Albums Of 2015... So Far

We're halfway through 2015, but which albums have already made it on our end of year list?

 Alabama Shakes// Sound & Colour

On their 2012 debut Boys & Girls Deep South quartet Alabama Shakes marked themselves out as blues-soul revivalists.  It's follow up builds on those influences with colossal riffs and psychedelic soundscapes, whilst still maintaining frontwoman Brittany Howard's trademark pipes.

Courtney Barnett// Sometimes I Sit And Think Sometimes I Just Think

The Australian slacker's long awaited and highly anticipated debut album didn't disappoint. Plugged in, the stream of conciousness lyrics of the likes of Pedestrian At Best and Dead Fox sound even more thrilling, channelling grunge and garage rock.  

 Father John Misty// I Love You, Honeybear

On his second album the former Fleet Fox writes the ultimate folk rom-com, his ingenious lyrics coming on like a more loved-up Morrissey "I just love the kind of woman who can walk over a man/I mean like a god damn marching band." If you're not a fan of schmaltzy ballads look away now.

 Hot Chip// Why Make Sense?

You wouldn't normally associate five geeks with making dancefloor fillers, yet on their sixth album Why Make Sense? London quintet Hot Chip continue to defy convention with their brand of house and funk in-debt electro-pop.

 Jessica Pratt// On Your Own Love Again

Recorded over 2 years at home in LA and San Francisco, there's a certain nostalgic charm to the 27 year old's brand of ethereal folk that's reminiscent of Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, tape hiss included.

 Jim O'Rourke// Simple Songs

Simple Songs is Jim O'Rourke's first pop album since 2001 and he certainly milks it. A melting pot of classic pop elements and more hooks than a butcher's kitchen, all backed by the Chicago producer's trademark dark humour and wit.

 Sufjan Stevens// Carrie & Lowell

Don't be fooled by opening track Death With Dignity's gently picked guitar, the follow up to the Detroit singer-songwriter's sixth album, 2010's Age Of Adz is his darkest yet. Without it's predecessor's fanfare it's both a haunting and melancholic listen, punctuated by raw emotion. 

 Sleater Kinney// No Cities To Love

In January the Olympia trio returned with the long overdue follow up to 2005's The Woods, and if you were in any doubt that they'd lost their feminist energy whilst away, you needn't have worried. No Cities To Love is full of the kind of riot grrrl angst that made them the cult concern they are today.

Jamie xx// In Colour

The London producer's debut solo album complies over seven years worth of material, calling on grime, D&B samples and The XX-esque minimal beats to provide eleven chilled-out dance anthems just in time for the festival season.  

LIVE// Patti Smith

Manchester Apollo// 08/06/15

On December 13th 1975 Patti Smith released her debut album Horses, 40 years later she celebrates it's legacy

A flash of silver grey hair from the side of the stage and the whole audience erupts into applause. 40 years on from the release of her seminal debut album, Horses, and Patti Smith is as compelling as ever. Tonight we're gathered to celebrate said album and Smith is in a celebratory mood- over the next 2 hours the punk poet jams, screams and commands her way through her 4 decade long back catalogue like it's 1975.

Gloria's opening cry of "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" sound as incendiary as it did 40 years ago. Patti Smith's voice hasn't aged, infact it's become even more powerful, and the audience hang on to every "G,L,O,R,I,A"

Smith introduces Redondo Beach as "a beach where woman love other woman", it's syncopated rhythms never failing to get the audience moving.
Birdland follows, and whilst she missed her queue at yesterday's Field Day festival in London, she perfects it here. The whole audience is silently transfixed for the song's entire 9 minute and 16 second duration, hypnotised by it's poetry making watching Smith akin to embarking on a spiritual journey.

Land is introduced as a "Mr Wiggle story" she tells her grandson, "disguised as a song from the album." Even if it really was a children's tale the audience would be none the wiser, it's commands of "do the alligator" provoking frenzied dancing from the front row, before Smith and her band launch into a sonic jam that ends with the final chorus of Gloria that's even more enthralling the second time around.

The closing song from Horses, Elegy, is dedicated to many legendary, late musicians- Joey Ramone, Jimi Hendrix and Lou Reed, with Fred 'Sonic' Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe generating the biggest cheer from the audience. It's an emotional moment serving as a reminder to the lost talents of a generation of which Patti Smith is a survivor. Many audience members call out their own additions of Ian Curtis, Janis Joplin and Elvis whilst Smith nods in approval.


