(self-released) The vibes as an instrument is unique in my opinion in its ability to lift a mood and for its pure, haunting ring to linger in the mind. We were lucky enough to catch Harriet Riley when she was playing with the wonderful Bristol band Tezeta. The vibes added a fresh and shimmering aura to the band’s heady stew of latin groove and jazz skronk. Here, she […]
Album review
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Burning World Much like Tigger, the funny old thing about genres is genres are funny old things. They don’t really mean that much in and of themselves. Like nicknames at school, you can have them thrust upon you without consent (just ask Andrew Eldritch if the Sisters Of Mercy are a goth band — sorry, mate, you don’t get to choose), and it doesn’t really matter anyway
Thrill Jockey There are a lot of solo piano artists around at the moment and a few of them have been covered in the reviews section on this fine website; but where things begin to turn interesting is in the realms of the improv piano player, where the rules are suspended temporarily and the playing is dictated by emotion and impression. Here we have two very different takes […]
Zona Watusa One of the many highlights of last year’s Delaware Road festival, the Somerset collective R.E.E.L. (Rapid Eye Electronics Ltd.) have got something here on Music For Psychedelic Duelling to graffiti over 2020’s gloom in the shape of two thirty-minute mutating stabs full of brawling pyrotechnics and toppling tautness.
Gench Thomas Dimuzio‘s presence in the alternative noise underground over the past thirty years or so is something that is hard to overlook. The ranks of artists with whom he has collaborated and the slew of labels on which his work has appeared are almost endless. The latest two releases from Thomas attempt to give a taster of just how varied and far-reaching his body of work is […]
Dais Moon’s milk was flowing strong with Coil’s transition from London to the Weston-lands. An eerie musicality crept over them on 1999’s Musick To Play In The Dark as future and past co-existed, the altar of white rainbows and unquiet skulls soaked up the coastal mists of their new shoreline residence, the tidal purr no doubt whispering new secrets into Jhon Balance‘s ear. A dark and immersive path, […]
Blang Bit of a history lesson for you. Way back in the Before Times, when people used to do things outside together and Carole Baskin didn’t get blamed for everything by everyone, there were things called “festivals”. Now, what a festival was was when people would come from far and wide to sit in the sun (or, more likely, drizzle) with a bottle of cheap cider and watch […]
Lulu’s Sonic Disc Club (Australasia and Asia) / Upset The Rhythm (Europe and Americas) A love of hazy voices, alliteration and simple melodies infuses the spirit of Sleeper And Snake‘s Fresco Shed. As members of Terry and alumni of the Australian underground, you might be forgiven for thinking you know what is coming.
Munster This is the first vinyl reissue of Tim Blake’s debut solo album in over forty years, and Munster has given Tim’s work the respect it deserves. The records are beautifully pressed on 180 gramme vinyl, and not only do you get the original album in all its glory, but also a second LP full of rarities from the same era; plus you get an insert with an […]
Kranky I think Ana Roxanne has really found their home on Kranky. This second album, expanding on last year’s ~~~, plays with the kind of delicate atmospheres and mysterious textures that are the label’s stock in trade. Ana choses a kind of gossamer fluidity and heavenly vocalising that washes over the listener like a dream, but it is a dream that requires thought and input from us. The […]
Sub Rosa A celebration of Mr Burroughs’ Western Lands, for the The Acid Lands, the Prague-based Opening Performance Orchestra spike the punch with their choice of narrator, and I’ve got to say the choice is a solid one. Iggy Pop’s husky bloom coherently curls into Burroughs’ talismanic trails, romances the roll of those words with a lived-in authenticity (and a touch of roomy reverb).
Discus It is impressive what Hervé Perez has managed to accomplish on this latest album. With great assistance from Alex Hegyesi, they play an astonishing number of instruments, some of which (psaltery, kokiroko, caval) I have no idea what they are. What they have managed though is to totally encapsulate the idea of a Garden Of Secrets by producing a series of themes that are accessible yet mysterious, […]
Geo Graham Dowdall has been operating under the Gagarin moniker for twenty-five years now and yet each release manages to bring something fresh to the electronica table. The Great North Wood has an impressive if slightly disturbing photograph of a forest on the cover; the sort of forest in which it would be easy to lose yourself, and that sense of the familiar as unknown encapsulates some of […]
Upset The Rhythm The opener from the latest Green Child album Shimmering Basset moves like a dream; the drunken, weaving synths and Raven Mahon‘s light, airy vocals are captivating. It is all synthy heaven and stuns of spectral guitar, as if the duo caught sight of an ’80s synth band through a fun house mirror and added some post-modern vibe to it.
Opal Compilations can be rather odd releases, especially ones that cover a large period of time. Normally tracks jar against each other as the artist refines their music and even change styles. This is not the case with Film Music 1976-2020, where Brian Eno’s work seamlessly melds together to give the album the feel that you are listening to a cohesive piece of work especially composed for this […]
Architects of Harmonic Rooms & Records Although Steffen Junghans has appended Basho to his last name out of a sign of respect for the legendary guitarist, it does not in any way detract from the unique direction of his own work. His latest album, the first in quite some time, is a delightful foray into the kind of impressionist guitar landscapes that his work is always hinting at, […]
Young God / Mute “New Mind” was the soundtrack to a teenage holiday in Cornwall with a couple of mates. It was that kind of holiday: evil cows, bad beer, psychotic karaoke singers (the best-worst version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”), amyl nitrate dreams. One of the people on the trip also writes for this site. He’s not been the same since. “New Mind” is the opening track on Children Of God […]
Aagoo Nicholas Merz plies the same kind of widescreen, literate music for adventurers that shares some similarities with the likes of The Triffids and The Go-Betweens; a deep, resonant voice, seemingly full of wisdom, backed by a thoughtful band that frames the lyrics and leaves space for the listener’s imagination.