Listen Before You Buy

TweetShare “Get Back Jack” is a rollicking, bluesy number, propelled by driving piano chords and frontman Steve Rothstein’s full-throated vocals, backed up by his bandmates’ close harmonising. Redstone Hall have a keen ear for the musical styles of yesterday, paying tribute to old-school blues and rock, while crafting something that’s undoubtedly their own. They’re touring [...]

TweetShare At first listen, The Weepies might seem as wet as their name implies – a country-tinged guitar pop band with high-pitched female vocals placing it slightly in the “twee” category. But as you get further into their new album, “Be My Thrill”, the country influence becomes ever more pronounced, and a certain darkness creeps [...]

TweetShare Wisconsin’s Meridene specialise in pounding drums, Strokes-esque guitars and rousing choruses. Their latest single “Parade of Fools” has a sense of hardwon optimism in the lyrics, leavening the catchy pop-rock hooks and crackling energy with a grown-up sensibility. The band has a new album, Something Like Blood, which was recorded in just four days [...]

TweetShare Six-strong band A Classic Education are the brainchild of singer-songwriter His Clancyness, filling out his winsome solo output with excellently layered guitar-pop that puts more flesh on his songwriting without overwhelming it. “Gone To Sea” is a wonderfully wistful track, recalling British Sea Power in the lush, dense guitar sound and chamber-pop in the [...]

TweetShare Along with Tennis and Best Coast, Lights On are bringing sweet retro-influenced summer pop to brighten up everyone’s day, regardless of what the weather outside is actually like. The four-piece may hail from sunny San Diego, but their new single “Red Lights Flashing” abounds in nods to past Brit-indie acts, from The Wedding Present [...]

TweetShare Spinning off from cult Denver band The Vanity, where he played bass from 2005-2007, Kamtin Mohager is now known as The Chain Gang Of 1974. He’s adopted a much sleeker sound – more electro-influenced and poppier. The opening to his track “Matter Of Time” is a pulsing wall of synths recalling Jan Hammer’s score [...]

TweetShare Yet another artist which invites comparison with Phil Spector and the “wall of sound” production technique. (And yet another great track from The Fader – they keep on coming up with the goods.) Eerie vocals wind through the fuzzy guitar melodies, recalling The Raveonettes but without the ironic rock’n’roll pastiching. Brooklyn’s Night Manager currently [...]

TweetShare There’s a slow rhythmic vocal refrain to the vocals on Spectrals’s song “Don’t Mind”, which combined with the chimes and strings produces a Scott Walker/Phil Spector effect. It’s ethereal and feels like it’s being beamed from the past directly to your computer, maybe picking up a little shoegaze influence along the way. Louis Jones, [...]

TweetShare Newly signed to Domino Records, Chief are a 4-piece from Santa Monica who play melodic, atmospheric guitar pop. The piano chords twinkling in the swirling, textured arrangements of their single “Night & Day” add an extra degree of magic to the song. The vocals are rich, layered and recall Band of Horses, as well [...]

TweetShare The Pernice Brothers are back with a new album, “Goodbye, Killer”, which showcases their knack for expertly catchy, country-tinged songwriting. The new single “Jacqueline Susann” is available on their website – it’s a blast of scruffy garage-rock overlaid with smart, cynical lyrics. “Bechamel”, the other track from the album, is far more laid back, [...]

TweetShare Librarians come from West Virginia and play uplifting, ethereal electro-tinged indie pop. Their latest album, Present Passed, was released in March 2010, and the two singles here are a good taste of the record as a whole. “Candy Season” is as light and sweet as its name implies, building a summery pop melody on [...]

TweetShare Starting off with a simple folk-y guitar melody, the single from Scotland’s Admiral Fallow then breaks into a shuffling drumbeat, with rousing male-female vocals, jazz flourishes from clarinet and double bass, and a chorus that inspires you to sing along. I’m a fan of musicians with Scottish accents (see also: Biffy Clyro, Malcolm Middleton, [...]

TweetShare Acoustic singer-songwriter stuff isn’t a genre I usually have much time for – there has to be something special to separate it from the pack of sensitive young troubadours with guitars. But Villagers’ new album “Becoming A Jackal”, is something quite special. It’s all the work of one guy – Conor J O’Brien – [...]

TweetShare On the surface, The Gaslight Anthem are a deceptively simple band, playing class American rock anthems heavily indebted to fellow New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen. But there’s a note of nostalgia in their most upbeat, fist-pumping songs, celebrating the romance of youth even as they mourn its loss and the subsequent disillusionment in the [...]