This album has one of the most astonishing opening salvos of any I've heard this year - Recent singles 'Strasbourg', 'Retreat' (my personal fave) and '22 Grand Job' take the first three slots, and each one is proof that The Rakes are indeed worthy of the hype that has begun to build up around them - all stuttery guitars, strong beats, shouty choruses and Alan Donohoe's Cockney tinged snarl. It's a breathtaking beginning, but one that sets such a high standard that the rest of the album can't possibly live up to it.

Thank heavens then for the 'shuffle' button on my cd player then, for it has saved great tracks like 'We Are All Animals' and 'Terror!' from being overlooked. In fact, given time these songs prove to have just as much allure as the more immediate tracks mentioned above. Goes to show how much influence track order can have on the listening experience I suppose.

This second section of the record takes The Rakes to places that I never expected to find them - there's a strong influence from Madness (in their darker, more reflective stuff, rather than the knees up muvver brown-isms of Baggy Trousers, etc), and The Specials, but luckily it's fused with enough of their more familiar angular indie guitar swagger to sneak it past my anti-ska radar. One thing that remains constant throughout is their way with an anthemic chorus, and I defy you to stick this album on in the car on your way to work without singing along.

So, in my best John Motson voice, this is an album of two halves, and it will be interesting to see which avenue The Rakes pursue from here on.

Review by Paul Madden
www.therakes.co.uk
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Joy Zipper are a curiously named duo (allegedly the band takes its name from one of their parents) hailing from New York City. Consisting of Vinny Cafiso and Tabitha Tindale, Joy Zipper still, and have always peddled their own take on blissed-out pop songs. Over the course of two albums and two EPs, they have enticed us into their whimsically psychedelic world, and this, their third album proper should hopefully see their fan base grow even larger. Joy Zipper have not really had their fair share of luck thus far, with numerous postponed album release dates and the collapse of their record deal with 13amp, so perhaps this has contributed to why more people aren’t aware of the band up until this third album.

Their previous releases revolved around pretty low-fi, delicate songs defined through the joint vocal harmony between Vinny and Tabitha. The song writing was split between the pair, as were vocal duties, effectively creating three different vocal types at their disposal, which made for an interesting and surprising listen. Their ability to conjure up a psychedelic dreamscape within their songs is second to none – think My Bloody Valentine’s washes of guitar married with the fuzzy pop-rock of Jesus & The Mary Chain.

So, it was to my extreme surprise when I first played this new album to be greeted with a pounding drum section, complete with handclaps. The first, most noticeable difference between this and previous albums is the increase in production quality. The sound is now a lot bigger and bolder, which somewhat disappointed me upon first listen. For me, the appeal was the wishy-washy blurred feeling of the recordings, but here the clarity of the recording ensures that every detail can be heard. Go Tell The World, the opening song, chugs along at a fair pace, but it fails to recapture their old magic. The vocal melody is not too far removed from The White Stripes ‘Little Room’, and the whole song seems quite similar to recent female-fronted bands, such as Sons & Daughters and The Duke Spirit. This album also features three re-recordings of songs featured on their previous album – of course, maybe they felt that they weren’t quite as they wanted them with their previous attempts – but I would much have preferred to listen to three new songs. Minor gripes aside, after a few spins, I did find the Joy Zipper of old amongst the sheen and polish. You’ve Changed features a fairly basic first half with an almost mantra like vocal section, until about halfway through when the tempo is upped, and the bassline becomes bouncier, not too dissimilar in structure to The Power of Alan Watts from their ‘American Whip’ album. The World Doesn’t Care is probably the highlight for me, featuring a strong guitar line, and frequent repetition of the title; it perfectly embodies the brilliant qualities of Joy Zipper.

All in all, I would say that about half of this album falls a bit short of the mark, as around six of the songs feel like they were written in Auto Pilot, missing the small details that made their previous albums stand out. However, this album should finally bring a lot more well deserved attention to the band, as early singles have been picked up by radio stations. This album is worth a listen, but check out ‘The Stereo & God’ or ‘Joy Zipper’ for a real treat.

Review by Ben Wykes
www.joyzipper.tv
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It has taken me nearly a week to get round to reviewing this album. It has made an impact on me like no other record. A debut effort from The Silent Type. Its not through lack of want or through lack of appeal. It is because of the emotional effort exerted on the listener of this despairingly beautiful record. So striking and considered. On the first listen, it drops upon you such an ache of poignancy and comfort. Those who seek solace will do better to seek this and let it wrap around you, engulf, calm, hurt and soothe.

The emotion of this record is best encaptured on track five; ‘Some Curious and Beautiful Maps’. So pure and delicate that it fills the most vacuous of silences with its wispy twin vocals and gorgeous tinkling piano line: So expansive and dreamy with its swelling of intensity and simplicity. The power and majesty of this track finds it force in the delivery of the vocals from Amber Blankenship. Not since the first hearing of ‘Short Stories with Tragic Endings’ by From Autumn to Ashes has a female vocal struck such a sensitive and emotive chord compounding misery whilst instilling an air of change for the good and gained more than my passing stare out of the window into the August afternoon rain which fills my view as far as the moment. As bleak as my surroundings are, the lyrics reflect, “There once was a world so perfect and flat that men sailed off her edge.” To highlight the distinction of this track is to do a disservice to the other songs on the album yet it is just so hard to not go back again and again for more anguish disguised by the collective musical talents of The Silent Type.

