Gossip ‘s return was announced with little fanfare, as the best surprises always are. But, while they’re always great to see live, this new studio album is something of a disappointment. Rick Rubin is on board as producer, which ironically may be the problem. It often sounds too glossy, as though sonically airbrushed. The moreContinue reading “Album Review: Gossip- Real Power”
Tag Archives: Album review
Album Review: Corridor -Mimi
Mimi, named after lead singer Jonathan Robert’s cat, is Corridor’s fourth album. It’s effervescent, sometimes melancholic, sometimes hopeful, but always dynamic. The Montreal band sing in French, and draw from both European and American influences. It’s apparent on tracks like ‘Mon Argent’, which fizzles with Krautrock energy, before going all glitchy and dissonant. This isContinue reading “Album Review: Corridor -Mimi”
Album Review: Sinkane-We Belong
Sudanese- American Ahmed Gallab, who records as Sinkane, reflects the global village in this glorious new album, his eighth. Whether joyful and gospel inflected (Come Together, We Belong) disco workouts (the campy How Sweet Is Your Love) or songs of resistance (Everything Is Everything, and the fiery standout track Invisible Distance) which feel like anContinue reading “Album Review: Sinkane-We Belong”
Overlooked Classics: Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree
This one divided critics and audiences alike. The fourth album from Goldfrapp is a perfect spring album, all twittering birds, green fields and sunlit idyll. It’s a deliberate left turn from their previous foray into the sexually-charged glam of Black Cherry and Supernature. The folktronica direction evokes Nick Drake playing guitar under an oak tree,Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: Goldfrapp – Seventh Tree”
Album Review: Nadine Shah- Filthy Underneath
I wouldn’t mess with Nadine Shah. There’s a toughness to the Geordie singer songwriter, and a raw honesty in everything she does. She’s am outspoken advocate for feminism, fiercely anti-racist, and has spoken out for mental health awareness and artists receiving fair pay. So it’s hardly surprising that this, her fifth studio album, is anContinue reading “Album Review: Nadine Shah- Filthy Underneath”
Overlooked Classics: Sparks-Propaganda
Dismissed by American rock critic Robert Christgau as being made by “twerps’ (his slagging off is usually a good sign- just ask Iggy Pop) the fourth studio album saw Sparks expanding upon their trademark baroque pop sound, forever torn between arch and urbane (Something For The Girl With Everything) and sincere (the beautiful Never TurnContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Sparks-Propaganda”
Album Review: Beans- Boots ‘N’ Cats
Formed in Melbourne by brilliant percussionist Matt Blach, the quintet Beans are fast becoming one of Australia’s best loved neo-psychedelic bands. This, their third album, takes its name from beatboxing, but that’s as modern a reference as you will find here. It’s retro all the way. Blach has said that themes of introspection are importantContinue reading “Album Review: Beans- Boots ‘N’ Cats”
Album Review: Bo Ningen- The Holy Mountain
Who better than the London based Japanese psych/noise band Bo Ningen to provide a new soundtrack for Alejandro Jodorowsky”s cult 1973 film The Holy Mountain? They’ve always been sonic explorers, pushing layers of intensity in their sound and open to experimentation. This new album, a reimagining of the soundtrack, epitomises this, from the layered, hypnotic TheContinue reading “Album Review: Bo Ningen- The Holy Mountain”
Album Review: The Smile-Wall Of Eyes
Leave it to Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood to have a side project that’s also as extraordinary as the other. Along with legendary jazz drummer Tom Skinner, the trio’s second album proves they can still weave magic on their own terms. The reason Wall Of Eyes so beguiles is the capricious nature of theContinue reading “Album Review: The Smile-Wall Of Eyes”
Album Review: The Pheromoans-Wyrd Psearch
Indie in 2024 is best when it’s DIY, raw and sung from the heart. Leave it to the peerless Upset The Rhythm, then, to bring more of the kind of gritty indie music that I like, the raw, unvarnished and honest stuff. It’s not made to fit curated playlists or banal daytime local radio, it’sContinue reading “Album Review: The Pheromoans-Wyrd Psearch”
Hit The North 