ALBUMS REVIEWS
Dungeonesse - ‘Dungeonesse’
Jenn Wasner is best known as half of Baltimore indie-folk duo Wye Oak, and John Ehrens as electro-man White Life. But as Dungeonesse they want to “reclaim pop” and “place it squarely in the hands of a couple of regular nerds”. This...
Var - 'No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers'
If all you’ve heard about Iceage and their friends on the Copenhagen scene is frothing discussions about knives and Nazis, the debut album from Vår might take you by surprise. Born out of an intense friendship between Iceage frontman Elias...
The Fall - 'Re-Mit'
“‘Re-Mit’ is going to absolutely terrify people. It’s quite horrible,” announced the now 56-year-old Mark E Smith to the world in a recent interview. “The Fall have had enough and we’re coming for you.” His entrance on this...
Various Artists - 'Grime 2.0'
It’s a decade since grime – one of the most innovative and experimental of all genres – bubbled up from London’s council estates and overflowed into the mainstream. With Dizzee leading the charge, the transition opened the door for a...
Vampire Weekend - 'Modern Vampires Of The City'
Vampire Weekend had the misfortune of arriving in 2008, just as the landfill-indie boom was hitting its peak. Clean-cut and puppyish, the New Yorkers were often dismissed as poster boys for indie music’s most vapid incarnation: the...
Little Boots, 'Nocturnes'
Little Boots tramped everywhere back in 2009 promoting her debut album, ‘Hands’. But despite shedloads of hype, Ms Boots, aka Blackpool’s Victoria Hesketh, was just too awkward to be a pop star. Four years later, she’s found her feet by...
Ghostpoet, 'Some Say I So I Say Light'
That murky world of electronic clicks, ticks and cosmonaut synths that Thom Yorke has been dipping into for years, Ghostpoet lives in for real. The 30-year-old Londoner, real name Obaro Ejimiwe, got a Mercury nod for his 2011 debut, ‘Peanut...
Kid Cudi, 'Indicud'
On the track ‘Immortal’, Kid Cudi calls himself “the smartest man alive”. It’s an unfortunate statement to make on the 29-year-old’s third and worst album. 2009’s ‘Man On The Moon: The End Of Day’ and 2010’s ‘Man On The Moon...
The DOT, 'Diary'
At what point does a blip become a rut? The question seems pertinent on The DOT’s second album when you start thinking back to when Mike Skinner last made a good record. A second LP from his project with The Music’s Robert Harvey is hardly...
It Hugs Back, 'Recommended Record'
Mistakenly aligned with the indie-pop scene due to their cheery demeanour and soppy name, the third album from Kent’s IHB honours frontman Matthew Simms’ sideline as guitarist with Wire by trammelling through 35 minutes of home-studio lo-fi...
