Isn’t Anything is a game changer. My Bloody Valentine had started out as a kind of pale Cramps type, floundering in attempts at slinky garage. It was when vocalist Dave Conway left, replaced by Bilinda Butcher, that things really started to happen. There had always been a swooning, dreamy quality to tracks like Strawberry Wine,Continue reading “Just Step Sideways: My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything”
Category Archives: Album
Album Review: Erasers- Constant Connection
There’s definitely a trend at the moment for indie bands to emulate post-punk bands. I can hear traces of The Raincoats, Wire and Fatal Microbes in current popular bands like Dry Cleaning, Yard Act and Life. So it goes with the incredibly minimalist Erasers. The duo from Perth in Australia, comprised of Rebecca Orchard andContinue reading “Album Review: Erasers- Constant Connection”
Album Review: Horace Andy-Midnight Rocker
Adrian Sherwood is a legendary producer, and Horace Andy a legendary reggae singer, so it makes sense for them to team up again. But don’t call it a comeback, he’s never really been away. The shivery sweet vibrato is pushed to the fore here, with reworkings and new tracks alike. Opener This Must Be HellContinue reading “Album Review: Horace Andy-Midnight Rocker”
Just Step Sideways: Gazelle Twin and NYX- Deep England
Gazelle Twin and NYX are fascinating artists in their own right. Together, they’re like matches and an effigy of Boris Johnson. Deep England is the flipside of welcoming Britain: the jingoistic, Union Jack waving, bigoted side where otherness isn’t just anathema – it’s enough to get you chased out of town. A companion piece toContinue reading “Just Step Sideways: Gazelle Twin and NYX- Deep England”
Album Review: Hinako Omori- A Journey…
Inspired by the practice of forest bathing, Japanese artist Hinako Omori’s new album breathes like new buds bursting into life. Created using scientific binaural sounds and more organic processes of field recordings, the album pulses with transcendental shimmering beauty. Tracks like Levitation see Omori’s modular synth patterns resemble chirruping birds, while her voice soars onContinue reading “Album Review: Hinako Omori- A Journey…”
Overlooked Classics: Opal – Early Recordings
Emerging from the Paisley Underground, a neo- psychedelic scene from the 1980s, Opal predate Mazzy Star by a few years. Singer songwriter and musician Kendra Smith, also a founding member of The Dream Syndicate, made some EPs, left the band and was replaced by Hope Sandoval, but Opal’s beautiful collection Early Recordings should definitely beContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Opal – Early Recordings”
Album Review: Tindersticks- Past Imperfect-The Best of Tindersticks,92-21
In many ways, Tindersticks have long been a band out of time, oblivious to any prevailing trend. They emerged as Grunge and Britpop were tearing up student dancefloors, and DJs hadn’t quite yet attained superstar status, but club culture was ascending. Their beautifully- crafted melancholy, hugely orchestral and lush, belonged to an era of polishedContinue reading “Album Review: Tindersticks- Past Imperfect-The Best of Tindersticks,92-21”
Album Review: Bodega – Broken Equipment
NYC’s Bodega have massive expectations from their fanbase for this second studio album, the follow-up to impressive debut Endless Scroll. The band and film makers are an acerbic riot of humour, self-awareness and leftwing politics and musically fall somewhere between the sarcastic indie snarl of Pavement and the insistent house party groove of LCD Soundsystem.Continue reading “Album Review: Bodega – Broken Equipment”
Album Review: Cate Le Bon- Pompeii
Even at her sweetest, Welsh avant-pop artist Cate Le Bon is always wilfully opaque. This, her sixth album, is even murkier than before. There’s nothing as driving here as Mother’s Mother’s Magazines or even Sisters. What there is instead feels like a series of dizzy spells, which seems appropriate for our weird and frightening times.Continue reading “Album Review: Cate Le Bon- Pompeii”
This Nation’s Saving Grace: The First Time The Fall Flirted With Pop
There’s something wonderfully opaque about The Fall’s This Nation’s Saving Grace. No change there, you might say, but I’ve got a theory about this. Their eighth album is a strange one, but it’s incredible. It seems like the more commercial they tried to sound, the more the twinkling keyboards and big fat riffs drew attentionContinue reading “This Nation’s Saving Grace: The First Time The Fall Flirted With Pop”
Hit The North 