The Laundry Shop – Brighten The Ways (Stressed Sumo Records)
A song of two halves, this. On one hand, you have a barnstorming, straight-to-the-point riff to open proceedings, along the lines of Cable or Idlewild back when they were exuberant and fun. And on the other, you have a breathy, soaring verse straight out of the Big Book of Mainstream Anthemic Indie Rock. For the [...]
Swound! – We Are A Danger (Stressed Sumo Records)
There’s definitely something in here. Unfortunately you have to plough through two minutes of self-consciously irritating faux-punk to get there. The vocals are flat and the lyrics uninspiring, and there’s a break for group screaming that desperately wants to be dangerous and out of control, but rather ends up as a grating slice of ‘look [...]
