Xiu Xiu are no strangers and are back with their latest album ‘Always’. Jamie Stewart who is the main constant over the last 10 years delivers their 9th studio album and doesn’t disappoint for anyone who is an existing fan. As always Xiu Xiu make chall …

Scranton, Pennsylvania; home to Dunder-Miflin’s Pennsylvania branch, serving the American Midwest’s paper needs with far better customer service than Staples could ever manage. Scranton is also home to The Menzingers, the latest band from Epitaph to ma …

When we got sent Last Harbour’s album, ‘Your Heart, It Carries The Sound’, a few weeks back it absolutely blew our socks off and we couldn’t believe that we’d not come across these guys before. It’s a beautifully melancholic record bearing favourable c …

It has hardly been a full month, as I write this, since I had the privilege of reviewing the excellent ‘Mindhammers’ EP from Leeds, UK-based sound smiths, Hawk Eyes. I’ve used words like visceral, ballsy (which is American for big bollocks), and ‘jugge …

Photo by Amanda Penlington – https://www.flickr.com/photos/mandapen/ Dog Is Dead are a young Nottingham band on the up and up. Currently in the middle of their first UK headlining tour and with a new single imminent, we grabbed them and asked to give u …

Maps and Atlases are, from the first, one of those bands who defy description of any sort. Their mix of folk and polyrhythmic beats coupled with anything else they feel like throwing in makes any review of their music a challenge in itself. Having been …

With this review I had a double eye-opening experience. I remember how a good while ago someone recommended to me Three Trapped Tigers based on my taste etc etc. Ok, let’s give them a go! And so I did. I found three EPs, enigmatically called EP, EP2 an …

In the first of a new series of articles featuring albums that perhaps flew under the radar when released but we think retrospectively deserve more consideration, Gilbert Potts looks back at Grün’s ‘Greenland’. ‘Greenland’ was released just before the …

There is a fine line to be trod for a band when the hype machine takes over. Time after time a new promising act has suffocated in the excess of adulation it has received from fans and critics alike before they have even found their feet. Sleigh Bells …

I used to be a Secondary school teacher and for this review I’m going to employ a technique used for marking delicate youngsters’ creative works – ‘2 stars and a wish’. Only since Luke Leighfield isn’t an 11 year old child, it might more accurately in …

Writing music as catharsis isn’t a new thing by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes its creators are left with little choice. Kurt Wagner was left completely devastated by the suicide of his fellow musician and close friend, Vic Chesnutt, on …

There are a lot of things I’ve done at gigs. For instance, due to me having a naturally nervous disposition, there have been a few times when I’ve almost gotten sick from nerves before going on stage. I’ve only played a handful (less than 30 or so over …

?Chris Hughes recently caught up with JW (Guitar) and MB (Bass) from the brilliant psych boogie, kosmische Leeds based band Hookworms before they set off on their upcoming gigs and asked them a bunch of questions. There is a lot of Buzz about MB, EG, M …

In the same way that radio stations and music zines had trouble coming up with a genre and a name to describe early 65 Days of Static, Flicker State manufacture sounds that they like, no matter their origin, and bring them together to create their own …

Clutching an icepack to the place where my left kidney used to be, beer in the other hand, the opening grind of ‘Kill It In The Morning’ rolled out across the night’s venue. Despite the money haemorrhage, Cargo suited The Twilight Sad – a low ceilinged …

Sometimes I meet people who make me think that talent really is something you’re born with. Having been born with none myself, and developing none despite my best efforts, I’ve become comfortable in simply enjoying what others have to share. In the cas …

‘Egyptian Wrinkle’ by Boy Friend will certainly divide a lot of people in to those who love this piece of nu gaze dream pop and those who will think it’s just too bland. There are tracks on the new album from Christa Palazzolo and Sarah Brown that will …

’The Narrow State’, the debut album from London six piece Rumour Cubes, is one of the most eagerly anticipated post rock releases of 2012. Ahead of their launch show on Saturday (18th Feb) we managed to pin down Adam (guitar / electronics), Hannah (vio …

I have developed a love/hate relationship with this latest record from Chicago four-piece Disappears. Well, not hate, and not love, but let me explain. The first two times I listened, I liked it a lot. The sharp production, precise beats, anchoring bas …

When offered the choice of which new release I wanted to review this week I asked the editors at Echoes and Dust to surprise me. I can say that after listening to Blue Sky Archives I was more than surprised. In fact I was elated to hear a band who soun …

This London-based trio are very literal-minded, it seems: the band name should already attest to that. Then there’s the fact that while there are three people in the band, they’ve gone and named their second album after the Latin for a group of three. …