Former Pulled Apart By Horses guitarist James Adrian Brown’s debut album is an eerie but slick series of beats, sitting somewhere between Boards Of Canada and Gold Panda. His choppy electronics are heavy but beautiful, warped yet melodic. These paradoxes make his sound interesting. Contradictions in sonics are always welcome with me. He may notContinue reading “Album Review: James Adrian Brown -Forever Neon Lights”
Category Archives: Review
Album Review: Scattered Purgatory- Post Purgatory
Taiwan experimental band Scattered Purgatory, the duo of Lu Li-Yang and Lu Jiachi, gleefully put genres through the mincing machine, cackling as they go. This new album, forthcoming on the excellent Guruguru Brain label, is full of glorious surprises. Essentially, they make giallo rock, deep, dark rock with saxophone cutting through drone and clattering percussion.Continue reading “Album Review: Scattered Purgatory- Post Purgatory”
Film Review: Bjork -Cornucopia Live
On massive screens behind Bjork and her fellow musicians, flora and fauna burst into kaleidoscopic life in Technicolour. Birdsong and insects provide looped natural percussion, reflecting the singular artist’s twin obsessions: the natural world and technology in symbiosis. Bjork herself, in trademark masks and sculptural costumes, is almost a secondary character amid the visual overwhelm.Continue reading “Film Review: Bjork -Cornucopia Live”
Album Review: Constant Smiles- Moonflowers
Constant Smiles mine the gentle end of indie folk pop. Their warm sound is like the days of the late eighties, on the cusp of grunge, when we ordered albums by mail order and plaid shirts and vintage style was becoming fashionable. ‘Harriman,’ with lead vocals from drummer Nora Knight, evokes Yo La Tengo whenContinue reading “Album Review: Constant Smiles- Moonflowers”
TV Film Review: Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!
A writhing paradox of squeamishness and self -regard, Kenneth Williams was one of the UK ‘s most bankable comic actors in the 1960s. Having cut his teeth in theatre, he quickly established himself as a radio hit on ‘Hancock’s Half Hpur’, playing camp oddballs, to the chagrin of titular star Tony Hancock. This drama, directedContinue reading “TV Film Review: Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!”
Film Review: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Sex is a dance that’s best when it’s improvised. That is seemingly the subtext to ‘Good Luck To You, Leo Grande’. Written by comic actor Katy Brand and directed by Sophie Hyde, it’s a refreshingly honest look at age gap sex. Thankfully the candour means there are no traditional romcom tropes, nor “feeling to healing”Continue reading “Film Review: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”
EP Review: Problem Patterns – Boring Songs For Boring People
One of Belfast ‘s finest are back with this ironically titled gem. Beverly Boal, Bethany Crooks, Ciara King and Alanah Smith make frenetic, furious queer punk with a wicked sense of humour. This time round, they’re joined by Pissed Jeans’ Matt Korvette for the hypercharged ‘Sad Old Woman’. Meanwhile, their addition to the BBC playlistContinue reading “EP Review: Problem Patterns – Boring Songs For Boring People”
Album Review: Lathe Of Heaven – Aurora
Brooklyn band Lathe Of Heaven ‘s new album Aurora soaks up postpunk influences like Killing Joke and The Cure, while retaining a metallic sheen. It’s remarkably intimate, even as it tilts skywards. Thematically it’s business as usual: drawing from sci-fi and global collapse, trying to find beauty and hope, surging ahead despite our divided andContinue reading “Album Review: Lathe Of Heaven – Aurora”
Album Reviews: Otoboke Beaver- Live At Taku Taku/Live At Fandango
What’s better than one live Otoboke Beaver album? Two live ones. The Japanese “knock out or pound cake” band are one of the world’s most exciting live acts, with fans like Dave Grohl and Jack White, and now their massive whirlwind of sound has been captured in show form. And they’re both, unsurprisingly, excellent inContinue reading “Album Reviews: Otoboke Beaver- Live At Taku Taku/Live At Fandango”
Album Review: Anna Secret Poet- I Saw This And Thought Of You
Friend of Hit The North and all -round legend Anna Secret Poet is back with arguably her most epic album to date. There’s some introspection wrapped in a piledriving anthem (‘Aimless’) a soupcon of cheeky country grunge with ricocheting guitars (‘ Old Unfaithful ‘) and the typical eccentricity we’ve come to associate with her songContinue reading “Album Review: Anna Secret Poet- I Saw This And Thought Of You”
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