Big Scary Monsters go (alco)pop!
Oxford label-types Big Scary Monsters, once home to Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and currently Meet Me In St. Louis and This Town Needs Guns amongst others, are to launch a sister label, Alcopop!»
Articles
benmarwood has written the following articles:
Beck - Cell Phone's Dead
Not many artists make it to album number seven without losing an eye or two, having some kind of liver damage or, even worse, changing their sound to up sales. Beck has, but that might be because he's a bit mental...»
Kathryn Williams - Leave To Remain
A tender collection of soft, emotional ballads mostly comparable to Aimee Mann both in terms of songwriting and delivery...»
Parka, Mr Fogg - Disco Dancer/Seciov (split 7")
The press release for Worst Case Scenario’s most recent split single is set out like a combat sport’s Tale Of The Tape. I don’t think this one will have to go to the judges...»
Sound Team - "Movie Monster"
I’m a sucker for punctuation...»
Various - The Kids At The Club (An Indiepop Compilation)
The majority of the songs on The Kids At The Club draw from The Smiths’ school of vocals, Belle & Sebastian’s summery sound, Camera Obscura’s indie-pop and a touch of northern soul...»
Matt Harding - Expectation
Too good to be consigned completely to the background yet not gripping enough to sit comfortably at the fore, Expectation seems trapped in a curious limbo...»
Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller
A beautiful, touching collection of songs, and one which marks an important rite of passage in Ben Kweller’s career...»
Larrikin Love - Happy As Annie
If this signals the revival of ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’, don’t say you weren’t warned...»
Seafood - Paper Crown King
Paper Crown King is not a comeback album. It cannot be described as 'Bigger, Better and More Determined', as these things often are; instead, it is narrower and more concentrated...»
Popular Workshop, The Far Cries - Sean / When Your Heart Spills (split)
Either of these bristling, fuzzy songs could easily find themselves Flavour Of The Month in the alternative music press, so what better way is there for them to underline their intentions than to team up on a single slab of vinyl...»
Five O'Clock Heroes - Time On My Hands
Lovingly produced but severely lacking any kind of cutting edge, this is inoffensive but unadventurous stuff...»
The Race - Find Out
Where before the Berkshire quintet welcomed us with open arms, here they are cagey, focused and purposeful, positioned musically at the point where Morning Runner’s daytime radio vibe meets the jerking, stripped-back sound of Bloc Party’s ‘Helicopter’...»
The Boy Least Likely To - Hugging My Grudge
Initially easy enough to like but hard to really love, trying to immerse yourself in this is like trying to share in someone else’s fondest memories...»
Voo - Dates, Facts & Figures
Largely Seattle indie-pop, brushed lightly with hints of early, happy REM and light touches of Broken Social Scene, Dates, Facts & Figures strikes a healthy balance between the emotional and the ecstatic...»
Pharrell Williams - Number One
He’s had his time in front of the camera. Perhaps it’s time Pharrell Williams got back behind the desk...»
Young Knives - Voices Of Animals And Men
Despite its shortcomings, it should not be forgotten that Voices of Animals and Men is a decent debut - well constructed and promising...»
Fionn Regan - The End Of History
A joy to behold if perhaps never to be regarded a 'classic', to say this is a promising debut almost doesn't do it justice...»
Hefner - Catfight
Surely the answer to every Hefhead's love-riddled dreams, regardless of the quality...»
Coming to a cinema near you? Juana Molina and Fionn Regan hit the road
Super solo-artists Juana Molina and Fionn Regan join forces for a short tour this month.»
Heading for Reading? There's fun at the Fringe..
The Reading Fringe Festival celebrates its second year with over fifty events...»
28 Costumes - You Excite Me
‘You Excite Me’ not only melds stripped-down riffs with flecks of punky art-rock, but adds 28 Costumes’ particular brand of colloquial lyricism.»
Hearing Voices? The Young Knives unveil debut album
Voices Of Animals and Men will be with us in August...»
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Cursed Sleep
The story Will Oldham's alter-ego will tell you, whilst hunched at the bar, is a tale of inescapable love, a curse both in waking and in slumber which leaves him weak and powerless, yet determined to see out the sentence he's been handed.»
Clearlake - It's Getting Light Outside
‘It’s Getting Light Outside’ is solid, even if it doesn’t set the world alight.»
Franz Ferdinand - Eleanor Put Your Boots On
Initially a welcome departure from the standard Franz omni-directional hip-thrusting floor-filler, something about this song's execution leaves a bitter aftertaste, the strange feeling of something lacking...»
Tiscali tells BPI to naff off
Internet provider Tiscali has refused to hand over the details of seventeen of its users accused of illegal downloading after the BPI allegedly forgot to include much proper evidence.»
Magnétophone, Various, Laura Cantrell, Clayhill, Sufjan Stevens, Animal Collective, Vetiver, Marissa Nadler, Espers, Dr Dog, Au Revoir Simone, Mi and L'au, Deep Elem, Jakokoyak, Tunng, Richard Swift, Vashti Bunyan, Listen With Sarah, This Is The Kit
There’s not enough time nor space to get into every reason that 'Folk Off' should be part of your collection, but for a cross-section of folk’s newest incarnation, you might not need to look any further.»
They Might Be Giants - Venue Songs (CD/DVD)
The venue songs themselves are where the mind-bending genre-hopping and the blown mental fuses begin: of course there is the standard, twee US pop-rock set to jangling guitars, accordions and tambourines, but then there are the bluesy numbers, the country songs, soft ballads, the twists of jazz, the synthed-up disco moments and the thirty second clips of Seventies psychedelic space-rock.»
King Creosote - 678
‘678’ is as well-crafted a song as any of the big-selling acts will offer you this year, refreshingly self-aware and heart-warmingly beautiful both lyrically and sonically.»