Album Reviews
Album Review: Paper Tiger – Rogue Planet
The Leeds and London-based outfit are back with their third album ‘Rogue Planet’ a combination of elements from live recordings and improvisations, with an emphasis on blending organic sounds with electronic production techniques. It’s a trip through Electronic, funk, hip hop and soul, brimming with textured samples and intriguing progressions, demonstrating the enviable musicianship on show here. …
Album Review: Knuckle – Life Is Hard When You’re Soft Inside
From the opening riffs of the Spilt Milk, the first track on Huddersfield three piece Knuckles debut album, you’re transported away. Not far, but maybe to a hostelry in the trio’s home town. The sort of place with worn carpets, and woodbines and dominoes, and pints of bitter. A place that’s full of atmosphere and …
Album Review : Automelodi’s ‘Mirages au futur verre-brisé’
Montreal’s Automelodi is the brain child of singer/producer Xavier Paradis, a master of sound design, melody-driven song structure, and an enthusiast of hardware-driven song building. Having a rich musical history that started back in his teens and building a strong following with his ability to create dark and passionate electronic music dating back to the …
Album Review: Loyle Carner – Not Waving, But Drowning
We saw with London rapper Benjamin Coyle-Larner, aka Loyle Carner’s first album Yesterday’s Gone that he was something different. Rejecting, or at least choosing to ignore the usual spoutings of bravado and boasting expected in a rappers armoury. Instead introduced us to his heart, firmly on his sleeve, his mother reading out poems extolling the …
Say Psych: Album Review: Birth – Live In Tuscon
Birth is the project of Grant Beyachau and Nik Rayne from The Myrrors who performed as Birth for an improvisational performance in Tucson, USA. The performance was captured onto a handheld recorder which means this recording transports you right to the heart of the action with instrument leads buzz and cut out for a second …
Album Review: Mountain Goats – In League With Dragons
Listening to the new Mountain Goats album can make you ponder genre. We’ll doubtless tag this as an indie album review. But of course what we might think of as US indie music never really came fom the same place as its UK counterpart. Yes, it can be literate and clever. Yes, there’s more than …
Say Psych: Album Review: DJINN – DJINN
Neither inherently good nor evil, the DJINN have been heralded in Arab culture since the Pre-Islamic period, located somewhere on a spiritual plane between humanity and the realm of deities. A mysterious force, their influence – essential between angel and demon – has subsequently extended to mythos, religious belief and folklore far and wide, from …
Say Psych: Album Review: Flamingods – Levitation
Flamingods are a four-piece, multi-instrumental, multi-cultural band who originally met and formed in Bahrain & now call London home. The band was founded by Kamal Rasool and now consists of Rasool, Sam Rowe, Charles Prest & Karthik Poduval. The group puts a focus on exploration and experimentation, often taking influence from different cultures around the world by …
Album Review : Rev Magnetic’s ‘Versus Universe’
The debut album by quartet Rev Magnetic buzzes with light-headed glee. Versus Universe follows in the grand tradition of symphonic psych pop bands like Mercury Rev, Polyphonic Spree, the Flaming Lips, and to some degree Spiritualized. There’s a mixture of modern electronics with the hallucinogenic sweetness of acid-burnt pop. Rev Magnetic is the brainchild of …
Album Review: Barrie – Happy to be Here
Barrie’s single “Tal Uno”, released last year, was for me one of the stand out singles of 2018 (along with Fontaines D.C.’s ‘Boys in the Better Land’). Their follow up singles, off the EP ‘Singles’ further enhanced my love of the band. Smooth clean jangly psych pop with the most elegant harmonies and the indelible. …