My relationship with mid-90s emo and emo-revival is a very loving one; since graduating from university (and a tiny bit of time before that), I've been gradually becoming more and more obsessed with twiddly guitar passages, lyrics about Dungeons & Dragons, and jumping up and down on beds in your late 20s. Penpal are my latest fix, combining their melow-yet-technical American Football-esque sound with their own level of originality funtime to make me a very happy boy. Their self-titled album (entitled Penpal, if you hadn't guessed) was their debut release, and they've since released an EP with more…

A couple of months ago, I went on a bit of a frenzy and bought myself an entire playlist's worth of post-rock music (I felt like I'd been neglecting the genre a little in favour of poppier things) and Tunturia's Maps was part of that bundle. Despite being a playlist made up by around twenty different artists, Tunturia stood out most for me; maybe because they're Canadian, maybe because they have beards, but most likely because this record is mind-blowingly amazing. The opening track, Panic Attack, is upbeat and wonderful, and sets an amazing tone for the album…

I have too many things to say about The National; about how I love their bluesy riffs, Matt Berninger’s sublime baritone voice, or the fact that I’ve been wishing I was married to them since I was eighteen. I first listened to Boxer in my first year of university, I remember playing PS2 with my flatmate and putting it on on repeat. He’s a fan of video game music and I couldn’t tell if my indie-hipster-awesome was annoying him, but that’s tough. This was also actually the first vinyl record I received with my new turntable, which was a…

Post-rock is one of those genres that seems to have become somewhat saturated with countless bands, all working towards the same goal, and all ending sounding somewhat the same in the process. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, it just means it takes ages to sift through all the samey to reach the awesome. Take Explosions in the Sky, for example; for many, they are a post-rock staple, for others, they are pioneers, for me, they are one of the defining bands of my late teens and early twenties. All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone is…

Another recent discovery of mine, Candy Hearts came about, for me, as a result of a love of all things girly-punk; P.S. Eliot, Little Lungs, Waxahatchee and the like. They have a very 90s vibe about them - power-chordy passages embellished with twiddly guitar bits and melodic vocals; it's all very happy indeed, with just a pinch of teenage angst to sweeten the deal (hearing a lyric about being the youngest member of the band and having an 'X' drawn on your hand at the door to signify you're underage made me stifle a chuckle). Ripped Up Jeans…

Being a member of that infamous group who’re just that teeny-tiny little bit too young to have appreciated them when they were first around, I got into Plumtree as a result of Brian Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim comics. From the very first listen of the track from which the series takes its name (that’s Scott Pilgrim from Predicts the Future, if you weren’t sure) I knew this would be a love affair lasting many moons. I’ve just recently picked up the band’s first record, entitled Mass Teen Fainting, and it’s wonderful. Full of jingly-jangly guitars, harmonised vocals and…

Japan is my thing; anime, sushi, samurai - if it pertains to the ol’ land of the rising sun, I’ll probably like it. That said, Haisuinonasa (or ハイスイノナサ in Japanese) are my most recent discovery from that there far east. This modest little math/electronica band seem to have captivated me with their lovely melodies, soaring vocals and catchy beats. Their second EP (or, as they’re referred to in Japan, ‘mini-album’), The Child of Imagination and the City, conjures up images of rice paddies, city light and bicycling in the rain. Veh nice.

Genres: electronica / math / post-rock

It’s fairly common knowledge that The Mountain Goats, musical troupe and former-solo project of literary wonder John Darnielle, have been my favourite band since I first discovered them just before university, which was almost five years ago now. Ever since then, I have continued to love them, and build on that love ever so slightly; it’ll not be long before I explode with the love. I got to see them in London last year - it meant that I had to miss my graduation ball, but I hear it was overrated anyway. Their new record, All Eternals Deck…

I got into This Town Needs Guns on a recommendation from my old flatmate whilst we were studying at university, and instantly fell in love (with the band, not my flatmate, although we did have something of a bromance going on). Some months later, I saw them play at Nottingham's The Social - it was a revelation. I met the drummer, bought a t-shirt and vinyl copy of Animals from him, and became a teeny bit starstruck. Their new 7" release, going by the name of Adventure, Stamina & Anger, contains this, the title track, and another named Mnspector…

I've been a fan of post-rock since I was about seventeen and my friends and I used to sit around in our college's music tech. department listening to Ghosts & Vodka, Don Caballero, Mono and Explosions in the Sky, but I feel like I've been neglecting it for a couple of months. Codes in the Clouds were recommended to me by a friend who is a fan of Cloudkicker (the name is literally the only thing these two bands have in common with one-another) and boy was I glad when I actually got this record. Maybe it's…