Album, Single, EP and Live Reviews

Live Reviews: Suuns @ Mojos, Liverpool 14.05.11
Being a city steeped in rock history, it is unsurprising to find another corporate rockâ€™nâ€™roll bar in central Liverpool. However, Mojo does stand out a cut above the rest mostly due to its mild indie credibility and, with artsy literature dotted about on the tables, the size of the venue actually did Suuns a favour. Portraying a largely different sound to their record, the cocksure Canadians threw themselves in tonight.
Posted on May 22nd, 2011
Live Reviews: Perfume Genius @ Bush Hall, London 16.05.11
Mike Hadreas' Perfume Genius presented a selection of painstakingly poignant songs, both new and old at London's Bush Hall on Monday night. With last year's debut recording Learning, he produced one of the surprise albums of 2010; a sort of storybook of his troublesome teens and twenties set to a lo-fi soundtrack of fragile falsetto harmonies, keyboard and wispy synths. Coming about almost accidentally as a cathartic musician it's no surprise his slight figure seems lost onstage, and at times baffled by the reception his creative outlet receives: "Last time I was here I played to like ten people...half of them were my Mom" he jokes, addressing the 100 plus audience seated before him.
Posted on May 19th, 2011
Live Reviews: Wild Beasts @ Sheffield City Hall 14.05.11
Deep in the bowels of Sheffield, amongst the steel and the squalor (alright it's actually a fairly nice place and the majority of the steel industry has been replaced with Nando's and Superdry outlets, but that wouldn't write half as nicely) lies Sheffield City Hall. Beneath said hall is potentially one of the most elaborately over the top and elegant function rooms a band could wish to play in. This evening, that hall plays perfect host to Cumbria's Wild Beasts, currently out on tour with their third LP Smother.
Posted on May 19th, 2011
Live Reviews: Drive-By Truckers @ Leeds Metropolitan University 11.05.11
On a particularly balmy night in central Leeds a fairly standard sight can be seen at the Metropolitan SU Bar. Large groups of semi-drunk people in an array of plaid lumberjack shirts can be seen clamouring for the moderately overpriced bar ahead of another crowded night of music. However, in a slight change of pace, a large portion of these plaid shirted folk are bearded, well into their fifties and if asked about a "G6" are more likely to give you a technical run-down on the French reconnaissance aircraft used frequently in the First World War than the recent club hit of the Far East Movement. With that said however the air is still bristling with a youthful sense of excitement and the odds of someone being violently sick in a plant pot before the night is through are still positively high.
Posted on May 18th, 2011
Live Reviews: Fucked Up/Black Lungs/Eagulls @ The Well, Leeds 09.05.11
Jack Sibley delves into The Well in Leeds and tells us what he finds...
Posted on May 16th, 2011
Albums: Barry Gray - Stand by For Adverts (Trunk)
Barry Gray shows us that Library music is far from a niche genre.
Posted on May 16th, 2011
Albums: Liturgy - Aesthetica (Thrill Jockey)
Large amounts of mediocre terror fall way short of the mark.
Posted on May 16th, 2011
Albums: Tindersticks - Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009 (Constellation)
A match made in cinematic heaven.
Posted on May 16th, 2011
Live Reviews: Sarabeth Tucek @ Union Chapel, London 10.05.11
New Yorker Sarabeth Tucek has reinvented herself and started afresh in more ways than one. After contemplating an acting career, a brief stint as a backing vocalist for Smog and an acclaimed eponymous debut release in 2007, she has returned with the aptly titled follow up Get Well Soon; something of a cathartic documentation of turmoil following a series of personal events: car crashes and brushes with the law, alcoholism and loss. Its dark tone retains an honesty without self indulgence, while Tucek's abilities as a songwriter and confidence as a recording artist are exposed in her fluctuation between folk laments and the reverb soaked, atmospheric instrumentation that cocoons these, coupled with an effortlessly rich voice - both elegant and evocative.
Posted on May 15th, 2011
Live Reviews: Anna Calvi, Group Love & Big Deal @ Manchester Academy 3, 07.05.11
If Slow Club brought the earnest and truthful honest of two infatuated teenage lovers, Big Deal bring the cold cynical hate.
Posted on May 15th, 2011
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