Album Reviews
Not Forgotten: The Waterboys – A Pagan Place
Post-punk in a vaguely similar way that U2, Simple Minds and Big Country were post-punk, in the early 80s The Waterboys were a band laden with potential, fronted by an ace songwriter with a distinctive voice. Trouble was on their self-titled debut, The Waterboys consisted of Mike Scott and a saxophone player called Anthony. They …
Reissue: Supertramp – Crime of the Century
The mid 90s coincided with my late teens and were a period of contrariness and of rebellion for me, though not in the cliched ‘railing against your parents and authority’ sense. Being bullied throughout my teenage years led me to rebelling against my own generation, rebelling against the idea of rebellion itself and confounding the …
Album Review: Various Artists – 12”/80S New Wave + 12”/80S Chilled
Here’s a perfect excuse to dance in front of the mirror with a hairbrush microphone once more, or if your like me, you could just spend hours arguing over what 12″ remix/extended versions are worthy of a re-release instead. Either way this double whammy of 80’s New Wave and Chilled will keep you busy reminiscing, …
Album Review: Medicine – Home Everywhere
I’ve been listening to Medicine’s new album Home Everywhere for three days straight and I’m still finding new nuggets of aural beauty every time I hit play. Brad Laner, Beth Thompson, and Jim Goodall don’t make cut and dry kind of albums. They make albums that beg for repeated listens. Much like the films of …
EP: Hieroglyphic Being — The Fourth Dimensions Of A Nubian Mystic
Jamal Moss AKA Hieroglyphic Being adds yet another E.P to his already huge body of work. ‘The Fourth Dimensions Of A Nubian Mystic’ is a two-track release on the Technicolour label. Both on an old skool Chicago Techno/House vibe it’s not hard to get sucked in automatically by the Roland 909 sounding drums and percussion …
Album Review: Singapore Sling – ‘The Tower Of Foronicity’
‘The Tower Of Foronicity’ is Henrik Björnsson’s latest Long Player and follow up to the 2011 release ‘Never Forever’. Henrik has in the past described Singapore Sling’s sound as “dance to my dropping tears”, it comes as no surprise then that on ‘The Tower Of Foronicity’, once more the chiaroscuro has been liberally applied. Singapore …
EP: Rae Morris – Closer
Currently on tour with none other than George Ezra, Blackpool singer-songwriter Rae Morris has released her new EP, Closer, out now on Atlantic Records. It comes ahead of her debut album Unguarded which drops on January 26th. It opens with the title track, this tangled, swaying thing of beauty. It’s stripped back at first, not …
Album Review: Bonobo – The North Borders Tour Live
The North Borders Tour Live has taken Simon Green (Bonobo) and Band over 180,000 miles, seeing them perform in more than 175 shows in 30 countries, across 3 continents and in front of more than 2 million people. Its an album that combines live tracks recorded at venues such as The Roundhouse (London) and Pula Arena (a genuine Roman Amphitheatre) plus live radio sessions …
Album Review: The Pale Blue Dots – Lots of Dots
Huw ‘Bunf’ Bunford, the guitarist from Welsh indie legends Super Furry Animals, met composer Richard Chester when Bunford was pursuing academic interests while the Furries were on an extended hiatus. Shared interests and a desire to work together lead to the formation of The Pale Blue Dots and the forthcoming release of their album, “Lots of Dots”. …
Album Review: Half Man Half Biscuit – Urge for Offal
There’s a good argument for Half Man Half Biscuit being the greatest indie band of all time. After thirty years they still remain utterly loyal to the tiny Probe Plus record label, releasing thirteen albums and five EPs laden with equal parts pithiness, wordplay and the most spot on cultural references. Half Man Half Biscuit …