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Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Melvins Lite – Freak Puke

Experimental craziness from the long-running grungers' reduced incarnation

(3 stars)24 May 2012

You can never really expect every album by these insanely experimental men to sound the same. Even after 29 years of performing and recording together, The Melvins (or Melvins Lite, in this case) somehow manage to remain enthusiastic and creative in an…

Poliça

Single of the month: Poliça - ‘Dark Star'

Other releases by Liars, Tribes, Childish Gambino and Hot Chip also reviewed

22 May 2012

The pile of pre-summer releases on The List’s doorstep this month was rather intimidating, but here is a round-up of the best (and rest). Liars new track, ‘No 1 Against The Rush’ (Mute Song ●●●), is three-and-a-half minutes of slithering synths and…

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

Bobby Womack - The Bravest Man in the Universe

A wise yet not world-weary record from the soul legend

(3 stars)22 May 2012

‘As a singer grows older, his conception goes a little deeper, because he lives life and he understands what he’s trying to say a little more...’ So said Sam Cooke back in the day, and so opens electro-soul hymn ‘Dayglo Reflection’, the fourth track…

Peter Zummo - Zummo with an X

Peter Zummo - Zummo with an X

Minimalist experimental reissue from the regular Arthur Russell collaborator

(4 stars)22 May 2012

An excellent reissue of the out-of-print debut from Peter Zummo dating back to 1981, a long time session musician and collaborator of Arthur Russell’s – who also lends his distinctive cello and baritone stylings throughout. With its feet firmly set in…

Friends - Manifest!

Friends - Manifest!

An insidiously hooky album that's sometimes brilliant, sometimes bloomin’ annoying

(3 stars)22 May 2012

There are songs you can’t get out of your head, and then there are songs you wish you could get out of your head. In the latter category: ‘Hey Baby’ by DJ Otzi. In the former: Friends’ ‘Friend Crush’ and ‘I’m His Girl’. The Brooklyn band’s well-blogged…

Ultravox - Brilliant

Ultravox - Brilliant

Dull and pompous record from the no-longer-relevant Ure and co

(1 star)22 May 2012

Does the world really need another album, the first in 26 years, from the ‘classic’ Midge Ure-era Ultravox – a group of negligible lasting impact on music even at their mid-80s arena synth-pop zenith? The Trade Descriptions Act-violating Brilliant is…

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Neneh Cherry & The Thing - Cherry Thing

Inventive and charismatic return from Cherry in this free jazz/post-punk collaboration

(4 stars)22 May 2012

Neneh Cherry’s first album in 16 years is perhaps closer in spirit to the jazzoid post-punk of Rip Rig & Panic than the glorious hip-pop of Raw Like Sushi, but hot damn, it’s good. The Thing are renowned for their wild takes on cult rock and free-jazz…

Patti Smith - Banga

Patti Smith - Banga

Unique album of punk poetry populated by rocky arias, improvised psalms and lyrical reveries

(3 stars)22 May 2012

You may have heard that Patti Smith dedicates a song to Amy Winehouse on her 11th studio album, Banga. This takes the form of a syrupy ballad, ‘This is the Girl’, and its intentions are honourable, but look beyond it: there are greater, more defiant…

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Miaoux Miaoux - Light of the North

Gloriously melodic dance-pop in the vein of Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and the Avalanches

(5 stars)22 May 2012

This is a perfect example of how good pop music can be if it’s driven by a restless intelligence. Miaoux Miaoux, aka Julian Corrie, has been turning heads with his distinctive electro-pop sound for a while, but this first album for Chemikal Underground…

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Ben Zabo - Ben Zabo

Vibrant and inventive Malian Afro-beat, occasionally let down by naff blues guitar

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Described as Malian Afro-Beat, Ben Zabo’s music expands its scope well beyond the Fela Kuti-inspired sounds of 1970s Bamako to incorporate the bwa rhythms and melodies of his own Bo region, alongside elements of funk and rock. Slick production has…

Sigur Rós - Valtari

Sigur Rós - Valtari

A typically dazzling record from the Icelandic cosmic folk-pop outfit

(4 stars)22 May 2012

The rumours of an ‘indefinite hiatus’ might have left us thinking that was it for Sigur Rós, but the four years since their previous album have amounted to little more than a bit of creative refreshment time. Valtari (the infinitely less satisfying to…

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Steve Kuhn Trio - Wisteria

Accomplished, crisp and cool recordings by Kuhn, Steve Swallow and Joey Baron

(3 stars)22 May 2012

Pianist Steve Kuhn has worked with both bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Joey Baron in many contexts over several decades, but they had never played together in a trio setting prior to recording this last year. You would never guess that, though – they…

Oriole - Every New Day

Oriole - Every New Day

Distinctly Latin-influenced sounds from the F-IRE collective

(3 stars)22 May 2012

The latest offering from the ranks of the London-based F-IRE collective features music written by Oriole’s founder, guitarist Johnny Phillips, during a six-year stay in Cadiz. The distinctly Spanish/Latin melodic and rhythmic feel has an appealing…

