By linking up with Steve Albini, Dave Gedge is deliberately linking his modern incarnation of The Wedding Present with the ferocious four piece that released Seamonsters back in the 1990s. [...]

Thomas White ventures out on his own for the first time whilst on a very rare break from Electric Soft Parade and Brakes commitments and the results are, in a word, brilliant. If you’re wondering what the point of this record is being that White pens most of the ESP songs and has more than a hand in the Brakes material then I suggest you just get a copy, sit back and soak it up. [...]

Sometimes I worry that I am too hard on young bands: as my chances of becoming a grand prix speedway rider recedes as rapidly as my hairline, I find myself complaining that these new bands all sound the same, or that they are imitating bands that I listened to when I was still doing my Latin homework. [...]

“Former PAVEMENT member STEVE WEST” the sticker on the album yells at me, and as I listen I can certainly hear the Pavement influence, in so much as it is crafty and horizontal at times [...]

Culled from recordings of The Decemberists’ lead singer’s 2006 solo US tour Colin Meloy Sings Live is an intimate, fun, stripped down affair as you would imagine. Coming across like a literary whiz with an ear for a tune Meloy is playful and off the cuff [...]

Supergrass return with this their sixth offering, following up their “let’s be mature” offering, Road to Rouen, the cheeky chaps have decided to veto that route in an attempt to capture some of their early records’ youthful exuberance. [...]

Having worked with the likes of Smog and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sarabeth Tucek is clearly the kind of artist to be regarded as cool. Any fears that this could be a record that favours style over substance will be relieved to know that this is a record that successfully showcases Tucek as not only her woman, but a great songwriter too. [...]

Lyle Christine has been knee deep in the Scottish music scene for years now, whether producing grunge tinged rock with his former band Stigma, or typing epic bile flecked messages on numerous forums, messages that most fail repeatedly to see the obvious humour in. [...]

Coming hot on the heels of their debut LP, Breaking God’s Heart, this was Hefner’s sophomore release in 1999. In British indie terms, it was pretty damn successful: four songs from it made John Peel’s annual Festive Fifty chart that year (and they had nos.2 and 3), and it gave them an indie chart no.1 in both the LPs and the singles (’Hymn For The Cigarettes’). So how does it stand up nine years on? [...]

Calling Times New Viking noisy is rather like saying bands on Sarah records are twee or that thrash metal bands are too loud and too damn fast. It suggests an aesthetic equivalent of not being able to see the wood for the trees, to coin a cliché. [...]