Ra Ra Riot have resolutely failed the second album test with The Orchard, delivering a well produced offering that is sadly too light on quality song writing. The key to Ra Ra Riot’s success so far has been the blending… Continue reading
In an era of where jolly synth pop seemingly rules, it is refreshing to occasionally hear some loud, squealing, introspective guitar music for a change, especially when it is so expertly delivered by the likes of The Twilight Sad. The… Continue reading
After last year’s excellent album Heretic Pride, The Mountain Goats 17th album The Life of the World To Come is a little disappointing. Granted, it has its high points, but while Heretic Pride was teaming with stand out tracks, The… Continue reading
After a fantastic run of critical successes in the 1990s, Idaho indie-rockers Built to Spill’s most recent two albums Ancient Melodies of the Future(2001) and You in Reverse (2006) fell flat in comparison. The momentum built up with their debut… Continue reading
Ladies and gentlemen please be upstanding for Real Estate, the latest average band to be trumped up beyond reason by the online music behemoth that is Pitchfork. According to Pitchfork New Jersey band Real Estate’ self-titled debut is different “from… Continue reading
‘Let It Rest For A Little While’ song 36 on Zero To 99, the latest release by Robert Pollard’s Boston Spaceships, is actually song 6 but subject to an eccentric numbering system. It is also possibly the best thing that… Continue reading
Humbug, the Arctic Monkey’s third album is the band’s darkest to date. Their trademark style of new-wave, choppy indiepop is undoubtedly still there but it has been significantly beefed up with a mature, epic edge. Moody and grand-scale recording locations… Continue reading
Reviewing a Robert Pollard album is a difficult business for me. Given that I own more records by him (predominantly with Guided By Voices) than any other artist I find it hard to give even a semi-objective account, but I’ll… Continue reading
In a perfect world every town would have a band like Box Elders. A ramshackle rock outfit, made up of brothers Clayton and Jeremiah McIntyre and drummer/keyboardist Dave Goldberg, that revels in every gloriously fun moment of being in a… Continue reading
“After the release of their debut in 2007, their love for cinematic themes and classic pop needed to be more than that… it needed to be realized on a grand scale in a way that still said: ‘The Postmarks were… Continue reading