pop
Not Forgotten: The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Gorilla
Released mere months after Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band shook the popular music scene to its core, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s Gorilla turned the whole pop culture thing on its head. 1967 saw music at something of a counter culture cross roads. While ‘the kids’ had spent recent years embracing The Beatles, …
A buyers’ guide to Steely Dan 1972-1980
I disagree with Steely Dan. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like them. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that during the period of 1972 – 1980, they released some of the finest albums of that era, and in Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had one of the finest songwriting duos to …
Review: Prides – A Mind Like The Tide pt.1
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from synth-pop duo Prides, but, the first notes of their new EP are a glittering lifeline to the broken hearted, an invitation to share our stories and unite in our personal battles. Part 1 of A Mind Like The Tide is the long-awaited follow-up to the band’s debut …
Track: Chloe Black – Waterbed
Upcoming pop vixen (I actually stole that from the press release, don’t shoot the plagiariser) Chloe Black has revealed her latest single, following on from ’27 club’ and ‘wild at heart’. Called Waterbed, it’s glitzy, shimmering pop thats packed tight with attitude as it stutters through, Black’s vocal cajoling and oozing sassiness. If the first …
Classic Compilation: Randy Newman – Lonely at the Top: The Best of Randy Newman
I hate Randy Newman. Previous to me discovering his work via Lonely at the Top, I was living in blissful ignorance, occasionally putting pen to paper to scribble down a few lines of poetry or would-be lyrics for a band in need of a non musical wordsmith. I thought I was pretty damn good too. …
Track: Bipolar Sunshine – Major Love
We’ve had dealings with the shimmering electro-led pop of Adio Marchant AKA Bipolar Sunshine before. Well, he’s back after moving from his native Manchester to LA, and fresh from last years huge collaboration with DJ Snake, he’s back with a new track, ‘Major Love’. He’s grabbed what he can from his surroundings with mellow Manchester …
Track: Lawrence Rothman – Stand By
Taken from the new album ‘The Book of Law’, released on November 3rd through Downtown / Interscope, Lawrence Rothman’s new single, draped in a slick R&B covering is called Stand By, and it’s an expression of pain, wrapped up in rather lovely electro-pop clothes, with just enough of melancholy in his words and melodies to …
Album Review : Wand’s ‘Plum’
Going into Wand’s Plum I was expecting a bit of the usual Ty Segall-inspired garage noise, much like what was on the three previous records(Ganglion Reef, Golem, 1000 Days.) Playing with both Segall and Mikal Cronin, Hanson does have a little of both hard-wired into his musical DNA. While there are moments where the weirdness …
Album Review: Randy Newman – Dark Matter
Back in 2004 Green Day released American Idiot, an album on which they took the American government of the time to task for the less than wise decisions that were being made. Wind forward thirteen years, and frankly we need something a little more substantial than a pop-punk power trio to take the current American …
Track: Ryan Egan – Tongue of Yours
What do you do when you’ve injured both your hands, and as a result are left with no instruments? Well in the case of NYC based Ryan Egan, you sing all the chords and then programme the drums instead. The result is ‘Tongue of yours’, taken from his forthcoming sophomore EP, Fever & Bloom, which …