Nite Songs

  And so the end is near...we present to you the ten best albums of the year just gone in our humble opinion... 10.     BEANS ON TOAST - "The Toothpaste And The Tube" Another regular presence in my end of year lists in recent years, The Toothpaste And The Tube  sees Jay McAllister aka Beans on Toast returning to the fray in fine form and taking on everything from the joys of life on tour ( Back Out On The Road , The Golden Lion ) through laments at the state of the country ( Hope & Glory , The Greenwash ) to enjoying the simpler things in life to get you through ( Swimming In The Sea , The Dragicorn ). McAllister is quite simply one of the best lyric writers in the country today and The Toothpaste And The Tube  is a fine place to start for those wanting to discover his work. *** 9.     CYANIDE PILLS - "Soundtrack To The New Cold War" Soundtrack To The New Cold War sees Leeds pop-punks the Cyanide Pills well and truly coming of age. The group have ...

  Welcome to the July edition of the Singles Bar. The weather outside's a bit scorching so come on in and we'll fix you up with a cold one. Please peruse at your leisure... *** Well I guess the big news this month is a new single from The Cult , their first in three years no less. Pleased to report that Give Me Mercy  (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a strong comeback from Astbury and Duffy with its swooping riff and haunting vocals harking back to the group's classic Love  album. New album due in September and hopefully this is a good omen for it. *** Another exciting development is news of a collaboration between Hi-Fi Sean  (aka Sean Dickson, formerly of the Soup Dragons and Nite Songs faves the High Fidelity) and David McAlmont  who have a new album out later in the year. Maybe  (🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑) is a good first salvo from it too with Dickson's chilled out electronica and McAlmont's trademark sublime vocals combining to make something good. Recommended. Bandcamp link here ...

  "They won't let us into heaven/And hell's closed tonight"  - The 69 Eyes  - The Good, The Bad And The Undead   To say the 69 Eyes have had a bit of a back and forth sound in the last 30 years since they first slithered on to the scene from whichever Finnish rock 'n' roll reptile pit spawned them is to put it very mildly. I first encountered the band around the time I started reading Bubblegum Slut  fanzine. I was actually a regular reader of the 'zine for a good three years or so before I finally plucked up the courage to e-mail Alison and ask if I could become a contributor and at the time it seemed like a cool glimpse into another world of party all night sleaze rock and dark and mysterious goth music that I very much wasn't experiencing up in indie-obsessed Leeds where I was unsuccessfully trying to head up a punk revival with my endearingly amateurish bunch of miscreants Brookside Riot Squad in the wake of every other bugger trying to copy first ...

  Literally just sneaking into our reviews pile at the last moment for 2021 comes this second solo album from erstwhile 69 Eyes frontman Jyrki69. American Vampire is the follow-up to 2017's Helsinki Vampires  and sees him assembling an impressive guestlist for a mix of originals and covers. Pleased to report that this one gets off to a strong start with Jyrki teaming up with Swedish glam-turned-industrial merchants Shotgun Messiah to cover Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll from their Second Coming  album and it's just as much of a freewheeling blast as ever. A gothed-up cover of White Rabbit  featuring Billy Idol's axeman-in-chief Steve Stevens is alright for what it is and a team-up with goth perennials Rosetta Stone on Dreamtime  basically sounds more like an RS song that just happens to have Jyrki on vocals with its icy guitars and Sisters style drum machine. So a bit of a mixed bag for an opening trio then and to be honest, American Vampire  continues in this v...