Nite Songs

  Welcome to the second part of our end of year rundown as we look at those albums who agonisingly missed the Top 50 by a whisker. *** 60.     THE CURE - "Songs Of A Lost World" Okay so I'll admit it - when I first heard this album, I didn't get what the fuss was all about. This is very much the Cure in their less accessible mode with the 8 songs on  Songs Of A Lost World  clocking in at over 50 minutes. Yet persevere with this album and its highlights start to reveal themselves as the dark fug surrounding the likes of  Warsong ,  Nothing Is Forever  and the epic closer  Endsong  slowly dissipates to reveal a band who are still capable of surprising you in the fifth decade of their existence. *** 59.     JOE SOLO - "Sledgehammer Songs" Scarborough's finest left wing troubadour Joe Solo keeps on his good run of recent form with Sledgehammer Songs , another heartfelt collection of socialist anthems in waiting. From angry diatribe...

  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...

  Prior to a couple of their tracks landing in the Singles Bar a month or two back, She Drew The Gun were one of those bands whose names I'd heard a few times without actually hearing any of their music. However, those singles, sounding like Alison Goldfrapp's punked up distant cousin, definitely piqued my interest and so here we find ourselves with the group's second album Behave Myself  landing at Nite Songs to review. SDTG are definitely a bit of a unique proposition as the fury of those singles, Next On The List  and the title track, make clear - the message here is defiantly political in the terms of the former and a blast of pure feminist fury on the latter but it's done over a sleek electronica backing that lends it a cold and calculating fury which hits home to devastating effect. The message remains defiant throughout but SDTG are also an impressively flexible band musically, varying from the soaring anti-greed Diamonds In Our Eyes  through the scuzzy riff a...

Autumn’s here, the leaves are falling and the Singles Bar is open for business and having what can best be described as a mass clearout with no less than three parts to this month! Come in from the rain and cold and let's get you served up with something to take the edge off the chill... Kicking us off this month,  Brat Coven are a four-piece from Glasgow with a self-titled EP (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗) who sound like some righteous collision between Dream Nails and the Runaways with the ferocious anti-dick pic culture snarl of Not Your Girl  being a particular highlight. The frenetic Ugly  is similarly raging against societal norms before the lurching  Ninety Seven  captures the creeping paranoia most women feel walking home alone at night. A very impressive first salvo - I'd say that this lot are well worth keeping an eye on.  Bandcamp Link Liverpudlians  She Drew The Gun  are one of those bands I've heard of on band bills without actually hearing any materia...