by John Tindale “I always believed I had the potential to be a pop star,” Roisin Murphy quipped on her return to music after eight years away with the excellent Hairless Toys, the follow-up to possibly the most underrated album of the noughties in Overpowered. But, as is the case with many stars, Murphy never seemed to transcend popular culture, in just the same way as her similarly underrated group Moloko
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by John Tindale Way back in November 2000 – which, from the point of view of 2016, is so long ago it may as well be ancient history: before 9/11, and when Napster was still a thing and iPods weren’t – Australian music collective The Avalanches released their first full-length LP Since I Left You, which was one of the most creative and original albums of the decade. Constructed with painstaking
by John Tindale When Bat For Lashes released a collaborative single with Toy, a cover of Iranian psychedelic cult hero Amir Rassaei’s ‘Aroos Khanom’ back in 2013, a track that translates as ‘The Bride’, not many people will have realised this was the beginning of a new album cycle for Natasha Khan. But from the odd early formation The Bride, the fourth LP from the Londoner is perhaps her most effervescent
by John Tindale In the summer of 2008, everything was just beginning to blossom for Joseph Mount, the figurehead of Metronomy. After hinting at an eclectic greatness in debut effort Pip Paine (Pay The £5000 You Owe) it was in 2008 where Mount was able to establish his bedroom Metronomy project as one of the most needed acts in the UK with Nights Out an album equal parts chaos and pop
by John Tindale It has been 20 years since DJ Shadow’s classic debut album Entroducing… – one of the most ambitious records of all time, and the first album to be constructed entirely from samples – but since then Shadow, a.k.a. the crate-digging ingenue Josh Davis, has largely been hit and miss, ranging from the mainly great The Private Press in 2002 to the severely lacklustre The Less You Know, The Better
by John Tindale After rocketing to fame in the last half decade and picking up awards on both sides of the Atlantic, Mumford & Sons are without doubt one of the biggest bands on the planet. But no success is without criticism and, despite the Grammy and BRIT plaudits, many people still label them as stale and formulaic.
by John Tindale Norwich duo Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth have always had a unique connection. Going back some 13 years, to when the duo were aged four, they found themselves drawn to one another and that instantaneous connection is one which has carried on throughout their childhood and into young adulthood. This intuitive relationship is evidenced best in I, Gemini –a truly unique album which pushes pop music to its limit.
by John Tindale By now, Hot Chip are a staple of the British electronic music scene because of their remarkable ability to release consistently brilliant albums that are both clever and danceable in equal measure and much of what the members do in their other projects follows a similar parallel; whether it be Joe Goddard and his more EDM inspired work, or Al Doyle and his time in LCD Soundsystem –
by John Tindale To say that Band of Horses have been the victims of their own hype would be a fair statement based on the amount of expectation put on the then-Seattle-based band. Debut album Everything All The Time saw the band soar to the attention of mainstream media, because of both the excellently crafted folk-tinged rock (see ‘The Funeral’) and of the back story of lead vocalist Ben Bridwell (google
by John Tindale Tegan Rain and Sara Keirsten Quin, identical twin sisters from Calgary recording under the name Tegan and Sara for the best part of 20 years now, are a remarkable duo. Rising to fame in the mid-‘00s for their indie-rock music, they met with acclaim from critics for their albums The Con and Sainthood. But on previous record Heartthrob in 2013, their sound moved in an unashamedly pop direction
