The Strokes - Comedown Machine Review

I knew that if I stuck by long enough; I'd end up doing follow-ups and, whilst Sigur Rós will have to wait until summer; The Strokes return with album five after the dull and uninspiring Angles. They've returned to the routes of recording music and vocals together, it's lead single is eerily similar to their first two albums (the ones everyone seems to like) and the world holds it's breath in anticipation; hoping for a drastic return to form a decade after said two albums.

Well; not so much holding their breath, but more "Can it get worse?"

A Few Words on... Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse

Frightened Rabbit's major label debut isn't a sell-out nor a radical departure of sound that's made them one of the most enduring, underrated and consistent acts out there.

A Few Words on... Atoms for Peace - AMOK

Whilst Radiohead continue to tour with hints of new material arriving sooner rather than later, frontman Thom Yorke has been exceptionally busy elsewhere with newer friends.

David Bowie - The Next Day Review

I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably not the best person to review this. My first experience of Bowie came when my Dad asked me to scour the interwebs in search of the Spiders on Mars' album (the actual band, not Ziggy Stardust...) and my friends raving about Life on Mars (the TV show) and having the song of the same name played repeatedly for driving.

Naturally; I was suckered into the hype of David Bowie's first album in a decade. How years of trawling through his back catalogue showcased some of the best albums I'd ever heard. How the media was left stunned that his comeback wasn't on their radar and how the album would see Bowie reinvent himself again as a veteran rock and roller as opposed to the otherworldly persona's seen from his early days up until...2003?

It's a guaranteed number one and might possibly be the best selling album of the year but, at the end of it all, if you move past the hype, the ongoing adulation from other publications; is The Next Day, not only a good album but the comeback that Bowie needed?

A Few Words on... Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)

With Porcupine Tree on a indefinite hiatus; all eyes are on Steven Wilson's third solo outing and whether it can top the surprisingly great double album Grace for Drowning.

A Few Words on... The Hunger Games

A Few Words on... Foals - Holy Fire

Before listening to it in full; I had Holy Fire as one of the possible Albums of the Year, taking into consideration how much I liked the singles Inhaler and My Number and how much the band progressed from their debut to Total Life Forever.