Jackie Leven - Man Bleeds In Glasgow/Greetings From Milford (Cooking Vinyl) 27/04/2009

T: Another instalment in Leven's "The Haunted Year" collection, initially fanclub only releases, but deemed too good to remain just that. The former Doll By Doll man has a charming presence in a live environment, and "Man Bleeds In Glasgow" contains some of the Scot's most impassioned performances of his prettiest works, such as the gorgeous opener "Farm Boy". The first of the two CDs was recorded at London's Water rats in 1998, whilst "Greetings From Milford" was recorded in Derbyshire at the British Legion Club a year later. Leven remains one of the most amusing live propositions and this is far better reflected in this double CD than the last two that were reissued. Particularly good fun is Leven's sharp witted annihilation of a piece written about him in The Guardian.

N: I thought you bore a passionate disdain for live albums. Bearing witness to this, the first of these reissues, I can not ony see myself showing shades of a Guardian writer, but can hear why it is you were not at this point spitting venom. Not only musically engaging, but at times with a tongue in cheek delivery that is nothing less than refreshing.

T: And it proves, upon "...Milford", that Jackie is equally adept at cover versions, making a good fist of Dylan's "She Belongs To Me", as well as The Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes" and the (slightly retitled) seminal classic "Waiting For My Man" amongst others. The man clearly has taste and he hasn't managed to ruin ANY of them. 8/10

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Metric - Fantasies (Metric Music International/PIAS/Integral) 27/04/2009

T: Now, I know you're very fond of this album, but I'll be honest, it's not playing tonsil hockey with me right now. It sounds like a less interesting Operator Please, sitting down and sharing a bowl of soup with the Darling Buds. Or maybe Garbage in a good mood. It's a bit too flowery for me, though I admit that it has its moments.

N: I'm not quite sure where you got that impression of my worth for the album. I played it this morning while I was working here, and as a background canvas was alright, but nothing that wasn't done 20 years ago, like The Primitives maybe.

T: Ah, that's what I meant, rather than the Darling Buds. And actually, The Au Pairs are evident at times too. Actually, it's grown on me a lot in the last few songs and now, being the turncoat I am, I rather like it.

N: Like Burn The Negative, creatively, this band have borrowed from a multitude of casualties and recorded a maybe not astounding album, but one that can hold its head high among their contemporaries. 8/10

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Burn The Negative - In The Atmosphere (Gung-Ho Recordings) 27/04/2009

T: Sometimes sounding like Franz Ferdinand with synths, and at others like early Japan, the problem is that, beyond tapping your foot a little, nothing much happens. Not particularly inspiring, but easy enough on the lugholes anyway.

N: Pretty much the same. This one could be a slow starter, but without those hooks to catch the listener's attention, their pilot light could well flicker and die long before this is realised. Not destined to be the next big thing, Prrffffttttddd, but as my cohort has said, creatively nice enough. As for the album, cool artwork.

T: Any reason for the Prrffftttddd half way through your last sentence?

N: Just catching those thoughts. They're hard enough to come by these days.

T: You sound like a bloody horse.

N: Well I'm hung like one! 7/10

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Brakes - Touchdown (Fatcat Records) 20/04/2009

T: Eamonn and his cohorts seem to have ditched the "quirky" songs of their previous two albums and concentrated on a more serious direction. Surprisingly this hasn't done any damage whatsoever and the band is still hugely appealing. This time around, you could level comparisons such as Teenage Fanclub ("Ancient Mysteries"), Belle & Sebastian (on the utterly gorgeous summer pop of "Worry About It Later"), and, perhaps most surprisingly, My Bloody Valentine (on the explosive "Red Rag"). Noisy pop songs aplenty, and whilst not as immediate as either "Give Blood" or "The Beatific Visions", it's undoubtedly a fine third outing.

N: Also, it has to be said, a brave one, as they drag their present fanbase kicking and screaming into this otherwise uncharted territory, surely picking up a number of waifs and strays along the way. Personally I have to say I have a leaning toward the Teenage Fanclub and My Bloody Valentine course they are peddling, but that's not to say Brakes won't be all things to all men.

