Cloudspeakers

What did you expect from MGMT on the new record? Hope it wasn't 'Time To Pretend' et al...this album is a very different listen. Entitled 'Congratulations', it is as free form a journey as you will... Read more

As much as first albums can capture bands in their purest form, debuts can also find them over-emulating influences, regurgitating what inspired them instead of building upon it. That was the knock... Read more

If at times their aspirations outstrip their execution, it’s not by much, and Hidden, the sophomore disc from Jack Barnett and his band, These New Puritans, is certainly a grand display of both a... Read more

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Hidden is a real UK horror show, mixing grim, industrial beats with mannered, regal horns and a persistent aura of foggy uneasiness. These New Puritans reveal a penchant for æsthetic violence and ... Read more

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Perhaps there's something in the water in Manchester or maybe by some sheer coincidence a ludicrously large number of talented artists just happen to herald from the city. Enter The Courteeners, on... Read more

Two weeks after my Antwerp experience, I saw dEUS perform to a packed Manchester AcademyTwo. I was truly stunned by both the size and fervour of the crowd and, indeed, the entire affair resembled a... Read more

These New Puritans kicked off their first record (the totally solid Beat Pyramid) with a disquieting, confrontational question: "What's your favorite number, what does it mean?" From there, the so... Read more

The comedian Richard Herring has a nice little monologue about this lot. He noticed a boy in the street wearing a T-shirt with Bombay Bicycle Club on it, and this caused him to have a ponder about ... Read more