About Nathan Brooks

Supergroups are interesting ideas, but they’re often short-lived. Frequently, the members are each the creative force behind their respective bands, inevitably resulting in clashes of egos. Fortunately, Eric Pulido of Midlake’s new indie supergroup BNQT, consisting of Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand), Fran Healy (Travis) and Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), have already lowered the bar by labelling themselves “the poor man’s Traveling Wilburys”. The thing is though, as shown in their debut release Volume 1, they’re not half bad.
Read More

Pond have a lot in common with Tame Impala. Both are neo-psychedelic rock projects from Perth, Australia. Both have recently progressed from fuzzy guitar driven music towards more synth oriented sounds. They’ve even shared members over the years, including Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker, who’s also been Pond’s producer since 2012’s Beard, Wives, Denim album. Yet they sound incredibly different. Parker’s project combines psych rock with gorgeous, melodic and intricate songwriting. Pond, however, freely serve up bonkers, disjointed and indulgent psychedelia. Their seventh studio album The Weather is no exception.
Read More

Despite being barely seven years into their career, Australian septet King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are already one of the most prolific bands in neo-psychedelia. By the end of 2016, they had eight albums to their name. By the end of 2017, they’re planning to have five more. Flying Microtonal Banana is the first of these and it’s easily the most fascinating record they’ve put out so far.
Read More

Californian indie rock duo Foxygen is vocalist Sam France and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Rado. That’s excluding the Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd, Brian and Michael D’addario of the Lemon Twigs and the forty-piece orchestra who’ve also joined them for their latest studio album Hang. Their previous studio effort – the sprawling …And Star Power – was regularly underwritten, poorly recorded and sloppily performed, never justifying its 82-minute length. Hang, however, barely exceeds 32-minutes, yet it packs significantly more of a punch.
Read More

My original intent was to review the new Childish Gambino album, but, as January 1st 2017 creeps ever closer, I feel it’s only appropriate to look at the final record from one of 2016’s biggest losses: David Bowie. I’m reviewing his final album, Blackstar.
Read More

Album Review: Nicholas Allbrook – Pure Gardiya by Nathan Brooks

Immigration has been a controversial topic for a while, but thanks to the combined forces of the refugee crisis, Brexit …
Read More

Album Review: Anderson/Stolt – Invention of Knowledge by Nathan Brooks

I don’t get on well with modern progressive rock. Contemporary prog bands appear to have little interest in actually progressing …
Read More

Less is more; a saying found in fortune cookies from Chinese takeaways across the country. Evidently, Yes don’t eat much Chinese food. After scoring two home runs in 1971 and 1972 with Fragile and Close to the Edge, Yes felt it was time to go bigger. Literally bigger. In 1973, Yes released their sixth album Tales From Topographic Oceans, boasting a staggering 81 minute running time. Nearly double that of Pink Floyd’s legendary album The Dark Side of the Moon, and monstrous compared to the mere 37 minutes of Close to the Edge. But is bigger better? And if less is more, is more less?
Read More

The Beatles’ sort of seventh album Revolver is one of the most important in the history of popular music. And on 5th August 2016, it turns fifty. After deviating from their usual sound in 1965 album Rubber Soul, Revolver marks a seismic shift in their style. Ditching live performances, the fab four set to utilise the studio to its full potential. Complete with a lot of drugs.
Read More

English rock band Muse’s 2009 album The Resistance blew everyone’s heads off. It’s a masterclass in stadium shaking bombast. Every track makes me want to go to the houses of parliament and punch the nearest politician in the nose. How on earth they were going to top it was beyond anybody. So their sixth studio album,The 2nd Law (released in 2012), had a lot to live up to.
Read More