There’s a lazy sort of pigeonholing which sees Camera Obscura being simply filed next to fellow Glaswegians Belle & Sebastian in the twee-pop/c-86-type indie. Fact is, there’s a lot more to it than that, and their fifth album (and second for 4AD) sees them offering up yet another appealing selection of tunes. Whilst there have [...]
View Post Camera Obscura
I think I started to dislike Jamie Cullum as soon as I heard his version of Radiohead’s ‘High And Dry’. He managed to wring every drop of emotion and passion out of the song, yet got lauded for his ‘interpretation’. Well the Rochford jazz-crossover crooner has just released his sixth emotionless album, ‘Momentum’, which includes [...]
View Post Jamie Cullum
Another fine selection of releases plucked from the outer reaches of the musical quadrant, including a Caledonia showcase from Song, By Toad Records; a Portuguese chanteuse and national hero; the aftershocks from the Libyan war; woozy 80s synth-pop; and Belgian morose. Featuring Aufgang, Field Harmonics, Matthew Herbert, Song, The Imaginary Suitcase, By toad Record’s latest Split [...]
View Post Amelia Rodrigues, By Toad Records, End Of Silence, Field Harmonics, Le Thug, Matthew Herbert, Song, sparrow & the workshop, Split 12", The Imaginary Suitcase, Type PR, Zed Penguin
For whatever reason, I seemed to be about the only person who couldn’t connect with The National’s last album, High Violet. So it is with delight that I can announce that I have well and truly fallen in love with Trouble Will Find Me. In fact, you know you’re onto a good thing with an [...]
View Post 4AD, The National, Trouble Will Find Me
Atmospheric electronica with a frail human heart. When recently asked to describe the Dark Dark Horse sound, this is what Jamie Ward had said. And he should know, forming as he does one half of the studio incarnation of this band. He composed the music that would eventually find its way etched deep into the [...]
View Post Centuries, DARK DARK HORSE, Function Records, James Stafford, Jamie Ward
Gretna is a meagre wee town. Lying on the border between Scotland and England in the heart of the Debatable Lands, its identity will be forever forged in the wilderness that exists between one world and the next. And Christopher Rollen should know. It is his hometown and it is here that he spent his [...]
View Post Chris Rollen, David Brewis, Field Music, Pea Sea, Peter Brewis, Sea Records, The Debatable Land
If on paper, By The Rivers might not sound a great proposition (six young white guys playing reggae) a quick blast of their music blasts away your preconceptions AND prejudices. I think I was in a cynical, grumpy mood (just for a change) when this first popped into my inbox. Within a short space of [...]
View Post By The Rivers
*Or, the greatest female-produced record ever made* You may indeed disagree with the subtitle, as indeed Kate Bush‘s 1979 debut album was ‘executive’ produced by Pink Floyd‘s curmudgeon-in-chief Dave Gilmour, having ‘discovered’ the genius slightly beforehand (and making sure she was hastily signed to EMI), but to be honest much in the same way that [...]
View Post Diamonds and Rust, Kate Bush
My first encounter with Laura Marling was back in 2009, when I saw her supporting Daniel Johnston. I hadn’t heard her debut record Alas I Cannot Swim at that point but I was impressed enough by what I heard. However, when I did hear her solo records I didn’t really connect with them. I went [...]
View Post Laura Marling, Once I Was An Eagle
With iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud and every increasing advancement in music posting and sharing we’ve perhaps forgotten the best way of sharing music; word of mouth. I first heard of Little Kid through a friend and I knew from his enthusiasm that it was definitely worth a listen. You just can’t get that sort of recommendation [...]
View Post Little Kid
It’s been a couple of weeks when there has been just so much great new music around, this year is seeming like a bumper crop already. So why is it, when I’ve got so much stacked up and waiting, that I keep coming back to Emily Wells‘ upcoming album Mama? We’ve got a theory, round [...]
View Post Emily Wells, Mama, Partisan
Small Black are out of New York, and obviously enjoy all that living in such an artistic epicentre has to offer. Let’s talk about the music first; we should, shouldn’t we? This week has seen the release of both their new album Limits of Desire and also a second single ‘No Stranger’ to follow in [...]
View Post Limits Of Desire, Small Black
After countless years of incessant touring, playing in whatever bar, county fair or carpark would have him. Raconteur, belt maker and proprietor of Dad Country Jonny Fritz has found a home on Loose Music, the UK record label that is cementing its reputation as the heart of Alt-Country here in England. For Dad Country Jonny [...]
View Post Dad Country, Jonny Fritz, Loose Records
It’s as though MS MR have been gathering themselves somewhere out in the ocean, sending first of all hints and ripples via Tumblr releases. After that, huge waves crash landed in the form of their singles. It was the ‘Candy Bar Creep Show’ EP that got my mates rabidly recommending them to me. The equally [...]
View Post Lizzy Plapinger, MS MR, Secondhand Rapture