Interview: Kick Box Riot

Kick Box Riot are a band on the up. With a satisfyingly jangly guitar sound underpinned by singer Mike’s raspy, almost Tim McIlrath-like intonation, there’s a sense of melodic, yet understated force lurking behind each riff-drenched tune. Read more

Kevin Kane - How To Build A Lighthouse

Kevin Kane, ex-singer of The Grapes Of Wraith, returns with a third album that couldn’t slide on a dressing gown and pair of slippers more nonchalantly if it tried. A curiously chosen cover version of Pink Floyd’s ‘See Emily Play’ aside, How To Build A Lighthouse is a set of songs that do little to dissuade the notion that there is a dearth of talent in the singer songwriter genre at the moment. Read more

Shout Out Louds: Tonight I Have To Leave It

‘Tonight I Have To Leave It’ is brimming with the type of indie pop gaiety that the Scandinavians have done so brilliantly in recent years (Peter, Bjorn and John and The Concretes to name but two). ‘Tonight I Have To Leave It’ does, however, bear more than a passing resemblance to The Cure’s ‘In Between Days’ which extends past the fact that both are upbeat acoustic guitar driven laments. Even the brief drum roll introductions are amazingly alike and lead man Adam Olenius could well be the Swedish Robert Smith. Read more

The Postelles - The Postelles EP

It would be easy for me to sum up the sound of New York’s The Postelles with a tired comparison to Julian Casablancas’ modern rock revivalists, but the truth is that its more complex than that. Read more

The Dawn Chorus - The Big Adventure

It’s not that this album is boring. Well, actually, it is, but not massively. But kind of. Not completely, but in parts. Too many parts. Middling is perhaps a word which sums up the majority of ‘The Big Adventure’; somewhat of a misnomer for an album which turns out to be more akin to a leisurely Sunday drive in the family Mondeo estate to a rural craft fair on a country estate than any grandiose excursion as advertised. Read more

awordlike: attack - Ships Hung In The Sky

Whether the outside world is aware of it or not, “post rock” is suddenly a big thing. Ever since pioneers Mogwai disowned the term, the genre has expanded to incorporate a large range of styles, to the extent where the question of it being a genre anymore is a hotly debated one.

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A Word Like. Attack: Ships Hung In The Sky

Whether the outside world is aware of it or not, “post rock” is suddenly a big thing. Ever since pioneers Mogwai disowned the term, the genre has expanded to incorporate a large range of styles, to the extent where the question of it being a genre anymore is a hotly debated one. Read more

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Town Topic EP

They say write about what you know, and Owen Ashworth certainly knows film. Read more

iLiKETRAINS: We Go Hunting

Annoyingly titled post-rockers from Leeds in song about historical event shocker. Or not. iLiKETRAiNS’ music thankfully does not suffer despite their oddly styled name (just which part do you emphasise?!) or unusual lyrical subject matter. With vocals that are so broadly and profoundly delivered, songs about anything other than The Great Fire of London and the assassination of Spencer Perceval would seem, well, a little bit insincere. Read more