Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD)
February 6, 2012
5.0/6.0
Blues Funeral is easily the finest album of the year so far.
Death and All His Friends
Eugene Genie
Eugene McGuinness with Fránçois & the Atlas Mountains and Trailer Trash Tracys
Camden Barfly, London
Friday February 3, 2012
You know you've stumbled across someone with a truly great voice when they make singing look like the easiest thing to do in the world.
Pushing the Borders
Feeder - 'Borders' (Big Teeth Music)
January 30, 2012
4.0/6.0
It's refreshing to hear Feeder push the tempo, after previous dreary releases that had us reaching for the off switch.
Nordic Noise
Casiokids
Trof Grosvenor Street (The Deaf Institute), Manchester
Friday January 21, 2012
As one might expect from a band who once performed in a hot air balloon, Casiokids' otherwise conventional stage layout has two noticeable additions - a newspaper supplement and a pitta bread.
Big Beats, Big Ideas
The Big Pink - Future This (4AD)
January 16, 2012
5.2/6.0
A record bursting with ideas - refreshingly different, yet familiar at the same time
Eyes For Some Noise
Hawk Eyes - Mindhammer EP (Brew Records)
December 12, 2011
5.0/6.0
You can't help but admire the band’s ability to put together watertight studio arrangements that still pack a massive punch.
A Sudden Hissy Fit
Enter Shikari - A Flash Flood of Colour
January 16, 2012
1.5/6.0
Unfortunately, A Flash Flood of Colour is an anaemic blend of bro-step and metal that falls short of its historic forebears.
We’ll Have Trouble Here!
Vintage Trouble
Club Academy, Manchester
Tuesday November 15, 2011
It's old-fashioned fun all the way with these overgrown boys; the sixties suits, silly guitar face-offs, dad dancing and audience 'party'-cipation.
Saintly and Ghostly
The Miserable Rich with Alabaster DePlume
St Phillips Church Salford
Thursday November 3, 2011
As James de Malplaquet’s voice projects a capella around the room, you realise this has been a real feast of the senses.
Why Do You Let Me Sleigh Here?
She & Him - A Very She & Him Christmas (Double Six)
October 31, 2011
6.0/6.0
These are all songs we’ve heard before and She & Him have never been about doing new things, just doing the old things well.