The band retake to the stage for part 2- the hits. Dancing Barefoot, Because The Night and Power To The People act as a direct contrast to the experimentation of Horses showing Smith's flexibility as a songwriter.


Her backing band- featuring original member Lenny Kaye- take the reins for a run through of Velvet Underground hits whilst Smith personally greets everyone in the front rows. She may be a living legend of sorts but she's delighted to be here, and it shows.


In fitting circular style Smith returns to her punk roots for the encore, a particularly dynamic rendition of My Generation which concludes with Smith ripping the strings off her Fender Strat. And, just as it looks as though she might smash the thing to pieces in a burst of exuberant, youthful energy, she's gone.   


Tonight we were reminded that at 68 Smith is no spring chicken, but whilst she's invented punk rock, outlived her contemporaries and become a grandmother since the release of Horses, ultimately nothing has changed, except, maybe the colour of her hair.

LIVE// Alabama Shakes

Manchester O2 Apollo// 16/05/15

The Alabama quartet bring a taste of the Deep South to Manchester 

"AAAAAHHHHH" The first sound to leave Brittany Howard's mouth is a lung-busting scream, a powerful opening gambit that captures the audiences attention before she's even sang a lyric - Don't Wanna Fight kick starts the quartet's final date of their UK tour with raw finesse.

The dummer lead Dunes follows, but it's Brittany's pipes- backed by three backing singers- that takes centre stage, most noticeably on the chorus' refrain "Oh I think I'm losing it."  

New cuts Future People and Gimme All Your Love are amongst the raunchiest the band have ever written, with the latter boasting the kind of riffs Jimmy Page would give his Les Paul for. Proving they're not just super-charges soul revivalists Miss You- introduced as 'a song for a man who can't stay out of jail'- slows down proceedings, well at least until the chorus.

The set is primarily made up of material from the band's second album Sound & Colour, occasionally punctuated by by highlights from 2012 debut Girls & Boys (Rise To The Sun, Hang Loose.) Breakthrough Hold On is one of the night's surprising omissions, a testament to the strength of the band's new material. Rather than relying on sure-fire singalongs the band aim to simply stun instead, ending their set with two emotion-soaked slow burners Gemini and Over Your Head, leaving the audience in pin-drop silence, only to be broken by the cheers that follow every one of Howard's trademark "AAAAHHHH"'s. 

Record Store Day 2015

From avid customers queuing since 4:30pm to Sleaford Mods taking over a cafe- it's just business as usual for RSD in Nottingham

The third Saturday in April. For some people it's just another day, whilst for others it's the culmination of many sleepless nights, endless speculation and a year's worth of savings. The third Saturday in April. AKA Record Store Day.

Last year my Record Store Day began at 4am as I joined the queue outside Nottingham's Music Exchange, hoping -just like the 20 or so people before me- to bag some of the day's limited releases. This year however, I was on the other side of the till.

I have been volunteering at The Music Exchange since last May, despite not having a paid job like every other 17 year old I know, I have one of the best. 

Arriving at the shop at 7:30am the queue already snaked around the corner. it might not be as big as last year's effort- there are 4 record shops taking part this year (The Music Exchange, Rough Trade, Plates and Pendulum) compared to 2 in 2014- but it's been here longer, with the first hardy vinyl junkie setting up camp at 4:30pm the day before- A TMX record.

The Arctic temperatures have done nothing to dampen the buzz surrounding the shop, and as the last few preparations are made the anticipation reaches fever pitch. Finally, at 8am sharp the doors open and pandemonium is ensured. It's not quite elbowing-your-gran chaos, but it's a far cry from the average Saturday shift.

Joy Division, Foo Fighters and Ride are among the first records to be snapped up, with Biffy Clyro and The Wombats following suite. Whilst the records are out there is a distinct lack of people idly buying masses destined to be sold on Ebay, although rumour has it a copy of Biffy Clyro's Puzzles, purchased elsewhere, has already made it onto the site. 

Another new addition to this year's RSD programme is a festival's worth of live music, held in Pico, customers were treated to a bank balance soothing acoustic set from Nottingham trio Kagoule, with fan favourite Adjust The Way given a tender make over, rendering it almost unrecognisable from the distortion-drenched original.     

Milky Whimpshake also made an appearance to the packed out crowd, as did Extddntwrk, the side project of local heros Sleaford Mod's Andrew Fearn.

it's a cliché used every year but 2015's Record Store Day has surely been one of the best. It's a testament to what an incredible music scene Nottingham has, even if you did wake up on Sunday morning with yet another Never Mind The Bollocks reissue and a banging overdraft. Same time again next year? You bet.  

