Nite Songs

  Okay, let's get this show on the road then. First twenty coming today then ten a day from now until New Year. As with previous years, I've provided a link to where you can buy the album while supporting the artist as much as possible, either via Bandcamp or direct via the record label (none of that exploitative Spotify/Amazon bullshit round here we'll have you know). Ready? *** 70.     WIRE WORMS - "The First To Come In" Doom-folk? Okay, consider us now having seen everything. This debut album from Leeds natives Wire Worms blends old school pagan folk music with an almost industrial style backing and even the odd nod to country music and goth rock. It doesn’t score a bullseye every time but Wire Worms deserve a hell of a lot of credit for trying something different and making a good job of it. With a little bit of refinement, we could have a genuinely seminal band on our hands here. *** 69.     DESPERATE JOURNALIST - "No Hero" Five albums in and Desper...

  So here we go then. It took a lot of head-scratching, a lot of re-listening to albums that I'd reviewed months ago and at least ten rewrites but I'm happy to present the Nite Songs Top 50 Albums of 2021. Enjoy! *** 50.      DESPERATE JOURNALIST - "Maximum Sorrow" Desperate Journalist's fourth album sees them on good form with plenty of the same swooping dream-pop epics that recall the Cocteau Twins at their most ethereal as well as a few unexpected diversions into other waters that provide a welcome change of pace when it's needed. One of those groups who definitely deserve to be much better known than they  are. *** 49.      LUKE HAINES - "Setting The Dogs On The Post-Punk Postman" Setting The Dogs On The Post-Punk Postman   sees Haines on typically acerbic form whether he's skewering his targets or writing sinister whimsical odes to failed historical regimes. He's also on good form musically here veering from gentle folk through atonal po...

  One of those bands where you do find yourself questioning why they're not a bit bigger than they are, Desperate Journalist have been mainstays on the indie scene for close to a decade now and their heady brew of post-punk, goth and shoegazing has led to three very good albums with the band improving release upon release. It's fair to say that we've been quite eagerly awaiting album number four since it was announced a few months ago and now it's here. It starts with the haunting skeletal keyboard lament of Formaldehyde  which actually reminds me of Sinead O'Connor (in a good way) before swirling Cocteau Twins-esque lead-off single Fault  kicks things into gear in good style. Indeed, there's plenty of songs here which show Desperate Journalist are still as good at the whole moody epics that they've made a name for such as the sprawling six minute  Armageddon , the sinister Utopia  and the spiky Fine In The Family . However, this is clearly a band who are gr...

  Welcome to our monthly visit to the Singles Bar for May. Plenty of new sounds from all across the musical spectrum this month so take a seat and let us mix up something for you to enjoy... Kicking us into gear in suitably frenetic style this month are Los Pepes  with their new single Want You Back (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). This does exactly what you'd want a Los Pepes song to do essentially - whiplash riff, scowled vocals, a bit of unexpected harmonica honking and it gets in, says what it has to say and gets out again before the two minute mark. B-sides Never Get It Right  and  Tell Me  are similarly high quality too and well worth a listen in their own right.  Bandcamp link here . Making a welcome comeback this month are Desperate Journalist  with Fault (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑), the lead-off single from their upcoming fourth album Maximum Sorrow . A bit more urgent than the band's usual output, the pounding drums, swirling bass and echoey guitar remind me more of Siouxsie ...

  Ahh welcome back to the Nite Songs Singles Bar dear reader. Take a chair, pull up a glass and let's see what we've got on the menu here for October... Well, it looks like the big hitters are out in force this month as  The Damned of all people have a new EP out in the form of The Rockfield Files (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑). Having been a bit disappointed by their Evil Spirits album a couple of years back, I was a little bit apprehensive going into this one but it's actually decent enough with opening track Keep 'Em Alive  sounding like a punked up Pink Floyd of all things (or like an out-take from the excellent Strawberries  album which was also recorded at the titular studio back in the early '80s). Manipulator  meanwhile is a faster number with an agreeable woah-oh-oh  hook line and some strong vocals from Dave Vanian while Spider & The Fly  starts off with a sinister piano-led intro harking back to the band's mid-'80s goth phase before going into a driving g...