New music
Album: Paradise Lost – ObsidianSaturday, 09 May 2020
The Yorkshire metal veterans Paradise Lost have been around for more than three decades. The name of the band has become synonymous with a distinct sound combining gothic, death and doom to deliver a layered, wonderful type of darkness. Their 16th... Read more... |
Album: Hayley Williams - Petals for ArmorFriday, 08 May 2020
The music of monstrously successful emo-pop sorts Paramore is globally massive but is far from everyone’s cup of angst-lite. There is something polished and squeaky clean about them, Teflon fluoro-goth with an off-putting whiff of decent boy/girl-... Read more... |
Album: X – AlphabetlandThursday, 07 May 2020
It’s 35 years since the original and best loved line up of X last released any new material: the less than special Ain’t Love Grand. Somewhat unexpectedly then, a new album, Alphabetland has appeared out of the ether and it’s certainly up there with... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 5: Foals, Claptone, Luke La Volpe, Minecraft's music festival and moreWednesday, 06 May 2020
Way into lockdown now and, as the music world adjusts, so what artists are attempting becomes, in some cases, more sophisticated. In others, many impressively make the most of whatever tech they have to hand. Either way it’s always fascinating to... Read more... |
Album: Dinosaur - To the EarthWednesday, 06 May 2020
Dinosaur’s Mercury-nominated debut was a jolt of 1970s Miles and James Brown electricity. This third album steps back into the familiar comforts of acoustic jazz, with a cool inquisitiveness combining trumpeter-leader Laura Jurd’s rural... Read more... |
Album: Mark Lanegan - Straight Songs of SorrowMonday, 04 May 2020
There are few albums as relentlessly dark as Mark Lanegan's latest: the raw and intense exploration of a tortured soul. This stuff is a few circles of hell deeper than anything Leonard Cohen ever did, and when the Canadian poet of melancholy "wanted... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: King Size Taylor and the DominoesSunday, 03 May 2020
The enduring status of The Beatles shouldn’t distract from them having been one amongst many Liverpool bands while they found their feet. In October 1961, local impresario and Cavern Club DJ/MC Bob Wooler worked out that there were 125 active bands... Read more... |
Isolation Song Contest review - a fun alternative to EurovisionSunday, 03 May 2020
Of all the disappointments the lockdown has brought, great among them is the cancelled Eurovision Song Contest, which was due to be held in Rotterdam later this month. And while there are bigger concerns at the moment than a light entertainment... Read more... |
Album: BlackLab - AbyssSaturday, 02 May 2020
Abyss is the second disc by Osaka’s self-proclaimed “dark witch doom” duo BlackLab, but their first album proper, and it certainly delivers the monster sounds that were only hinted at by the compilation of impossible to find, early releases, Under... Read more... |
Album: Fink, Bloom Innocent - AcousticFriday, 01 May 2020
An all-acoustic album is perhaps a surprising arrival from a musician who started out in electronica and dance music, worked as a DJ, produced for Elbow, has co-written with artists as diverse as Professor Green, Amy Winehouse (“Half Times”) and... Read more... |
New Music Lockdown 4: Neil Young, Roger & Brian Eno and a trip to NashvilleWednesday, 29 April 2020
Midway through another week of lockdown, here's a cross section of small good things to keep the eyes and ears entertained. There's some lively stuff here for the old grey matter to chew on. Take a look. Dive in!Neil Young Fireside SessionsNeil... Read more... |
Album: The Soft Pink Truth - Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase?Tuesday, 28 April 2020
Drew Daniel is never short of concepts, invention or mischief. As one half of Matmos, with his life partner M.C. Schmidt, he has made some 10 official albums and many more collaborative ones – all pushing the boundaries of electronic bricolage and... Read more... |
