With their iconic third album, Blondie mixed up disco, the retro sound of 50s girl groups and their angular new-wave punk ethos to build songs which would elevate the New York outfit to a position of globally acknowledged importance, without sacrificing their characteristic edge.
The product of an introverted genius, Neutral Milk Hotel’s second album is a tangled web of distortion and surreal imagery haunted by the ghost of Anne Frank. It was both the band’s defining and final statement.
A fourth album in as many years finds the prolific Bristol punks in more introverted mood as singer Joe Talbot mines past personal trauma for inspiration.
The New Jersey songwriter switched to the present tense on an emotionally raw fourth album that showcased the devastating power of her voice and placed her at the centre of New York’s indie-rock community.
It’s been a vertiginous three years for Snail Mail since debut album Lush announced Lindsey Jordan as one of indie-rock’s most exciting young guitarists. She returns with a follow-up informed by bittersweet life experience.
The indie-rock icons turned up the pressure and leaned into their pop sensibilities – despite Steve Albini’s teasing. And the result was a remarkable artifact of a band at their potent best.
