(This review first appeared in issue #86 of Shindig! magazine.)
Banana & Louie LP
A tenth anniversary reissue and vinyl debut for an album previously only available on CD in Japan. Carwyn Ellis spent years soaking up influences as a session guitarist and a music fan, both experiences which inform this stylistically diverse outpouring. In theory it shouldn't work – an album that hops between psych-pop, funk, vaudeville, soft jazz shuffles and all points between. However, such are his strong pop sensibilities it all holds together surprisingly well.
Highlights include Welsh-language gem 'Dere Mewn', the album-closing lullaby 'Oyasumi, Baby' and the powerpop rush of 'Restless'. But there's not a duff track among them, whether singing of lesser known London Underground stations or issues surrounding gambling, it's all engaging. Lovingly packaged in a gatefold sleeve, you'll be hard pushed to find a more pleasing and melodically rich collection of tunes released this year. A delightful record that deserves a place in your record rack and your heart.
(This review first appeared in issue #85 of Shindig! magazine.)
Midlake bassist Paul Alexander began work on a debut solo album under the Two Medicine moniker during a lengthy period of band downtime. Whether missing the band helped shape the sense of longing present throughout this album is unclear but what is apparent is that Alexander is capable of creating music of elegance and depth which more than suffices in the absence of a new Midlake album.
Astropsychosis teems with adult-oriented Dreampop and taps into America's latent mysticism and spirituality. Counter-melody basslines dance around over pillow-like sonic textures while Alexander's soft, understated, often layered voice delivers lyrics of subtle protest and quiet hope. Standouts include 'SF', a state-of-the-nation address, and 'Gold' where a descending bass guitar line and some 12-string guitar jangle meet for the album's most sublime moment of glistening pop. While the rest of the record may not yield its beauty so immediately over time its charm is slowly revealed.
Alt-rock
trio's new single! A taster from their stunning debut album!
It's
fitting that on the day I post this that the country is baking under
some late August sunshine. Yes indeed, summer is far from over, and
helping to point this out is London-based alt-rock trio Hurtling with their new
single 'Summer'. The track was written by singer/guitarist Jen Macro
and is taken from the band's fabulous debut album Future From
Here, which is set for release on October 18th. A longtime member of My Bloody Valentine's live band, Jen has stockpiled a great batch of songs which make up the album. 'Summer' is just the enticing tip of this particular iceberg!
Sumptuously
melodic, full of playful quiet /loud dynamics, taut drums, thrumming basslines, and with
an ace guitar wig-out bit in the middle – fans of left-of-centre
indie, alt-rock and shoegaze will be right in the zone with this one.
Anyway, don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself via the
video below. A full review of the band's debut album will follow ahead
of its release date.Enjoy the weekend!
Hurtling
are -
Jen
Macro – vocals, guitar
Simon
Kobayashi – bass
Jon
Clayton - drums
Live
Dates
Saturday
August 31st – Primadonna Festival, Laffitts Hall,
Suffolk
Saturday
September 14th – Loud Woman Festival, Boston Music Room
(This review first appeared in issue #85 of Shindig! magazine.)
On first listen the second solo LP from Cool Ghoul bassist Pat Thomas channels a lineage of quirky Californian eccentricity that runs way back to Brian Wilson and SMiLE. For example 'Are You OK' has a goofy playground melody and comes adorned with bells, whistles, car-horn honks and dog barks. Then there's 'New Star-Ell' which celebrates living within walking distance of a liquor store. The thread of cartoon comedy is even there on the vinyl edition's label, which spoofs the Looney Tunes "That's All Folks" logo.
Deeper listening reveals a more serious intent along with serious musicianship. Much of Thomas' lyrics contain messages about personal freedom and call for fairer distribution of wealth, land and power, best evidenced on the album's tour-de-force closer 'Give The Land To The People'. The music draws from vintage soul, soft sunshine-psych and free jazz and gives persuasive power to the album's underlying alternative manifesto.
(This review first appeared in issue #84 of Shindig! magazine.)
It's five full years since the release of Gardner's instantly classic debut LP Cabinet Of Curiosities. Since then he's opted to give the people what they don't yet know they want rather than repeat any psych-pop formula. Somnium is inspired by Johannes Kepler's 1608 novel of the same name, and Gardner's recent relocation to Lisbon. By opting to make a vocal-less instrumental album Gardner takes a big risk but the investment of immersive listening reveals the album's singular meditative qualities.
With soothing layers of analogue synths, gently propulsive bass-lines and an emphasis the listener's inner journey, the music has precedents in the ambient explorations of Tangerine Dream and the library music used on TV programmes for schools and colleges in the 1980s. It may not be the echo of '60s psych-pop many of his listeners were hoping for but does signal Gardner's growing confidence in taking the road less travelled.
