Author: Conrad Hughes
North Atlantic Oscillation - Grappling Hooks
A bizarre and sonic intervention finds its way into the end of the album's opener: offbeat drums mix with buried, obtuse vocals after a minute of pretty ambience. It's a fitting start to the strange...
Review posted on 7th April 2010
Motion Picture Soundtrack - The Shapes We Fear Are Of Our Own
A rather astonishing piece of alt-rock, a marvellous achievement for a debut record. Haunting strings and mid-90's Radiohead all the way for this one; this type of thing is rarely carried off to such a...
Review posted on 7th April 2010
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Review of The Crooked Vultures self-titled album.A confident, almost laid-back album from Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones comes across originally much as the former's famous Desert Sessions does; music for the sake...
Review posted on 26th January 2010
The Len Price 3 - Pictures
Review of The Len Price 3's album PicturesThis is bad. It shamelessly steals from other, better, older bands and doesn't do any of the things these bands do quite as well as they could do....
Review posted on 26th January 2010
Katatonia - Night Is the New Day
Review of Katatonia's album Night Is The New DayIgnoring both the strange misnomer in the title ('I' in is capitalised but not 't' in the?) and the interesting PR brief - 'waltzing between prog moments,...
Review posted on 26th January 2010
The Incredible Flight of Birdman - Where I Can't See You
Review of The Incredible Flight of Birdman's single Where I Can't See YouThis is the best record I have reviewed today, by a long, long way. It does sound like a quite bland Idlewild, but...
Review posted on 26th January 2010
Fight Like Apes - Live At Eurosonic
Review of Flight Like Apes album Live At EurosonicThis band love introductions. I say this, because there is an introduction on the live record. Then there's the introduction of the actual song. I prefer the...
Review posted on 26th January 2010
Saviours - Accelerated Living
Review of Saviours album Accelerated LivingMmm, it's time for what may or may not be some Christian metal- I say this as there isn't any reference to them being such, yet the name, song titles...
Review posted on 15th December 2009
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
Review of Wolfmother's album Cosmic EggThis album opens with a re-imagining of the Chili's Around The World- at least, that's what I thought until it kicked in proper with the whole 70's sound the band...
Review posted on 18th November 2009
Sweethead - Sweethead
Review of Sweethead's self-titled album.Fuzz laden rock in the style of Death From Above 1979 but without the technical indie flair and some female vocals. The band come across all QOTSA in a few tracks,...
Review posted on 18th November 2009
Alice In Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue
Review of Alice In Chains album Black Gives Way To BlueAlice In Chains return with Black Gives Way To Blue, their latest album, and, after I'd gotten over the fact that they weren't Creed, I...
Review posted on 18th November 2009
The Blizzards - Domino Effect
Review of The Blizzards album Domino EffectThis is a really good album. It pleases me to listen to. Wacky indie rockers The Blizzards (an excellent signing for Island if I do say so) play a...
Review posted on 18th November 2009
Invasion - The Master Alchemist
Review of Invasion's album The Master AlchemistInvasion are an interesting three-piece that evoke minimalist values and mix them with lots and lots of fuzz and some echo effects. The band was created in response to...
Review posted on 18th November 2009
Kill Hannah - Wake Up The Sleepers
Review of Kill Hannah's album Wake Up The SleepersHaving never heard of this band before they turned up neatly packaged on my doorstep, I was apprehensive as I gently placed the CD into the player...
Review posted on 10th November 2009
Boy Crisis - Tulipomania
Review of Boy Crisis's album TulipomaniaThis is an interesting CD- it seems to be conforming to the current dance-pop-indie-whatsit dominating not only MTV2 but the A-list on Radio 1, complete with self-aware moaning noises and...
Review posted on 27th October 2009
Converge - Axe to Fall
Review of Converge's album Axe To Fall released through Epitaph Records.An utterly insane album from start to finish, Converge on Epitaph Records push the envelope even further with this absolutely stunning release. Opening with Dark...
Review posted on 26th October 2009
Pearl Jam - Backspacer
Review of Pearl Jam's album BackspacerInteractive CDs are very, very annoying. I don't know why, but ever since Origin Of Symmetry made me put a code in to watch an arbitrary video I've been moderately...
Review posted on 26th October 2009
Funeral For A Friend - Your History Is Mine 2002-2009
Review of Funeral For A Friend's album Your History Is Mine 2002-2009.I really, really, really hate arena rock. If a band is praised for sounding like an Arena band, it makes me terribly sad. It...
Review posted on 8th October 2009
Richard Walters - The Animal
Review of Richard Walters album The AnimalA short and sweet album invoking the lo-fi finesse seen in the first Iron and Wine record, Walters is a class act that speaks to us through songwriting. Using...
Review posted on 29th September 2009
David Guetta - One Love
Review of David Guetta’s album One LoveGracenote kindly informs me that every track on this album is a Feat., apart from track 10, which is apparently a Black Eyed Peas song. I would never want...
Review posted on 29th September 2009
Girls - Album
Review of Girls album 'Album' review.The Blood Brothers meets drunken indie mess vocal of Girls' frontman groans merrily across opener Lust For Life, thankfully not an Iggy cover; instead, a sparsely instrumented Libs party track....
Review posted on 21st September 2009
Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11
Review of Rodrigo y Gabriela's album 11:11Rodrigo y Gabriela return with 11:11, an interesting concept record by the ex-busking flamenco inspired duo where each track is a homage to an artist- 11 in total. It...
Review posted on 21st September 2009
Kill It Kid - Self Titled
An album review of Kill It Kid's Self Titled release.I pity the editor today, because yesterday I crashed a motorbike at about 70 mph, rolled down the road for about 20 yards end over end,...
Review posted on 7th September 2009
Reuben - We Should Have Gone To University
Review of Reuben's album We Should Have Gone To University.Reuben never really got the huge fame they deserved, so to see this double disc of fan service get a release is quite surprising. The title...
Review posted on 1st September 2009
Million Dead - A Song To Ruin (Deluxe Edition)
Review of Million Dead's album A Song To Ruin (Deluxe Edition)Coming packaged beautifully in a hardcover book with lyrics, photos and a DVD, you'd be hard pressed to dispute the love that's gone into this...
Review posted on 26th August 2009
Chris Garneau - El Radio
Review of Chris Garneau's album El Radio.In the vein of Sufjan Stevens comes Chris Garneau's sophomore attempt, El Radio. A vague concept of something to do with a story told over a year divided into...
Review posted on 26th August 2009
Lemonade - Self-titled
Review of Lemonade's self-titled albumI often think that you have to be in the right mood to appreciate electronica. Fischerspooner's #1 ranks among my favourite albums with ease, the songwriting is simply superb, but if...
Review posted on 26th August 2009
The Boxer Rebellion - Union
Review of The Boxer Rebellion's album Union.The haunting voice of Nathan Nicholson, singer from The Boxer Rebellion delivers a powerful sense of fragility, sounding a little like the Guillemots Fyfe Dangerfield at his best, and...
Review posted on 18th August 2009
Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost
Review of Zero 7's album Yeah GhostA very interesting album from start to finish. Returning after 2007's The Garden, Zero 7 are still labelled as trip-hop by the media, but I have to say they...
Review posted on 18th August 2009
Rufus Wainwright - Milwaukee At Last!!!
Review of Rufus Wainwright's album Milwaukee At Last!!!This is a live CD, meant as a companion to the DVD also going on sale in a little while. As I haven't seen the DVD, the image...
Review posted on 18th August 2009
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