Album Review: Beirut – No No No
At its best ‘No No No’ is cheerful, breezy, spirit-lifting. But that same lightness is also what holds it back from being anything more than a solid, ultimately not-very-remarkable listen. There’s plenty here that is nice, and pleasant, and I can imagine looking out of a bay window onto autumnal parkland enjoying this record as …
Album Review: Dar Williams – Emerald
Dar Williams’ music professes a great deal of heart; there’s little doubt for the listener that this songwriter sees and feels keenly, and wants to communicate her observations and conclusions. On her most recent release, and my first brush with her since 1996’s ‘Mortal City’, the most noticeable change is in Williams’ voice which seems to …
Live: Tom Brosseau at Wilton’s Music Hall
I knew ‘Perfect Abandon’ would sound at its best live: Tom Brosseau and band did not disappoint. Wilton’s Music Hall played host to a beautiful evening of otherworldly country and folk, blending most of the new record with one or two cuts from preceding release ‘Grass Punks’, and a couple of other, older treats. Everyone was on …
Live: The Staves
It’s a rare venue, Wilton’s Music Hall: a combination of grand music hall from the 19th century and a pub from the 1700s. Both are still in effect: the hall playing host to this evening’s musical marvels and the pub providing rich refreshment in the form of the wonderfully-named Curious Brew, and Kernel’s delicious Pale …
Film Review: Girlhood (Bande de Filles) – BFI Flare 2015
For the first time in an age, I’m back at the British Film Institute’s LGBT festival, in the only screen that matters. This evening NFT1 hosted Céline Sciamma’s 2014 feature ‘Girlhood’ (originally screened at last year’s London Film Festival) about the lives and trials of Marieme and her friends in a group of estates on …
See: Little Death Machine release new video for Pale/December
Little Death Machine‘s new single ‘Pale’, and b-side ‘December’, dial things down several notches, take the rock out of the equation and gently deposit us into slower, hazier soundscapes. There’s still an air of disquiet and unease supplied by the melancholy guitar rolls, the coarse, shuddering drums and the soft but insistent alarm-like keyboards. The video, …
New Music: Altadore – Clearer
Dropping immediately after the melodic battering ram of ‘Bar Lights’, Altadore’s new single was always going to sound slight by comparison. But once you’ve settled into its loping rhythm, the gentle message of ‘Clearer; and Gabe Mouer’s trilling, roaming guitar will leave you happy that Spring has sprung and noting that there’s a freshness burgeoning …
Tom Brosseau – Perfect Abandon
One of the first things I noticed about Tom Brosseau’s follow-up to 2014’s ‘Grass Punks’ is the sound. Sure, all the usual elements are there: Tom’s high, clear voice and the spare arrangements. But together, Tom, producer John Parish (sometimes on organ) and the band assembled last year (David Butler on (two) drums, Joe Carvell …
Album Review: The Charlatans – Modern Nature
The Charlatans are an ageing Indie Holy Cow, the kind of band whose back catalogue xfm love to (very) selectively mine when they’re not heavily rotating the execrable Kasabian and the fading Kings of Leon. There are legions of fans, they’ve been around for over 25 years, and they have produced some decent tunes like ‘Just When You’re Thinking Things …
New Music: Altadore – Bar Lights
It feels like a long time since Winter 2012’s ‘Golden Hills’, but it has been worth the wait: ‘Bar Lights’ is one hell of a start to 2015 for Altadore. You all know EXACTLY what it’s like. You’ve found a band that you love to pieces, you’ve metaphorically worn away the grooves on the vinyl listening …