February 2012
4 posts
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Lee Fields - Faithful Man
I must admit that I generally don’t keep up to date with new soul music, as it’s often difficult to separate the good stuff from the carbon copies of stuff that’s been done to death. Occasionally though I do stumble across something which gets me excited, and one of the recent-ish examples of this was Lee Fields and The Expressions last record ‘My World’. That was...
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Cursive - I Am Gemini
The role of drunken confessional frontman is a beleaguered one in American indie rock. Once a group reaches a certain level of critical recognition it is difficult for the figurehead to maintain a position of downtrodden underdog without a sense of diminishing returns, and save for The National or arguably Brand New few have managed it in recent years. Tim Kasher of Cursive is one such...
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Hiva Oa
It’s been a while since I heard a band for the first time and felt immediately obliged to write about them. Edinburgh’s Hiva Oa stirred a strong urge in me after one spin of their forthcoming debut single Badger though, and after my fourth or fifth listen I was convinced they might be a bit special. This track certainly suggests a ton of potential, as it billows back and forth a...
January 2012
1 post
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5 Essential EPs of 2011
So this is rather overdue I suppose, but it’s better to allow a little time for reflection of the year as a whole is it not? Yes. Yes it is. That, rather than laziness and lack of organisation, is my reasoning and I’m sticking to it. Well albums tend to get all of the attention come list time really, but you don’t always have time for a whole album right, that’s at least 30...
December 2011
2 posts
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November 2011
3 posts
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Los Campesinos! - Hello Sadness
Oh Los Campesinos! you are frustrating sometimes, with your patent talent distorted by your oft unorthodox ways. Although you’re likely to not want to hear this, you kinda remind me of a certain Premiership footballer with your Woe Always Me witticisms, cocksure declarations and innate ability to split opinion. You do make things difficult for yourself. When it comes down to it though, it’s...
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October 2011
7 posts
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Meg Baird - Seasons On Earth
If the name Meg Baird is familiar to you then chances are it’s as one of the founding members of cultish psychedelic group Espers, who released a trio of great albums of dreamy and doomy folk over the last decade. In-between which Baird released one solo album in 2007, Dear Companion, which combined unique takes on traditional folk songs and cover versions for the most part. Here though...
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Toro Y Moi - Freaking Out EP
We can probably drop the whole “vanguard of chillwave” shtick for Toro Y Moi now, right? Unlike his peers, Washed Out and Neon Indian, who’ve perhaps prematurely been touted as outgrowing the tag, Chaz Bundick seems to have truly transcended his micro genre beginnings. His second album, Underneath The Pine, embraced a much more expressive style of full band instrumentation melded to that same...
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September 2011
17 posts
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Language of Landscape - The Immensity of Unstained...
Language of Landscape are something of a cult concern, and probably will stay that way considering this is going to be their final release as a duo. Previously they released an excellent EP/Mini-Album titled Memories Fade Under A Shallow Autumn Snow through the now defunct web-label Phantom Channel. This was following the sell out of its absurdly short run of 15 physical copies. Yet in spite...
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Roll The Dice - In Dust
In Dust, the second album by Swedish duo Malcolm Pardon and Peder Mannerfelt aka Roll The Dice, follows on from last year’s self-titled debut which gathered the group quiet murmurings of acclaim. Not too surprising given the common ground it shared with some of the most-blogged sounds of 2010, bracketed with the likes of Oneohtrix Point Never and Emeralds; it is all komische pounding loops...
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WatchOur Brother The Native - Rhythm Hymns
Our Brother The Native have threatened for some time to make a properly great album, but to date have only made three thoroughly expressive records which did continue to show a great potential but had a ‘still finding their feet’ vibe. Listening to this first single from forthcoming album ‘Vows’ though it seems like they might just...
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WatchRemember Remember - Scottish Widows
Scottish Widows is the first track to be released from The Quickening, the forthcoming second album by Scottish instrumental troupe Remember Remember. Since the release of the acclaimed self titled debut in 2008, the one time solo guise of Graeme Ronald has been scaled up into a full band capable of making a much louder and more textured sound than evident...
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The Rapture - In The Grace Of Your Love
Going back almost a decade now The Rapture were some of the hippest dudes in music, at the epicentre of the NY punk-funk explosion after ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ became a monster hit and Echoes was critically adored they seemed like they’d have it all sorted from henceforth.
The group have been through a lot in the five years since the ‘kind of unfairly’ maligned follow up Pieces of The...
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August 2011
12 posts
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Adam Stafford - Build A Harbour Immediately
The first solo album proper from former Y’all is Fantasy Island frontman provides a rather different proposition than 2009’s low key release Awnings. The latter was wilfully avant-garde, a decidedly lo-fi maelstrom of purring vocal loops and mechanic samples which almost seemed engineered as a direct reaction to the effortless accessibility of YiFI. For me, it was an often misguided if admirably...
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Wise Blood streams new EP
Indie R’n’B savant Wise Blood has posted up his forthcoming EP These Wings up for streaming ahead of it’s digital release next week. Last years ‘+’ EP brought the warped jams of Chris Laufman to the attention of some, but this embraces an even more pop sensibiltiy here, chopping samples into short hook filled slices of glinted euphoria. Something we can all get on...
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Caught In The Wake Forever - All The Hurt That...
Ambient music is a tricky path to tread, and trying to turn a microscope on the compelling subtleties of sound without drifting into background noise territory easier said than done. The key to success is invariably in production more than anything, in highlighting those shifts and textures of the sounds, and this is something which Caught in the Wake Forever excels at. A side project of one...
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Monsters Build Mean Robots – We Should Have...
Monsters Build Mean Robots is not a name that inspires confidence in hearing much beyond the kind of facsimile post-rock by numbers being pumped out by a slew of other such ridiculously monikered groups ( see also: the silly album title). So my hopes were not high for this Brigton quartet’s second album and, for the most part, this expectation is well founded. Despite added vocals the tracks...
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July 2011
4 posts
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Cat's Eyes
The fanfare which has greeted the unveiling of The Horrors admittedly quite good third album Skying has slightly eclipsed the April release of frontman Faris Badwan’s collaboration with Italian opera soprano Rachel Zeffira, under their chosen moniker of Cat’s Eyes. Something which is a real shame in my opinion because this debut is probably one of the most immediately likeable...
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Trouble Books and Mark McGuire
Perfect collaborations are pretty few and far between, but here’s a pairing which seem made for one another. Creators of two of my favourite 2010 releases, it’s likely that you’re more familiar with the work of Mark McGuire, one third of hypnotic loop merchants Emeralds and quietly accclaimed solo artist. The other half, or two thirds, deserve equal recognition, and have certainly become a...
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Here’s the first offering from the upcoming...
Sonic Reverie Records: A Summer out now →
sonicreverierecords:
The debut full length album by Good Weather For An Airstrike is here, following a handful of well received EPs over the last few years Tom Honey has expanded his sound to create something more substantial and arguably more bold than his previous outings. Going against the grain of ambient…