The 57 second long ‘Tiny People’ is rip roaring and funny, ‘Professional Driver’ is snarky with punk attitude, ‘Clouds Like Ghosts’ is some excellent Cure worship, and the doomy ‘All You Bad, Bad People’ is one of their best riff fests.
A refinement album, they’re not reinventing the ... read more
His hair may be in retreat but his writing certainly isn't.
This one shows he's on the right path and could even drop a minor cult classic next time perhaps? David Byrne would approve.
I think it might mainly be Pollard's 'none more indie' voice but I was most reminded of the made up band from the film 'Frank' (The Soronprfbs) when listening to this - and I think that says everything.
NR
Leisurely is the word, these are tunes to kick back to and let wash over you, but the impressive thing here is the quality is as high as usual and the songs flow very nicely thank you very much.
Some usual Vile chucklesome turns of phrase in the lyrics too, almost a recognised trademark in their own ... read more
If you weren't impressed with the Stones this year bringing it in their eighties then listen to these prize plums failing miserably in their sixties.
Theatre of the Absurd? Theatre of the Ripe Turd.
The album actually sounds like that realisation put to music too, NR
Still, ... read more
Finally they realised you can relegate those soppy big vocal over emoting tunes and just replace them all with wall to wall bangers (ok, there’s still one big vocal track here but it’s a more than passable one)
Definitely the most consistent thing they've released - it was all too much for The Guardian though 🤦♂️
The most divisive element here are surely the vocals - they’re certainly ‘Cedric Bixler-Zavala level’ strange enough to scare some listeners away, but counting myself a ... read more
NR
For me it scores lower than the preceding 'This Wild Willing' because it isn't as adventurous and the highs aren't as high - the lows also aren't anywhere near as low but I generally listen to music for the highs (who doesn't?) so that's my reasoning there.
The highlight of 'All That Was East...' is the knotty ballad 'Sure As the Rain' that's remained a ... read more
This 'post rock' (maybe 'math rock') palette is perfect to my ears, so we're onto a winner.
"Mmmmmm, improv!"
Who said that?
Did I hear that right? Hot dang 🥵
NR