Album Reviews
EP REVIEW: JOCKSTRAP – Wicked City: we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto
WARP debutantes Jockstrap – the duo Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye, jazz and electronics students respectively in a previous life – really do screw with the ol’ head, in the nicest possible way. It’s not like you haven’t heard many of the influences they draw on before, perhaps; but it’s the insouciant way they combine …
Album Review: Nadine Shah – Kitchen Sink
Kitchen Sink follows up Nadine Shah’s Mercury Prize nominated 2017 album Holiday Destination which received critical acclaim including AIM Awards ‘Independent Album of the Year’, a #7 ‘Album of the Year’ from BBC 6 Music, #5 from The Quietus and more. Shah has always written important songs. With Holiday Destination she sang about the refugee …
Droppin’ Knowledge: On Jabee’s Stunning New LP, The OKC MC Hopes for the Best & Prepares For the Worst
When I spoke to hip hop artist Jabee, via Zoom last week, the Oklahoma City native seemed tired, but at peace. In the past several weeks, he had attended rallies in his city against police brutality, completed three music videos for songs from his new album and readied their physical releases. He also greeted the …
Album Review: Key Out – Anthropomorphia
Key Out are proving to be one of the more exciting bands in Sydney – even the world – at the moment and this is never evident than in their new album ‘Anthropomorphia’. It is brimful of shimmering guitars and songs that seems to perfectly reflect the bright blue summer skies of Sydney. Skies that …
Album review: Sofie – Cult Survivor
STEEPED in music and musicality for most of her life, Viennese chanteuse Sofie Fatourechi has been quietly working away in the industry in various guises for a long while; but now, after a paradigm shift in her life, it’s time for a little limelight for herself with her first album of songs, Cult Survivor, on …
Album Review: Galaxians – Chemical Reaction
The second album from Leeds disco funk trio, Galaxians, out via Stargaze on 26th June. During the lockdown period and Covid-19 crisis, the music I have reviewed has been mostly works of internal reflection and contemplation, there has not been that music which has been reactionary in a sense of letting your hair down. We …
Album Review: The Total Rejection – The Time Traveller’s 3rd Will And Testament
Remember when gigs were a thing? Last year I went to a pub in Salford to see Bristol’s The Total Rejection in all their raucous glory. The gig was fantastic, like seeing ‘65 era The Who playing The Seeds or 13th Floor Elevators songs at full pelt and full volume. They may well wear their influences on …
EP: Starflyer 59 – Miami
Out now is new EP ‘Miami’ by Californian indie band Starflyer 59, on Velvet Blue Music. Starflyer 59 have released a multitude of albums, singles and EPs over the last quarter of a century and this is a nice addition to their expansive discography.The title track, ‘Miami’ is an acoustic-driven slice of psychedelic indie, complete …
ALBUM REVIEW: bdrmm – ‘Bedroom’
A DEMO recorded on a smartphone, and a paucity of vowels: from such humble seeds Yorkshire’s bdrmm have flowered into probably the most hotly tipped band on the rejuvenated shoegaze scene. So how did it all begin for bdrmm? Frontman Ryan Smith details the moment. “I remember being in my bedroom before a 12-hour shift …
Album Review: LYR- Call in the Crash Team
The debut album by LYR is an eclectic and ambitious new project, derived from a trio of producer Patrick Pearson, musician Richard Walters and poet Simon Armitage. Besides a slew of solo records and writing for the likes of Gabrielle Aplin and Alison Moyet, Walters previously worked with Simon Armitage on his solo track Redwoods; …