Paper Aeroplanes started life back in 2005 when Sarah Howells and Richard Llewellyn first crossed paths in West Walians, Wales. The duo promptly headed to Cardiff and began playing acoustic sets under the name of Halflight and began to gain…
Category: Reviews
Album: Thousands – The Sound of Everything
For those of us who resolutely refuse to heed the long-given advice not to judge a book by its cover, seeking out new bands can be a fraught mission. You look for little hints – the cover art, a particular…
EP: Laura Hocking & the Long Goodbye
In this, the first official release through Laura Hocking‘s own label Chrome Yellow, four of her songs are given the full band treatment at the hands of The Long Goodbye. The EP comes in the form of a double A-Side…
Album: Tiny Birds – Hymns For The Careless
I reviewed Tiny Birds for the New Bands Panel back in June, and liked what I heard – ‘Ariadne’ remains perhaps the best song I’ve been introduced to via that route – so when Hymns For the Careless cropped up…
EP: Austra – Beat and the Pulse
I was first made aware of Katie Stelmanis through her work with Canadian wonders Bruce Peninsula. Stelmanis now goes under the name of Austra, a project that sees her powerful vocal talent given an electronic twist. ‘Beat and the Pulse’…
Album: Ron Sexsmith – Long Player Late Bloomer
From the opening bars of ‘Get In Line’, it’s clear that Ron Sexsmith is in an unusually good mood. A man who has made a long career out of singing songs of loss and dejection has a smile on his…
Album: Lucinda Williams – Blessed
Lucinda Williams is at her best angry, scorned and burning with a fiery passion. But while we were happy for her and everything, her marriage to Tom Overby made 2008 album Little Honey, which he produced, sound like it was…
Album: Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog – Dyddiau Du, Dyddiau Gwyn
Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog are a three-piece band of brothers who, so they tell us, were given their name by their headmaster at primary school. Rhos Botwnnog is a tiny piece of land just north of the village of Botwnnog in…
Album: Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me
Back in 2009, the 20-year-old Jessica Lea Mayfield released her debut album With Blasphemy So Heartfelt. Dan Auerbach – Ohio’s own Jack White (minimalist blues-rock band – check, endless side-projects – check, taste for production – check) had championed her…
Album: Alexander – Alexander
The ‘Solo Career’ section of Alexander Ebert’s Wikipedia page states simply and coolly: “In 2010, Alexander began to dabble with a solo career.” Imagine this line as the last of a movie trailer – the line that tells us all…