New music
Thomas H. Green
In 2004 the era-defining dance duo Orbital supposedly went their separate ways. In fact, they merely took a four-year sabbatical. Three years later one half of the sibling pairing, Paul Hartnoll, released his debut solo album, The Ideal Condition. It was a lush affair, demonstrating a rich, warm musicality which hinted where Orbital’s melodic chops came from. It didn’t sell but was the best thing either Orbital brother, together or separately, had done in years. The revitalised Orbital then released two further albums, the latter of which, Wonky, was a gem, its closing number, “Where Is It Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Drenge made themselves known to the world some 18 months ago, surfing on the back of their abrasive self-titled debut album and some unexpected PR assistance from West Midlands MP Tom Watson. Back then, the Loveless brothers were a loud and lairy duo that took rock music by the scruff of the neck and knocked seven bells out of it with their stripped-down sound. With the recent release of their second album, Undertow, however, there have been some changes. Most noticeably, their sound has got richer and considerably grungier, while a bass player has been added to the line-up. However, given Read more ...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
I often think that, once a band hits certain milestones – longevity, moderate commercial success, critical acclaim – it can be difficult to know where to begin. I don’t mean the big bands, with the songs you’d recognise if you heard them in an advert or at a festival, their big hits acting as gateway drugs to those who’d like to find out more; but rather those mid-level indie bands beloved by those in the know and yet whose names prompt glazed looks when your colleagues ask you who you went to see at the weekend. By all means, after almost 20 years and nine albums together, Calexico should be Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Squarepusher, AKA Tom Jenkinson (b. 1975) is a groundbreaking electronic musician. Growing up in Essex, he first came to prominence in the mid-Nineties alongside Aphex Twin, with whom he worked extensively, amid a milieu of post-rave experimentalists exploring the wilder fringes of club-based sounds. Signing to Warp Records in 1995 he has maintained a position at the forefront of electronica, releasing 16 albums, the latest being Damogen Furies. His output has always been untrammelled by fads or trends and, while he’s often returned to a core jazz-funk flavour, his music has tapped into Read more ...
Guy Oddy
The psych scene is one that has never seemed to really go away since its birth in the mid-60s under the guidance of bands such as the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and Pink Floyd. It may have faded into the background from time to time, but every few years it comes back with something new and interesting added to the recognisable template. Out of the present incarnation of this crowd, which includes the likes of Swedish tribalists Goat, the hypnotic Wooden Shjips and a slew of bands that have featured on the excellent Reverb Conspiracy compilations, comes Italian duo Sonic Jesus. Their debut Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Dry ice began billowing from the stage of the Rainbow even before the house lights had dimmed and the between-band PA had faded out, allowing New York noiseniks A Place To Bury Strangers to slip behind their instruments unnoticed and burst into set-opener “Straight”, emerging from the fog like mighty sea creatures breaking the waves. The distorted guitar, laced with feedback, pounding drums and half-heard vocals, buried deep in the mix proved to be a statement of intent and set the tone for an evening which was somewhat lacking in gentle melodies. Guitarist Oliver Ackermann and bass player Read more ...
Matthew Wright
The Vein Trio craves the horn. Though a complete and expressive unit in itself, with Swiss brothers Florian and Michael Arbenz on drums and piano respectively, and Thomas Lähns on bass, they’ve been working with a new saxophonist each season. Last year there was a tour with Greg Osby; now they’ve secured the accompaniment of one of the finest, and most humane-sounding of the post-Coltrane saxophonists, the American Dave Liebman. Turning 70 next year, Liebman grew up with the stars of bebop (and played with Miles Davis for a few years), but was also a founder member of one of the most Read more ...
Guy Oddy
Anyone expecting much the same on Drenge’s new album as from their 2013 self-titled debut may have been somewhat misled by lead track “Favourite Son”. Lively and abrasive, with pounding drums, angry guitars and yelled vocals, it certainly wouldn’t sound out of place alongside “I Wanna Break You In Half” and “Gun Crazy”. With the exception of the Ramones-esque “We Can Do What We Want”, however, this is where the adrenaline-fuelled influence of Drenge’s first album largely ends. The rest of Undertow is predominantly characterised by melodic hard rock sounds that suggest a bit too much self- Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
Fotheringay: Nothing More – The Collected FotheringayComing to the sole Fotheringay album cold undermines received opinion it was a side issue in Sandy Denny’s career: a stepping-stone between leaving Fairport Convention and going solo. The band’s eponymous 1970 album opens with “Nothing More” and “The Sea”, two absolutely fantastic Denny songs performed with affecting and brooding sensitivity. Then the album shifts gear. “The Ballad of Ned Kelly”, written and sung by her partner Trevor Lucas, is a dreary re-write of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”. Anyone influenced by The Band could Read more ...
Lisa-Marie Ferla
The rich, knock-off church organ drone that opens Ivy Tripp disorientates from the off, while at the same time telling you all you need to know. It may have been the simplicity and directness of Katie Crutchfield’s lyrical and composition style that drew me into the world of Waxahatchee – Crutchfield’s solo project, a homage to the creek of the same name near her Alabama hometown – but that world itself was never simple. The phrase “ivy tripp”, Crutchfield has said in interviews, sums up a certain late-20s directionlessness, which probably already has its own word in German – but it’s that Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Record Store Day – 18 April – has been whipping up discord among independent labels. Notably, Sonic Cathedral are boycotting it, instead releasing 365 copies of an EP by Spectres and Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, one a day, over the next year. The problem, these voices of protest say, is that that while Record Store Day used to be a fun-fuelled opportunity to focus on especially curated releases by smaller operations, ones who cared about music, now it’s simply a chance for the majors to rake in bucks off the back of “a Mumford & Sons 7” or an overpriced Noel Gallagher 12”. Worse, the Read more ...
Matthew Wright
They’ve yet to release an album, but the London-based, alt-rock four-piece Wolf Alice have already been called everything from shoegrunge to Brit-country, via indie-dance and riot-grrrl. Last night they gave another compelling display of musical shape-shifting, which demonstrated why they’re known for seeming not to know what they are. On the evidence of yesterday’s short set, headlining at the end of a three-act gig, their diverse approach is part of a playful, self-aware ambivalence that serves a genuinely questing musical adventure, with a touch of mystery marketing thrown in for Read more ...