New music
Music Reissues Weekly: Ibex Band - Stereo Instrumental MusicSunday, 06 April 2025
Stereo Instrumental Music was recorded in July 1976 and originally issued only on cassette. The release was organised by what was credited as the “Sun Shine Music Shop,” an enterprise which seems to have left no additional imprint. No further “Sun... Read more... |
Album: The Waterboys - Life, Death and Dennis HopperSaturday, 05 April 2025
Mike Scott is The Waterboys. Launched by wide-eyed 1980s folk-rock, and “The Whole of the Moon”, he’s long since roamed into whatever stylistic gumbo he fancies. The latest album – the band’s 16th – is a concept piece, a 25-track sonic biography of... Read more... |
Album: Miki Berenyi Trio - TriplaFriday, 04 April 2025
I saw the Miki Berenyi Trio play a warmly received sold out set at the Lexington last autumn, at which many of the songs now coming out on Tripla ("three" in Hungarian) had their live previews, alongside a few from the Lush years – the likes of “... Read more... |
Album: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Death HilariousThursday, 03 April 2025
Pigsx7 have hardly got a reputation for penning tender and soulful ballads, but Death Hilarious is a particularly aggressive and punishing album even by their standards. Taking cues from Black Sabbath’s heft, Motorhead’s “bend not stab” sound and... Read more... |
Album: Elton John and Brandi Carlile - Who Believes in Angels?Wednesday, 02 April 2025
Spring may have sprung, but there’s little in life to truly raise the sprits, so this week’s release of Who Believes in Angels? the much-anticipated album from Elton John and Brandi Carlile is especially welcome.The album cover alone is... Read more... |
Album: Erlend Apneseth - Song Over StøvMonday, 31 March 2025
A pizzicato violin opens Song Over Støv. Gradually, other instruments arrive: bowed violin, a fluttering flute, pattering percussion, an ominous double bass. They merge. The climax is furious, intensely rhythmic. Suddenly, it is over.“Straumen frobi... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Yeah Man, It's Bloody HeavySunday, 30 March 2025
The sticker on the front cover says “The heaviest proto-metal compilation ever released.” And considering the label behind Yeah Man, It's Bloody Heavy is Rise Above, founded by former Napalm Death and Cathedral frontman Lee Dorrian, this is not idle... Read more... |
Album: Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barratt - Loose TalkSunday, 30 March 2025
On the spoken word LP Loose Talk, Amelia Barratt reflects on her or other women’s experiences, real or imagined, over tunes drawn from Bryan Ferry’s demos, some from early in his career. To hear his instantly recognisable sound applied to a female... Read more... |
Album: Will Smith - Based on a True StorySaturday, 29 March 2025
Will Smith’s new album, Based on a True Story, is a prime example of why some comebacks should remain hypothetical. After two decades away from music, one might expect a seasoned, self-aware return – something with the wisdom of age and... Read more... |
Album: Perfume Genius - GloryThursday, 27 March 2025
I can’t stop reading and re-reading the review copy I got of a new book, out next week. Liam Inscoe-Jones’s Songs in the Key of MP3: the New Icons of the Internet Age is one of those books where you’ll find yourself shocked that it didn’t... Read more... |
Album: Alison Krauss & Union Station - ArcadiaWednesday, 26 March 2025
It’s been 14 years since Alison Krauss and Union Station released an album – 2011’s Paper Aeroplane. The world’s shed a few skins since then, and little resembles the way it was. The ten songs on their new album, Arcadia, recorded in studios across... Read more... |
Lauren Mayberry, Barrowland, Glasgow review - solo star stays too close to the day jobMonday, 24 March 2025
It took until the last song before Lauren Mayberry started to well up onstage, which was good going. The singer had mentioned early on the prospect of a hometown Glasgow gig for her solo career had left her emotional all day, both with joy and fear... Read more... |
