Album of the Month
MJ Lenderman Manning Fireworks
A great guitar player backed by a great band, delivering restrained, slow-burning country rockers. The much-hyped Lenderman, partly delivers on that hype assisted by his flair for vivid lyrical detail and the occasional devastating one-liner.
It’s my favourite album of September (and it’s up there for the year), but I have also wrote a review about how it’s overrated. The overwhelming critical acclaim has been a little too gushing. I’m not quite convinced that character sketches of cliched sad-sacks and awkward puns (see “Guess I’ll call you Rip Torn, The way you got tore up”) are the mark of a generational genius just yet.
Honourable Mentions
Blossoms Gary – One of the most consistent British bands of the last decade return with their fifth album full of irresistibly catchy indie-pop gems.
Hinds VIVA HINDS – The Spanish band, now down to a duo, might have pulled off their strongest collection yet, as they balance their infectious, ramshackle garage rock with moments of dreamy shoegaze bliss.
Fat Dog WOOF. – The South-London band built their reputation on chaotic live shows, and their debut tries to capture some of that unhinged energy with a frenzied take on dance-punk. It doesn’t always work, coming off a little too calculated and try-hard. But when it does, it feels like you’re transported to an exhilarating post-apocalyptic rave.
On the Radar
On the Radar looks at a couple of debuts that have been grabbing attention.
The Dare What’s Wrong With New York?
The Dare is a dude who wrote a novelty song and then built his entire act around it. You may have seen him palling around with Charlie XCX or as a poster boy for the Indie Sleaze Revival – a revival of a genre that didn’t exist; a vague amalgamation of mid-00’s “indie” culture. In this case, the sounds of electro-leaning acts like LCD Soundsystem and Peaches, alongside the aesthetics of the kind of middle-class posers that cosplayed their rockstar pretensions into serious drug addictions. And it’s entirely appropriate that he represents the revival of something that was never real.
The Heavy Heavy One of a Kind
Brighton-based The Heavy Heavy haven’t drawn a huge amount of hype at home but have been building an impressive following stateside; fitting for a band whose sound could come straight out of Laurel Canyon. A sun-drenched blend of psychedelic folk-rock, with big hints of The Mamas & the Papas, Jefferson Airplane, and CSN, amongst others.
This is like stumbling across a lost classic; it sounds like it could have been recorded in late 60s LA. The problem is that it sounds like it could have been recorded in late 60s LA. It’s an impressive tribute, but gets stuck under the shadow of its influences
Under the Radar
Under the Radar picks some lesser-hyped highlights.
The Courettes The Soul Of…The Fabulous Courettes
The wide-eyed sweetness of Phil Spector girl-groups meets the wild-eyed garage rock psychedelia you’d uncover on a Nuggets compilation. The Courettes aka Danish/Brazilian husband and wife duo Martin and Flavia Couri are an undoubted throwback to a bygone era. The review above talks about a throwback band being too close to pastiche, but what The Courettes do so well is capture the rawness and innocence of their inspirations as a vehicle to deliver unfiltered expressions of emotion on an album that feels timeless rather than cliché.
Joyce Voyce
A fucked-up kaleidoscope of glorious noise. Joyce is the work of Jimmy Watkins; a former GB athlete, minor Twitter celeb known for his running reviews, and former member of Welsh cult heroes, Future of the Left. You could maybe label him as someone who doesn’t stay in one place for too long, and that sense of restlessness is reflected on Voyce. A chaotic, confusing, and occasionally difficult jumbling of influences, where moments of beauty emerge from the squall.
For more of the year’s best in indie and beyond, give a save to the Indie-ish playlist, which is regularly updated with a selection of the best new releases.
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