Author: Andy Peterson Page 4

Brandon Flowers - The Desired Effect Album Review

Brandon Flowers - The Desired Effect Album Review

The maxim about solo records here at Contact Towers never lets us down: the reverse of Jim Steinman's compromise epic, we always find that two out of three are bad, an equation you can hang...

Review posted on 23rd June 2015

The Zephyr Bones - Wishes/Fishes EP Review

The Zephyr Bones - Wishes/Fishes EP Review

It's said that there are only seven stories in the world, and that every one that's ever told is merely a variation of these themes. You could argue much the same theory is true of...

Review posted on 23rd June 2015

Everything Everything - Get To Heaven Album Review

Everything Everything - Get To Heaven Album Review

Everything Everything's arrival in 2009 came via 'My Kz Yr Bf', a song which gave critics much leeway in comparatives. Based on its poly-rhythmic, twitchy math pop body and almost perfect euphoria soaked chorus, it...

Review posted on 23rd June 2015

Holly Herndon - Platform Album Review

Holly Herndon - Platform Album Review

There was a time back in the last century when it felt like every artist on the Gnostic 4AD label was like Holly Herndon. People thousands of miles away used to have every release mailed...

Review posted on 23rd June 2015

Various artists - Walls Have Ears: 21 Years Of Wall Of Sound Album Review

Various artists - Walls Have Ears: 21 Years Of Wall Of Sound Album Review

Label retrospectives are not without a degree of risk: it's easy for compilers to fall into the self-indulgent trap of looking after your pet projects, with the line by extension between vanity exercise and faithful...

Review posted on 10th June 2015

Jaga Jazzist - Starfire Album Review

Jaga Jazzist - Starfire Album Review

Here at Contact Towers we're always fascinated by the multi-various uses of the word "Interesting" when referred to a new release, often it's a nudge-wink metaphor for it being rubbish, over hyped or just plain...

Review posted on 9th June 2015

DJ Yoda - Breakfast of Champions Album Review

DJ Yoda - Breakfast of Champions Album Review

It's been a decade now or more since UK hip-hop looked at itself in the mirror and saw the reflection of a movement no longer second fiddle to its American counterpart. There've been some highs...

Review posted on 19th May 2015

Anathema - Fine Days: 1999 - 2004 Album Review

Anathema - Fine Days: 1999 - 2004 Album Review

We at Contact Towers were going to start this review with something hackneyed like "Bands like these.." but then we thought better of it. Bands like what? Skinny jeaned garage kids? Twinkly-eyed synth poppers? Ultimately,...

Review posted on 18th May 2015

Fort Romeau - Insides Album Review

Fort Romeau - Insides Album Review

Electronic music is, of course, not a new movement: younger than say rock n' roll, but its late twentieth century roots are frequently betrayed, whether it be in the endless rehashing of its prototypical first...

Review posted on 7th May 2015

Drenge - Undertow Album Review

Drenge - Undertow Album Review

Frequently bracketed with fellow noise ingénues Royal Blood, brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless (aka Drenge) are a subtler proposition, mixing drone-rock, grunge and, on 'Undertow', freshly acquired elements of new wave into a sound which...

Review posted on 7th May 2015

The Specials - Specials, More Specials and In The Studio (Remastered Editions) Album Review

The Specials - Specials, More Specials and In The Studio (Remastered Editions) Album Review

There have been moments - they're becoming increasingly rare - in which music as an art form wraps itself into the absolute contours of society, perfectly mining the cultural tempest of the moment until...

Review posted on 7th May 2015

Ric Rawlins - The Rise Of The Super Furry Animals Book Review

Ric Rawlins - The Rise Of The Super Furry Animals Book Review

If the Super Furry Animals were a building, it would have a great big blue plaque on it by now, in recognition of their unswerving dedication to being some of the smartest, principled and contrary...

Review posted on 23rd April 2015

Various Artists - Kitsune New Faces 2 Album Review

Various Artists - Kitsune New Faces 2 Album Review

The deal hasn't changed: the world's best known couture indie label is still releasing everything from pop to polo shirts, having unearthed the likes of Years & Years, TDCC, Citizens! and, most recently, BeatauCue as...

Review posted on 9th April 2015

Turtle - Colours EP Review

Turtle - Colours EP Review

Possibly the greatest thrill of writing about music is the joy of discovery: if you hear something underwhelming for the first time, your thoughts are already turning towards how to filter mood, but when the...

Review posted on 31st March 2015

BeatauCue - Terrah EP Review

BeatauCue - Terrah EP Review

Well, just as we'd concluded here at Contact Towers that the role of winsome boys making perfect synth-pop had been taken by Years & Years - whose recent 'Y&Y' EP is as close to perfection...

Review posted on 31st March 2015

BC Camplight - How To Die In The North Album Review

BC Camplight - How To Die In The North Album Review

BC Camplight is the sardonic, slightly bruised alter ego of Brian Christinzio, a former New Jerseyian now relocated in Manchester, via stints playing with Stateside indie cause celebres Sharon Van Etten and The War On...

