A Few Words on... The 1975 - The 1975

I'd like to pride myself in not getting swept up in undeserved hype. For a while, this didn't apply to The 1975; a new band which took the unusual step of having four EP's of material before releasing their debut album of sixteen tracks of re-recorded and new material.

A Few Words on... Pixies - EP-1

It's been nine years since the last Pixies release, the forgettable Bam Thwok and the Warren Zevon cover Ain't That Pretty At All and things have changed significantly. Kim Deal has left...again, the band is reaching the age where one wonders if they still have enough fuel in the tank to keep going with the same insanity and energy of years past.

So it's surprising to see the band with not one, but two releases in short succession. Today's subject matter lies with EP-1, featuring four new songs which, despite the inclusion of all the other band members, sounds distinctly non-Pixies.

Arctic Monkeys - AM Review

Two years ago, I hailed Suck It and See as, not only the comeback that Arctic Monkeys needed, but one of the years better albums, brimming with tunes and a return to the fast beats, the riffs and the hard rock edge that was severely lacking in Humbug.

Retcon-Nation's Top Ten Games of E3 2013

Another year, another e3, another recap. An important one too; Nintendo for the first time downsizing their presence with the ongoing failure that is the Wii U. Microsoft did everything humanly possible wrong with the up and coming Xbox One to the point that they had to backtrack on everything (thus making their press conference...wait for it...retconned).

And Sony played it safe and, for a week, looked like the clear winner of the next generation.

But consoles can only go so far, and unlike the big three who keep pushing gimmicks, whether it's touchscreen controllers that no one wants to develop for, a camera that offers an Orwellian nightmare or sharing every useless aspect of your playtime; it's games that gamers want and, as with every year, here is my top ten titles of the year.

Sigur Rós - Kveikur Review

A lot has changed over the year since Sigur Rós' comeback album Valtari and their latest offering Kveikur. You can put it down the band losing keyboardist Kjartan Sviensson, maybe Valtari's mixed to positive reception with main criticisms being the sense of over-familarity or maybe, just maybe, after over fifteen years since Von, it's time for a change.

Change that sees a Iceland's most famous musical export...after Björk, produce it's most radically different, yet traditional album yet.

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork Review

If you were to tell me at the start of the year that Queens of the Stone Age could potentially craft the album of the year, I'd raise my eyebrow and look for a TARDIS as it'd be quite obvious you'd travelled from 2002 when QotSA had produced one of the albums of that year and the idea of them even getting close to Songs for the Deaf was, well, ludicrous.

Noah and the Whale - Heart of Nowhere Review

Folk pop is either entering another renaissance or entering it's first now that Mumford & Sons are one of the best selling bands of the past five years. Whereas years ago, the idea of making millions with simplistic arrangements, string instruments aplenty and timeless themes were so far removed from the clean-cut, electronic heavy and hyper-sexualised cartoon exploits of early 21st century popstars; Mumford & Sons simplistic take on one of music's older genres was a much needed antithesis.

Unfortunately; Mumford & Sons are one of the most criminally overrated acts of recent memory and like all somewhat undeserving bands; there's always more that should receive the critical and public adulation.