Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie may have said to the British music press, “Treasure was such an abortion. I hated it”, but the 1984 classic is still one of the band’s best-selling, best-loved studio albums. Originally, this, their third studio album, was to be produced by Brian Eno, but the band’s Robin Guthrie took thatContinue reading “Lost In Music: Cocteau Twins – Treasure”
Category Archives: Album
Album Review: Marcel Wave- Something Looming
This is a hell of a debut. Featuring members of Sauna Youth and CoId Pumas, Marcel Wave are a promising lot. Singer Maike Hale- Jones delivers witty, gobby vignettes on the state of Britain, flanked by Oliver Fisher and his bruising guitar, and organ from Lindsay Corstorphine. It’s in the grand tradition of UK post-punkContinue reading “Album Review: Marcel Wave- Something Looming”
Overlooked Classics: Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band-Safe As Milk
Running the gamut of genres- from Delta blues to experimental psych- the magnificent debut album from Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band is all about the inimitable singer songwriter and musical fruitloop, aka Don Van Vliet, finding his feet after an attempt at popularity with the swampy hit, the cover of Bo Diddley’s Diddy WahContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band-Safe As Milk”
Album Review: Indoor Pets- Pathetic Apathetic
Grunge influences and 90s alt rock nods are still around in contemporary music. Indoor Pets definitely channel the energy of Nirvana, Pixies and Jane’s Addiction, while retaining their own 2020s sound. It’s so well executed that it feels like a great big shot of adrenaline. ‘London’ and the title track are fuzzy, pile-driving songs asContinue reading “Album Review: Indoor Pets- Pathetic Apathetic”
Overlooked Classics: Nick Drake- Pink Moon
Everyone seems to like the other two Nick Drake albums- Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, but as much as I like them, for me it’s all about the quiet, sad, low-key gem from 1972, Pink Moon. Drake’s music, for me, reveals the kind of torpor of country life. It’s a paradox, a sense ofContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Nick Drake- Pink Moon”
Album Review: Ora Cogan- Formless
The Canadian artist’s eighth album is a real labour of love, with contributions from Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba on the mellifluous, twisty duet’Ways Of Losing’ and LANKUM’s Cormac Mac Diarmada playing violin and viola on ‘Feel Life’. ‘Dyed ‘ feels like a folky jazz incantation with a psychedelic undertow and her newContinue reading “Album Review: Ora Cogan- Formless”
Overlooked Classics: Common Holly- Playing House
There are some artists who make albums that should have been huge. Better known by her stage name Common Holly, Brigitte Naggar is a Canadian musician from Montreal.As Common Holly, Naggar has released two full-length albums, but her debut is so underrated it beggars belief. It’s so fully formed, it’s astonishing. Naggar’s first album, Playing House, was releasedContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Common Holly- Playing House”
Album Review: Man Of Moon- Machinism
With issues around Artificial Intelligence very much becoming ubiquitous, this brilliant second studio album from Glasgow duo Man Of Moon is timely. As the title, Machinism, suggests, there are songs that allude to humans and machines, sometimes in symbiosis, sometimes not. There’s a sense of unease, throughout, as themes of societal problems in our dividedContinue reading “Album Review: Man Of Moon- Machinism”
Album Review: Broadcast – Spell Blanket -Collected Demos 2006-2009
When we lost Trish Keenan in 2011, we lost one of indie music ‘s most beloved singers. Her hushed, wide -eyed voice radiated a calm that felt disconcertingly eerie. Broadcast’s retro-futurism both soothed and disturbed in equal measure. This compilation of 36 tracks, from ‘The Song Before The Song Comes Out’ to ‘Spirit House’ showsContinue reading “Album Review: Broadcast – Spell Blanket -Collected Demos 2006-2009”
Overlooked Classics: Hole- Pretty On The Inside
You love Nevermind. I love Nevermind. We all do. But let’s not overlook Hole’s ferocious debut studio album from 1991, Pretty On The Inside. The kinder whore aesthetic, as it had been unfortunately termed, suited the sound: ripped lace, torn tights and smudged makeup. The Slits, as far as I’m concerned, invented the look. CourtneyContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Hole- Pretty On The Inside”
Hit The North 