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

Hot Chip - In Our Heads

The elctro-pop masters' fifth album is their most smartly accessible effort to date

(4 stars)21 May 2012

Every self-appointed creative with a WTF haircut and a MacBook thinks they’re an ‘electronic artist’ these days. But there’s more to it than bedroom-recording cry wank vocals over presets and dropping them to Tuesday night cheek-chewers. Hot Chip’s…

Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar

Dexys - One Day I’m Going To Soar

Full of wit, panache, brutal self-examination and abundant tunefulness

(5 stars)21 May 2012

The title alone gives you a tingling feeling that something glorious and redemptive lies within: and so it proves on Dexys’ – formerly Dexys Midnight Runners – first new album in 27 years. Following the young soul rebels’ disastrous plunge in fortunes…

SAY Award shortlist announced

SAY Award shortlist announced

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat, Mogwai and Rustie nominated for inaugural Scottish Album of the Year

17 May 2012

The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) shortlist has been announced today. After some toothcomb sifting and careful deliberation, the judging panel have whittled down the nominations from a beefy 20 to a lean top 10. Through some hi-tech gadgetry, savvy…

The Magnetic Fields' Quick is Single of the Month

The Magnetic Fields' Quick is Single of the Month

Also featuring Beth Jeans Houghton and The Hooves Of Destiny

27 Apr 2012

What’s the consensus on imitation to the point that it rivals, perhaps even betters the source? Well, Glasgow’s Marvel Heights almost achieve such an accolade, kicking off this month’s singles run-down with their straight-outta-Paramore, angsty rock…

Zulu Winter - Language

Zulu Winter - Language

The indie rockers' debut is disappointingly unadventurous

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Play It Again Sam) With their unabashed love of Czech new wave cinema, Steve Reich, TS Eliot, Ayn Rand and modern dance troupes The List won’t even pretend to have heard of, we expected something a little more adventurous from Zulu Winter’s debut…

PAWS - Misled Youth

PAWS - Misled Youth

A pacey, frantic and melancholy EP from the Glasgow garage pop-rock trio

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Fat Cat) Grrr, Paws are good. Be it gigging in weird places (the Glasgow trio have played in bathrooms, skate shops and on top of double decker buses) or the bedroom recordings released on painstakingly put-together, hand-numbered limited edition…

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

The Just Joans - Buckfast Bottles in the Rain

Underwhelming concept album from the indie-poppers

(2 stars)23 Apr 2012

(weePOP!) Naming themselves after a notoriously annoying tabloid columnist might be mistake number one, but it isn’t the worst of The Just Joans’ crimes. Claiming to have created an ‘audacious artistic undertaking’ of Bowie and Zappa-like proportions…

Two Wings - Love's Spring

Two Wings - Love's Spring

A warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and English folk-rock

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Tin Angel Records) The strident classicism of Two Wings may come as a surprise to those familiar with the avant-folk of Hanna Tuulikki’s other group Nalle. That project’s eerie soundworld is replaced by a warm-hearted fusion of vintage Americana and…

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

Star Wheel Press - Life Cycle of a Falling Bird

A timeless album from the Americana heartbreakers

(4 stars)23 Apr 2012

Bonnie Prince Billy is not the only alt-country bard to have dibs on Glen Lyon. Americana heartbreakers Star Wheel Press are based in Aberfeldy (BPB’s erstwhile stomping ground), and have quietly amassed a dedicated following since their lovely debut…

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

Martin Speake & Colin Oxley - Two Not One

An album of light, buoyant jazz ballads, ideal in small servings

(3 stars)23 Apr 2012

(Pumpkin Records) The airy combination of alto saxophone and guitar and a leaning toward ballad tempos gives the music on this duo outing a light, buoyant feel which does pale a little over the whole album, but works beautifully on any individual…

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Jesus H. Foxx - Endless Knocking

Long-awaited debut admirable in perfectionism, but feels laboured

(2 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Song, by Toad) ‘I’ve waited two bloody years for these muppets to finish this album,’ writes Song, by Toad boss Matthew Young in an amusingly frank note accompanying Edinburgh seven-piece Jesus H. Foxx’s debut. We’ve shared his frustration in…

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Julia Holter - Tragedy

Celestial drones, mesmeric synths, ambient noise and unearthly vocals

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Night School) Perhaps you read that album title and started hollering the Bee Gees song or god forbid, Steps. Thank the stars, then, for LA composer and minimalist pop diviner Julia Holter, who will banish your garish disco horrors with celestial…

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

French Wives - Dream of the Inbetween

An astute and highly promising opening salvo from Glasgow band

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Electric Honey) What a satisfying thing it is to hear a pop song that bypasses the tyranny of the chorus and sticks to its guns with a series of ear-warming verses. ‘Younger’, the shoulder-high stand-out track from the debut collection by French Wives…

