Janine Elliot takes a listen to Mike Valentine’s Chasing the Dragon label’s Reel to Reel Revival “Big Band Spectacular” by the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. Needless to say this is a reel to reel release. More »
As children, when we lost a toy, we were taught to ‘retrace our steps’. To go back over the very recent past to find what we had lost. And Natterers are retracing hardcore punk’s steps to recover what has been lost in recent years. More »
Having just recovered from listening to the amazing binaural Espana and Mozart offerings from Chasing The Dragon – yes, they really are that good especially in vinyl form – Janine Elliot was invited back to Air Studios for what was yet another great production from the duo of Mike and Francoise Valentine. More »
An irony of ironies: since the advent of punk rock, a movement rooted in destabilising the establishment, it has become established that virtuosity ≠ authenticity + quality. Though it must be said, even without the Sex Pistols, Clash et al, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and their ilk were doing an excellent job of making that point… More »
If Marvel Comics’ Man-Thing made a record it would sound dangerously close to 20 Years In A Montana Missile Silo. Sci-fi synths swirl and soar over Creedence Clearwater Revival-style swamp rock, topped off with David Thomas’ idiosyncratic warbling yelp. Pere Ubu are one of those rare bands who are – as John Peel put it when referring to The Fall – “always different, always the same.” More »
Hypopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (definition: a fear of long words) is a wondrous mess of contradictions. By taking 21st century pop and melding it with The Jesus Lizard’s rhythmic disorientation, The Butthole Surfers’ sonic experimentation and the propulsive beat of dance music, Hypochristmutreefuzz have crafted a debut album of brilliant modernity. More »
33 seconds into Lace, there’s a ringing seventh chord that sends chills running down the spine. Hannah Aldridge’s strong, sultry vocals snake around the melody like a wisp of Marlboro smoke on the longest track across the 10 songs on Gold Rush. A barfly’s southern-gothic epic of a tale. More »
There’s a fine art to the lazy day. More »
As a classically trained pianist and multi-instrumentalist, Brett Gleason’s hands are not incapable. However, virtuosity is not synonymous with creativity, and on Manifest Gleason treads water in an ocean of Amos-isms and ivory-tickling. More »
Singing unashamedly in their Georgia accents, like there’s a missing tooth to match the bruised mouth, Black Lips sound mean. More »
Somewhere in recent memory, two such grassroots genres as indie and country went multi-platinum. Conclusive proof that the genres have not so much infiltrated the mainstream as that the mainstream as infiltrated them are records such as Morganway. More »
This is the sound of what’s known as ‘a boy done-good’. And Jerry Harmon is certainly that, with a grammy nomination to his name, he could in fact be the pinnacle of ‘a boy done-good’. More »
Hanging delicately together by a shining silver thread, Aeon Trio’s music ebbs and flows from the speakers like rippling water… More »
by James Fleming
The fight against ignorance is central to The Lonely Cry Of Space And Time. Combining the natural with the political, the scientific with the philosophical, and then soundtracking those themes with stirring, atmospheric electric guitar-strumming and haunting vocals is a deadly concoction. More »
by James Fleming
Psychedelic rock tends to make more promises than it can keep. More »
Both musicians and music critics are responsible. Musicians make the music, critics give it a name. When Slint released the seminal Spiderland in ’91, they had no idea that what was already a love/hate genre in the eyes of many a music fan (post-rock/math-rock) would fuse with other love/hate genres (emo). More »
Good jazz is like a good movie; every time you experience it, you notice something new. A line of dialogue you missed the first time, a new saxophone phrase, an interesting shot, or a creative harmonic. Bitches Brew is a perfect example; where there are so many musical ideas in just one piece of music that you could listen to it a thousand times and never get bored. There’s that much creativity in it. More »
John Scott marks the passing of bassist and vocalist John Wetton by revisiting the 1973 King Crimson classic. More »
Formed 5 years ago but playing music together going back as long as 15 years ago, Miss Lucid have created their 5 track, self-titled debut record, due for release in April 3rd on Fat Hippy Records. The debut single, ‘The Beast’ was unleashed on March 6th and they will also have some live dates that will be announced imminently. Luckily I got my hands on the full album for review! More »
It’s the new record from Moshi Moshi signings Happyness, who are releasing the follow-up to their acclaimed cult hit debut album, ‘Weird Little Birthday’, on April 7th this year. This new album “Write In” was recorded in their studio, right above a now-demolished old book shop, and is said take in a much wider range of influences, highlighting many new sides to the band’s song writing style. With the band only gaining more steam and heading for promising things by all accounts, it was only right that this little piglet here got her hands on it for a listen to see what all the hype is about!
From the first few lines of the opening anti-gentrification title track it was clear I was going to love this record and it just gets better the more you listen to it. My first time round was in the car and it was played three times in a row. I know little about the band, the CD came with no information and the band all have paper bags on their heads in the cover photo and as we listened on that drive we were second guessing who the band actually were. The singer has a quality to his voice that reminded me of Suggs out of Madness and I wrongly assumed that this was perhaps a side project of his. More »
It is 40 years this month since Iggy Pop’s debut album, ‘The Idiot’, was first released. Back in the grunge-heyday of the early 90s, ‘The Idiot’ was a puzzling prospect. Iggy Pop and Lou Reed were basically the godfathers of anything that was alternative, but here was a classic album of Pop’s canon, typically considered his best, that was drenched in synths and minimalistically dancey rhythms, with nary a guitar to be found on most of the tracks! Robert Harris explores this iconic record. More »
Rather amazingly, Dreadzone are one of those bands who’ve been around together for seemingly ages (they’re now in their third decade) – and yet the public at large is still blissfully unaware of them. That’s incredible, don’t you think? If I were asked to name the one band who’s playing at Glastonbury at the exact moment when you ‘find yourself’, then Dreadzone would likely be that band. That’s because along with their hazy mix of deep bass, dub beats and dance undertones, there’s a definite lean towards the otherworldly music which spills out of the West Holts Dance area. Call it dub, reggae, dubtronica or post-rave, it really doesn’t matter – it’s melodic, very listenable and you can’t help but shake in time with the music.
Keyboard maestro Vangelis has personally overseen the remastering of Delectus, a 13 disc retrospective collection comprised of a selection of his solo albums and those recorded with Jon Anderson of Yes. More »
I first saw Pixies playing live nearly 30 years ago at Manchester International supporting Throwing Muses (who were promoting their second album ‘House Tornado’ – still one of my all-time favourite albums). I didn’t actually realise at the time, but it was to be one of those tours which people still talk about years later (‘You were there??!! No way!!’). I was – and still am – an avid 4AD fan, so I’d purchased Pixies’ album ‘Surfer Rosa’ on its release just over a month prior to the gig. The album’s now well-documented ‘loud-quiet-loud’ songs made for an essential listen; Pixies didn’t sound like much else at the time – and certainly nothing on the 4AD roster. I likely don’t need to tell you that bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead & David Bowie cited them as a huge influence. It still amazes me how Pixies signed to a London-based label, despite originating from Boston, Massachusetts – and even 4AD themselves nearly passed on the opportunity had it not been for the girlfriend of then-chief Ivo Watts-Russell who managed to persuade him.
