Album Reviews

Memoryhouse - The Slideshow Effect (Sub Pop)
"It's not enough to live your past through photographs" sighs camera and film enthusiast Denise Nouvion on 'Punctum'. It's an apt lyric given Memoryhouse's beginnings as a collaborative multimedia art project, which saw Evan Abeele's compositions transformed into nostalgic narratives for Nouvion's sepia toned images.
Posted on Feb 5th, 2012
Naughty By Nature - Anthem Inc (IllTown)
US hip-hop currently rests in arguably the strangest position it has ever found itself in. For the best part of the last decade the majority of the music that charted was the ego-inflated, testosterone soaked club anthems by the likes of 50 Cent, Eminem, Young Jeezy, Lil Jon and numerous other acts following an exaggerated version of the template set in the early-mid nineties by the likes of Notorious B.I.G, Dr.Dre, Wu-Tang and Tupac to name only a handful of the most successful. Skip forward to 2012 and the sonic landscape is an almost unrecognisable one in comparison.
Posted on Jan 30th, 2012
Krate Krusaders - Volume 2: When The Needle Drops (self-release)
Producer led albums can be a fickle beast. Get it right, and you may have classic on your hands; a full unified vision with consistent production levels and beats which showcase a variety of styles, hopefully alongside a diverse mixture of emcees to suitably adorn them. Get it wrong, and you are left with the sonic equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting (or a John Squire if you wish to be more derogatory) and a seemingly random selection of emcees bolted on top to really drive home the mantra of "if you throw enough shit, hopefully some sticks."
Posted on Jan 17th, 2012
Vaporous Light - Vaporous Light (aA)
The self-titled debut album by Manchester trinity Vaporous Light is the perfect antidote for anyone who needs an escape route from the hum drum banalities of daily life.
Posted on Jan 17th, 2012
Diagrams - Black Light (Full Time Hobby)
There’s always going to be a place for well-crafted pop music with a soulful edge – and as the continuing inventiveness of Hot Chip has shown, there’s life in the genre yet.
Posted on Jan 17th, 2012
Claps - Wreck (Guilt Ridden Pop)
Bringing some synthpop into 2012
Posted on Jan 14th, 2012
Standard Fare - Out Of Sight, Out Of Town (Melodic/Thee SPC)
From start to finish, Out of Sight, Out Of Town impresses.
Posted on Jan 10th, 2012
Nine Days Gone - Nine Days Gone (self-release)
A troubled teen's dream record.
Posted on Jan 4th, 2012
Kyle Pederson - 12.25 (self-release)
Not just an essential Christmas record, but an essential record
Posted on Dec 19th, 2011
Hymns - Cardinal Sins/Contrary Virtues (Pink Mist)
Ex-Blakfish man forms new band with great results
Posted on Dec 16th, 2011
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