pop
See: Jess Barlow releases new visuals for ‘Someone Else’s War’
Sung with a beautiful honesty, ‘Someone Else’s War’ from Jess Barlow has quickly become one of my favourite songs of the year. On top of a simple and elegant musical construction, Jess’s voice presents the emotions behind the songs meaning and brings it all to life. It’s a song that expresses the inner emotions of a …
Track: Danny McLauchlan – Enough
Taken from his forthcoming EP, due for release early next year, comes a new song – Enough, from London producer/singer-songwriter Danny McLaughlan. From the beginning’s gentle electronics it’s slow, delicate and very beautiful songwriting. Blessed with simple but lovely lyrics and similar synth lines that give it this innocence, it meanders along. As it does …
Album Review: Tame Impala – Currents
Okay, so I’ve listened to Tame Impala’s excellent new album Currents several times now. Like everyday, twice a day, since last Friday. I can say very confidently that it’s a masterpiece. Kevin Parker has finally decided he no longer has to make albums that sound like they’re being performed by a crusty crew of long-haired, bearded psych …
Tracks: Shannon And The Clams – Corvette
Corvette is the first single from the forthcoming Shannon And The Clams album Gone By The Dawn, due for release on 11 September. This is a song that begins sweetly with Shannon Shaw’s vocals a deep purr. As the lyrics turn sour she starts to growl and you realise that this one will have a …
Album Review: Act – Love and Hate – A compact introduction to Act
One of the blink and you’ll miss it bands from the time of synth-pop revolution, Act flashed and burnt out, pretty much before anyone noticed. The duo, Thomas Leer and ex-propaganda singer Claudia Brücken, convened after Propaganda fell apart over their contract with label ZTT, the band and Brücken (then Mrs Paul Morley, ZTT co-founder) …
Track: Department M – Bleak Technique
Initially the project of Leeds’ Owen Brinley, Department M has developed into a growing concern, a full live band in fact that includes Tommy Davidson from Pulled Apart By Horses. They’re a creative bunch too, having already released record owns the Too Pure singles club and Fierce Panda in the last two years, and now …
Track: Wild Ones – Show Me islands
We’re not quite used to heat waves here in the north of England, so when we get one, like today (the hottest July day on record, apparently) we get all giddy, kicking back in the garden and drinking beer. I’m sat between work and work, in a supermarket cafe (with no air conditioning) so I’m …
See: Bob Moses reveal video for Talk, plus album and tour details
There’s something calming yet unsettling about Talk, the new single from Canadian duo Bob Moses (aka Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance). It grows out of this cross rhythm laced opening, which confuses your senses, into something that merges the melancholy of the pairs vocals with layers of echo drenched synths and guitars, over a percussive …
Premiere: Daisy and the Dark release video for Red Planet
Recently I wrote about there being something about the Jones’s…Mr Jones (Counting Crows), (Me and) Mrs Jones (Billy Paul) and then Mrs Jones by Pearl TN. This week I want to talk about the letter K, but not the ‘K’ synonymous with the popular horse tranquilizer. Somewhere between the ghostly gliding and luscious laments of …
News: Florence and the Machine announce September Tour
Riding at the top of the world right now is Florence and her Machine. Fresh from the news that her recently released third album ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ had made the #1 slot in the UK album charts outselling the rest of the top 5 combined, and then stepping into the breach caused …