “The”, they could start a trend of single-name bands). Idles have an earthier sound, Blinders’ opener channels The Shadows covering a Cossack dance, with a retro swampy guitar sound. The shouted vocals are not…
-
Disturbed: Evolution
We assume the title is ironic — Disturbed is the least evolved creation that ever walked the earth (after Status Quo). Despite hitting a more mainstream audience with a cover of Sound Of Silence, they play the same formulaic rock with which they hit the big time. Bands like Linkin Park at least made an…
-
Echo Town: Kin
There’s an obvious link between Cornwall and Australia — sun, surf, er, cheese factories — and the musical links run as close. A couple of weeks ago we reviewed the latest album from the Australian John Butler Trio, a sound we heard in part replicated by Cornish band Wille and the Bandits. Now comes Cornish…
-
Henge: Attention Earth
We lamented over people complaining about the lack of new music in the Sons Of Bill review but Henge is an even better example: they’ve invented, or lest re-invigorated, a whole genre of music. It’s music like you’ve never heard before but it’s also instantly likeable. The basic sound is space rock, though as it…
-
Alkaline Trio: Is This Thing Cursed?
Alkaline Trio have a sound and stick to it, a kind of organic punk that’s melodic and riffy, lacking the sharpness of bands like Blink 182 but rolling along pleasantly. They’re one of those bands that developed a devoted fanbase and saw no reason to change their sound. The band has been doing other stuff…
-
Mark Daly: When the Stars Align
With song titles such as Thinking About You, Rise Again, Without You and My Shadow, we were convinced Daly was a Christian and, clichéd as we are, planned to write a “so the devil doesn’t have all the good tunes” type review. As it is, we can find no evidence of a faith-based recording policy…
Review Corner 