For a lot of people, Robin Guthrie will require no introduction. He’s been a major part of the alternative scene since the late 70s, not just as a founder member of the dream pop pioneers Cocteau Twins, but as a producer, and a collaborator with artists as diverse as Harold Budd and Ride’s Mark Gardener.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
THE MEDIOCRE FRIENDS – So, This Is It? EP
Gay Elvis has been a regular fixture on New Jersey’s underground rock scene for a number of years. You might know him best as a member of Readymade Breakup or The Blakes. You might have encountered him as a member of The Vice Rags, a once raw garage rock band who took a dramatic turn to become a very melodic retro rock band on their second LP. There’s a chance you stumbled across his solo EP, but there’s an even greater chance that you don’t know Elv at all.
The Mediocre Friends was a new name on his CV for 2024, but the roots of the band go back way further. The musical project brings Elvis back into the musical fold alongside his old high school buddies – the guys responsible for him taking his first steps as a musician. Years on, they reconvened to record a bunch of songs, sort of as “unfinished business”, if you will. The four completed tracks were released to Bandcamp in the June of 2024, by which time, personal disagreements had actually split the band of friends once again.
Check out ‘Mantle’, the new track from Silver Dollar Room
If you’ve been paying attention over the past six months or so, you might have spotted a new Scottish band on the rise. Silver Dollar Room play classic rock riffs but temper tham with an influence that’s best described as melodic grunge. Their early singles shared strong influences from both Stone Temple Pilots and Bush, and at their best, Silver Dollar toom sound like a slightly heavier take on some of those post grunge acts from the late 90s.
TWENTYTWENTYSIX – Fake It Till You Make It
As the author of the Marillion biography ‘Separated Out’ and the Rush history ‘Strange Chemistry’, writer Jon Collins has been well known to prog rock fans for decades. Those fans are less likely to know Jon for his poetry, or be aware of his work as a musician, but he has been rather wise in choosing to apply his writing talents to different media. After all, if you stick to the same thing, you’ll eventually end up stuck in an uninteresting rut.
BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD – Skinwalker
On their Mercury Prize winning debut album ‘Backhand Deals’, Welsh band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard were unafraid to wear a very retro heart on their sleeve. The bulk of its tunes took a very melodic approach and fused a great set of pop and rock influences on a record that occasionally sounded like a 90s band who’d discovered a bunch of old vinyl LPs from the 70s in their parents’ loft. Instantly familiar but always entertaining, it was the kind of guitar driven, melodic pop/rock collection that seemed destined to rival The Feeling’s brilliant ‘Twelve Stops Then Home’.
Then, somewhere between the promotion for that record and the recording of their follow up ‘Skinwalker’, they had a drastic rethink.