Album Review: Sessa –‘Pequena Vertigem de Amor’: Uncanny magic and lush funkiness from the rising São Paulo songsmith.
Sergio Sayeg (aka Sessa) is an artist who travels through distances and circumstances with his music. Coming from São Paulo his first pull was towards the psychedelic pop-toned Tropicalia mash-up of Garotas Suecas, a band he guitared and sang with until his family moved to New York. Sessa then made the most of the Big …
Album Review: The Boojums –‘The Boojums’: From garage punk to grunge rock, the Nova Scotian trio never miss the spot.
It seems to have been a while waiting for this debut LP from Nova Scotian power-punk trio The Boojums. Last seen around here on their breakneck showcase gigs with We are Busy Bodies/Having Fun label mates No Frills and Absolute Losers, they caused a mighty stir with their driving dynamism and hook filled momentum. To …
Album Review: Emma Rawicz –‘Inkyra’: Bold, widescreen, dynamic jazz from the irrepressible saxophonist and her explosive band.
You could say prestigious young saxophonist Emma Rawicz is on a roll right now. Just a few months ago she was turning jazz-heads with her exquisite and sumptuous ‘Big Visit’, a duo album with the phenomenal Gwilym Simcock and now in hot pursuit comes her new set ‘Inkyra’ via the ever-discerning ACT. To be completely …
Album Review: Jessica Moss – ‘Unfolding’: The Montreal violinist/composer’s most incisive, inspirational statement to date.
Violinist and composer Jessica Moss has always made instrumental music that speaks out. Her essential work does more than reflect times, events and tragedies, it engages with them and voices our emotions about what is being witnessed or endured. Her last two studio albums, ‘Phosphenes’ from 2021 followed a year later by ‘Galaxy Heart’, captured …
Album Review: Smote –‘Songs From The Free House’: A striking return for the drone rock/ dark folk adventurer.
Daniel Foggin, landscape gardener, guitarist, psych folk expressionist and drone rock interpreter works relentlessly. His creative portal Smote is now five albums into its journey with the venerable Rocket Recordings, an expedition which only began in 2021 with the folk trance deep-dive of ‘Droomin’. Since then Smote music has intensified, from rustic rhythm-driven psychedelic ceremonials …
Album Review: Joe Harvey-Whyte & Paul Cousins – ‘In A Fugue State’: A contemplative dreamscape of pedal steel and tape loop alchemy.
Joe Harvey-Whyte may be a go-to pedal steel player (Liam Gallagher, Billy Bragg, Josephine Foster, Nilüfer Yanya and more) but as a multi-instrumentalist and solo artist he’s been calmly extending the cosmic-country boundaries beyond its imagined cosmos for a while now. Working with Sheffield based guitarist Bobby Lee, he’s helped conjure up two mind-stretching kosmiche-americana …
Album Review: Snakeskin –‘We Live In Sand’: Enlightening, intense dream pop from the ever impressive Beirut duo.
Lebanese, electronic dream pop duo Snakeskin don’t so much shed layers from release to release, they harden their resolve, reinforcing their messaging into songs which are even more powerful and defining. Formed by singer-songwriter Julia Sabra, of alt-rock/experimental scene stalwarts Postcards, and Fadi Tabbal, founder/producer at Beirut’s irreplaceable Tunefork studios, Snakeskin’s soundscape first emerged in …
Album Review: Yara Asmar – ‘everyone I love is sleeping and i love them so so much’ : Extraordinary electro-acoustic stories crafted from simple things.
Tinkering, testing, tuning and transforming, Yara Asmar is a restlessly inquisitive multi-instrumentalist. Since her debut release on Hive Mind, ‘Home Recordings 2018-2021’ the Beirut- based musician has used music boxes and metallophones, accordion and toy pianos to sculpt her sonic narrative. It’s not Art Ensemble avant or Cage-ist experimentalism powering her practice though, the pull …
Album Review: Lophae –‘Imagine More’: Another instalment of lyrical, melodic, shape-shifting jazz from the London quartet.
Now here’s something to hunker down with, ‘Imagine More’, a second instalment from new(ish) London jazz quartet Lophae. That’s a logical title for a follow up to the combo’s acclaimed debut ‘Perfect Strangers’, a set of subtly intense, melodic tunes which had listeners wondering about what might come next in the band’s catalogue. Well this …
Album Review: Absolute Losers – ‘In The Crowd’ : Power pop gets a real refresh from this tightly sprung Canadian trio.
There’s the coolest Ian Dickson photo of The Jam live at the 100 Club circa 1977, Foxton caught jumping mid-air, Weller leaning into a power chord and Butler sticks raised mid-beats. The cover of rising Canadian power pop trio Absolute Losers’ second album ‘In The Crowd’ whether by accident or design captures the same visceral …