T: Bizarrely though, it's probably their most commercial album, even though it really shouldn't be.

N: Yes indeed, they are being all things to all men.

T: Er...bit of a contradiction there isn't it?

N: No. Read my statement again. Bloody muppet. 9/10

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Twisted Wheel - Twisted Wheel (Columbia) 13/04/2009

T: If you held that old Beatles vs Stones debate right now, you'd be left in no doubt whatsoever which side of the fence Twisted Wheel are sitting on. A dirty, fuzzy sound, not a million miles away from nineties Liverpudlian revivalists The Stairs, the bands debut album is a frantic, boozy burst of adrenaline that sometimes infuses the vocal stylings of Pete Doherty with a primal rock and roll beat that is as simple as it is effective.

N: A dirtier Reef with pretensions of Queens Of The Stone Age. Clearly very competent musicians who I hope won't find themselves starved of creative energy from being signe to the queen of all majors, Columbia. But perhaps these will in fact find themselves the diamond among the rough. Do you get the impression I'm really quite impressed by this band?

T: I do. I can feel it in my water.

N: No mate, that burning sensation would be the infection the doctor told you about. Are you still using the natural yogurt?

T: Ahem. Moving on, let's just say this album powers on at around one million miles per hour without ever letting up. Great stuff.

N: No, let's just say that this band quite ably turn the dial up to eleven. 8/10

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King Creosote - Flick The Vs (Domino) 20/04/2009

T: "No One Had It Better" kicks off this album, and it sounds like Lemon Jelly got drunk and flicked random switches at the recording studio, then at some point fell asleep to be serenaded by a dreamlike figure in a trenchcoat. Of course, this figure turns out to be svengali Kenny Anderson, who seems to be slowly morphing into Antony Hegarty, despite not having moved on to torch songs yet. It's kind of electro folk after you've swallowed an E.

N: Folk which then morphs into electro-rock a la U2 meets INXS, meets Led Zeppelin, sat in their dirty bath water.

T: Highly entertaining all the same. Just a pity it's had to compete with such colossusses this month...

N: ...and anyway it would appear that they "...don't give a fuck..." anyway. Seem to have had a lot of that this month too. 8/10

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Art Brut - Art Brut vs. Satan (Cooking Vinyl) 20/04/2009

T: Oh bloody hell not another brilliant album by a band that really ought to be past their best by now. This is a barnstorming third from the "art rockers" for wont of a better term, and is probably my favourite of the bunch this month. Eddie Argos's lyrics are just so unusal that they give off an aura of almost childlike innocence. A case in point is the charming "DC Comics And Chocolate Milkshake" where he insists that "some things will always be great - even though I'm twenty eight!" and the self prophecising "What A Rush" which does exactly what it says it does. Perhaps best of all though is "Demons Out!" where they berate the establishment and the "record buying public", who "shouldn't be voting". Never a truer word was spoken.

N: Alright well let me pull you up on one point before we start. "...a band that really ought to be past their best by now", this band have only released 3 albums to date, whereas we both agreed that Doves new release was great and they've 4 to date and Neil Young, well don't get me started.

T: (bum squeaks)

N: So yet another fine album, innocently charming, or words to that effect, was one description, with an almost a homemade ethos that this band are adhering to a la punk, that makes its inimitable presence here. Why this should be such a draw, I don't know, but it seems that nowadays we're used to everything being so precise, that when anyone comes out and draws attention to the fact that this isn't normal, it can stick out like a sore thumb and it's wonderful. 9/10

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The Broken Family Band - Please And Thank You (Cooking Vinyl) 20/04/2009

N: Alright, going from your gauge of judging a good album or not by the quality of the artwork, this was never going to be a crap album, and sure enough, it's not. Producing a resemblance to a cocksure Rolling Stones on the album's first number, "Please Yourself", "Salivating" that follows winds time forward and worships at the altar of Chadwick and Bickers, and I'm at college all over again. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Tone?