LIVE// Peace

The Bodega Nottingham// 07/02/15

B-town boys spread their message of peace and happiness in Nottingham 

Tonight sees Peace take to The Bodega's tiny stage for the third time in what has effectively become a residency of sorts, in support of their forthcoming second album 'Happy People.' It's sold out - again, testament to the fact that they could be playing in venues much bigger than this,yet have taken to being holed in joints across the country for days at a time as a 'thankyou' to the fans who have waited patiently for them to finish writing the follow up to their debut 'In Love'.  

Opener Higher Than The Sun taken from that album sees that the fans - who've been queuing outside in the cold for hours- are thoroughly warmed up, before the band rip through an enthralling rendition of Follow Baby.

Happy People and Perfect Skin are the first of the new cuts to be given a live airing, the latter proving that the band haven't lost their ear for an indie anthem whilst they've been away. Money is next, and despite being released barely a year ago, still incites the kind of reaction you'd expect from a song ten times it's age. Whilst 1998 transforms the crowd into a heaving mass of bodies and flailing limbs, that looks as though it might burst at the seems at one more swirling blissed-out crescendo. 

The band re-take to the stage for Someday, which sees frontman Harry Koisser adopt an almost Jake Bugg-like croon, for a song that will undoubtedly soundtrack every indie-kid crush to come, before World Pleasure sees the band's set- and residency -culminate in Peace's trademark pizzazz.

Their time in Nottingham may have come to an end, but for Peace the tour is far from over, a date in the capital follows and then who knows? If the success of 'Happy People' thus far is anything to go by, it looks as though it won't be long before the world succumbs to their pleasure.

LIVE// Alvvays

The Bodega Nottingham// 26/01/15

Toronto five-piece bring big glasses and even bigger chorus' to Nottingham

When Alvvays take to the stage tonight you could argue that the hype surrounding them - and their eponymous debut album- is reaching stratospheric levels, yet the Toronto five-piece have their priorities set very much on the ground. Vocalist/guitarist Molly Rankin opens the band's set by asking for the best British chocolate bar, and the location of oldest pub in England - The Trip to Jerusalem. Whilst the bands status as one's to watch could afford them a slightly more whacky rider request, the resulting 3 minute blasts of indie-pop heaven certainly make up for it.

Next Of Kin opens with the sort of jangy-heavy guitar Johnny Marr would be jealous of, it's upbeat riffs hiding a darker lyrical side, as Rankin sings "If I'd known you couldn't swim we would never had gone in".

Archie, Marry Me- which appears surprisingly early in the set-  provides the first sing along of the night thanks to it's catchy vocal hooks. Atop A Cake keeps up the pace, before the band slow down proceeding with a euphoric run though of Party Police.

The band even manage to throw in a cover of Deerhunter B-side Nosebleed, which, when adorned with Molly's piercing vocals, could easily be passed off as their own. 

If tonight proves anything it's that whilst Alvvays arn't breaking the mould, when your indie anthems are as contagious as that, theres no need to. (Oh- and that Mars is the best chocolate bar.)

Savages + Bo Ningen // Words To The Blind

Two of the year's most forward-thinking bands come together in performance art project

Savages first encountered Bo Ningen in the most unlikely of settings - a desolate pub deep in the North Yorkshire wilderness, since then they have been cropping up all over the latter's songs - Nichijyou and CC. Most collaborations between bands end there, but the East London based musicians decided to take it one step further, in the form of a 37-minute long performance piece.

Words To The Blind is inspired by the Dadaist concept of  'simultaneous poetry', first performed at Zurich's Cabaret Voltaire club in 1916. The poem is based around conflicting multilingual voices that eventually become incomprehensible. 

Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth speaks in her native French, and Bo Ningen's Taigen Kawabe in Japanese. Their whispers are the calm before the storm, as they give way to barrage of dark, sonic noise, that sometimes veers on the edge of violent. The resulting chaos is reminisant of Bo Ningen's psych rock at it's most acidic. 

The two bands first showcased their work at London's Red Gallery on May 29th 2013, taking to the stage in a U-shaped formation to resemble a battle. This, and the desire to immerse the audience into a musical warfare that is punishing, eerie and hellish - at times all three, makes WTTB become more of a unique performance-art project than a gig. But that is what sets Savages and Bo Ningen apart from their post-punk peers - an appetite for musical anarchy.