Think back over some of the most seminal American indie records of the past few years, and all the reasons you considered them so great. The Flaming Lips’ ‘Soft Bulletin’ and the way it bent your perception of awe. Modest Mouse’s melding of heartening eccentricity and gold-top songwriting on ‘Good News For People Who Love Bad News’. The Postal Service’s sharpening of a whole genre’s sound on ‘Give Up’. Mercury Rev’s ‘Deserters Songs’ and their ability to tell a whole Continue Reading

Is it just a coincidence that in its week of release Britain has shaken defrosting icicles from its brow, thrown off its duffel coat and tried to leapfrog over spring straight into summer? Well of course it is, but it don’t half feel right having Ambulance Ltd’s debut massaging our ears as the first decent sunshine of the year cascades generously through the window and carefree souls (well, students) sprawl decadently on the patch of grass opposite. It’s a beautiful Continue Reading

You know when you’re unpacking a new stereo or whatever, and in your haste you accidentally bring the two bits of polystyrene crashing together (the mere mention of it is a little much, isn’t it) and the inevitable emitted sound is so face-creasingly tortuous that you’d rather listen to a nursery of seals maliciously butchered with a rusty, malfunctioning chainsaw, given the choice? And you’re a vegan too – it’s that bad. But what if after all the rubbing and Continue Reading

There is a weight of truth present in Roddy Woomble’s voice. Whether it is, or indeed is not, it considers itself to be right – which may have no immediate grounding in fact but stands tall nonetheless. He is all the things he presumes for himself – a compassionate soul, a poet, an enigma – he truly believes he is. Thing is, we’re beginning to believe him too, more than ever. On this, their fourth album, there are many things Continue Reading

Let’s face it, the Mars Volta have pretty much perfected that big sprawling rock cyberscape kinda thing, so when Paul D’Amour – Tool bass-player and sometime director of videos – decides to crank-up the volume and out-gross the gross, experimental weirdness of previous ventures like Lusk, you have to be prepared for a bumpy ride. Written, performed and produced by D’Amour in his Topanga Canyon studio, Feersum Ennjin hovers menacingly over warped time signatures, queer chord changes and crunching, QOTSA Continue Reading

In the days when there was an observable difference between the behaviour of women and those of men, Croydon born Kirsty MacColl crafted series after series of bittersweet narratives plotting the chasm between them. Songs like ‘They Don’t Know’, ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop’ and ‘New England’ (actually written by Billy Bragg) deconstruct maleness in the same way ‘The Simpsons’ reveals the idea of family. The songs were funny, touching and marvellously engaging on every level. And Continue Reading

Who ever thought ye olde children’s favourite ‘The Wheels On The Bus’ could be wrapped in a US military body bag and re-packaged as an anti-war anthem? You did? Well you’re a cleverer little screwball than I. Those pesky, meddling, politically charged urban firebrands the Asian Dub Foundation do their best to provoke a furore of disapproval with 11 or so tracks of banging hard ragga and Bollywood orchestral scores. Like Chumbawamba, the Asian Dub Foundation pretty much stick to Continue Reading

Difficult second album, eh? Who ever came up with all that old rot? Seldom does an artist of any worth struggle to regain the form of their debut album: from Oasis, Blur, The Libertines, Radiohead, The Streets and Dizzee Rascal all ultimately triumphed both critically and commercially with their more expertly crafted follow-ups. The Strokes? They simply weren’t that good in the first place. Some bands just capture a moment, they have one good idea and it carries the album. Continue Reading

Moby is fascinated by the ‘airless and lifeless neutrality of so many man-made spaces’. Not that any of this fascination spills over into his music. No siree Bob. Not in the least. I couldn’t reject this notion more vociferously. Definitely not. I protest too much? Well okay, maybe Moby’s music does have a similarly ‘airless and lifeless neutrality’ about it – but then ambient always had and when Moby came over all ambient (somewhere between his rave euphoria and speed-metal Continue Reading

Manchester/London four-piece just about elude the growing cries of ‘shoegazers’ on debut album, Engineers. True, fans of The Charlatans and Stone Roses are likely to shuffle excitedly back and forth to the familiar stoner strains of tracks like ‘Thrasher’,  ‘Waved On’ and the sickeningly fine single ‘Forgiveness’ but this 11 track collection of sepia lit melancholy traverses a far more progressive path. In fact, for every nod in the direction of their shoes there’s a gesture toward folks as weary Continue Reading