album review
EP REVIEW: Quiet Marauder – ‘Tiny Men Parts’: a critique of the male condition in bounce-along indiepop
Tiny Men Parts nails masculine creepiness and ineptitude with insouciance and tons of guitar pop like they used to make
ALBUM REVIEW: Dark Sparkler – ‘Are You With Me Or Against Me?’: fine modular retrotronica
If you’re a fan of a real exploration of retro synthesisers and the beauty they bring, like soundscapes with atmosphere and depth that stay edgy and have bags of ambience without, y’know, being ambient per se, Are You With Me Or Are You Against Me? could be just the album for you
EP REVIEW: Laura Groves – ‘A Private Road’: pristine and dreamy debut; socially distanced gig announced
A Private Road is a dreamscape, swirling elements of modern electronica, shoegaze, soul and folk into a set on which you really get a sense of Laura while she also remains wraithlike, a blur of whisper and talent at the core
EP REVIEW: Sophie Jamieson – ‘Release’: a brilliant, introspective four tracker
Her voice and songwriting are so very strong; there’s no doubt Release is her best yet
ALBUM REVIEW: Hjalte Ross – ‘Waves Of Haste’: gorgeous, nuanced indie-folk hits you in the chest
Composed at an isolated lighthouse on the Lofoten Islands, Hjalte’s second reaches inside your chest and doesn’t stop squeezing. Truly lovely
ALBUM REVIEW: Various artists – ‘Ambient Layers’: a state of the art, 20-track journey on 7K!
Ambient Layers is quite a trip through the current state of the blissful/emotive sonic arts. There’s so much to burrow into here, experience deeply. Set it on repeat and let it guide you through a whole, amniotic diurnal cycle. It’s really very great.
ALBUM REVIEW: Lee Fields & The Expressions – ‘Big Crown Vaults Vol.1 – Lee Fields & The Expressions’
BIG CROWN. Big. Crown. Roll that collocation of words around your mouth; if you’re a real music lover, you know these guys, Leon Michels and Danny Akalepse, are indeed proper royalty for the love, the care and the level of curation they bring to such a fine stable of artists: The Shacks, Lizette & Quevin, …
ALBUM REVIEW: Skinshape – ‘Arrogance Is The Death Of Men’: chilled guitar odysseys
Arrogance Is The Death Of Men is such a different creature to Skinshape’s last, Umoja. It’s got that guitar thing going that Will does so wonderfully; lyrically, you can hear the catharsis of this year, the trials and tribulations. It’s a lovely record full of emotion and guitar that helps usher in the end of this year. Win.
ALBUM REVIEW: Jack Cheshire – ‘Fractal Future Plays’: a sweeping psych pop set
Fractal Future Plays sits in a fine line of albums which admit psych to their blend, admire its cosmic clear sight rather than its sensual flood; the romance, the seduction, the perfume of the other just behind the flimsiest curtain