Album Reviews
Album Review: Gary Daly – Gone From Here
Gary Daly is one half of the duo (along with Eddie Lundon) behind Liverpool’s magnificent pop purveyors, China Crisis – an eighties phenomenon that continues to play today. Known for their social conscience and highly attuned pop sensibilities, China Crisis were never afraid to experiment or expand their musical horizons, working closely with the late …
Album Review: Song, By Toad -Split 12″ Series Vol. 7
We’ve already lamented the announcement last year that Edinburgh-based Song, By Toad Records was calling it a day. If this is its last release then it’s appropriate that its one of its signature split 12″s. (Although don’t be fooled, it’s a 12-song album.) The idea is simple and speaks to the heart of the label. …
Say Psych: Album Review: Joe Ghatt – Banana Sludge
Australian label Third Eye Stimuli Records have this week ventured across the waters to release the debut LP from New Zealander Joe Ghatt, Banana Sludge. Originally from Nelson on South Island but now residing in Auckland, Ghatt has been performing and collaborating for the last few years with Kiwi psyhc rockers Arthur Ahbez and Kelvin …
Album Review: Scott Lavene – Broke
Back in 2016 I reviewed an album by an act called Big Top Heartbreak. Deadbeat Ballads was one of those albums where the personality of its creator truly shone through. It was a shame then that it languished in relative obscurity, with even being absent from some of the bigger music cataloguing websites. Its cult …
Album Review: Plastic Mermaids – Suddenly everything explodes
Isle of Wight five piece Plastic Mermaids have taken their time with their debut album Suddenly Everything Explodes, out on May 24th, mixing into their musical cauldron elements of woozy, psych-pop, insightful lyrics and pop culture references, a dollop of humour, fuzzy pop and a string of catchy melodies. What they’ve cooked up is as original …
Review: The Waterboys – Where The Action Is
Following on from 2015’s lauded album, Modern Blues and 2017’s top ten-reaching double album Out Of All This Blue, on May 24th The Waterboys will release their new album Where The Action Is, via Cooking Vinyl. The title track is an update of the Robert Parker classic ‘Let’s Go Baby’ – this is proper full …
Album Review : Paul Gilbert’s ‘Behold Electric Guitar’
I first discovered Paul Gilbert when I was a freshman in high school. Somewhere around 1988 or 1989 I picked up the Racer X album Second Heat and I was immediately blown away by the incredible Mr. Gilbert. I wasn’t as blown away by Racer X, but man could Paul Gilbert play. My admiration for …
Album Review : Com Truise’s ‘Persuasion System’
Up to this point, producer/musician Seth Haley has worked in specific narratives within his project Com Truise. A loose concept about a space traveler named Com Truise, a self-described “synthetic astronaut”, has been the ground floor of his big beats, walls of synths, and shimmering 80s ethos. VHS tapes, woozy sci fi, and latchkey afternoons …
Album Review: Madonnatron – Musica Alla Puttanesca
If you haven’t heard London all-girl quartet Madonnatron and you’re expecting from their name some kind of vivacious, day-glo punk/synth/pop thing with subject matter scattered between myths, legends, and things that would make your Grandad blush, then frankly you’d be spot on the money. If lead off single Sucker Punch caught your ear, you may …
Album Review: Dommengang – No Keys
No Keys, the third album from Dommengang, sees the three piece further hone the blues rock of 2018’s Love Jail, while still keeping some of the psych rock stylings that permeated the bands self-titled debut record from four years ago. The result is a rough-hewn hard rock record, with lyrics that address the loss and …