This two track release from garage rockers The Lemon Drop Gang presents the band’s first new music since 2020’s cult sensation ‘I’m Not The One!’, and for those who loved that full length release, these tunes will certainly be hailed as a welcome return. New listeners will, perhaps, have to work slightly harder to reap those listening rewards, but they’re very much there, and should present themselves very definitely somewhere around the fourth play.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
Jeff Beck: 1944-2023
Jeff Beck was one of the finest guitarists to ever emerge from the British music scene. Between his early work with The Yardbirds – a band in which he replaced Eric Clapton and worked, briefly, in tandem with Jimmy Page – and his own Jeff Beck Group giving Rod Stewart his first massive break, Beck would’ve likely achieved hero status, but his career ran far deeper.
He was often considered a “guitarist’s guitarist”, and it’s not hard to see why. Jeff was equally adept at whatever style he chose to play. Far greater than many of the blues practitioners within his peer circle, Beck’s solo career took in heady jazz fusion, rock, and even more experimental textures.
THE SUBWAYS – Uncertain Joys
This 2023 release from UK indie rock favourites The Subways marks the end of a long period of silence from the band. It comes eight years after their self titled fourth LP, and marks the first long player for a new line up and a new record label. Drummer Josh Morgan left the band for the second time in 2020, and his replacement Camille Phillips (also of The Ramonas) does an absolutely terrific job throughout the album’s twelve songs, and at the record’s best, the sheer punch the “new” Subways give the material is especially confident.
FIRE SALE – A Fool’s Errand / We Dance For Sorrow
On paper, this two track release from Fire Sale immediately sets a high benchmark in terms of punk. The band features bassist Matt Riddle (ex-No Use For A Name/Face To Face), guitarist Chris Swinney (ex-Ataris) and Ann Beretta’s Pedro Aida on second guitar. Along with drummer Matt Morris, that’s one hell of a line-up, and with the material recorded at the legendary Blasting Room recording studio and packaged in artwork supplied by NOFX/Lagwagon sleeve designer Mark deSalvo, there’s automatically a great expectation even before any music is heard.
THROAT LOCUST – Dragged Through Glass EP
This debut from American death metal band Throat Locust might only present three tracks, but in terms of being an effective CV, ‘Dragged Through Glass’ suggests immediate greatness. Taking elements of a classic death metal sound derived from Entombed, Bolt Thrower and Death, and fusing that with some of the heaviest groove metal touches ever, they have the subtlety of a truck, but in extreme metal terms, they could be the best band to emerge since Eaten By Sharks released their debut in a pre-pandemic 2019. Considering the release claims to be only a demo recording, that says a lot about how strong they already sound.