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...

  Approaching the upper echelons of our end of year list now - read on to find out what's made our Top 30 albums for this year... *** 30. BEFORE VICTORIA - "Moving Forward" Stepping away from his career as a writer and bassist for the Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Moving Forward  saw Marc Burrows' side project Before Victoria very much sprout wings of its own and fly. Mixing elements of grunge, goth, new wave and the odd disarming acoustic confessional, this is a hell of a varied album but one that never loses your attention throughout. Burrows can definitely congratulate himself on a job well done here. *** 29. THE LINDA LINDAS - "Growing Up" Having come to the public's attention with the blistering anger of their Racist Sexist Boy  single, Growing Up proved that the Linda Lindas were definitely more than just back to basics punk rock. Sounding like X-Ray Spex jamming with early Ash, this was a well crafted selection of songs with a lyrical m...

  The first feeling provoked by the arrival of a new album from Liam Gallagher in 2022 was probably one of confusion more than anything. After all, while Liam’s defiant snarl was arguably the driving force behind the Oasis sound and he did slowly start to become a contributor on the songwriting front as time went on with that band, it was always Noel who was justifiably regarded, for better or worse, as the main creative force behind Oasis and while Gallagher Sr has unsurprisingly  headed off on a quest to seemingly bore the entire universe to death with the unfettered tedium of his High Flying Birds project, it’s maybe not a surprise that Liam initially struggled a bit following the break-up of the band with his post-Oasis band Beady Eye with Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock generally feeling like a bit less than the sum of its parts for its two-album existence. Slowly but surely though, he’s clawed his way back. His previous album, 2019’s Why Me? Why Not , was a...