4AD I’m feeling wooozy; Kim and Kelley Deal‘s deadpan is killing me again, that no-nonsense nudge hyena(ing) my inner diva. When it comes to The Breeders, it’s almost impossible not to mention their previous track record.
Michael Rodham-Heaps
496 posts
Swindon 22 February 2018 The good people at the latest of Swindon’s venues, The Tuppenny, have been brave enough to unleash the might of two of the town’s finest sons on an unsuspecting public. First up is the extremely affable Tom, who when donning his magic wolf’s hat becomes sonic terrorist Grasslands, defender of the faith of the open veldt and ex-employee of the month at Safeway in Aberystwyth.
Trilithon On headphones this Transits remix album rules, even better blaring through the speakers. Really needles the betweens, plucks aspects from its tidal original, spectrum-snakes its brooding intent, kicks out a dance of contemplative delectables. Over two and a half hours of music derived from the same twenty-three minute source material
Bristol 12 February 2018 Divorcing us from context, Carter was like a travelling salesman peddling dismembered arithmetics, a volatile dance of irregularity from the inside of a wooden suitcase. That awkward caress of pipping bubble wrap and shuffling sandpaper was an intriguing proposition, a parade of mutated modulars bathed in palpitating reverses, guillotined gallop.
Aphelion Editions Straight out of Bristol’s thriving underground comes this forty-minute slice of unnerving ambience from EMEI, AKA Louise Brady. Vexing her inner witch, this fine example of tonal paganism more than matches the haunting abstractions that package it all up.
Care In The Community The conversation on Improvisations is first rate, smarting with witty crosswires and argumentative animals. Charles Hayward‘s percussive verve is more than a match for Thurston Moore‘s mauling muscle, both parties templeing temptation fluidly, seeding your mind in animated gusto.
Bristol 23 January 2018 Loved Microdeform‘s haunted weathers. A lovely bubbling piano lighting the shadowy architectures, a trembling edifice beaming in the cross-pollination of plunging crevices and sonic apparition. Morphic memories lingering in them stretching keylines
Upset The Rhythm The fruits of a musical collaboration between Mikey Young and Raven Mahon, The Green Child début LP is a delightfully melodic beast with rounded percussives that shaves off the acuteness of life’s right-angles.
Cherry Red After the major retrospective of last year, Cherry Red have decided to treat us to reissue frenzy from Momus‘s back catalogue. Divided into two deluxe three-CD packages aptly entitled Procreate, the first of which gives you a lusty and languid taste of the 1980s via a trio of albums Nick Currie did for Alan McGee‘s Creation label.
Buried Treasure Kept underground by the Soviets for too many years, Yuri Morozov‘s legacy is finally spreading its wings and flying into your ears. His Inexplicable and Human Extinction albums house some of the most unhinged electronic experiences I’ve tasted for a long while, and this teasing compilation from Buried Treasure scoops a lot of the same, whilst getting fruity with the progressive tinkles.
Bristol 10 December 2017 I wake to blizzard conditions, and a transport system buckling under a four-inch surprise of snow and ice. The UK has the worst coping strategies when it comes to sudden changes in weather, it really does; so I decide against my usual journey down the M4 for a cramped train journey
Consouling Sounds Thighpaulsandra and Massimo Pupillo (of Zu) have conjured a lovely bit of ambience here as Uruk, heavy fruit rotten with cankerous rainbows. I Leave A Silver Trail Through Blackness is a dark joy best suited to making merry with the other side of the witching hour. Crank that dial to the right and sink into its dronic pleasures, a thirty-eight minute journey lit in tubular shackles and […]
Bristol 1 December 2017 Tucked in to the stage edges, Modulus III were a threesome of dual synthesizer drums and the rub of a cello, they cruised through some lovely motorik hypnotics. Musically siphoning their inspiration from a multitude of ports, but safely jutting out of entrapment, they notched up plenty of fireworks.
Bristol 23 November 2017 Drastically redefining notions of jazz, Bristol-based Calcine Quartet were a textural pleasure. Dominic Lash‘s double bass shovelling, Matthew Grigg‘s crumbled fret skutters sending the speakers into spasms. A gravelly diesel chug, breaking ranks in a ping of overspilling metal melded to the rusty hinged squeal from Rebecca Sneddon‘s sax.
Transgredient Stretching from the Maeror Tri cassette years to the present day Troum incarnation, Drone Records founder Baraka[H] and Glit[S]ch have created some of the best drone work on the planet. First experienced their taste for the infinite through the excellent Tjukurrpa trilogy and have been partial to their wares ever since. Here dark ambienteers Raison D’etre have joined forces with the German duo for their follow up to […]
Mute Marking four decades since Throbbing Gristle gave the world industrial music and a sharp shock to the system that made the punk rock scene exploding around them seem tame and backwards-looking by comparison, Mute are releasing anniversary editions of the band’s key albums. The Second Annual Report That splash of cover’s corporate blandness gives you little idea of the dirty pearls actively seeking your disapproval inside. 1977 […]
Aphelion Editions EP/64 is the band, a threesome of drums, electronics and vocal abstracts from Nick Janaway, Dan Johnson and Dali De Saint Paul. This tasty artefact documents some mighty fine live action, the date of which is betrayed by the Roman numerals of the title.
Front & Follow Ten years after its inception, Front and Follow‘s roster has grown up to be a very interesting beast indeed. Straggling left-field electronicia, folk and avant-pop, fostering strong recurring returns from Kemper Norton, The Doomed Bird of Providence and Sone Institute whilst always pushing further afield