Lone - Galaxy Garden

Lone - Galaxy Garden

UK producer's fourth album draws on Detroit techno, Chicago house and 90s rave

(4 stars)18 Apr 2012

(R&S) Impressively, given Matt Cutler is still only a relatively tender aged 27-year-old, ‘Galaxy Garden’ is actually his fourth album recorded as Lone. However, in something of a musical departure from its hip hop, 80s boogie and rare groove-inspired…

Kuljit Bhamra, Jacqueline Shave, John Parricelli - Postcards From Home

Kuljit Bhamra, Jacqueline Shave, John Parricelli - Postcards From Home

Cross-cultural fusion partly inspired by the Hebrides

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(Keda Records) A fresh and deftly executed cross-cultural fusion featuring a tabla player with strong jazz connections, a classical violinist and a jazz guitarist, playing music inspired in part by the Hebrides. Violinist Jacqueline Shave’s ‘Machair to…

Various Artists - Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2

Various Artists - Cumbia Cumbia 1 & 2

Two-album reissue of classic compilations from 1989 and 1993

(3 stars)18 Apr 2012

(World Circuit) The sinuous dance rhythms of the Colombian music known as Cumbia are captured in this nicely packaged and documented two-album reissue of two compilations regarded as the classics of the genre, which first brought Cumbia to wider…

The Scottish Album of the Year Award, and why it's worth taking seriously

The Scottish Album of the Year Award, and why it's worth taking seriously

FOUND, Mogwai, Rustie and more longlisted for inaugural award

12 Apr 2012

It isn’t the punchiest tagline to slap on your press release, but the Scottish Music Industry Association’s assertion that the recently-announced Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award will be ‘a qualitative arts prize for music which is discerning…

Record Store Day 2012 - events roundup

Record Store Day 2012 - events roundup

Edwyn Collins, Human Don't Be Angry and more to play live in support of independent music shops

29 Mar 2012

In these days of digital piracy, the life of the indie record store seems constantly overshadowed with doubt; thankfully, the annual Record Store Day reminds what a pleasure can be hand from flicking through dusty vinyl LPs and just enjoying music in…

Single of the Month: The Son(s) - 'If I Hear You Talk Apostrophes Again'

Single of the Month: The Son(s) - 'If I Hear You Talk Apostrophes Again'

Django Django, Kate Bush and Lightships also reviewed

28 Mar 2012

TS Eliot got it wrong. April is not the cruellest month. Not where our ear canals are concerned, anyway. April is killing us with its pop kindness. Take ‘Storm’ (●●●●, Because), a sojourn into sun-dappled collage-rock, courtesy of vintage exoticists…

Lightships - Electric Cables

Lightships - Electric Cables

Teenage Fanclub's Gerry Love album of sun-soaked, blissed-out guitar pop

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Geographic) Gerry Love might have insisted on a band name for this new project, but the sound is all Gerry. Love’s contributions to Teenage Fanclub are invariably the understated gems, and so it is here with this sumptuous, trembling collection of…

Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful

Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland - Black is Beautiful

Debut from Hype Williams pair is striking and boundary-crashing

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Hyperdub) Can Tupac and Kanye West-lensing promo director Hype Williams finally have gotten wise to the ridiculously inventive London duo using his name? Is that why the pair are using their own names for this debut album on Kode9’s Hyperdub? The…

Human Don’t Be Angry - Human Don’t Be Angry

Human Don’t Be Angry - Human Don’t Be Angry

Komische-influenced instrumental masterpiece from Malcolm Middleton

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

Scottische Pop (Chemikal Underground) In the bowels of a radioactive pop bunker somewhere between Glasgow and Falkirk, Malcolm Middleton has spent 18 months incubating a (super) heroic alter-ego. We all thought we knew the mild-mannered Middleton…

Trembling Bells feat. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs

Trembling Bells feat. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Marble Downs

New collaborator on band's eccentric psych-folk rock

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Honest Jons) Over three albums in as many years, Trembling Bells have refined their heady mix of courtly psych-folk, Yorkshire country and colliery band jazz, losing some of their rickety charm, while gaining in dynamism and panache. For their…

Carter Tutti Void - Transverse

Carter Tutti Void - Transverse

Throbbing Gristle's Chris & Cosey collaborate with Factory Floor

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Mute) Fans of doom-laden industrial machine music might find their clockwork hearts oiled slightly by the release of this most definitive of collaborations, as Carter Tutti (Throbbing Gristle’s Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti, nee Chris & Cosey…

Graham Coxon - A+E

Graham Coxon - A+E

Latest lo-fi gem from Blur guitarist delivers arch and ugly meditations

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Parlophone) What need for Blur these days? While their will-they-won’t-they recorded reunion is a brand of comeback cock-teasery perfectly suited to the age of stone-bleeding revivalism, what will their eventual decision to just get on with it offer…

