FRANZ FERDINAND THE HUMAN FEAR DOMINO RECORDS Franz Ferdinand’s first studio album in seven years (Always Ascending being 2018’s major effort) is instantly identifiable from its opening track “Audacious”. Alex Kapranos’s voice has lost none of [...]
THE NATIONAL ROME 4AD The National have had a busy few years, encompassing two albums, a well-received Glastonbury headline slot, and a much-needed return to the top table of indie rock. This, then, doubles as a celebration of that re-ascension [...]
KIM DEAL NOBODY LOVES YOU MORE 4AD When you hear the words “Kim Deal’s first solo album”, you’d be forgiven for expecting to hear more of the same clattering rhythms and incongruous lyricism that made her a behemoth of the alternative rock scene [...]
LESS THAN JAKE UNCHARTED PURE NOISE For an album named after discovering the unknown, it’s amusing that it’s incredibly obvious that this is a Less Than Jake album from the second you hit the play button. All the hallmarks of the best of the [...]
THE CURE SONGS OF A LOST WORLD POLYDOR/UNIVERSAL MUSIC Barring a reformation, it’s hard to imagine it ever being acceptable for most bands to take 16 years to release new music. However, this is The Cure. There’s therefore an obvious sense of [...]
REAL BANDS…WELL, THEY PLAY MUSIC AND THEY RECORD ALBUMS A CONVERSATION WITH JOEY SANTIAGO & DAVID LOVERING OF THE PIXIES It feels strangely surreal to still be interviewing the Pixies about new music in 2024 – it’s a credit to them that, [...]
PIXIES THE NIGHT THE ZOMBIES CAME BMG Even over 20 years into their second act, on The Night The Zombies Came, the Pixies show no signs of being ready for a musical rapture. The album corkscrews around as expected. There’s awesome predictability [...]
DERYCK WHIBLEY – WALKING DISASTER: MY LIFE THROUGH HEAVEN AND HELL GALLERY BOOKS BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN PORTER It was something of a surprise when now-former Sum 41 band leader Deryck Whibley announced he was picking up the pen to write his [...]
MAXÏMO PARK STREAM OF LIFE LOWER THIRD/[PIAS] Perhaps the late 2000s greatest indie survivors, Maxïmo Park return with their eighth album, and if there are any lingering doubts about their remaining power, they dispel it pretty quickly with [...]
THE WAR ON DRUGS LIVE DRUGS AGAIN SUPER HIGH QUALITY RECORDS Some bands often bemoan a record producer’s lack of ability to record ‘their live sound’, but perhaps no band benefits more from being captured live than The War On Drugs. There’s a [...]
STEVIE VAN ZANDT: DISCIPLE HBO JUNE 22, 2024 When you’re best known for being part of a cultural phenomenon like the E Street Band, it can be hard to get your individual story told. Disciple sets out to redress that balance by focussing on [...]
JOE GITTLEMAN HOLD UP BAD TIME RECORDS After many years being the backbone of many bands on the ska scene, not least the ‘Bass Fiddleman’ of the sadly-missed Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Joe Gittleman takes a step forward into the limelight himself. [...]
FRANK TURNER TALKS UNDEFEATED, LOST EVENINGS AND WORLD RECORD ATTEMPTS A CONVERSATION WITH SINGER/SONGWRITER FRANK TURNER Carving out some time to talk to Frank Turner wasn’t easy, but that’s probably understandable given his infamous punishing [...]
FRANK TURNER UNDEFEATED XTRA MILE RECORDINGS Frank Turner is famously prolific. This is now his tenth studio album, and it’s a defiant and typically sing-a-long howl from Turner, particularly on songs like the opener “Do One”, but perhaps best [...]
MANCHESTER PUNK FESTIVAL 2024 @ MANCHESTER (UK) MARCH 29-31, 2024 When Easter weekend rolls around, it means only one thing in my home town of Manchester – the punks are coming. Now in its ninth year of existence, the Manchester Punk Festival is [...]
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN GLASGOW EYES FUZZ CLUB After two recent releases, first the live album Sunset 666, then the anniversary release Munki, The Jesus and Mary Chain continue their unlikely resurrection with Glasgow Eyes, their first album of [...]
BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB FANTASIES ARTS & CRAFTS Following the success of last year’s My Big Day, Fantasies sees Bombay Bicycle Club linking up with indie-pop titans Matilda Mann, Liz Lawrence, Lucy Rose, and Rae Morris to produce a four-song EP. [...]
REAL ESTATE DANIEL DOMINO RECORDS Real Estate’s sixth album aspires to be a radio-friendly pop record, and that much is obvious from the opening tracks of the album. “Haunted World” has a nice late-R.E.M quality to it, full of shimmering pop [...]
FUTURE ISLANDS PEOPLE WHO AREN’T THERE ANYMORE 4AD It’s been a long wait for Future Islands’ latest effort, with it being four years since their last release, the acclaimed As Long As You Are. Thankfully, it only takes a few bars of title [...]
PLUNGING INTO THE UNKNOWN WITH A SMILE A CONVERSATION WITH NECK DEEP As openers go, it could be a motto for any pop-punk band looking to launch itself into the stratosphere. “If Blink-182 can do it, why can’t we?” smiles Ben Barlow, just seconds [...]
GEDDY LEE ASKS: ARE BASS PLAYERS HUMAN TOO? PARAMOUNT PLUS/BANGER FILMS/MTV ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS DECEMBER 5, 2023 Geddy Lee’s amusingly titled Are Bass Players Human Too? is a fun romp through the unseen lives of that most unheralded of [...]
PETER JESPERSON – EUPHORIC RECALL MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN PORTER If the old idiom that “we all have a book in us” is indeed true, then it must be truer for Peter Jesperson than most. Jesperson, after all, [...]
THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN MUNKI FUZZ CLUB Hot on the heels of surprise summer live release Sunset 666, Fuzz Club now bring us a 25th anniversary re-release of Munki, simultaneously The Jesus And Mary Chain’s most powerful album and their epitaph [...]
SIERRA PILOT PHANTOM PAINS INDEPENDENT Sierra Pilot makes its entry into their native Canada’s alternative rock scene with this impressive, ballsy debut, Phantom Pains. Indeed, after the opening barrage by the trio of “Alive”, “Adrenaline”, and [...]
