The debut 7” from The Gamblers gave listeners a very accessible and direct insight into the new band’s key musical interests. The self-penned ‘Tonight’ introduced them with a tight arrangement, underscored by a great bass sound, and an attitude that suggested that frontman Mark – also of punk band Booze & Glory – had a deeper love of Jamaican sounds than many of his peers. For any doubters, the flip-side’s pin-sharp cover of The Pioneers’ ‘Let Your Yeah Be Yeah’ should have been solid enough to allay any fears that this was, in any way, a half-arsed musical diversion.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Middle Earth: The Soundtrack of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club 1967-1969
Whenever psychedelic and swinging London appears in documentary footage, there’s always a tendency to suggest, to those of later generations, that Joe Boyd’s short-lived UFO club was where everybody hung out. This is largely to do with an easily available and well circulated clip of Syd Barrett and The Pink Floyd hammering through ‘Astronomy Domine’ against a home made light show. The late 60s saw lots of other underground activity, not least of all at UFO’s successor, Middle Earth.
THE GAMBLERS – Tonight / Let Your Yeah Be Yeah
As a fixture within the punk underground, Booze & Glory have spent years carving out a niche with a street punk sound that crosses the more melodic aspects of Rancid with Swingin’ Utters. For lovers of that style, B&G have more than succeeded in sharing a world of rousing hooks.
A new project launched in 2024, The Gamblers finds the band’s vocalist – the mononymed Mark – branching out into the world of reggae. Their first release gives listeners a really well formed and direct example of the band’s sound, and by coupling a self-penned workout with a tune that’ll be familiar to almost everyone, it provides an easy entry point into their catalogue.
ECCE SHNAK – Shadows Grow Fangs EP
When a band re-appears after a long time away, it often leads to fan apprehension. The return of a favourite act can be exciting, but what if the new material isn’t up to scratch? What if it’s really different from the old stuff? What if, as a listener, it’s your ears that have moved on, and you now crave different thrills? None of these concerns apply to the return of New York’s art rock band Ecce Shnak. The five years since their ‘Metaphorphejawns’ album assaulted an unsuspecting audience hasn’t diluted their desire to bend sounds into almost impenetrable shapes and, at its best, their ‘Shadows Grow Fangs’ (released in February 2025) presents material that’s as unclassifiable and inventive as ever.
ENVY OF NONE – Stygyan Waves
The first album by Envy of None – the first new post-Rush music from guitarist Alex Lifeson – very much conveyed the attitude of a musician moving on. The fan reaction, on the other hand, proved that many of his followers were incapable of doing so. Many of them were hoping for something prog based, or at least something hugely guitar oriented in the vein of his vastly underrated Victor project. What they got was an album full of hooky songs that sounded like the missing link between ‘Blood For Poppies’ era Garbage and Chvrches.
Taken on its own terms, the music’s broad, melodic sound – coupled with great vocals from Maiah Wynne – provided something hugely enjoyable. Although the songs occasionally took a little while to sink in, it was an album that had more than enough potential to find its way under the skin of those willing to keep an open ear.