Nite Songs

  We're very much in the upper echelons of the list now - the Top 10's coming tomorrow but let's go through those who just missed out on the very top tier - our Top 20 albums of the year. *** 20.     LAURA JANE GRACE - "Hole In My Head" Hole In My Head   might just be Laura Jane Grace's strongest album to date. Similar to its predecessor, 2020's Stay Alive  and the 2021 At War With The Silverfish  EP, it's stripped back acoustic punk rock wearing its heart on its sleeve, similar to Frank Turner at his best and the likes of Punk Rock In Basements , Tacos and Toast  and the superb album highlight Dysphoria Hoodie  have a fist-aloft honesty to them that's near impossible to resist. A triumph of an album. *** 19.     JUKEBOX HEADACHES - "Wigston Deli" Wigston Deli   does what every good second album should by taking the best parts of Jukebox Headaches' double album debut Balkan Telescope  and building on them to great effect. Takin...

  Top 20 time then - hopefully a few albums on here you might have missed first time out and will enjoy giving a much deserved listen to. Tune back in for the Top 10 tomorrow... *** 20.     CAROL HODGE - "The Crippling Space Between" Hodge's third solo album sees her in good form, mixing light and shade to brilliant effect. Informed by the strange climate that lockdown brought on, by turns angry and hopeful, despairing and optimistic, it runs the full gauntlet of emotions that a lot of us felt during those weird months. She may still be one of the UK music industry's best kept secrets but on the evidence of The Crippling Space Between , it's really time that somebody changed that and she received the recognition she deserves. *** 19.     MINISTRY - "Moral Hygiene" Times like this provide rich fodder for Al Jourgensen and Moral Hygiene  is arguably Ministry's strongest album for over a decade. As you'd expect, it doesn't let up on the heavines...

  It's been a decidedly long time since we last heard from Grace Petrie - no less than three years in fact since her previous album Queer As Folk . Touted as the female Frank Turner over the past decade, I'll own up to having been a fairly recent convert to her music after someone recommended her mini-album There's No Such Thing As A Protest Singer  to me which led to me rapidly checking out the rest of her back catalogue. As with her previous releases, it's Petrie's heart-on-sleeve honesty that really carries this album - while We've Got An Office In Hackney  seems to start off as a humorous jibe against PR men trying to turn musicians into commodities, it quickly turns into a quite disarmingly honest tribute to those who carry themselves on their own values and the loneliness of the touring musician - quite a feat to pull off in four short minutes. Similarly, No Woman Ever Wants To Be A Muse  is a well-written look back at some of the embarrassing songs/poems ...

  So I think this is what they call sod's law - having started this column under the impression that August was going to be the "quiet bit of the year" and therefore a good opportunity to catch up with some stuff we'd missed in previous months, muggins 'ere promptly got sideswiped by a sudden avalanche of new releases the week before the thing went live and thus it became a two-parter. So here you go...a few more singles and a couple of mini-albums thrown in just because we're dead nice like that...  Anyway, kicking off the Singles Bar part 2, here's a name I've not heard for many years as Aussie garage rockers The Chevelles  return with their first new music in over a decade. Steve McQueen (I Wish I Was)  (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) shows that the time hasn't changed them much but when you've got the right mix of pop-punk tunefulness and upstart snottiness that this has, that's no bad thing. Good to have you back with us gents. Bandcamp link here Speakin...

A cold night on the roof of the Nite Songs Singles Bar. After a heavy shift sorting out two lots of singles and a consignment of EP's and mini-albums, your friendly reviewer was about to close the bar up for the night when he was distracted by the sound of sleigh bells on the roof. Climbing up through the skylight, he sees... ANDY: Santa? SANTA: Ho ho ho. That's right. A: Hold on a sec, what are you doing here? I've just finished my reviews for the month and was about to clock out... S: Have you forgotten what time of year it is, yer daft bugger? A: Oh...yeah. That. S: And you know what that means, right? A; Ah. Yes. S: Indeed. :throws a group of Christmas singles at your friendly reviewer: You'd better get these listened to then hadn't yer? A: You mean PART FOUR of this month's Singles Bar? Oh for... (interrupted by the sound of the sleigh taking off and heading back towards the North Pole)  Starting off with that staple of festive listening, the big Christmas ...