Belonging to that same ‘I’m not going to open my mouth too much for fear of something ordinary falling out’ bronkin’ band of brothers as Mike Nesmith and Beck Hansen – Jay Farrar spits and drawls his way through a gritty 5 tracks of visceral alterna-country; inebriate but tuneful, incisive but happy. Pitched somewhere between Neil Young and Bob Dylan, a deliriously psychedelic Mike Nesmith and with the awkward tenderness of a young Michael Stipe, ‘ThirdShiftGrottoSlack’ is four tracks of Continue Reading

Smarter than the average head-banging bear, Montreal’s Pulse Ultra crank up the paranoia and tricky time-signatures to make a credible (if slightly unremarkable) stab at the really rather ripe pop-metal market. Largely compacted into 3 minute punches, tracks like ‘Acceptance (Phase 1 )’ and ‘Void’ capture all the gothic sorcery needed to heave a metal band into the brutal sonic equivalent of a Lord of The Rings style quest for enlightenment. Lyrically coming perilously close to the interstellar conscience of Continue Reading

Previously referred to as “the heaviest band in rock”, one might (erroneously) predict that the guitars opening “Diamond”, are playing tangled barre chords with raging dual kick drums, grinding bass, and a singer imitating Tom Waits, or his uncle with the scissors down his throat.Here is a band that easily disproves the concept that “weighty” or “big” is ever really down to the amount of distorted guitar tracks on a single number, and shows, again, the overall sensation of the Continue Reading

The press release reads “ Athens, GA 1996: A loose collective of companions, sharing a common love of classic songwriters such as Dylan, Costello and Richard Thompson, are seeking to distil these influences into a sound…somewhere between The American Music Club and The Replacements“ And to be perfectly frank: it would be very difficult to disagree. It’s a simple design, a simple objective and its been carried out with such an inspired, miraculous innocence that it’s damn near impossible to Continue Reading

I said I should have known better when I heard the single “Dem Girlz’ and discovered with more than a modicum of surprise and embarrassment that I actually really liked it. With it’s cooky Jay-Z sample and it’s ‘comic’ take on hip-hop it was an effortless piece of bubblegum: reckless and commanding, all at the same time. One might remark on the ‘cartoon realism’ of the delivery – imbuing it with all the undeserved irony and self-awareness of a post-modernist Continue Reading

Now, this particular correspondent first came in contact with Liars a few months ago at the top of a bill featuring, in support, two of the best live bands on the go right now or anytime at all in the near past, Mclusky and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was like following electric shock treatment with a limp Chinese burn. Naturally they fell flat on their collective face. But not only that, it was like they’d done it on purpose, Continue Reading

Punk Rock. It conjures up images of spiky Mohawks, dog chains, ripped clothes, slam dancing and safety pins. While this was how it was perceived by most of the public, it went much deeper than a simple fashion statement. It was as much a movement as the hippies in the late 60’s and early 70’s, only Punk was not promoting peace and love. Rather it was a “fuck you” to governments, suburban life and corporate rock. Although the Ramones are Continue Reading

You have to wonder sometimes. Wonder where things came from. And why. And where they’re going. And why also. Because some things get locked on, or at least thrown into by some foreign force, a trajectory that doesn’t entirely tally with common sense or proven patterns (not that pop music always follows rules). Lets call it Starsailor Syndrome – in the Top 10, selling records, winning plaudits and all with very little beneath a very calculated surface save for raw Continue Reading

It will come as no surprise that this record, the second from Major Matt Mason, comes from the stable of Glasgow’s Shoeshine Records, project of Francis Macdonald, long serving quaint-pop merchant and drummer in Teenage Fanclub and the BMX Bandits. Because it’s not that the solo New York folk poet shares a direct similarity with either of Francis’ bands, more that they all come from the simple life-affirming side of an otherwise normal existence. The kind of musical and lyrical Continue Reading