Music
Psych Insight: Album Review, Zement:Werk by Zement
I’m going to break with tradition here and begin with a the band’s press bio, basically because it tells you all you need to know: “This duo is less about an inorganic building material and more about an improvised jam to drift away. More analog meets digital as a bulk product. Repetitive meet psychedelic sounds, …
Say Psych: Album Review, Dandelion Sauce of the Ancients by Terminal Cheesecake
Fans of 1980s/90s psychedelia will no doubt be aware of Terminal Cheesecake, a band so in your face that not even a death mask would stop them from giving you serious attitude; one of those bands who always seemed to be on the edge sometimes tipping over in to the abyss of inaccessibility. Well hold onto …
Not Forgotten: They Might Be Giants – They Might Be Giants (a.k.a. Pink Album. a.k.a. First Album)
Released into a musical landscape over-populated by purveyors of synth-pop, stadium rock, post punk, underground alternative, heartland rockers, disposable pop and The Smiths (the band that pretty much defined what the mainstream thought indie / alternative music was in the mid 80s, at least here in the UK), the eponymous debut of They Might Be …
Say Psych: Premiere, The Sentient by Dreamtime
It’s been a big year for Dreamtime releases this year. The first two albums, ‘Dreamtime‘ and ‘Sun‘, were re-released by Cardinal Fuzz/ Captcha Records back in January and sold out pretty damn quickly. Now hot (really hot) on their heels comes the Brisbane band’s third album ‘Strange Pleasures’ which is now up for pre-order from …
Say Psych: Playlist 23/2016
These days it seems almost impossible to keep up with all the releases that are coming out constantly during the year. One of the reasons I started doing these playlists was to try and keep up a bit more with what’s out there. This week’s Psych Insight playlist is made up from fifteen tracks from …
Album Review: Honeyblood – ‘Babes Never Die’
Honeyblood haven’t just survived second album syndrome – their triumphant sophomore record, ‘Babes Never Die’, proves they’ve thrived on the challenge. The follow up to the 2014 eponymous debut album from the Glasgow-based duo, of Stina Tweeddale and drummer Cat Myers, has been eagerly awaited. Having appropriately fallen for Honeyblood around thirty seconds into ‘Fall …
Not Forgotten: Super Furry Animals – Fuzzy Logic
Released at a time when seemingly every reasonably new(ish) band within the UK and Northern Ireland who featured at least one guitar player was pigeonholed as Britpop, Super Furry Animals’ Fuzzy Logic is an album that could have been mistakenly dismissed as landfill indie by those who found the whole scene devoid of inspiration. I …
Reissue: Terry Allen – Lubbock (On Everything)
I’m not a huge fan of ‘country’ music. Sure, I can appreciate its narrative qualities, I have a well chosen Johnny Cash compilation in my album collection, I love the output of Dr Hook before they took the full-on cheese-ballad route, I have a healthy respect for the music of Frankie Laine and Marty Robbins, …
Live Review: Matt Berry and The Maypoles / Xylaroo – The Foundry, 26.10.2016
From the inside, The Foundry is a rather anonymous looking venue, tucked away in the bowels of Sheffield University. On the upside, the drinks are cheap (£2.25 for an orange J20 and a lime and soda), the sound is good and some great acts play there. Tonight, with my usual gig companion at home ill, …
Not Forgotten: XTC – Skylarking
To the casual observer, by the time Skylarking was released in the mid-80s XTC looked washed up. Having had to stop touring in 1982 due to Andy Partridge’s crippling stage fright, their subsequent pair of albums, the pastoral Mummer and the industrial The Big Express hadn’t achieved the sort of commercial acceptance that anyone had …