Duophonic Tim Gane has barely rested in the last thirty years. After McCarthy was taken over by Stereolab, it was fascinating watching that band evolve into the well-loved and much imitated melder of genres that it became. From the lo-fi hypnotic racket of “Goldenballs” to the sublime pop chemistry of “Captain Easychord”, the band were in constant motion. Since their dissolution
Cherry Red / MVD Audio / New Ralph Too Ah, where was I? Oh yeah, Residents re-issues. Normally, I make a point of not reviewing the same artist more than once for this august organ. Mostly this is driven less by any terribly noble or high-minded critical rationale than by a blind fear of thoughtlessly repeating myself and being found out for just endlessly recycling the same half-dozen tired ideas.
Arlen After twenty years of playing in various groups together and apart, Ghost Music finds songwriters Matt Randall and Lee Hall reunited and plying a fine example of what I would consider to be melancholic English coastal music.
Nuclear Blast When Donald Trump was inexplicably elected to be the forty-fifth president of the United States of America, social media was abuzz with people making trite comments about “ah well, at least we’ll get some great art out of it”, as if that was really what we should be worrying about. That said, though
4AD Head Over Heels Absolutely loving the saturated colours of this re-pressed artwork, definitely more reactive than the icy grey of my ’83 original. The spray-painted water waltzing the eye in hiccupping fissure and blurring nitrate. A suggestion of fossilised form and rupturing collapse
SVS Records “Tell me the story”, a sibilant voice whispers on the album’s opening track, “i. Sabotage Story (unknot opening)”. Well, OK; you asked for it.
The Handsome Family band play in Clapton, a very recently happening neighbourhood of London. The Round Chapel is such a lovely old venue, and this is not my first time here. In fact, all my times here have always been so emotionally charged. The Handsome Family normally charges me, so let’s see if tradition holds.
three:four This is a sparse beauty. Eudaimon explores the magic and mysticism of Kathleen Raine‘s poetry in multi-tracked voice and unadorned piano. Delphine Dora‘s borrowed words melt in a melancholic sweetness, floating out on a mandolin of needled ivory. The Nico comparisons are hard to avoid, but
Prescription So let’s just get this out of the way first. This is going to be a horribly biased review. Coil almost single-handedly squeegied my third ear open. They lit up the left side of my musickal brain like a flare going off in a broom cupboard. I am hopelessly partisan, unutterably in love, deeply impressed by and unashamedly in awe.
Leather Apron Those of you who are inclined towards the comic book medium may remember a short-lived title that ran in the very late 80s and very early 90s called Baker Street. Created by Gary Reed and Guy Davis, the story was, as you’d expect, yet another riff on Sherlock Holmes. The twist this time, though, was that punk had happened in the Victorian era. It was steampunk […]
Spector Ex-directory, an embodiment of modernity and the way we, the youth of society, feel now. Spector’s new EP clearly shows off this generation of music’s inheritance and influences from its predecessors in pop, with their own modernity ingrained into every lyric.
Wharf Cat A spectral, dream-inducing five-piece from Estonia is not what I was expecting to be listening to, but that is what Holy Motors are and this, their first album, is a thing of rare beauty.
Nonplace When it comes to drumming, the late Jaki Liebezeit is up there with the likes of Stomu Yamashta and Charles Hayward. So when I heard his cult-like percussive collective Drums Off Chaos was finally releasing two sweet EPs’ worth of tracks upon the world, I was more than stoked.
Neurot (vinyl and CD) / Supernatural Cat (vinyl) So. Ufomammut‘s 8. That’s not the same as New Model Army‘s Eight, though both are the eighth albums by their respective artists. This is 8 as in ∞ turned on its side. Eight seamless tracks of endless riffs — sounds about right.
City Slang That organ vibe is immense, reverbs the Copenhagen church it was recorded in a solemn flood, crested by a bewitchment of voice. A vocal that brings to mind His Name Is Alive‘s Karin Oliver, then shifts in with Kendra Smith inflexions, gymnastically leaping to elsewhere, soaring on singed syllable.
Hubro The last couple of years have been busy for Kim Myhr. You|Me is his third album of 2017, including two collaborations: one with Lasse Marhaug and one with Ingar Zach; while in 2016, he released two albums, including one with Jenny Hval and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.
Karlrecords Mohammad Reza – better known to the world as the (last) Shah of Iran – was not a hugely likeable man. In 1979, as a youngster struggling to make sense of the images of the unfolding revolution that were flooding in via the BBC Six O’clock News, I remember my father explaining it to me
Hubro Hubro are doing such a great job of cataloguing and drawing to our attention the vibrant neo-jazz/experimental scene in Scandinavia. This latest album from Erik Honoré, following on from 2014’s well-received Heliographs, explores further his experiments in the melding of live improv and sampling technology.