Album Reviews
Album Review: The Actions unveil the luscious atmospheric ‘Flourish’
Bristol duo The Actions‘ display their home town trip hop roots adeptly in their new album ‘Flourish’, out now through Niteo Records. This album has a spacious expansive atmosphere with glitchy, sticky percussion, eclectic instrumentation and Marta Argenio’s voice a soft, silky breathless whisper floating across the surface. There is a rich luscious patena to …
ALBUM REVIEW: CAMERA – ‘Prosthuman’: the current Berlin motorik
SO, LET’S talk krautrock. In many ways, it’s all about the rhythm, isn’t it? Think Can; think Jaki Liebezeit, that perfect control, poise, underpinning. Motorik, propulsion, but also tremendous fills and patterning. Metronomic, relentless, the beating heart of the record. Berlin’s CAMERA have that. They have their own Jaki in the shape of the excellently …
ALBUM REVIEW: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound
The tricky thing about this Psychedelic Porn Crumpets album, particularly when stacked up against the likes of High Visceral {Part 1}, is that it feels like it has to be constantly in motion. When you hear a song early, it’s fresh. When you hear the same concept rehashed even two songs later, it feels stale. …
ALBUM REVIEW: Indigo Sparke – ‘echo’: a jaw-dropping country-folk debut
You can hear Indigo’s very essence shot right through echo. It’s never less, at any point, than extremely lovely; at many points its genuinely bloody stunning. You know when someone has that alchemical it, and boy: Indigo incontrovertibly does.
It’s not an album to have on in the background, because it’s far too arresting and enveloping, commanding. She’s royalty in waiting on the leftfield folk scene. Astonishing; buy
EP REVIEW: Tape Runs Out – ‘Ghost Fruit’: hail Cambridge’s new intelligent indiepop geniuses
I really, genuinely think Tape Runs Out may one day take a place in the pantheon of the proper eccentric, intelligent British pop genii – they can turn their hands in any direction they wish, know how to arrange a tune so it makes you sit bolt upright, aren’t afraid to push that tune in whichever stylistic direction it seems to demand; yet are also completely enthralled to the brilliance of a well-turned pop song. Brilliant, insouciant and intelligent
Album review: Alberteen’s sparkling analogue voyage of discovery ‘Lowenva’ is a refreshing beacon of light.
In ‘Lowenva’, Alberteen have created a mesmerising, organic album that crinkles with visceral instruments – melodic crunchy bass, pounding percussion, rumbling guitars, riffing horns and deep laconic cool vocals. It is a sound that seems to encapsulate the recurring nautical and natural themes in the album – deserted coastal towns, windswept beaches and pounding waves. …
News: Nic Dalton reissues brilliant and vibrant solo album Romolo for the first time in limited edition vinyl
There was a while when the capital of Australia – Canberra of course – punched way above its weight in terms of music – legendary bands like The Church, The Lighthouse Keepers, The Falling Joys, Youth Group and the Plunderers all made their way out of the remote sterile planned city to greater things in …
Album Review: Kilbey/Kennedy release the spectacular album Jupiter 13 – a sci-fi journey cloaked in a psychedelic indie shimmer.
If there was any doubt about the ability of The Church’s Steve Kilbey to eat, sleep and dream brilliant music without limit, this new album with long time collaborator Martin Kennedy is proof. Kilbey is without doubt the hardest working musician in the business – but extraordinarily there is absolutely no dilution of quality. One …
Album Review: ‘Save Our Hearts’ – superb jangling indie debut from Madisyn Whajne
Madisyn Whajne (pronounced Wayne) is a member of the Whitefish River First Nation (Manitoulin District of Ontario) and her debut album ‘Save Our Hearts’ is a scintillating slice of pop sunshine – jangling summery indie pop that fizzes and sparkles with a joie de vivre that belies her difficult childhood. Taken from her parents as …
EP: The Stools – Carport
Take a deep breath. Detroit rock ‘n’ rollers The Stools have put out a new EP, Carpool. And it’s gonna frighten, bully and finally batter you into submission. With four songs, all coming in under the two minute barrier, it’s like an assault driven by gravelly guitars, frenetic drumming, and shouted vocals that leave you, …