album review
Album Review: New Mexico’s Tan Cologne beam in an extraterrestrial shimmering dream fugue with their new album ‘Unknown Beyond’
New Mexican duo Tan Cologne has just finished supporting the magnificent Trentemøller on their European tour, and they have now released their third studio album ‘Unknown Beyond’ via Labrador Records. ‘Unknown Beyond’ is less a collection of songs and more of an evolving dream state that takes you up into the skies and leaves you in a fugue. There has …
Album Review: Pulp gives us ‘More’ – returning with an aged beauty and graceful pose but the same louche insouciance we missed.
In ‘More’, Pulp return not with a bang but with a graceful, knowing nod – like old friends who’ve learned that the quietest whispers can sometimes carry the heaviest truths. It’s a record suffused with a poignant maturity, and yet it dances with all the absurd, anxious glamour that has always made Pulp more than …
Album Review: Sparks are ‘MAD!’ and their enduring legacy is safe.
In the realm of art-pop, few acts have maintained the level of inventive audacity that Sparks have exhibited over their five-decade career. With their 28th studio album, MAD!, the Mael brothers—Ron and Russell—continue to defy expectations, offering a record that is as unpredictable as it is exhilarating. ‘MAD!’ unfolds like a sonic kaleidoscope, blending genres …
Album Review: An aural delight ‘By Design’ – With yet another landslide of impeccable songwriting, The Electorate unveil their new album.
The Electorate are finally back with a follow-up to their magnificent 2020 album ‘You Don’t Have Time To Stay Lost’ (see my review here). ‘By Design’, out tomorrow, puts on full display what has been missed during the intervening five years since their last album. Masterful songwriting with intelligent lyrics and a pop sensibility combine to …
Album Review: Matthew Nowhere’s debut ‘Crystal Heights’ is a transformative shimmering blend of gothic synth pop and Californian sunshine.
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Matthew Nowhere has just released the widescreen beauty of the album ‘Crystal Heights’: an ethereal collection of eighties-influenced shimmering synth pop that unfurls with a statuesque grace. it is incredible that this is a debut album. Opening track ‘Transmission’ is an atmospheric melange of sounds and a vocoded voice: a fittingly mysterious alien entry …
Album Review: Tidal Peak unveils the breathtaking beauty of ‘Treasureville’ – a dreamy evocation of sunshine and vast oceans with a glittering melancholia.
Capricorn Coast band Tidal Peak , essentially the work of musician/producer Kyle Lacko, has just released an expansive, glittering album entitled ‘Treasureville’. It’s a collection of sparkling gems that seem to take inspiration from the glittering sun-soaked environment where it was written. Opening with ‘Capricorntown’, the geographic connection is evident. A swell of synths and strings create …
Album Review: Heligoland’s Karen Vogt releases the shimmering, ambient solo album ‘Haunted Woodland, Volume 5’.
Australian-born Karen Vogt plays in the Melbourne dream pop shoegaze band Heligoland – who a few years back toured Europe and forgot to return home, ending up based in Paris. And while Heligoland have been relatively quite (although there is movement on the horizon), Vogt has continued to explore the world of atmospheric, ambient dreamy …
Album Review: Christopher Coleman & the Soft Knees Band release the gorgeous ‘Live At The Chapel’.
The poet laureate of the southern hemisphere Christopher Coleman & the Soft Knees Band collectively dispense heart rending lyricism over the most ethereal instrumentation in their new album ‘Live at the Chapel’, just released through Coleman’s label Oscar Treehouse Records. The combination of Coleman’s silken, yearning, aching vocals with the delicacy of the music and his …
Album Review: Party Crashers’ self titled debut album is a glorious indie pop delight.
Party Crashers features singer songwriter Robert F. Cranny who has a long history in the industry as one of the main architects of Sarah Blasko’s debut album ‘The Overture And The Underscore’, and its follow-up ‘What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have’. Cranny co-wrote and co-produced both albums, the latter winning the ARIA award …
Album Review: Cam Butler (Ron S Peno and the Superstitions) releases new solo album, the ethereal ‘Spirits Flying Home’, ahead of launch gig.
Cam Butler is a multi instrumentalist and producer who was also the co-writer of songs with the late and legendary Ron S Peno (Died Pretty) in the fabulous Ron S Peno and the Superstitions which he co-founded. Their album ‘Do The Understanding’ was one of my albums of the year in 2023. In addition, Butler is also a rather …