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

M Ward - A Wasteland Companion

Americana full of understated charm

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Bella Union) M Ward is probably best known these days for being one half of She & Him, his collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, but long before that partnership he was dishing up dreamy slices of Americana like this. As the title hints at, this…

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Bobby Conn - Macaroni

Sixth album from flamboyant glam-pop weirdo

(3 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Fire Records) Imagine if something really emotionally scarring happened to, say, Prince, something in his formative years that sent him down an altogether darker path. Now say hello to Bobby Conn, flamboyant glam-pop weirdo from Chicago with a…

Mother Ganga - Pineal Soup

Mother Ganga - Pineal Soup

Yahweh's Lewis Cook release of Scottish-accented chillwave-pop

(4 stars)26 Mar 2012

(Instructional Media) Lewis Cook’s first release as Mother Ganga was made mostly round at his girlfriend’s flat, in her bedroom. The 21-year-old’s calling it ‘electronic haze-pop’, and the wonky, chillwavey results (on a limited run of 100 cassettes…

Review of Reviews - Human Don't Be Angry

Review of Reviews - Human Don't Be Angry

What we said and what they said about the debut album from Malcolm Middleton's latest project

26 Mar 2012

What we said ‘While Malcolm Middleton’s solo lyrics are typified by self-deprecation, Human Don’t Be Angry’s vocalisms are more forthright, driven and loved-up.’ The List What they said ‘Middleton is a master when it comes to this and previous…

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Mark Ronson-produced album's expanded instrumentation feels misplaced

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Polydor) Releasing career retrospective House of Rufus last year and now drafting in ubiquitous producer Mark Ronson, all signs point to reinvention for Wainwright. Never one to shy away from the idiosyncratic in his operatic and multi-genre-infused…

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Toro Y Moi - June 2009

Lo-fi pop trinkets and demos from chillwave pioneer

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Carpark) Chillwave pioneer and Carolina native Chazwick Bundick follows up last year’s second release Underneath the Pine with further lo-fi pop trinkets dating back to June 2009 (hence the title), which should be stacked alongside the likes of his…

Seamus Fogarty - God Damn You Mountain

Seamus Fogarty - God Damn You Mountain

Dreamy, mesmerising folk music with Americana feel from Irish singer-songwriter

23 Mar 2012

(Fence Records) We’re beginning to suspect Fence Records have some secret laboratory in Fife where they genetically splice brilliant musicians to create new wonders. In the case of Irish singer-songwriter Seamus Fogarty, that would involve DNA…

Kenny Garrett - Seeds From The Underground

Kenny Garrett - Seeds From The Underground

Alto saxophonist gives vibrant treatment to new compositions

(3 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Mack Avenue Records) Here we find Kenny Garrett – a Detroit-born alto saxophonist who began his career performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra before pursuing a solo career — in his most melodic vein, accompanied by a fine pianist, Benito…

Roberto Fonseca - Yo

Roberto Fonseca - Yo

Pianist combines cutting edge jazz, lyrical poems and more clubby sound

(4 stars)23 Mar 2012

(Montuno/ Jazz Village) Hitherto dressed by number one French fan Agnès B, Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca literally strips naked to underscore journeying into the diaspora of his Afro-Cuban roots. As eclectic as ever, Fonseca walks a fine line between…

Batida - Batida

Batida - Batida

African-inspired electronica record that probably works best in a club setting

(3 stars)8 Mar 2012

(Soundway) Having carved out a reputation for unearthing rare tracks of touchstone Latin musics, Soundway now champions hot sounds heard today on the streets of Luanda. Angolan/Portuguese DJ Mpula (aka Pedro Coquenão) creates electronic dance music…

VCMG - Ssss

VCMG - Ssss

Vince Clark and Martin Gore minimal techno album is great fun

(4 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Mute) For many, the news that Vince Clark and Martin Gore were making minimal techno together seemed the perfect coda to the screenplay-like story of their respective musical lives. The former Depeche Mode bandmates’ last musical contact came in…

Psyche and Wounded Knee share Single of the Month title

Psyche and Wounded Knee share Single of the Month title

Also featuring Martin Creed, Ladyhawke and Estelle

28 Feb 2012

What this world needs is more high-concept ephemera created by actual, proper artists like Martin Creed, who create minute-long folk ditties like ‘Where You Go’ (Telephone) ●●● amidst light switch-flicking their way to the Turner Prize and Scotsman…

Profile: Cass McCombs

Profile: Cass McCombs

Californian alt-country nomad set for UK tour

28 Feb 2012

Name McCombs. Cass McCombs. Or ‘Combs’, as his close friends call him (we like to think). He’s that Californian alt-country nomad, right? Correct. The harmonious, folk-rocking ‘Combs’ has spent most of his adulthood travelling America, writing…

