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”
Tag Archives: Album review
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”
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”
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”
Album Review: Boris-W
For well over two decades, Japanese experimental doom band Boris have been treading their own path, through line-up and label changes. Too avant-garde for the mainstream, they nonetheless have a loyal fan- base, not least because of working alongside collaborators like Sunn 0))). This, their first album for Sacred Bones, has enough light and shadeContinue reading “Album Review: Boris-W”
Album Review: Sanctuary
A mighty collaboration between the Colombian composer Jose Parody and Grayson Sanders and Leviticus Penner, Sanctuary Vol. 1 and 2 is steeped in the kind of quietude that is neither comforting nor kind, but still incredibly beautiful. Truth is meditative, sparse and features voices that weave in and out drones. Smoke In The Halls isContinue reading “Album Review: Sanctuary”
Album Review: Laura- Mary Carter- Town Called Nothing
Blood Red Shoes frontwoman Laura-Mary Carter has always been a wonderful musician, and her new solo project is equally fascinating, but this time, her post- grunge shredding has been replaced by a country noir mini-album. Town Called Nothing invokes dusty, ominous Westerns, the eerie moment before the showdown. It starts off deceptively pretty, with fineContinue reading “Album Review: Laura- Mary Carter- Town Called Nothing”
Album Review: Holy Other- Lieve
Stockport musician and producer David Ainley has created a wonderful piece of post-ambient beauty here. It invokes the illogical themes of dreams: figures with heads that are never seen, fragmentary buildings, the sense of hazy, unresolved issues. Glitches, sighs and ghostly soundscapes permeate throughout the album. The title track, featuring saxophonist Daniel Thorne, fizzles andContinue reading “Album Review: Holy Other- Lieve”
Album Review: Marconi Union- Signals
In an increasingly chaotic world, the need to find some kind of respite is important. Ambient music has always provided a way in, and so it is with enigmatic Manchester artist Marconi Union. Signals, their thirteenth album, is a seductive and moody proposition. Cycles Repeat sounds like Ry Cooder jamming with Gold Panda (imagine) andContinue reading “Album Review: Marconi Union- Signals”
Hit The North 