Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
The album title is kind of a joke, after all Yo la Tengo are never going to be a popular band. But at the same time they are a much loved and critically acclaimed band, so in some ways it… Continue reading
Album Reviews
Prefab Sprout – Let’s Change The World With Music
I firmly believe that Prefab Sprout’s album Steve McQueen is one of the all time great albums, and in the top five albums released in the 1980s. As such I was very excited when I heard that the reclusive Paddy… Continue reading
Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
Monsters of Folk is a proper old school supergroup, comprising four of the most respected names in modern American music: My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, singer songwriter M Ward, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes. After five… Continue reading
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
What are they putting in the water in Canada? Yet again the Canadians are spoiling us with another innovative and exciting release. After excellent albums over the last two years from the likes of Plants and Animals, Broken Social Scene,… Continue reading
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Critical and commercial success for 2002’s album Yankee Foxtrot Hotel and two grammys for 2004’s A Ghost is Born has arguably placed Wilco among the giants of modern alternative rock. The rule that applies to members of this elite is… Continue reading
Brakes – Touchdown
After two albums with Rough Trade, Brakes are back with a new label, Fat Cat, and a set of songs that are as good a case for a breakthrough album as you will hear all year. Continuing their “blend of… Continue reading
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
If there were ever a music award for the best album by a softly -spoken, world-weary singer-songwriter, searching for meaning in a confused world Bon Ivor’s For Emma, Forever Ago would have been 2008’s clear winner. Not only did the… Continue reading
Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern – Pram Town
Since breaking up Hefner after 2001’s Dead Media album frontman Darren Hayman has been ploughing an increasingly lonely furrow of bedsit indie music. His latest incarnation, backed by The Secondary Modern, follows up their debut with this folk opera (Hayman’s… Continue reading