The title track of the latest release from the Brakes launches forth at you with riffs that remind me of the Sex Pistols and then the full force hits in indie rock fashion. Then it stops, it isn’t even two minutes long. But then that is the Brakes all round, they are short, sweet, punchy […]

I am not the greatest Babyshambles fan, and I have to say that Fuck Forever hasn’t converted me to the cause. It is a perfectly alright track. But that really is it, it’s ‘alright’. Lyrically it is stuck in the sixth form and musically is hasn’t anything to get your teeth into and nothing to […]

The Brakes have not always impressed me in the past; Give Blood has proved me wrong. Contained within the punchy, pithy and passionate half hour are sixteen pocket-sized tunes that contain off-kilter punk, blasting blues and experimental rock. There are excellent covers of the Jesus & Mary Chains Sometimes Always and Johnny Cash’s Jackson each […]

After setting SXSW alight with their punk rock the criminally young (they are all still at school in Nashville) Be Your Own Pet are releasing the brassy, defiant and catchy as hell Fire Department. Jemina Pearl, with a voice and attitude that should belong to a woman 10 years her senior, screams and yelps perfectly […]

The Brakes’ latest single is a touch of skuzzed up electro glam that explodes into angular rock for the chorus. While that may make them sound very experimental this is really a pop record that is designed to get a crowd moving, a vibe it succeeds in generating. The slow building from the simple bass […]

Brakes features the combined talents of British Sea Power’s Eamon, Tenderfoot’s Mark Beatty along with Tom and Alex from Electric Soft Parade. This indie super-group have created a guitar heavy number that clearly echoes Joy Division and late eighties indie rock.
The main single (The other tracks are short bookends) contains a tension from the first […]

Aberfeldy’s folk tinged pop comes with a playful side to match its comfortable jauntiness and softly crafted songs. Strings are plucked, strummed and bowed sweetly behind the vocal led songs on Young Forever. The previous singles Love Is An Arrow, Vegetarian Restaurant and Heliopolis By Night are demonstrative of the range of subject matter covered; […]

Wrapped Up In Books, taken from their latest album (Dear Catastrophe Waitress), is a great track. It has classic Belle & Sebastian vocals and also contains the new fuller sound that came with the latest album. It is fresh, bright and impossible to dislike.
The real surprise is in the other A-side, Your Cover’s Blown. This […]

Friends Of Mine is the follow up to the frail and nervous eponymous solo debut by one of the big names in New York’s antifolk scene. This is actually Adam’s first studio album, as Adam Green was actually recorded by a youthful Mr Green before the first Moldy Peaches album. That 18 year old has […]

As ever, Belle And Sebastian are oozing twee charm and creating intelligent off kilter songs. What makes Dear Catastrophe Waitress such a fantastic album is the sun blessed feel to the whole shebang. These songs are dazzlingly bright and bursting at the seams with pop joy. All of this has happened without sacrificing any of […]