Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love

Reunions are always hard, whether it may be a school reunion or a band reunion. This album however bucks that trend. The three piece all female group Slater-Kinney have reformed after seven years apart to release their eighth album. The album packs what seems a familiar punch with all the songs having that "I've heard this before...or have I" feel to it. The trio make sure they play it safe with this album, none of the vocals are strained and their are no ballads but it is still of a high standard of music with crisp production and clever tongue in cheek lyrics. I will say this however. Girl Power is back in the rock music landscape with the likes of HAIM, Ex Hex and now the return of Slater-Kinney. Look out fellas these ladies kick some serious ass.

Hookworms - Pearl Mystic

Straight away this album sounds familiar. As if you are listening to it for the tenth time but fear not it is merely the eruption of electric guitars. Some say rock music is dying along with the death of electric guitar based music this album points in the opposite. Pearl Mystic sounds as if it were recorded by one of the biggest bands in the 70s but with current recording equipment. The album has a real psychedelic "vibe" to it so to say with fuzzy guitars, spacey vocals and long blistering guitar solos. There is so much happening in each song hat you forget that you are still listening to the same song you were five minutes ago whether or not this is a good thing is unclear but it sure does rock.

The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants to Be Here

The Twilight Sad are intense. Everything about them is. The lyrics combined with music in this album is an intense experience bordering on the point of making the listener uncomfortable. This is to be expected however when you write an album solely on the theme of despair. If a comparison of sound is needed just imagine Placebo but a bit sadder and angrier. The Twilight Sad's fourth album is a great album albeit not spectacular. It does enough to keep you interested but it never makes you stop what you are doing and just listen.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - LOSE

The lead singer for Cymbals Eat Guitars suffered a great loss seven years ago with his long time collaborator passing. This is his way of expressing his feelings about that.  Lose does a great job of making an album about losing something dear to you seem semi-fun. Of course their are going to be a lot of somber moments throughout the album there are also plenty of rollicking good times that just makes you feel like sitting in a dive bar with your best friend and drinking some whiskey.

Wolf Parade - Apologies to Queen Mary

Wolf Parade's debut album sounds exactly like that, a debut album, like a band still finding its feet. With many bands struggling to find their comfort zone in their debut album Wolf Parade have managed to find a comfort zone in that blurred space between rock and emo. This is a good album by all means but it lacks that one song that just makes you remember it even if it is for that one song. Apologies to Queen Mary seems very disjointed at times with none of the songs flowing nicely from one to another which makes for a sort of awkward listening experience with songs ending with a huge sound and the next song abruptly starting acoustically.

Japandroids - Celebration Rock

Big. Thats what this album sounds like. Especially when you realise that it is just two blokes and not a standard quartet but boy can these guys rock. Every song on this album will make you want to jump up and down and dance. This could easily be the soundtrack to the greatest night of your life. The only real issue with this album is that it seems as if they cant decide if they are rock or punk which is fair enough it can be easy to blur those lines and it is only the second album but they are slowly finding their sound. 

Ex Hex - Rips

Have you ever stumbled upon an album that you found in bum fuck nowhere, you put it on and it knocks your socks off? That happened to me last night. I was searching for something to review and I found this buried in a list on some website and put it on. This is what The Preatures would sound like they took steroids. The female vocalist is commanding and has a perfect voice for the music. Songs are short and sharp with a ear bursting powerchords over frantic drums. This is a hidden gem that I implore you to listen to.