While some may view the lexical depth of the lyrics as irksome and above all contrived, the words are assembled with consideration and aren’t being used for the sake of prentiounsness and pomp. ‘The Gift’ details exactly the respect that Nathan Altice has for words and their immense power. “Whether venom or honey, whether poison or cure, whether violence or beauty, I present you no more than an offering of words i've grown to adore.” Such a simple notion explained in one of their more rousing numbers. To follow this lexical extravagance through, the imagery found in title track ‘Of Writing/ Of Violence’ is worthy of a Scrabble score and a half in itself

Album closer ‘Zeppelin’ is an eerie, insipid atmospheric creation that builds with soft guitars, strings and a mournful vocal musing until the sixth minute ticks across from the fifth and the drums thump the string laden pool of despair to the murkiest of depths. And so, the journey complete from the opening track and the dank optimism from whence it came. Own this record. Not for the sake of adding to a collection or for some light persuasion on my part and weakness on yours. Own this record because you want to experience it and all the touches it offers. Five years in the making. Five years of conjuring and embellishing in the creative mind of Nathan Atice and its fruition is the most delicate of blossom that will fall to ground so silently and remain so still and unheard by many who have overlooked and neglected to appreciate the beauty of what is on offer.

For those that clamber for a comparison, a benchmark of someone else’s work, then I proffer you the likes of Seafood (Circa: As the Cry Flows and its delicious folksier moments) and/or a more down-tempo and grandiose Rilo Kiley. The Silent Type liberate a tighter melody and flow with such ubiquitous cohesion: the consistency of the songs therefore, impeccable. The delectable use of one precious word with another to create a silver-thread phrase that hangs itself so humbly prevails throughout. That this band started out as the vision of one man and has expanded to a full line-up of six accomplished and rounded musicians with a recording so perfectly executed from the vision of that one mind is a testament to the belief in the quality of the songwriting and the drive for substance.

Review by James Ainsworth
www.gentlecollective.com/silenttype
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Right, no verbal riff raff, no convoluted introduction, no lists which ironically negate what they say they're going to do... Let's plunge straight in with the dirty stuff.
Pretty in Black is a record. Yes, a record, not a grimy troupe of hula dancing bananas. Although, in atmosphere, it may as well be...

On it, you can expect to find a Motown-style version of Le Tigre, in the energetically poppy 'My Boyfriend's Back' and scents of Martha Reeve and The Vandellas in the glassily light 'Ode To LA' . These less swampy moments (we'll come to the swampier, fear not fans of black seaweed and marshland) reflect Sune Rose Wagner's self-confessed love of be bop style girl groups, and indeed, his desire to mix things up a bit in the interest of well, staying interesting. However, hardcore Raveonettes fans will be pleased to hear that it's not all complete 50s pop stylistics; a more melancholic atmosphere set to a languid and seductive lyrical delivery fuzzes throughout 'The Heavens', hailing a country and western retrospective, and 'If I was Young' betrays a touch of The Kills in its vocal marriage, another duo making utterly briliant, if a tad more stripped and guttural, music.

Perhaps the bridge between these seemingly dichotomising musical forces is Love In A Trashcan, the cannily selected most recent single from the new album. Its sugary high/low Beach Boys-style harmonisation, and the psychedelically precise country-twang of Wagner's guitar along with the hazy sheen of bass and classic rock n roll rhythm which it can sound sparing and clear against, gives the track a sinisterly sweet feel. If one were to generalise, this would pretty much encapuslate the record's ambience.

But that WOULD be generalising, as the duo do still manage to lurkingly retain the core muck and straight chord, pervasive atmosphere that they coined, freshly, during Whip It On and Chain Gang Of Love. It is simply that they marry it with a greater diversity and more considered, less frantic approach. This may have something to do with the collaborative involvement of Ronnie Spector, Moe Tucker and Martin Rev on select tracks. Either way, the result is an icily infectious piece of work; one which, as opposed to blasting you initially and then defiantly maintaining that blast for what seems like 40 odd minutes, keeps its assaulting quality but is more melodical, layed back and sonically varied.
And, I for one like this approach. A lot.

Review by Sophie Barnett
www.theraveonettes.com
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Rumble begins like some lo-fi alt country beauty, while hinting at a slight danger of becoming stale. However, this does not happen. Instead, it prefers to suddenly erupt into an altogether more lively and rocky explosion.

From then on you should be sure to remain unsure, as all manner of sounds and styles merge and you’re unlikely to guess what’s around the next corner.

Their downfall is that the Psychotic Reaction try just too hard to be off the wall, so the record ends up sounding contrived. There’s an excess of novelty present, and while you sense the band’s intention was to create serious and high quality music, when they are singing about topics such as what’s lurking under the stairs it’s going to be hard to achieve that effect. There are some good ideas here, though at the moment Rumble just sounds too sporadic. A few gems nestle within it, but on the whole it’s a tiring listen.

Kudos to them for trying out something new, of course it isn’t going to be easy but it’s better than playing safe and sticking with the rest of them. All it needs is a bit of working through and sorting out so that the Reaction can find their feet. Though Rumble has been around for a little while, so maybe the band have already got themselves up to scratch. Definitely ones to watch out for.

Review by Nathania Hartley
www.thepsychoticreaction.co.uk
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