Snap judgements

The problem with having to write album reviews to tight deadlines is that you never get the opportunity to really live with a record for any length of time, and so permanently run the risk of making judgements that, with hindsight, seem hasty and ill-considered. Which is a roundabout way of saying that both Drahla's Useless Coordinates and Imperial Wax's Gastwerk Saboteurs are probably deserving of more than just the three stars I gave them in the latest issue of Buzz. While Drahla didn't come across brilliantly at Clwb on Friday (largely thanks to the sound mix), I strongly suspect that Imperial Wax - the last line-up of The Fall, minus Mark E Smith (obviously) - at the same venue on 7th June will be a different proposition.

The May issue also saw me assessing Wheeltappers And Shunters, the long-overdue return of Scouse psych weirdos Clinic, and In Plain Sight, Honeyblood's third LP and the first since Stina Tweeddale dispensed with a collaborator and struck out on her own.