Rock / Indie Recommendations March 2013

Review: The tale of The Trash Company is one too detailed to compress into the space of a record review (do check the PPU site for a complete story) but this release represent the third release of PPU material to surface from the band's creative force Max Monroe. Curated in conjunction with the Richmond, VA based Steady Sounds label, the Earle Hotel Tapes 1979-1993 collates some eleven tracks from the Monroe archives, focusing on a prolific period where he'd record demo tapes in his hotel room at the Earle and diligently send them to labels in the hope of making it as a songwriter. If you checked the PPU 7" that dropped last summer you'll know The Trash Company makes some undeniably lo-fi and distinctive music, and the breadth shown here is illuminating, veering from straightforward to downright bizzare from one track to the next.

Review: With 30 years history to their name, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds could rightly be considered as elder statesmen of the alternative music scene. Having parted company with longtime home Mute a couple of years back, Push The Sky Away - their fifteenth full-length - ushers in a new era. Musically, there are few curveballs - Cave is as maudlin as ever, and the music matches his mood - but there's a wooziness about proceedings that's as intoxicating as ever. Impressions that Cave is slowly turning into a bleak version of Leonard Cohen (not a bad thing, in our book), are confirmed by the spoken word seasickness of "Water's Edge" and the mournful "We Real Cool".