Album Reviews
Album Review : Twofish release the cinematic and transfixing album ‘At Least A Hundred Fingers’: a dynamic sonic landscape that defies genre.
The album ‘At Least A Hundred Fingers’ by duo Twofish is an epic, cinematic musical journey that ebbs and flows with intensity and dynamism. Difficult to slot into any genre, it has the vibrancy of Dead Can Dance with an infusion of world instrumentation – many synthetic, some organic – and a syncopated thrum throughout …
Album Review: Scott von Ryper (The Black Ryder, The Morning After Girls, JAMC) unveils shimmering debut album ‘Dream State Treasure’
Soaked in reverb and regret, ‘Dream State Treasure’, the solo album from Scott von Ryper is a shimmering debut from an Australian artist that has quietly established a remarkable reputation for songwriting, delivered with a degree of insouciance and cool. ‘Dream State Treasure’ is a reflective collection of sparkling melodic gems, underpinned by a shimmering …
EP: Sydney’s The Buoys release the epic ‘Unsolicited Advice For Your DIY Disaster’.
The Buoys are no strangers to rebelling hooks that leap out of the speakers, cementing their place in the souls of listeners. There is rigorous and prevailing attention to dynamism throughout their music, charged with upbeat and galvanised guitars and niftily gratified with expressive and emotive melodies. ‘Unsolicited Advice For Your DIY Disaster’ is six …
Album Review: Niko – Electric Union
Niko’s Electric Union is a late-night, electrasonic long player on ATIC Records. The all new third album from the Seattle born singer sees her pursuing a more focussed dance lounge sound where delicate melodies and accomplished song writing marry with tuff, unpolished beats, gritty synth bass and layers of abstract keyboards. Drawing from a pot …
Album Review: Melbourne artist Skybelly releases the stunning debut space opera ‘A Space Tramp Odyssey’: a cornucopia of sonic colours.
Skybelly (the nom de plume of Sara Nelson) has just released her stunning debut album, ‘A Space Tramp Odyssey’: a widely evocative and creative magnus opus which is a deep and rich concept album. Operatic and dramatic in nature, it is a stunningly brave debut which adeptly creates an alternate reality that is steeped in …
Album Review: Not My God – Simulacra
‘Simulacra’, answers the bellowing calls from fans for more music, its ten songs that showcase the full range of Skold’s confident voice paired with the raw, cinematic soundscapes and modular synth riffs laid down by Bellum. At once atmospheric and ominous, it is a modern masterpiece in the genre. ‘In Service To The Wolf’ is a …
Album review: Lightning Bug – A Color of the Sky
A therapeutic album from the NYC trio, in a more direct version
Album Review – Ferocious Dog – The Hope
The mighty folk punk band Ferocious Dog have released their new album ‘The Hope’ via Graphite Records. An album which is full of their unique Celtic brand of folk punk with heartfelt melodies and intelligent songs. Regarding the album Ken Bonsall comments: ‘I’d say that Ferocious Dog are a different animal on the recording of the Hope album. I …
Album review: Mildred Maude – ‘Sleepover’: From Cornwall with beautiful, incendiary love
SONIC CATHEDRAL: it may not be the most prolific of labels in terms of releases – but never mind the width; feel the quality. Just take a look back, wouldya, over the past year and a bit of releases: an excellent, excellent new generation of the ‘gaze debut from East Yorkshire’s vowel-free but guitar thrill-replete …
Album Review: The Institutes deliver a magnificent indie pop debut in ‘Colosseum’: an edifice of pure gold.
It’s hard not to resort to hyperbole when you come across a debut like ‘Colosseum’ from Coventry band The Institutes. You cannot help but hear in the DNA of this album the freakish brilliance of outrageous debuts from giants in the past: The Las, Stone Roses and The Smiths to name a few outstanding examples. …