(This review first appeared in issue #84 of Shindig! magazine.)
LA-based Smash Fashion burst onto the music scene with their debut Big Cat Love in 2014 proving that the retro glam scene wasn't purely reserved for Italian bootboys. Rompus Pompous serves up another batch of guitarist/vocalist Roger Deering's songs. They're bold, brash, melodic and defiantly good-time, with a sonic template based on '70s FM rock and lyrics that are playful, funny and hark back to a time before rock music started taking itself so seriously. Duelling twin-guitars abound and actively embrace the much-maligned guitar technique of squealing pinched harmonics.
For all its knowingly tongue-in-cheek humour, Rompus Pompous does however contain a genuine rock ballad epic in 'Smiles And Daggers', a track that rivals Guns 'n' Roses' 'November Rain' in scale and ambition. It reveals a musically hot band at the top of their game and comes embellished with sumptuous piano playing courtesy of David Bowie's long-serving keyboardist Mike Garson.
(This review first appeared in issue #84 of Shindig! magazine.)
Carlson has been a big star for over two decades in his native Sweden, firstly as a founder member of indie rockers Weeping Willows and latterly via several collaborations and a successful solo career. This is his first full-length solo outing in the UK and focuses on his deep love of northern soul. Recorded in part by long-time Paul Weller associate Andy Lewis at the Modfather's Black Barn Studio, it's stacked with uptempo dance-floor fillers, all taut grooves, punchy horns and melancholic high strings. With any justice it will bring Carlson the wider audience he deserves.
If side one is about being on the floor shaking some talc, side two broadens out into more of a comedown feel, most successfully on the lush orchestral ballad 'Broken Promise Land', which features backing from Carlson's Weeping Willows band-mates. Medway modernists will also be pleased by guest appearance of Fay Hallam on 'Now That It's Over'.
(This review first appeared in issue #84 of Shindig! magazine.)
JP Bimeni's back-story is like none other. A descendant of the Burundian royal family, he fled Burundi aged 15 during the 1993 civil war after three attempts on his life. Having survived being both shot and poisoned he managed to attain refugee status and moved to the UK, taking a college place in Wales. It was there he started listening to the soul music that would go on to inform his own singing style. A spell in an Otis Redding tribute revue brought him to the attention of Madrid's Tucxone Records who paired him with The Black Belts to record this infectious album.
If the meeting of southern soul with uptempo African funk doesn't grab you then Bimeni's impassioned vocals surely will. Equally stirring on the tearjerkers or the floor-filling modern funk numbers. Free Me is one of the year's must-have soul albums and a reminder of how compelling singing from the heart can be.
(This review first appeared in issue #83 of Shindig! magazine.)
Bill Schalda was a teenage member of '60s Brooklyn vocal group The Montereys who would later pass on his love of close harmony singing to his three sons Will, Paul and Carmine. Together the quartet supplied background vocals to Charles Bradley's Victim of Love LP. Producer Thomas Brenneck was so taken with the results he encouraged the group to make this full-length album which merges doo-wop sensibilities with soul's expansive and emotional range.
Featuring their unique close family harmonies backed by the finest musicians of Daptone's extended musical family (including members of The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band, The Dap-Kings), Love In The Wind is built on pure love of the music, palpable in the ghostly doo-wop ('Those Days Are Over', 'Do What'), and the standout uptempo psych-soul groover 'Carnival'. The mix of era-respecting authenticity, youthful spirit and combined team effort is a winning combination, even by Daptone's high standards.
(This review first appeared in issue #83 of Shindig! magazine.)
The Memphis trio's fifth LP unleashes a barrage of greasy blues 'n' boogie rock, big on pentatonic riffs, driving drums and floor shaking bottom end, as exemplified on the album's bookending tracks 'Loving Man' and 'Trying To Remember'. Aside from the heavy duty rock are revelatory moments where the band break out of their blues box and venture off on different tacks. 'Dream' showcases their softer, textured pop side, whereas 'Take A Walk' sees the band go all-out into wah-wah enhanced funk-rock.
'Can't Go Back' allows drummer Andrew Denham to take centre stage. Then there's the lyrical voodoo and hip-hop beats of 'Death's Creep' or 'On The Way' where vocalist/guitarist Justin Toland mixes bluesy vocals with British finger-style acoustic picking. Recorded live at the historic Sam Phillips Recording Studio in their hometown, Distractions honours the south's hard rocking musical traditions and adds a high voltage boost. Best played loud.
