Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews

THE PLANET SMASHERS – On The Dancefloor

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It seems inconceivable that ‘On The Dancefloor’ is The Planet Smashers’ tenth album, much in the same way that it seems inconceivable that it comes twenty years after fan favourite ‘Unstoppable’, and three decades after the death of Sublime frontman Bradley Nowell. Time is a funny thing.

They might not have had the commercial success as Real Big Fish or Less Than Jake (at least in the UK, where hard touring has made those bands a big draw since the late 90s), but years of grafting have made The Planet Smashers an integral part of the transatlantic ska world. There have been times when it’s been hard to work out why. Despite being great musicians, they’ve not always shown signs of being particularly great songwriters, with so much of their earlier work being reliant on one line hooks, delivered ad nauseum to the point of absolute annoyance.

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THE CAROLYN – Pyramid Scheme Of Grief

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In 2023, US punks The Carolyn released ‘Harmful History’, an EP that provided a solid, if brief, insight into the band’s musical interests. The material made their love of The Ataris and The Gaslight Anthem rather apparent, but in terms of musicianship, the material was very strong.

In many ways, their 2025 release ‘Pyramid Scheme of Grief’ offers fans more of the same, but at times, the arrangements are tighter and the material more concise. This gives The Carolyn a serious amount of extra punch when required, without losing any of their songwriting focus.

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PERPACITY – Lille Flamme EP

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Taking a side-step from the relatively accessible English language material that filled their 2023 album ‘Discordia’, ‘Lille Flamme’ showcases Perpacity’s multi-national heritage by presenting songs in Danish. The release also feels markedly different in its choice to share a couple of spikier arrangements, which sometimes gives the English-Danish duo’s work a darker and more intense quality. These factors mean the material is possibly geared a little more towards those who are already familiar with Perpacity, but you certainly couldn’t accuse them of merely repeating themselves and adopting a safe and formulaic approach to their art.

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SUPER GLUE ANXIETY – First Row Seats

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When a band advertises themselves as crossing genres, their reasoning and chosen styles can sometimes appear quite obvious. The world has seen a vast amount of rap metal and ska punk blends. The marriage between country and rock is a hugely natural one, and also the decision to give folk a bit more muscle with the assistance of indie and rock often works really smoothly. What if a band decided to chuck a load of different styles together without any thought to how naturally they would work together? Chances are, you’d discover a musical landscape like the one inhabited by Finnish musicians Super Glue Anxiety – a band who aren’t easing anyone into a world of weird gradually, but choosing to hit their audience between the ears with a cocktail of oddity on their debut album with zero regard for commercial potential.

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ALAN WHITE – Ramshackled

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Taking some well earned time between band projects in 1975, the five members of the then current Yes embarked on solo ventures. As you’d expect, each release had elements which tipped the hat towards the mothership – especially strongly in the case of Chris Squire’s excellent ‘Fish Out of Water’ – but the freedom of writing alone and working with other musicians also brought a fresh angle. When heard as a whole volume of work, those five albums – Squire’s ‘Fish…’, Jon Anderson’s fanciful ‘Olias of Sunhillow’, Steve Howe’s underrated ‘Beginnings’, Patrick Moraz’s ‘I’ and Alan White’s ‘Ramshackled’ – make for an interesting listen. In some ways, the finest elements from each can be cobbled together to make a great Yes album that never was.

Predictably, the releases from Anderson, Squire and Howe all achieved UK success upon release, charting at #8, #25 and #22, respectively. Moraz’s rather complex ‘I’ has gained cult status over the passing decades, but White’s sole venture has often been considered the runt of the litter.

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