Released: September 15th 2023 4/5 Beginning by seeking inspiration from the end of things sounds like you’ve opened up a pack of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards as an antidote for writer’s block. Or maybe, after almost 25 years together, any band needs to look at fresh ways to begin new recordings. Explosions in the […]
Released: August 11th 2023 4/5 The contemporary folk songs on Jamie Leven’s new album Crossing Tides, as Slow Town Clock, are delicately crafted and deftly executed. Written in the Outer Hebridean islands songs draw obvious inspiration from the landscape, wildlife, and mythology. Each song associated with a different island. Recording took an equally naturalistic approach. […]
Released:August 4th 2023 3.5/5 Initially, Polly Mackey, pseudonymously known as Art School Girlfriend, opens her newest album with a relatively pacey tune, A Place To Lie followed up hurriedly by Close to The Clouds. So far so esoterically indie dance. However, getting to Real Life with its more intimate confessional tone we’re now well and […]
Released: July 21st 2023 3.5/5 Having spent considerable time deep diving into electronic production since their 2019 release Remembering the Rockets, New York’s Strange Ranger flex these new techniques from the outset on Pure Music. The album is a self-admitted indulgence and obsession with My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, meaning there’s a heady barrage of guitar […]
Released: June 30th 2023 3.5/5 We can all reflect on life’s ability to throw us curveballs, but few could capture these quite so accurately in song as Amber Bain, The Japanese House when dissecting her own circuitous stories, endings, beginnings and pulling on their threads. Old relationships “Spot Dog”, being in a throuple “Friends”, an […]
Released: June 30th 2023 4/5 Second album dilemma. Repeat or change things up? Add in a new label, Rock Action, and expectations from all quarters, not least from the band themselves and things could all go, well, weird. Thankfully Hull’s BDRMM (Bedroom) manage to augment the same dreamy melancholy and ambient introspection that made their […]
Released: June 9th 2023 3.5/5 Having shut the door on Youth Lagoon in 2016 promoting a brand-new album under that name, “Heaven Is A Junkyard”, is not what Trevor Powers anticipated. However, having always written from the perspective of things ‘far away’ it took returning home to Idaho, severe illness and the creation of some […]
Released: June 9th 2023 5/5 Since the very beginning Chris has written around the expression of self, questioned and employed characters as costumes or masks. Part Bowie, Prince or Madonna, shifting between alpha to submissive, bravado and vulnerability. The story telling, however fantastic, has always been an inherently personal exploration. “Paranoïa, Angels, True Love” takes […]
3.5/5 Released: June 2nd 2023 “Lucky For You” kicks off, with a stuttering drum shuffle, guitar riffing and raw vocals as Alicia Bognanno sets an immediate confessional course. Espousing how she wants things to go back to how they used to be, throwing out a line like “I’ll never get fucked up again, I’m done” […]
Released: May 26th 2023 4/5 Since landing on Earth seven years ago to share their cosmic dross with us humans, we’ve experienced the squelching synths and prog melodies of Zpor, Goo, Grok and Nom on two previous releases. ‘Alpha Test 4’ marks the third collection of stimulating extra-terrestrial sounds, including the electro banger ‘Get a […]
