Talk of Britain and first impressions and you’re probably just as likely to hear mention of suffocating motorways, inappropriate overflowing landfill sites and unhelpfully grey skies as you are our worrying slide back in the direction of scary great hulking nuclear power stations. Yeah, depressing. Scandinavia isn’t like that though. Well, maybe it is, but in our stereotypical mind’s eye it certainly isn’t. We’re thinking snow kisses, pure crisp air, unending strokes from nature’s fine-tipped brush, and windmills. Lots of Continue Reading

So this, the label announce, is Shooting At Unarmed Men’s “first album proper”. Making last year’s 10 track debut ‘Soon There Will Be Shooting At Unarmed Men’ what, just a spot of horseplay, a pointless smidgen of clattering round, a bit of a laugh? We thought that was the whole point of the band anyway? But if there is more to them that’s honestly a bit of a relief, Jon Chapple’s first out of the blocks post-Mclusky project had failed Continue Reading

Folk music might not have exactly been through a revolution of late, if for no other reason than that all sounds a bit drastic. Steady on, brother. If we could talk about it changing its top we might be on the right lines. Either way, it’s smartened up a bit, thrown on something a bit sharper, reigned in the ambling stereotype, and got online. We’re fairly certain it’s not knitting its own underwear anymore anyway. Take as evidence for this Continue Reading

Contrary to popular opinion Green Gartside was born in Wales not Algeria and studied not at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris, but at Leeds Polytechnic at a time that happily coincided with the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy tour in 1977. His first EP for Rough Trade, “Skank Bloc Bologna” in 1978 didn’t define the roles of contradiction and overdetermination in western society as is commonly believed, nor did it compound the tasks of Ideological State Apparatuses in the British Continue Reading

As regrettably understandable as the reasons for the Beta Band’s premature retirement were (namely years of banging their creative heads against the wall – and not just in order to get the right percussive sound out of a patch of plaster), it’s hard to see the ultimate wisdom now. Steve Mason carries on under the guise of King Biscuit Time, while John MacLean and Robin Jones warp trippily onwards with The Aliens, neither moving starkly away from the template they Continue Reading

Named after the 2002 film of the same name about illegal immigrants in London, ex-Libertines Carl Barat and Gary Powell rise from the ashes of what has to be the longest running bong-session in musical history with an album about loyalty, depression and finding that something to live for, sprinkled with ‘mark my words’ assurances and tempered with love. Yes, the Dirty Pretty Things are this month’s most talked-about new band and yes they’re fairly decent. But naturally there’s a Continue Reading

There was one thing that got this CD straight out of its case when it arrived, rather than being pushed aside in the hope it might crawl off and degrade in a corner of its own accord. And that was the written legend “featuring Martha Wainwright” sat aside the sweetly titled ‘Set The Fire To The Third Bar’. Because Gary Lightbody is not a bad, or even insignificant, man at his core. He excelled as conductor and heart of the Continue Reading

No, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. Ditch the comedy glasses, the surreal dementia-chic, the daft robotics right this minute. You’re doing yourselves no favours. It’s like seeing a foreign tourist enter second gear and start off down the wrong side of the road. You just want to wave your hands, run along side them and tell them to move it over. On the otherhand, you may just enjoy seeing them crash. And it’s a similar dilemma with Hot Continue Reading

Evermore are a band with quite a CV.  A platinum album, an MTV Award, songs being featured on the Australian version of the O.C, and having long-time Nirvana/Foo-Fighters recording partner, Barrette Jones jumping on board to produce the band’s debut album. Not bad for a bunch of young New Zealanders. With all these credits to their name, and the band still being only just fresh out of their teens as well, you would be forgiven for thinking that they really Continue Reading

United by anything that’s silly and uses stupid noises, Psapp’s Galia Durant and Carim Clasmann bring their bonkers-anything-goes-gently-esoteric Psapp project to giddy fruition with the pot knocking, stick tapping, glass tinkling doll’s house of a record that stumbles, trips and falls at the feet of a waiting nation. ‘The Only Thing I Ever Wanted’ is exactly what you’ve been hoping for ever since you first heard the clutter skiffle magic brought about by debut single, ‘Tricycle’ or were indeed lucky Continue Reading