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From Friday 18 July 2014

Samoans – ‘Rescue’

The notion of a ‘local band’ is one that can make or break a young group’s dreams of the big time. Build up too much of a hometown fanbase and it’s easy to get landlocked, spread yourself too thinly nationwide and you run the risk of being forgotten. Darlings

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Handguns – ‘Life Lessons’

Pop-punk, and almost every other genre in fact, often treads a thin line between cliché and accessibility. The slightest swerve in a different direction can turn a potential gateway band into yet another well-produced yet uninspiring dirge. There is a point where one too many lyrical stereotypes are fulfilled

Monday 14 July 2014

Allison Weiss – ‘Remember When’

History tells us there will always be some that never get the recognition they deserve outside of the circles that know them. This is the case as it stands for the hardworking, well-respected New Yorker Allison Weiss.The follow up to last year’s near-perfect full-length ‘Say What You Mean’, ‘Remember

Saturday 12 July 2014

Every Time I Die – ‘From Parts Unknown’

Whether it was a rut or a groove, Every Time I Die were getting pretty comfortable in it. Since 2007’s ‘The Big Dirty’ the Buffalo, NY quintet have routinely unleashed fairly homophonous southern-rock-meets-metalcore pummellings. ‘Ex-Lives’, ‘New Junk Aesthetic’ and their aforementioned predecessor all followed this blueprint so rigidly that

Thursday 10 July 2014

Versus You – ‘Moving On’

In spite of various shortcomings, Versus You have a trait that almost single-handedly saves their fourth album, ‘Moving On’. Simply, the Luxembourg quartet are incredibly likeable. There is an innocent exuberance to their derivative pop-punk and a tangible enthusiasm for what they do that shines throughout. Whether sheer likeability

Pariso / Svalbard – ‘Split LP’

When reviewing a split release, there’s a temptation to pit the two artists against each other, as if collaboration should give way to competition. No such descriptions are applicable to the split LP from Pariso and Svalbard – two of the UK’s brightest hopes in heaviness – who met early last

Wednesday 09 July 2014

Real Friends – ‘Maybe This Place Is The Same and We’re Just Changing’

To say that the release of ‘Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing’ is a significant milestone for Real Friends is a big understatement. Two wildly popular EPs, a succession of high profile support slots, and ever-growing capacity headline tours of their own have got everyone’s

Tuesday 08 July 2014

Braid – ‘No Coast’

The emo-rock scene has come full circle in the fifteen years since Braid released the seminal ‘Frame & Canvas’. The slow burner, for me at least, influenced a generation of bands and continues to do so today. However the scene has started to over-saturate and lack innovation, the same

INVSN – ‘INVSN’

Fittingly for a band whose swansong promised to redefine the nature of punk, Refused’s Dennis Lyxzén has opted to stamp his latest project with the ‘post-punk’ mould. However, while ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ was lauded for its forethought, with INVSN Lyxzén has merely created a checklist for

Saturday 05 July 2014

Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties – ‘We Don’t Have Each Other’

From the very first pick of an acoustic guitar string and the arrival of an accompanying string and brass section on album opener ‘Our Apartment’, it’s clear that ‘We Don’t Have Each Other’ is going to be something special. The first forty-five seconds alone conjure up vivid images of