Articles by Chris Ball

Sunflower Bean have no right to be making music as accomplished and ravishing as this at such a tender age.

With ‘Sentinels’ they still show more promise and display more ambition and creativity then nearly all their peers, no question.

If you like stoner and psych and plan on still being alive in May then why the hell wouldn’t you go?

Buffalo Tom don’t do anything unexpected, flash or controversial here, but what they have done is make a beautifully simple and simply beautiful rock album. A career high.

There’s an undeniably pleasing, ramshackle ambiance throughout as the band invent their own kindergarten krautrock and post-pub pop.

Both bands bands do enough here to make you wish there was another side of their music to flip to, but Windhand edge it for me.

Black Moth… have developed a darker, more sophisticated sound whilst retaining much of what made them interesting in the first place.

I suspect they have the potential to pen dozens more indie-disco floor fillers, the likes of which this debut is undoubtedly packed.

Gold Key apply the rigors of hard core and rock to their songs whilst still packing in more incident, flash, daring and emotion than most bands manage in an album.

Quicksand deserve your attention, deserve another chance. Not out of sentimentality, loyalty, hipster revisionism or any other misguided motivation, but because they have made a really excellent new album.

It’s more than rock a show, cult-ish but inclusive, a celebration of otherness and the mysteries of the universe.

Stylish if heavily stylized, single-minded, artistic and yet surprisingly commercial Kroh have created something truly special on ‘Pyres’. This may be the start of something special.

Paul drawls a few lines then the crowd whoops as the band set off on another bloody massive choogle. . . Ladies are dancing, arms are waved, beers are chugged, but mostly it’s a slow, hypnotic group frug, don’t pee on my rug, dude-tastic rocking hoe down.

Fans of the band and their previous works will no doubt find something to enjoy on ‘Love From With The Dead’, but personally I would hope for more from musicians as revered as these.

All in all, this is a triumph. Go ahead and enjoy that new Quicksand album, but Dead Heavens are equally worthy of your time.