ALBUM OF THE WEEK: R.E.M

by Chris Hammond

SquareOne Entertainment

R.E.M – Accelerate (Warner Brothers)

Last century an R.E.M release would quite literally have signalled a collective orgasm for the music press and public. Smart, unique to the point of weird and sublimely listenable R.E.M were the intelligent mainstream band of choice. 'Were' being the key word here; because inevitably success bred expectation levels which could not easily be met.

Monster, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Up, Reveal, Around The Sun. . . hardly essential listening. I suspect for the first time ever R.E.M knew they had to deliver in order to remain reasonably relevant.

So it's with as sort of resigned inevitability I can confirm that Accelerate is better than their previous three efforts combined but only half as good as Out of Time. Make of that what you will.

Song for song it sounds typically R.E.M. The wickedly addictive Mr Richards harks back to the halcyon days of the mid 1980's when the group evolved into a quirky, grungy, indie behemoth whilst Supernatural Superserious is as breezy a summer pop song as you'll likely hear this year.

More of the same only better next time, thanks lads.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK: LOWGOLD

by Chris Hammond

SquareOne Entertainment

Lowgold – Promise Lands (Cooking Vinyl)

Ah, the UK indie scene! There’s the monolithic mediocrity of Coldplay, the unbelievably past-it Oasis, the literally vile Razorlight and the walking get-out-of-jail-free card known as Peter Doherty. But wait, it seems that the perennially overlooked Lowgold could be set to mount a takeover.

Excited yet? Well you would be if you heard Promise Lands stand-out track Just Like A Sin because its gobsmackingly tasty. Principally, this is because Lowgold sound nothing like their yawnsome, skinny jeaned, anti-war, fruit-loving indie peers and elders.

Mixing forlorn anthems with low-fi slow burners might not be a musical eureka moment, but the band do it so well you’ll be hard pushed not to utilise the repeat button on your CD players remote for the best part of a week. Promise Land comes highly recommended.