T: Definitely a good thing, although if we're reverting back to college days I'm still a virgin and scared to talk to girls.

N: You mean those things have changed?

T: Speak for yourself, Mr. Floppy. Anyway, moving on to the music, yes, there's a definite sixties vibe going on at times, but your House Of Love reference is spot on, and the album, as a whole, is wonderful. We're champing at the bit to review something we think is crap, but the fact is, I think our Press people have cottoned on to us and have started to only send us stuff they know we'll like. The bastards. Ahem.

N: It's wrong you know, I mean about the "floppy" reference, I mean I'm unsure how he'd know, I mean, er... Well let's just agree that this is another great album and the band's seventh! 9/10

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Doves - Kingdom Of Rust (Heavenly) 06/04/2009

T: Although I was underwhelmed when we reviewed "Some Cities", if truth be told it actually grew on me quite a lot, so perhaps we shouldn't be too hasty this time around. Hailed in some quarters as the trio's "Spaghetti Western Album", and listening to the eponymous first single from "Kingdom Of Rust" it's easy to see why, but the truth is, Doves have never been a three minute pop single band. They require some patience, which is handomely rewarded upon repeated listens. Sure you can point at "Pounding" or "Black And White Town" as exceptions to the rule amongst others, but for the most part, they are a band you really need to throw yourself into. That said, this, their fourth album, might just be the most accessible one yet.

N: I think, in some ways, I'm stuck somewhere around the band's debut long player, "Lost Souls", even though I bathed in the glory of the albums that followed. I agree this is something that is not right, well at least I've moved on from "Ain't No Love...", but really, the band have done their best here to encourage me from my drawstring pull sleeping bag from which I would appear to have hidden from the world following Glastonbury 2000. "Kingdom Of Rust" is an album that cries "We've pulled out all the stops here!" and really deserves to be pulled forward on the mind's mantelpiece. Hold on, scrap that, a fireplace is usually under this shelf, and the disc is likely to sustain damage. Let's settle for bookshelf. However you choose to store your music collection, be it physically or virtually on your hard drive, this album deserves your full attention. Today, tomorrow and for always. 9/10

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Neil Young - Fork In The Road (Reprise) 06/04/2009

T: Are you listening Clarkson? THIS is proper driving music, as our favourite Petrolhead releases an entire album dedicated solely to the open road and the shiny metallic beasts that inhabit that world. You can keep your Bon Jovi and your whistly Scorpions rubbish - this is the real deal. With a pleasing live aesthetic, akin to 1990's "Ragged Glory", Neil rarely lets up and delivers yet another fine album, perhaps reaching its pinnacle with "Cough Up The Bucks" or the brilliant title track. And I'm even willing to overlook the fact that he's ripped up a decade old Tom Waits track ("Get Behind The Mule") and retitled it as "Get Behind The Wheel". It's not all rock and roll though - witness the poignant beauty of "Light A Candle" for proof of this, and there's even a hark back to the glory days of "Rust Never Sleeps" on the pulsating chain gang rhythms of "Johnny Magic". Well it's more than enough to keep this particular Youngite happy anyway.

N: Well you seem to have stolen all the words there, so all I have to say is that this is in essence another ultimate 'road movie' of an album. Thanks Neil. 9/10

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (Polydor) 06/04/2009

T: It seems that the eighties renaissance really has made leaps and bounds in the latter part of the early 21st century, and Karen O's band seem to have effortlessly emulated that heavy synth sound, as you will already have noted on their recent single "Zero".

N: The band have captured this, along with a heavier edge that really comes up with the punches.

T: It's as though A Flock Of Seagulls have decided to go into the boxing ring at times - "Heads Will Roll" is vaguely reminiscent of "I Ran" but with more balls. This is quite an engaging album, and for a "difficult third", nothing short of astounding that they can come up with songwriting of this calibre.

N: Brilliant, an album that will truly shine, alongside their contemporaries. 9/10

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