Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Impressive third album from these exemplary Scots. It sounds like the Winter Webcuts had... except more productive.
Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
Andrew Bird takes flight with his latest album Noble Beast. Thankfully it's nothing at all like a Flock of Seagulls.
The Boxer Rebellion – Union
When the dark forces are everywhere who are you gonna call? England's staunchly independent epic rock band The Boxer Rebellion? Maybe not after this disappointing second effort.
Teenage Fanclub – Shadows
A band of such warmth and light, the only way you'd see a 'shadow' here is if you held this Teenage Fanclub CD up in front of you.
The Walkmen – London – 25 August 2010
“You’re one of us, or you’re one of them“. Hamilton Leithauser, fist wrapped tight around the microphone as if he's trying to strangle it, is howling those words. The rest of The Walkmen, heads bowed (as they remain throughout most of the set) play complicit and provide the carnival-esque roar to ram Leithauser’s words home. It’s not so much a question or a suggestion but a statement. For better or for worse, for way back when the band were selling their own white label records at the Middle East in Boston in 2001, I’ve been one of "us".
1990s – Kicks
Get your Kicks on route 1990. Jackie McKeown and the boys return with their second album of more of the same pop-punk.