Music
News: Joni Mitchell celebrates the 50th anniversary of ‘Blue’ with a remastered set of her four Reprise albums
“I think the artist has always been in conflict, maybe because he has time on his hands to think with a lot of high ideals and values, and he’s got to recognize their beauty. “And at the same time, the flesh is weak and has too many appetites, so you’re in that continual conflict with …
Album Review: Debasser – The Invitations Are Real, The Party Is Not – Album Review/Exclusive Interview/Guest Mix
Drawing on inspiration and experience from a wide range of scenes including UK Bass, Breaks, Jungle, Electro, Garage, and more, Debasser follows up singles ‘Separation Anxiety’ and ‘Bad Behaviour’ with his second long-player ‘The Invitations are Real, The Party is Not’ via his WIDE Records label. Active throughout the early 000’s on labels such as …
See: c / a’s ‘THE PRIMER’: South London duo lead us further astray into generative audiovisual AI
LONDON audiovisual merry pranksters c / a aren’t quite like anyone you’ve encountered before. Nor me, for that matter. They’re operating in a highly conceptual sphere where AI, generative algorithms and light-touch flesh intervention are making music; there’s others creating out at this mind-bending edge, loosening the reins of human control – witness the video …
See: Rising Toronto electro-disco outfit Tush drop visuals for the soulful ecstasy of ‘Chrysalis’ en route to their July album
TUSH; who they? You enquire, entirely within your remit. Well, if the groove is in you, they’re someone whose acquaintance you should make forthwith. Coming from the dancefloors of Toronto with a love of disco, soul, electro, Nineties’ house and more, the twin pillars of Tush are the dulcet vocal talents of Kamilah Apong and Jamie Kidd. They’ve …
News: The Lathums release their full set from last month’s Sefton Park gig – hear the version of ‘Fight On’ from that day; there’s plenty of dates to come, too
IT MUST’VE been pretty full-on cathartic and emotional to have been at the UK Government’s Covid-relaxation test gig in the green surrounds of Liverpool’s Sefton Park on the first Sunday in May. Real, actual, open-air live music. And on that bill was Wigan’s absolute cutest, The Lathums, who got to play a ten-song set to …
Track: Sydney’s Magnetic Heads unveil the gorgeous and graceful track ‘Time of Your Life’, and announce new album ‘Moral Outage’ for August
There is a sparse and melodic grace to the new single from Sydney band Magnetic Heads (the work of singer/songwriter Des Miller and producer/musician Liam Judson (Belles Will Ring, Lewis Goldmark)). Open, thrumming and celestial instrumentation provides a comforting bedrock for Miller’s elegant vocals, sometime soaring, sometimes speaking, always enigmatic and posed, replete with backing …
Track: Manic Street Preachers Announce New Album And Share New Track ‘Orwellian’
Manic Street Preachers return with their 14 studio album entitled, ‘The Ultra Vivid Lament’ on 3rd September via Columbia/Sony and have announced a tour for this autumn. ‘Orwellian’ is the first track to be released and is classic Manic Street Preachers, dissecting the misuse of words against cascading, glacial melody. Manic Street Preachers on Orwellian: “The track is about the battle to claim meaning, the …
See: The astonishing audio-visual experience that is Llyr’s ‘Winged Chamber Music’: jaw-dropping creativity from what’s looking to be IDM album of the year
YOU KNOW that if no less a renaissance man than Max Cooper is taking enough of an interest in what you’re sculpting in sound to sign you up for his label, Mesh, then you must be doing something not only very right, but also very interesting; Max really these days being at the forefront of …
Track: Harkness – ‘The Occasion’: a cloak, a mask and a grand line in orchestral baroque pop from the mysterious Canadian
THE MYSTERIOUS, cloaked and visored figure you see is Harkness; as with Bob Log III, we know not who sits behind the guise. Best then to turn to what we do know; that he comes from Canada (or indeed, beyond), bearing a very special brand of baroque psychedelia, shifting through the moods and time signatures …
Track: KINDER – ‘Call Out’: an emotionally thrilling voice that seizes your heart
LEO WYATT comes to us from the heart of the capital with a luxurious and haunting line in expansive, (semi-) acoustic songcraft, and boy, that voice; betcha your bottom dollar that you haven’t heard anyone roll out a song so hauntingly since you first clapped ears on OK Computer. “Call Out” is his second single, …