Author Archives: northernalliance

Andy Penfold, Q, October 2003 [3/5]

Posted on October 1, 2003 by northernalliance

Scottish trio formerly known as – doh! The Taliban. Having wisely ditched the name The Taliban early on, Northern Alliance’s debut is a sleepy foray into muted atmospherics. Formed at a hogmanay party to celebrate the dawn of 2002, the … Continue reading →

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Graeme Virtue, Sunday Herald, 21.09.03 [3/5]

Posted on September 21, 2003 by northernalliance

Although it clocks in at just under half an hour, the debut album from Scottish trio Northern Alliance never sounds rushed. A wistful, laidback, countrified record, it unspools tales of earthquakes and entropy at a pace short of strolling. But … Continue reading →

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Colin Somerville, Scotland on Sunday, 21.09.03

Posted on September 21, 2003 by northernalliance

This provides pretty much what it says on the cover, with the Scottish three-piece of modest renown offering much to be optimistic about on this promising debut. Certainly, it’s a tad contradictory to follow the melodically boisterous opener ‘Buildings Of … Continue reading →

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Trevor Baker, Rock Sound, September 2003

Posted on September 20, 2003 by northernalliance

It’s one of those funny quirks of geography that so many Scottish bands seem to make slow, hazy dreamy music that owes its existence to more energetic Americana formed in much sunnier climes. Northern Alliance, for example, sound like a … Continue reading →

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Camilla Pia, Kerrang, 20th September 2003 [KKKK]

Posted on September 20, 2003 by northernalliance

Scottish trio unleash slow-burning, charts-baiting mini-album. There’s nothing like the sound of a band quite clearly giving the finger to the over produced mainstream, and Northern Alliance do it with an inebriated smile on their faces. The three-piece formed at … Continue reading →

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Unpeeled, August 2003

Posted on August 14, 2003 by northernalliance

Not, as you might have quite reasonably expected, a gaggle of blokes with big beards and bigger grenade launchers, but a Scottish three piece with a sound that wanders engagingly from Electric Light Orchestra on heavy drugs in Nashville (see … Continue reading →

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Radio2XS, August 2003

Posted on August 14, 2003 by northernalliance

Wow! Every now and then a demo CD arrives which genuinely makes you wonder “where the hell have this band been all these years”. One such is the (debut, as far as we are concerned) LP by Edinburgh’s Northern Alliance, … Continue reading →

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Leon McDermott, Big Issue in Scotland, July 17 2003

Posted on July 17, 2003 by northernalliance

If the band name reminds you of a bunch of morally suspect Afghan warlords, then the album title ought to confirm that, rather than Northern Alliance being gun-totin’ mercenaries, they’re an indie band. A nice little indie band, with pretty … Continue reading →

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Stuart McHugh, Is This Music, May/June 2003

Posted on June 14, 2003 by northernalliance

With a line-up boasting a nuclear physicist – aren’t biog sheets great? –you might expect a vaguely technologically-driven album – aren’t most of Warp Records’ roster graduates in sciences? And this band’s seeming propensity for medical troubles – including collapsed … Continue reading →

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