Review posted on 31st March 2015

Venom - From The Very Depths Album Review

Venom - From The Very Depths Album Review

One of the great things about music is that, despite the suits attempting to render everything down to a brainless lowest common denominator, its occasional feats of randomness cannot be predicted. You can't imagine, for...

Review posted on 20th March 2015

Various Artists - House Couture mixed by Terence:Terry Album Review

Various Artists - House Couture mixed by Terence:Terry Album Review

Anyone can do mixtape, right? All sounds so easy: a few audio files, your free trial software, combine it with the sweet vibes only your bedroom can produce and, hey presto, suddenly you're Paul Oakenfold....

Review posted on 19th March 2015

Charli XCX - Sucker Album Review

Charli XCX - Sucker Album Review

In many ways, Charlotte Aitchison is an atypical twenty first century star-in-the-making: whereas most of those around are trust funded, stage school veterans whose every nuance is airbrushed into bland conformity, both her past and...

Review posted on 13th March 2015

Olafur Arnalds - Broadchurch (Soundtrack Series 1 & 2) Album Review

Olafur Arnalds - Broadchurch (Soundtrack Series 1 & 2) Album Review

In order to really get fully into character for this review, I watched 'Broadchurch' for the first time. For those of you who haven't, it's basically a detective yarn set out in sticks somewhere in...

Review posted on 13th March 2015

Mary J. Blige The London Sessions Album Review

Mary J. Blige The London Sessions Album Review

After a bit of reflection, 'Coming to London' just sounded so odd. We live in a world now, after all, where artists need nothing more than an internet connection to be able to collaborate with...

Review posted on 3rd March 2015

Only Real - Jerk At The End Of Line Album Review

Only Real - Jerk At The End Of Line Album Review

Only Real AKA Niall Galvin used to make music on a battered laptop in the West London suburbs and, like many bedroom aesthetes, he worked with what he had, producing functional yet appealing songs...

Review posted on 3rd March 2015

Hooka Hey - Untamed EP Review

Hooka Hey - Untamed EP Review

Hooka Hey have a back story that's not quite your average bear's. Originally from France, they've now migrated their asses to Austin, Texas, having toured with the likes of Ted Leo and Miles Kane. A...

Review posted on 19th February 2015

Chicane - The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts Album Review

Chicane - The Whole Is Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts Album Review

Admit it - if you were born before 1990 there's a good chance you've lost it at some point to a Chicane track, be it at the work's Christmas do or some dodgy nightclub you...

Review posted on 17th February 2015

Plastikman - Ex Club Mixes EP Review

Plastikman - Ex Club Mixes EP Review

It always sounds a little odd applying the term veteran to anyone who came up through the stentorian, often misunderstood techno movement, but along with luminaries such as Carl Craig, Kevin Saunderson and Brits such...

Review posted on 12th February 2015

Deus - Selected Songs 1994-2014 Album Review

Deus - Selected Songs 1994-2014 Album Review

There's a problem with weird: it's got a limited shelf life. dEUS are from Belgium, a country that has separate charts for its Dutch and French speaking populations and a brief, unflattering history at rock's...

Review posted on 12th February 2015

Sherwood And Pinch - Late Night Endless Album Review

Sherwood And Pinch - Late Night Endless Album Review

Few people are better qualified to provide commentary on both the origins and future of dubstep than Adrian Sherwood, a fifty-something who launched his own On-U Sound label in the aftermath of punk and has...

Review posted on 4th February 2015

Ariel Pink - Pom Pom Album Review

Ariel Pink - Pom Pom Album Review

As we've said before, the lingua franca of pop music around the world is in its conformity, that chameleon like ability to adapt, blend in, emulsify into something that can be easily digested anywhere...

Review posted on 4th February 2015

Hawk Eyes - Everything Is Fine Album Review

Hawk Eyes - Everything Is Fine Album Review

Modern rock music often has the broadest - or narrowest - set of definitions. On the one hand, Leeds quartet Hawk Eyes are screamo curmudgeons, part of the city's (in)famous DIY scene which has been...

Review posted on 27th January 2015

Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space Album Review

Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space Album Review

Normally the words "Concept Album" are enough to make everyone at Contact Towers' blood run cold - we're thinking full on Jeff Wayne, chances of anything coming from Mars here - but for Public Service...

Review posted on 27th January 2015

Suggested

Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate

Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate

On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...

Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying

Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying "true to yourself" [EXCLUSIVE]

Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.

Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review

Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review

Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.

WYSE talks to us about her

WYSE talks to us about her "form of synaesthesia", collaborating with Radiohead's Thom York and the prospect of touring with a band [EXCLUSIVE]

With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...

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Bay Bryan talks to us about being a

Bay Bryan talks to us about being a "wee queer ginger", singing with Laura Marling and being inspired by Matilda [EXCLUSIVE]

Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...

Keelan X talks to us about staying true to

Keelan X talks to us about staying true to "your creative vision", collaborating with Giorgio Moroder and being "a yoga nut" [EXCLUSIVE]

Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.

Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]

Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]

Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...

Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and

Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and "going through a year of grief and sickness" [EXCLUSIVE]

Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...

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