Dean Owens - New York Hummingbird

Dean Owens - New York Hummingbird

Release from Edinburgh-based tunesmith a mixed bag

(3 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Songboy Records) Could it be that Dean Owens suffers from Ron Sexsmith Syndrome? RSS is that little-publicised but extremely frustrating affliction which strikes talented singer-songwriters who are perfectly capable of crafting a gloriously melodic…

Randolph’s Leap - The Curse of the Haunted Headphones

Randolph’s Leap - The Curse of the Haunted Headphones

Homespun showcase from stripped-back Glasgow indie-folk rabble

(4 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Peenko Records) Do not be misled by this bedroom recording, or its cassette-hissing, lo-fi aesthetic. While Glasgow indie-folk rabble Randolph’s Leap are known and loved for their elaborate arrangements and philharmonic live shows, this homespun…

The Wedding Present - Valentina

The Wedding Present - Valentina

Well-worn template mixes with stabs at hummability

(2 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Scopitones) The last time this reviewer looked, which wasn’t yesterday admittedly, The Wedding Present were a bracing proposition, the musical equivalent of being dragged along a cobbled street in Halifax with one leg tied to a Raleigh Chopper. Flat…

Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra - Emergence

Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra - Emergence

Ensemble playing and the soloing achieves a very high standard

(3 stars)28 Feb 2012

(Spartacus Records) Tommy Smith set up (and funded) this orchestra to encourage the cream of Scotland’s emerging jazz talent to flourish, and it is clearly working. There are only occasional passages on this fine recording where you might guess that you…

Grimes - Visions

Grimes - Visions

Jaw-dropping record of carefully crafted and cleverly created songs

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(4AD) Visions is Claire Boucher’s fourth release in less than two years, and shows the Vancouver-born music-maker feverishly developing her sound at a rate of knots. Since she moved to Montreal in 2006 and birthed performance art, video and audio…

The Shins - Port Of Morrow

The Shins - Port Of Morrow

Timely reminder of value of solid indie rock built on smart storytelling and melodies

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Aural Apothecary/Columbia Records) Oh, James Mercer, we’ve missed you. Port Of Morrow is The Shins’ first new material in four years and in a world where the young’uns are dabbling in skew-whiff electronica and art funk ‘jams’ with varying results…

Frankie Rose - Interstellar

Frankie Rose - Interstellar

Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist goes solo and makes clean break from fuzz-loving past

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Memphis Industries) Years of flitting between scuzzy indie-pop bands from Vivian Girls to Dum Dum Girls, Crystal Stilts and her own ensemble Frankie Rose and The Outs have led this Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist finally to conclude what we could…

Belle and Sebastian - Late Night Tales Volume 2

Belle and Sebastian - Late Night Tales Volume 2

Eclectic mix of lush instrumentals, smoked jazz and 60s guitar interludes

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Late Night Tales) As with being invited to perform stand-up on Letterman or to guest-host Have I Got News for You, some people might only feel vindicated in their cultural pursuit when they are asked back. And so the people behind the Late Night…

Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself

Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself

Reasonably consistent album of simple, emotional music from multi-instrumentalist smartypants

(3 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Bella Union) There are signs on Break It Yourself that multi-instrumentalist and genre-hopping smartypants Andrew Bird has mellowed out somewhat. The album is reasonably consistent and settles in a gentle neo-folk groove that shows off Bird’s…

Every Time I Die - Ex Lives

Every Time I Die - Ex Lives

Intense and hugely rewarding album of post-hardcore brilliance

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Epitaph) Every Time I Die just... don’t make bad records. Their last effort – the gregarious New Junk Aesthetic – was a blitzkrieg bombast of post-hardcore brilliance, and Ex Lives marks the next step in their evolutionary cycle. Opener ‘Underwater…

Little Doses - Rock Riot Soul

Little Doses - Rock Riot Soul

Sadly lacking in songwriting originality and inspiration

(2 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Black Ditto Recordings) Little Doses are an Edinburgh indie outfit established by bassist Mark McClelland, most famous for departing Snow Patrol just when they made it big. The Little Doses blueprint is undeniably more varied than Snow Patrol’s…

Lee Ranaldo - Between the Times and the Tides

Lee Ranaldo - Between the Times and the Tides

All-rounder rock record from Sonic Youth guitarist that soothes and soars

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Matador) Between the Times and the Tides is legendary Sonic Youth guitarist, vocalist and co-founder Lee Ranaldo’s first ‘solo’ effort to be turned out in nearly four years. In characteristically collaborative fashion it sees Ranaldo joined by a…

Tanlines - Mixed Emotions

Tanlines - Mixed Emotions

Brooklynite art-pop duo embrace the sound of 1980s pop on debut

(3 stars)22 Feb 2012

(Matador) Brooklynite art-pop duo Tanlines, aka Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm, are contemporaries of Yeasayer and Health, and perhaps some positive pre-judging on that basis is required. After a batch of singles, splits and remixes, the pair fully embrace…

Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita, Sebastian Rochford - Trio Libero

Andy Sheppard, Michel Benita, Sebastian Rochford - Trio Libero

Highly compatible trio make album of lyrical material

(4 stars)22 Feb 2012

(ECM Records) Saxophonist Andy Sheppard seemed a good match-up with ECM long before he actually made his debut with the label a couple of years ago. He now follows that release with this excellent trio project featuring Algerian bassist Michel Benita…

Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Singles of the Month: Withered Hand and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

Django Django, The Twilight Sad and more also reviewed

3 Feb 2012

Come hither and let us imagine a world, a perfect world – a realm in which Kim Wilde is engaged in a goth-disco tryst with The Sisters of Mercy. Think about it. Harder. Got it? Congratulations, you are now playing ‘Lafaye’ (●●●●, Full Time Hobby), the…

Various Artists - World Routes: On The Road

Various Artists - World Routes: On The Road

30-track BBC Radio 3 compilation featuring Toumani Diabaté, Tito Paris and Ilham Al Madfai

(4 stars)1 Feb 2012

(Nascente) How would we hear diverse world musics without Radio 3? Thank goodness they still have the budget to travel to far-flung places to capture stunning sounds from ordinary musicians we’d never know about otherwise. Since 2000 the World Routes…

Ibrahím Maalouf - Diagnostic

Ibrahím Maalouf - Diagnostic

A groundbreaking album of brooding French-Arabic tones from trumpeter

(5 stars)1 Feb 2012

(Harmonia Mundi) The brooding French-Arabic quarter tones of Ibrahím Maalouf’s trumpet first seduced as guest on the late Lhasa de Sela’s desert island disc The Living Road. Bewitching then, Maalouf’s own debut with a brace of tremendous musicians…

Trailer Trash Tracys - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sun 15 Jan 2012

Trailer Trash Tracys - Captain’s Rest, Glasgow, Sun 15 Jan 2012

Effects-laden shoegaze fog heavy on the exquisite melodrama

(3 stars)27 Jan 2012

Not, as you might have expected from the name, a clan of bad-mouthin’, whisky-swillin’ Midwestern girls battering badly-tuned guitars and trying to resurrect the lost souls of L7 or The Distillers, Trailer Trash Tracys are instead three guys and a girl…

Real Estate set for UK tour

Real Estate set for UK tour

New Jersey trio take one of the best albums of 2011 on the road

27 Jan 2012

Let England Shake may have topped most of the critics’ lists, but for many it was word-of-mouth, you have to hear this, slow-burner Days by Real Estate that became their hands down musical highlight of 2011. This much-lauded record was an Ariel Pink…

Eat, sleep and breathe: Melanie C

Eat, sleep and breathe: Melanie C

Former Spice Girl on green tea, lemon, ginger and missing spicy food

27 Jan 2012

Eat, sleep and breathe Melanie C What time is breakfast? 8am or thereabouts. Tea or coffee? Green tea. Smoking or non-smoking? NON! Sweet or savoury snacks? Savoury. What food do you miss when you tour? Spicy food – I tend to avoid…

Pulp - It/Freaks/Separations

Pulp - It/Freaks/Separations

Reissue of first three albums from 1980s originally released on Fire

(3 stars)27 Jan 2012

(Fire) Testament to the 80s’capacity to incubate provincial bands until they’re ready for megastardom, Pulp’s first three albums on Fire were a career’s worth in themselves, although hardly anyone remembers. Containing, as all three of these reissues…

Emili Sande - Our Version Of Events

Emeli Sande - Our Version Of Events

Powerful, sophisticated and smart mix of stripped down, acoustic songs

(4 stars)24 Jan 2012

(Virgin) Just imagine it, Adele and Emeli Sandé down the pub, putting the world to rights over copious pints. Men? Screw ’em. Hype? Whatever. But the main reason they’d make great gal pals is because they’ve both worked out ways to channel their…

School of Seven Bells - Ghostory

School of Seven Bells - Ghostory

Third album from New York electro-phantoms, now a duo

(3 stars)24 Jan 2012

(Full Time Hobby) Ghostory – geddit? It’s the way in which our histories are colonised by ghosts. It’s the way in which persons come to haunt our tales of yore. It’s the third album from New York electro-phantoms SVIIB. At best, it is euphoric – all…

Die Hard - Die Hard

Die Hard - Die Hard

Glasgow outfit's eponymous debut of magnificently off-kilter, avant pop tales

(4 stars)23 Jan 2012

(Halleluwah Hits) If this Glasgow outfit had named themselves after any other Bruce Willis film we’d have issues, but as it is we’re rather partial to a bit of John McClane action so we’re giving Die Hard a go. Stick their eponymous debut on and…

