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”
Category Archives: Album
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”
Album Review: Savage Mansion- Golden Mountain, Here I Come
Cheeky indie cherub Craig Angus, lead singer and guitarist for Savage Mansion has really stepped up a gear with this, the third album Golden Mountain, Here I Come. Now a quintet, Angus and the rest of the band have the bit between their teeth. Angus, keyboard player Beth Chalmers, guitarist Andrew McPherson, bassist Jamie DubberContinue reading “Album Review: Savage Mansion- Golden Mountain, Here I Come”
“The fruits of isolation”- Ezra Furman
Three new songs from Ezra Furman appeared the other day and a forthcoming tour has been announced for later this year (all being well). Thematically, it’s the usual great Furman stuff: spirituality, love, identity and connection, and her lyrics remain as on point as ever. It all bodes well for the next album. For moreContinue reading ““The fruits of isolation”- Ezra Furman”
Overlooked Classics: Danielle Dax- Jesus Egg That Wept
Danielle Dax has had an interesting career- she trained in opera in her youth; became a multi- instrumentalist and formed the experimental Lemon Kittens in the post-punk era, appeared as the Wolf Girl in Neil Jordan’s Company Of Wolves, went solo, and now works in interior design and art. Her second album is very muchContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Danielle Dax- Jesus Egg That Wept”
Overlooked Classics: Bauhaus- In The Flat Field
We need to talk about Bauhaus. No, not the German art movement, although it’s hugely influential and important. The debut album from the English band is also the very first album ever released on 4AD. I feel Bauhaus are often unfairly dismissed as pretentious pretty boys and mere Goths, like a haircut that you growContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Bauhaus- In The Flat Field”
Album Review: Sea Change- Mutual Dreaming
Norwegian producer and singer Ellen A W Sunde has produced yet another elusive, shining sad gem. Mutual Dreaming hits that half awake/half asleep tender spot. Her dreamy, often whispered vocals cast her as sonic somnambulist, and songs like Night Eyes, OK and the title track are like drowning in pixels. It’s elusive, warped and prettyContinue reading “Album Review: Sea Change- Mutual Dreaming”
Hit The North 