The Trouble With Templeton: Someday, Buddy review – moody Twilight Zone soundscapes

The past 12 months have been so sad and seismic that it feels as if there’s no more room in the world for additional musical melancholy. Brisbane alt-rock group the Trouble With Templeton are named after an episode of The … Continue reading →

Gurr: In My Head review – fizzing joy of Indie As It Used to Be

You wouldn’t have a clue that Laura Lee and Andreya Casablanca were in a group based in Berlin in 2016 by listening to their first album. Even the presence of one song in German, Walnuss, wouldn’t convince you that In … Continue reading →

Peter Doherty: Hamburg Demonstrations review – astute and refreshingly low-key

Hamburg Demonstrations marks a departure for Pete Doherty: it’s perhaps the first record he’s put out that few people outside of his fanbase will be paying much attention to. With the endless soap opera surrounding the Libertines dimming down and … Continue reading →

Bear Hands: You’ll Pay for This review – the not-so-difficult third album

(Spensive Sounds)

Tasseomancy: Do Easy review – hypnotic baroque folk-pop

If Tasseomancy’s name, referring to the act of divining the future with tea leaves, wasn’t enough of a clue as to the stylings of this Toronto two-piece, the title of their fifth album should seal the deal. “Do easy” was … Continue reading →

Dungen: Häxan review – beautiful silent-movie psychedelia

Häxan is Dungen’s eighth album, but their first wholly instrumental set. It evolved from the Stockholm quartet’s score for Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 silent animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, and takes its title – the Swedish for “witch” – … Continue reading →

Kadhja Bonet: The Visitor review – marzipan-scented soul-folk serenades

Those with even the surliest of palettes would struggle to deny their inner-Jilly Goolden on listening to the smooth serenades of Kadhja Bonet: delicate traces of violets, a gentle waft of scented candles and an aroma of marzipan resonate from … Continue reading →

Rumer: This Girl’s in Love review – in love with love and Burt Bacharach

Rumer’s career has rather flatlined since her acclaimed 2010 debut, Seasons of My Soul, with subsequent covers album Boys Don’t Cry and original collection Into Colour proving underwhelming. On the face of it, the last thing the world needs is … Continue reading →

Cory Hanson: The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo review – a pastoral gem

Wand, the Californian psychedelic band Cory Hanson fronts, alternate between the twin poles of pounding sludge and gentle pastoralism. His first solo album eschews the former: there’s no sign of Blue Cheer making their presence felt here. In fact, on … Continue reading →

Shiiine On Weekender – Bez’s pool party, Britpop bastions and middle-aged boozers

For one weekend in November, the Minehead Butlins turns into an idyll for forgotten indie tribes, with performances from the Bluetones, Ash, Dodgy, the Wonder Stuff, Black Grape, Shed 7, er, the Clone Roses, and more

Wolf People review – folk-loving indie with a dark side

One of the less remarked upon facets in music’s resurfacing of the past is the unlikely crossover in tastes between a certain kind of folk-loving indie musician and the sort of denim-leather-and-sideburns chap who believes every cross should be inverted … Continue reading →

Sleigh Bells: Jessica Rabbit review – noisepop duo branch out

When Sleigh Bells first roared into view in 2010, it felt as if they were less a band and more a conundrum: namely, can a group simultaneously be cranium-crushingly loud and chart-botheringly sweet? Four albums later, and with that question … Continue reading →

Honeyblood: Babes Never Die review – catchy fuzz-rock with personality

Can a two-piece survive without half of its lineup? That was the question raised when Honeyblood drummer Shona McVicar left the Glaswegian duo shortly after releasing their self-titled debut in 2014. Two years on though, with new drummer Cat Myers … Continue reading →

Weyes Blood: Front Row Seat to Earth review – beautiful, unsettling songs

Weyes Blood is Natalie Mering, who has been floating around the US counterculture for a while: singing with Ariel Pink, appearing on the unexpectedly lovely Drugdealer album earlier this year and taking a place in the acid folk collective Jackie-O … Continue reading →

American Wrestlers: Goodbye Terrible Youth review – likable and low-key lo-fi

Lo-fi needn’t mean low ambition. That point was proved in 2014 by American Wrestlers, the bedroom pop pseudonym of US-based Scottish musician Gary McClure, whose self-titled debut explored synthpop, rootsy Americana and soul, all via an eight-track setup in his … Continue reading →