The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville

The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville

Second album a mixed bag containing glimpses of what makes them fun

(3 stars)23 Jan 2012

(Columbia) Pity the poor Ting Tings. After selling millions of records, the Mancunian electro-pop duo got stressed, scrapped a whole album and hid from their record label. Allegedly. You can see why the pair might worry about following We Started…

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Area 52

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Area 52

Orchestral backing and lots of special guests leads to a fun if over-wrought latin-funk-rock record

(3 stars)6 Jan 2012

(Rubyworks) For their fifth studio album the Mexican acoustic rock duo have teamed up with 13-piece orchestra C.U.B.A. to rework nine previous compositions. The radically increased personnel (which is also augmented by several guests including Cuban…

Baobab-Gateway – Strings That Sing

Baobab-Gateway – Strings That Sing

Accomplished Scottish-African musicians with healthy, multicultural roots

(3 stars)6 Jan 2012

(Brechin All) Baobab-Gateway’s name pinpoints the West African influences found in their original sound. The international pedigree and multi-ethnicity of these experienced Scottish based musicians (Salsa Celtica, Bhundu Boys, Waa Sylla) is a…

RM Hubbert – Thirteen Lost & Found

RM Hubbert – Thirteen Lost & Found

Beautiful collaborative effort from the percussive guitarist

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Chemikal Underground) Last year’s solo debut, First and Last, saw Glaswegian guitarist RM Hubbert communicate all manner of emotions and stories through his own beautifully lush and percussive playing style. On this second album, Hubbert (who…

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Heartfelt ode to Americana from the Swedish siblings

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Wichita) On the surface, First Aid Kit’s obsession with Americana looks a little odd, given that they’re Swedish sisters barely out of their teens. But the pair’s homage is steeped in knowledge, and this second album sounds like it could’ve been…

The Lemonheads - Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners: The Best Of

The Lemonheads - Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners: The Best Of

Expansive look at Evan Dando and co's back catalogue

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Rhino) Evan Dando is still going strong as the lone remaining member of The Lemonheads, although his days as a mainstream slacker rock heartthrob are long behind him. As this two-CD, 47-track collection demonstrates, though – perhaps too extensively…

Single of the month: Trailer Trash Tracys ‘Candy Girl / Strangling Good Guys’

Single of the month: Trailer Trash Tracys ‘Candy Girl / Strangling Good Guys’

Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys and more also reviewed

5 Jan 2012

Music snobs love to flame Florence and the Machine these days. But as ‘No Light No Light’ (Island) ●●●● proves, Welch does epic, pagan pop pretty much perfectly. Her only crime is that lots of people now like it. They’d no doubt sneer at the recent…

Mull Historical Society - City Awakenings

Mull Historical Society - City Awakenings

Varied collection of often backwards-looking eccentricities

(3 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Xtra Mile Recordings) A decade after the Mull Historical Society debut Loss, Colin MacIntyre marks the event with another gentle, curious and occasionally awkward platter, as they called them back in the early 00s. In some ways, MHS are becoming…

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester

Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester

Dreamily insubstantial album that's very, very Lynch

(2 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Double Six) Rightly or wrongly, a lot of bands find themselves being likened to the soundtrack of a David Lynch film. In the case of Trailer Trash Tracys’ debut the comparison is, in fact, justified. Mixing dark and disturbing soundscapes…

Dan Sartain – Too Tough To Live

Dan Sartain – Too Tough To Live

Old School punk album from the raw rock'n'roller

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(One Little Indian) The handsome Alabama rocker’s throwback blues and rockabilly sound has always been fuelled by a raw power reminiscent of punk. For his sixth album, the greasy-quiffed one has embraced the punk rock style as well as its spirit with…

Chris Isaak - Beyond the Sun

Chris Isaak - Beyond the Sun

Listenable but redundant take on some of Sun Records' finest

(3 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Vanguard Records/Rhino) During its 1950s heyday, Sun Records churned out standards by the bucketload from the likes of Elvis, Cash and Orbison. During the recording of Beyond the Sun, David Lynch’s favourite bequiffed rockabilly star was presumably…

François and the Atlas Mountains - E Volo Love

François and the Atlas Mountains - E Volo Love

Breezy, summery pop from the former Fencer

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Domino) Graduating, as James Yorkston and King Creosote did before him, from Fence to Domino, La Rochelle’s François Marry has produced an album here that’s worthy of the increased exposure. A set of breezy summertime pop songs which seem strangely…

Weather Report - Live In Cologne 1983

Weather Report - Live In Cologne 1983

Decent but inessential instalment of the legendary jazz troupe's back catalogue

(3 stars)5 Jan 2012

(Art of Groove / Birdjam) This is the third in a previously unreleased sequence of very well recorded concerts featuring the band in Germany, and arguably the least essential, if only because the later phase of the band’s history was generally less…

