Category: Reviews

EP: Animal Collective — Fall Be Kind

For those, like myself, frustrated by Animal Collective’s adventures into sound while delivering headline sets at summer music festivals, this EP is not going to light any fires. But for those who thought their breakthrough album Merriweather Post Pavillion was…

EP: The Miserable Rich – Covers

Having only released their debut album earlier this year, it is quite remarkable that the still relatively unknown quantity that is The Miserable Rich carry with them such a recognisably distinctive and uniquely personal sound through a combination of James…

EP: Kría Brekkan – Uterus Water

For a relatively unknown artist, Kría Brekkan’s creds are superb – a former member of whispery Icelandic collective múm, Kría has been slowly gaining a name for herself in the indie rock scene, including featuring in the cover art of…

Album: Sparrow and the Workshop – Into the Wild

Sparrow and The Workshop present Into The Wild, their debut album, a delicate, intricate and honest gift to the senses. Mixing pop, rock and folk as well as their different backgrounds (Scottish, Welsh and American) and views on music, their sound…

Album: The Dutchess & the Duke – Sunrise/Sunset

Sunset/Sunrise is the second album by The Duchess & The Duke. The Duchess & The Duke form a pair that lives in line with dichotomies and paradoxes, though in complete harmony. Their new work is a stark contrast from their…

Live: Devendra Banhart @ Shepherds Bush Empire 15/12/09

Bounding on stage at Shepherds Bush Empire, girl-hipped and beard-faced, Devendra Banhart assessed a crowd made up of copy-cat males (long hair and moustaches gleaming), flower-adorned teenage girls, and a rather large chunk of what I can only describe as…

[Hundred Bands] 5: Lissie

Wow. Already our gargantuan task is worth it. Lissie is a Californian troubadour who made her EP ‘Why You Running’ with Band of Horses man Bill Reynolds. Lissie vocals are deliciously smoky, and she scuffs up her pretty melodies with…

Album: Dan Mangan, Nice, Nice, Very Nice

Dan Mangan is a folk-rock musician with a soft touch and vocals less strained and ragged than Mark Lanegan’s. His latest album, Nice, Nice, Very Nice, is, indeed, a pleasant ode to songwriting and traditional craftsmanship. Piano, horns, claps, female…