Pete Laurie, Journalist

Are they serious, or seriously taking the piss?

Carl Newman, Neko Case and Dan Bejar et al are the veritable Voltron of indie rock.

"Manic Street Preachers are a band that have never settled for anything less than piling on every single conceivable layer of bombast and excess"

It sounds like each one will inevitably burst out of your speakers whether you press play or not.

When punk rock is polished, picked over and pristinely perfected to within an inch of its life, is it still punk rock?