You know when you’re carrying a really heavy bag for what seems like forever and you reach wherever you’re going, finally dump it down on the floor and it feels like your arms are slowly rising up in tired, happy relief? That’s what Frightened Rabbit’s third opus feels like – it can be hard going, but persevere and the delights are manifold. What makes it such a joy, however, is the way Scott...
With their gigantic anthem ‘Swim’ riding high on the indie airwaves, Floridians Surfer Blood had already lined themselves up a good deal of anticipation for this debut. Happily it delivered on that promise, and in spades. Flaunting as much melodic nous as The Drums, ‘Astro Coast’ borrows liberally from the sound of today’s crop of alternative stars – all the way from Vampire Weekend’s afropop fetish...
Bye bye gloom, hello laser guns. About as drastic a reinvention as possible (out go songs called ‘Cancer’, in come futuroscopic fizz-pop synth bangers), MCR’s fourth album is a window into one of modern rock’s most creative minds. Gerard Way’s love of comic books gives ‘Danger Days…’ its unique worldview and playful energy, and it’s all the stronger for it. Anyone still dumb enough to use the...
These Leeds boys stood out in a year dominated by the po-faced, the trust-funded and the wet-bedded, with a sweaty, spotty, funny rock album that lesser writers would probably call ‘gonzo’. It had the best titles – ‘I Punched A Lion In The Throat’, ‘The Crapsons’, ‘Back To The Fuck Yeah’ – the best riffs, and the best appreciation of what the great rock critic Enid Blyton would term ‘high...
No mere ‘return to form’, this is the album Paul Weller’s career has always been pointing towards. The title track and the venomous stomp of ‘7&3 Is The Striker’s Name’ reflect The Jam’s early rage, while the alt.pop of ‘Trees’ and ‘Up The Dosage’ would have gained The Style Council’s approval. A daring manifesto that sees Weller not only wake up the nation but challenge it to push forward....
The first Four Tet full-length in four years is a lesson in how to mint lush sounds from mostly negative space. ‘Angel Echoes’ skips light as a feather on sighing vocal snippets and glockenspiel, centrepiece ‘Love Cry’ pushes Boards Of Canada’s machine-soul into rapturous new territory, and ‘Circling’ sparkles like an internet-age harmonia. That ‘There Is Love…’ also felt weirdly attuned to...
The quintessential Manics album: full of death-or-glory dynamics, sharp-as-shit couplets, shambling, smudged glamour and enough energy to power the national grid. The Ian McCulloch guest spot was an utter work of genius, as was the Bradfield-as-you-like soloing in ‘Hazleton Avenue’. But nothing better sums up the beauty of this band and this album than the last few seconds of the title track: “This world...
This lot are the smartest kids in the art-pop classroom. The twisted lyrics of ‘MY KZ, YR BF’ seem innocent enough when mangled by high-pitched, fast-paced vocals, but don’t be fooled – their surprisingly gritty political tales can take some deciphering.
Buy this album.
AT
You had to wonder what kind of gimmick would be pulled out of the bag to see Mystery Jets through their third album. ‘Serotonin’ succeeded through its sheer lack of pomp and spectacle, instead taking its listeners on a journey beyond style. ‘Dreaming Of Another World’ oozed a new intimacy. Still catchy as ever, this was the Jets’ finest hour. Buy this album
They say depression is nourished by a lifetime of unforgiven hurts. Certainly under the guise of Black Affair, former Beta Band member Steve Mason got good mileage out of bitching about an ex on top of near-suicidal tendencies. But Mason’s first under his own name, produced by Richard X, is a convalescence of sorts, a record ready to make peace with who he was (‘Lost & Found’) and the man he hopes to be...
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