NEWS: Spiers & Boden are back! Live stream tonight
NOW that’s a brilliant turn-up for the books as summer sadly wanes; Spiers & Boden, the folk duo of John and Jon who announced they were splitting up back in 2014, have made an unexpected return; and they’re performing tonight, August 31st, as part of the ‘Folk on Foot’ all-day celebrations. The pair said: “Well, …
ALBUM REVIEW: Skinshape – ‘Umoja’: a fine interweaving of Afro-Anglo guitar pop
DORSET-born Will Dorey is a man with a far-reaching, eclectic musical vision, which he gives to the world via the medium of his recording alias Skinshape. He’s a fellow traveller alongside artists such as Ninja’s Romare and Albert’s Favourites’ Huw Marc Bennett (whose debut album comes next month) in that Skinshape actively embraces the beauties …
TRACK: El Ten Eleven – ‘Shimmered’: yearning and dynamic postrock from their upcoming triple
EL TEN ELEVEN have really pushed the boat out on their soon-coming latest, Tautology: it’s a massive, conceptual triple set, predicated on a disc each representing youth, middle, and old age. In fact, they’ve been dropping the album in thirds right across the year, with the stunning energy of Tautology I reaching our ears on …
Marble Mammoth – ‘Have The Sun Lick Your Mind’: big Swedish rock shapes
COMING atcha out of Stockholm, Marble Mammoth have an interesting thing goin’ on, mining in that space somewhere between harder edged psych and classic hard rock like Led Zep – with a line in big vocal uplift and dirty guitar solos. They’ve just released their very first utterances of 2020 in the shape of the …
ALBUM REVIEW: Bill Callahan – ‘Gold Record’: Bill pans for nuggets and strikes again
BILL CALLAHAN. Question: can you imagine a world where we don’t have his grace, his eye for the humanity of the everyday, his profound bass-voiced grace, those songwriting abilities. Scary thought, huh? There’s been enough to scare us in this ill-starred year of our lord, 2020. So we can be grateful that he’s kinda sprung …
Track: Palace Winter – ‘Won’t Be Long’: intelligent synthpop duo trail their third LP; tour dates
PALACE WINTER, the Australian-Danish duo comprised of lead singer and guitarist Carl Coleman and classically trained pianist and producer Caspar Hesselager, are leading up to their upcoming third long player of intelligent pop with the single “Won’t Be Long”, which you can hear below. “I’m staring into the mirror, hoping she might appear, feels like …
TRACK: Natty Wylah – ‘Cinders’: atmospheric and sharp North London rhymes
NATTY WYLAH, the north-of-the-Thames lyricist who’s been carving out a reputation over the past year or so with single drops like the musically laidback but lexically bold and proud “WHOAMI” and the chronic-funk of May’s “4 Siblings” has just dropped a new single for those Northern Line sundowns – “Cinders”. He’s a crisp new voice …
TRACK: Lizette & Quevin -‘Talk To Me’: another Sunny classic given the finest of rerubs
BIG CROWN. It’s a helluva label, period, is the Brooklyn purveyor of retro excellence to capture yo’ heart. It’s the kinda imprint you could swoon for; don’t believe me? Take a listen to The Shacks’ “Smile Now, Cry Later” over here, and then come back to me. Damn right. The label itself has been conducting …
The Green Child – ‘Low Desk: High Shelf’: seductive synth-psych trails the new LP – maybe avoid the picnic
THE GREEN CHILD is the musical avatar of Mikey Young and Raven Mahon, who met, hung out and started to spark when their previous respective bands – Mikey’s Australian synth outfit Total Control, and Raven’s Grass Widow, played a show together in Oakland, California; Raven’s home state. Formerly collaborating long-distance, they released their self-titled debut …
SEE: Dennis Ferrer – ‘Sunny Days’: bringing the togetherness groove for Defected
THE PRODIGAL son returns; after an absence of more than four years – since the release of “Right Thing”, back in June 2016 – intelligent house music legend Dennis Ferrer has come back to Defected in tandem with Dawn Tellman for “Sunny Days”, a call for uplift, positivity and togetherness in undeniably troubled times. It’s …