Enrico Rava - Tribe

Enrico Rava - Tribe

Great collaboration between Italians Rava, Gianluca Petrella, Giovanni Guidi and Giacomo Ancillotto

(4 stars)5 Jan 2012

(ECM) The great Italian trumpet master and trombonist Gianluca Petrella are a well-proven combination, and are joined here by a new rhythm section for Rava’s regular group, led by the excellent Giovanni Guidi on piano, and augmented on three tunes by…

Kelly Rowland - Here I Am

Kelly Rowland - Here I Am

Sounding like a hastily assembled attempt to cash in on X Factor fame

(2 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Island) Released in the US in July, Kelly Rowland’s latest album Here I Am has hit the shores of the UK, presumably in a not-in-any-way cynical attempt to cash in on her X Factor fame. Frankly most of it sounds like it has been hastily assembled in…

Guided by Voices - Let’s Go Eat the Factory

Guided by Voices - Let’s Go Eat the Factory

Reformed lo-fi cult heroes do their unmistakable glorious shitness like no other

(3 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Fire) It was maybe only a matter of time before Guided By Voices got back together and made a new record. Responsible for 16 albums in 24 years and led by a guy in Robert Pollard credited with over 1000 songs, expecting them to totally curtail their…

Peaking Lights - 936

Peaking Lights - 936

Psychedelic dub-pop mesh of krautrock, afrobeat, soul and hand build synths

(3 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Weird World/Domino) This psychedelic dub-pop excursion from married couple Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis was originally released on LA DIY imprint Not Not Fun, and its woozy mesh of krautrock, afrobeat, reggae, soul and hand build synths is…

Standard Fare - Out of Sight, Out of Town

Standard Fare - Out of Sight, Out of Town

Raucous and thrilling indie ride from loveable power-pop trio

(4 stars)7 Dec 2011

(Melodic) Sheffield’s Standard Fare are putting their childhood rehearsal sessions in their grandparent’s living rooms to fruitful use in adulthood. They have become a loveable power-pop trio whose second album, Out of Sight, Out of Town, is a…

Korn – The Path of Totality

Korn – The Path of Totality

Blistering new dubstep direction from the nu metal overlords

(4 stars)25 Nov 2011

They’ll forever be known as ‘the godfathers of nu metal’, but on Path of Totality Korn have taken a massive side step. Sure the guitars are still heavy as hammers but they’ve gone dubstep. And we’re not talking the odd breakbeat this is a full on…

The Last September - As the Crow Flies

The Last September - As the Crow Flies

The Edinburgh indie-folk outfit return with well-written, academia-provoked album

(4 stars)16 Nov 2011

(self released) After a five year hiatus, these Edinburgh gentle indie rockers return with a second album, following their well-received début, Vagrant Song. As the Crow Flies features guests Poppy Ackroyd (Hidden Orchestra and Aberfeldy) and Ali…

Various artists - Songs For Dying

Various artists - Songs For Dying

Vibrant collection of tunes exploring noise genres from techno to metal

(4 stars)16 Nov 2011

(Pjorn 72) The local Noiserati and associates’ recent reclaiming of their techno and/or metal roots helped their clan avoid a nihilistic dead end. As this bumper fifteen track compendium of clings, clangs, sci-fi slapstick, sepulchral drones…

Lykke Li - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sun 30 Oct 2011

Lykke Li - O2 ABC, Glasgow, Sun 30 Oct 2011

Passive response suggests lesson in stagecraft required

(3 stars)15 Nov 2011

Having transformed radically and impressively from indie pixie into purveyor of arty, bleeding-hearted Spector pop on her second album Wounded Rhymes, you hardly expected Li Lykke Zachrisson to be exchanging high-fives with the crowd all night. But then…

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Wolfroy Goes to Town

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Wolfroy Goes to Town

Compelling alt-country from Will Oldman

(4 stars)15 Nov 2011

(Domino) ‘Stop all the moaning and bemoaning your fate / god isn’t listening, or else it’s too late,’ sings Will Oldham on ‘Time to Be Clear’, his voice like driftwood lapping at the shore. In all things heart-shattering and beautiful in the world of…

Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow

The sensual, seductive Bush dominates a sparse, wintery, piano-led slow-burner

(4 stars)10 Nov 2011

(Fish People/EMI) In a burst of prolificacy unmatched since her 1978 debut year Kate Bush makes two new albums in 2011, raising her total for the last 18 years to a whopping three. Where Director’s Cut saw her reinterpret old songs, 50 Words For Snow…

White Denim - Last Day Of Summer

White Denim - Last Day Of Summer

A stripped down snapshot of a band in transition and showcasing awe-inspiring musicianship

(3 stars)10 Nov 2011

(Downtown) Last Day Of Summer is a fascinating insight into what White Denim were knocking out for fun before the release of this year’s breakthrough; deservedly lauded fourth offering D. Recorded in a month and initially available only online, this…

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