album review
Album Review: Kendrick Lamar – Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers
The thing about Kendrick Lamar albums is that they become, in their own way, cultural touchstones. To Pimp a Butterfly immediately became regarded as one of the best albums, certainly rap albums, of all time. Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City became enough of a force in its own right to be recognisable by an acronym. Damn., …
Album Review: Mallrat’s ‘Butterfly Blue’ is a perfect collection of pure pop jewels, fused with indie rock and rap, that glitters and glows.
It’s hard to believe ‘Butterfly Blue’ (out through Dew Process) is Mallrat‘s debut album. She has graced us with two stunning EPs and a series of brilliant singles that have illustrated her perfect amalgam of feisty yet achingly beautiful tracks that seamlessly drift between pure pop, indie rock and rap (sometimes all within one song), …
Album Review : Majamisty Trio returns with triumphant 4th Studio Album -Wind Rose
It’s always a pleasure to champion female artists, and one day I do hope we can all champion each other. Serbian pianist Maja Alvanovij is no exception to this with her fourth studio album ‘ Wind Rose’ out and already making waves across the musical spectrum. Hailed as ‘ spiritually sublime jazz music ‘ ( …
Album Review: Screamfeeder are back with ‘Five Rooms’ – a pulsating collection of harmony laden fuzz pop.
Screamfeeder have been a veritable indie institution in Australia for more than a remarkable thirty years, and following a return to the live scene recently, they have just released their new album ‘Five Rooms’: a sparkling return to the fray. At the heart of Screamfeeder’s music is pure melody: layered harmonies that are coated over a …
Album Review: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets release the fluid brilliance of ‘Night Gnomes’
I had the pleasure of witnessing Psychedelic Porn Crumpets turn a sold-out Factory Theatre to pure liquid chaos the night before this album was released. Playing songs old and new, it was celebratory for the occasion. ‘Night Gnomes’ came out fittingly at midnight, lurking in the quiet darkness, waiting for the prime listeners to play …
Album Review: Keston Cobblers Club ‘ Alchemy’ is a thing of beauty
After a two-year break-folk favourite Keston Cobblers Club return with their brand-new album, ‘Alchemy’ – the follow up to their critically acclaimed 2019 album, ‘Siren’ . Alchemy is the new album from Indie-folk band Keston Cobblers Club. Returning to their roots, the theme of the album is based on an old folklore from their hometown. The …
Album Review: Plain Mister Smith – I’m Just Plain Mister Smith
Vancouver based Plain Mister Smith showcases his strikingly unique, spotlessly produced Indie-pop-come-folk sound on his debut album ‘I’m Plain Mister Smith’. Musically complex and yet refreshingly light and simplistic on the surface, the brainchild of Mark Jowett manages to create soundscapes full of intrigue, managing to posses both an uplifting brightness and a reflective, personal …
Album Review: Sea Power crest the waves with the beautiful and shimmering ‘Everything Was Forever’, and announce launch shows.
The band whose name was formerly appended by the word ‘British’ has made a rather triumphant return in their new guise as Sea Power. On the one hand, the things that have made the band so special – their distinctive quirkiness and eccentricity steeped in a certain pastoral/rural bliss and ability to combine intelligent, witty …
Album Review: Spoon – Lucifer on the Sofa
Austin, Texas rock’n’rollers Spoon have released their 10th album – Lucifer on the Sofa – on Matador Records and it’s a blistering, thumping, rocking album that Spoon lovers will adore and those new to Spoon will too. It’s the first set of songs in over a decade that the band have recorded in Austin and was written and recorded …
Album review: Group Listening – ‘Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works, Vol. 2’: essential ambient reworkings with a real sense of place
GROUP LISTENING is a pairing of two very fine Welsh musicians: Cardiff’s Paul Jones, a deft jazz and experimental pianist and arranger who first worked with his partner on this project, Stephen Black, on the latter’s fine and wonky Sweet Baboo project (and is there any kind of Welsh indiepop that doesn’t espouse those two …