Cub Scouting: I was a Cub Scout

Cub Scouting: I was a Cub Scout On the surface, Cub Scouting has nowt to do with music, lest you include late night jamborees in front of the blazing camp fire; the scout master enjoying the jovial cadence of his sing along efforts that little bit too much -it’s when they close their eyes for

Simian Mobile Disco – Hustler

Simian Mobile Disco – Hustler (Wichita) Released: 26/11/2007 Rating: 3.5/5 Time passes much like birds migrating for the winter; caught briefly between the flitter of an eyelash before disaggregating into specs of dust. it wasn’t that long ago that SMD rose like a particularly well plucked phoenix from the decidedly downtrodden indie ensemble that was

Adele – Hometown Glory

Adele – Hometown Glory ( Pacemaker) Released: 22/10/07 Adele’s debut rides along on the Amy Winehouse white horse of vocal intonations, joining a flock of female singer songwriters gliding around the upper echelons of the chart. A Londoner lost within her own thoughts in the spatial confines of the capital unfortunately positions her in the

Jimmy Eat World – Chase this Light

Jimmy Eat World – Chase this Light (Interscope) Released: 15/10/07 Rating: 3/5 Perhaps the most disturbing feature of Jimmy Eat World’s new album is that when asked what the album is that they’re most proud of, they cite this one. Not ‘Bleed American’ not ‘Clarity’, but this one. Having heard this record an infinite number

Amusement Parks on Fire with support from Shady Bard

Amusement Parks on Fire with support from Shady Bard, AC30 @ Hoxton Bar and Grill, 13/11/07 Tuesday night saw renowned shoegaze club night AC30 shack up with Hoxton’s Bar and Grill. AC30 is pretty much your one stop shoe staring shop, available for all your ambient post-rock needs (boasting artists as diverse as Asobi Seksu,

Efterklang – Parades

Efterklang – Parades (The Leaf Label) Released: 22/10/2007 Rating: 4.5/5 The band describes ‘Parades’ as “a huge parade moving past the listener, each section creating a new experience”. You really need to listen intently, to get the depth of what they’re saying; because in the eighteen lengthy months it took to create the album, thirty

Los Campesinos @ Oxford Zodiac

[live] Los Campesinos @ Oxford Zodiac 9/10/07 Back in the olden days before the conglomeration of myspace, when the current batch of music writing tykes were still ensconced in the scholarly studies of theorising  theses, gigs were often these surreal places where like minded people congregated, drank a few beers and came to listen to

Dashboard Confessional – The Shade of Poison Trees

Dashboard Confessional – The Shade of Poison Trees (Vagrant) Released: 08/10/2007 Rating: 3.5/5 Chris Carrabba is one of those musicians who wears his heart wholeheartedly on his sleeve. It might be because back in 2001, when the populaire, ‘Places You Have Come To Fear The Most’ was written, he was the emotional dish of the

Ungdomskulen – Ordinary Son

Ungdomskulen – Ordinary Son (K7) Release Date: 1/10/07 Rating: 4/5 Some bands enjoy confusing the record buying public. We have to presume that Norwegian underbellies Ungdomskulen are of that kind; throwing around a name that supposedly refers to middle school (dictionary says Ungdomsskole) and not ‘scowling youths’ (dictionary says maybe- our Norwegian does admittedly suck);

Teenager – Thirteen

Teenager – Thirteen (Godlike & Electric) Released: 1/10/2007 Rating: 4.5/5 We live in a post-Skins word; this does not refer to dermal apparel (as pleasant as that sounds) but a world that lives and breathes after that notorious TV programme that made teenagers look like a bunch of horny, selfish wankers, intent on self-destruction, bounding