(This review first appeared in issue #82 of Shindig! magazine.)
Stoltz's love of '60s Brit Invasion and '80s post-punk sounds is well known so it's no surprise echoes of both loom large on his latest album. Be it the dreampop of the title track, the lo-fi psychedelic pop of 'My Friend' or the indie-disco of 'Decisions Decisions', he combines spiky guitar lines with whistleable '60s pop melodies, then nicely drenches them with chorus and reverb. In this musical tug-of-love it's the '80s that ultimately wins with Stoltz going full out retro-electro on 'Static Electricity', with call-and-response robotic vocals, synth shimmers and dive-bombing guitar solo.
As the album progresses each tracks reveals a different mood or aspect of Stoltz's personality; gently mocking sarcasm on 'How Psychedelic Of You', a jaunty sing-song round the old Joanna on 'A Rolling Tambourine', and best of all 'Where You Will', a slice of wistful melancholia with Stoltz beautifully channelling his inner Morrissey and Marr.
(This review first appeared in issue #82 of Shindig! magazine.)
Most musicians are inspired to some extent by their surroundings. Few transmute the experience of landscape into music as artfully as William Sol AKA Prana Crafter. From his home in the woodlands of Washington State's Olympic peninsula he's released several cassette albums of nature-inspired psych-folk that combine the vocal vulnerability of Neil Young, the exploratory virtuosity of Jerry Garcia with an Eno-esque knack for ambient textures.
Enter The Stream is his most engaging album so far, a mix of downbeat Americana and sonic exploration. Against a backdrop of trickling water, the title track sets the mood on a record that champions the eternal beauty of the natural world over the ugliness of contemporary global politics. In Sol's hands even white noise and scales more usually associated with doom-rock have a soothing quality, as evidenced on 'Moon Through Fern Lattice' and 'The Spell' respectively. As rejuvenating and refreshing as a wild swim.
(This review first appeared in issue #81 of Shindig! magazine.)
Something is happening and Mr. Jones knows what it is. Our appetite for rare soul remains as insatiable as ever. The mix of grit, groove and passionate emotion distilled by American musicians in the sixties and seventies continues to fascinate. With this in mind Durand and his Indications pay homage to two lesser-celebrated soul acts.
'You And Me' was originally recorded as a demo by Ohio-based Penny & The Quarters in the early seventies. Durand adds an early Motown vibe with a sweet falsetto over a doo wop chord sequence. 'Put A Smile On Your Face' is a melancholic gem originally cut by Detroit's EJ & The Echoes in 1967. Durand's faithful take offers neat drum shuffles and a vocal delivery that gets straight to the emotional heart of the lyrics. The fact that these versions were recorded quickly in a electric piano repair shop only adds to the authentic vintage vibe.
(This review first appeared in issue #81 of Shindig! magazine.)
The Paul Steel back-story is a cautionary tale. Chewed up and spat out by the major label machine while still in his early twenties, the desire to make daringly creative music remained thankfully intact. Ten years on from his ambitious first LP April & I, this second offering continues the story narrative of the now April-less “I”. It's a richly packed affair, a 15-track gap-less song cycle full of stylistic shifts. Everything from rock, baroque-pop, muzak and computer game sounds gets a look-in including a “Yacht-rock dream sequence”.
SMiLE-era Brian Wilson is the strongest and most recognisable influence, but Steel's precocious skills as a writer and arranger take him into many other musical realms. There's the sense that nothing is beyond his capabilities. That said Carousel Kites is a challenging listen, the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink barrage of ideas makes it an album easier to admire than to truly love.
Double
A-sided 7” covering songs by Roy Harper and Black Sabbath!
Odd
juxtapositions, you just gotta love 'em! Whether it's a Public
Enemy/Anthrax collaboration, 'Long, Long, Long' following 'Helter
Skelter' on The Beatles' White Album, or even Mel Smith and
Kim Wilde putting out a Christmas single, sometimes putting
incongruous ideas, genres or artists together can yield surprising
results. This new 7” by Jack Ellister is a case in point. On one
side you have a lovingly heartfelt piano-backed reading of Roy
Harper's most famous song. Flip the record over and there's a version
of a Black Sabbath album track ('Supernaut' from Black Sabbath
IV). While the Harper track is suitably sentimental and elegiac,
the Sabbath cut is a space-race inspired heavy-riffing juggernaut,
featuring distorted bass guitar, lead synth lines and clattering
drums played by Jack's brother Tomasz. Somehow in an inexplicable way
the pairing works. For me, being the sentimental type, the Harper
cover edges out as favourite but I'd encourage you to have a listen
and pick your own winner.
Oh
one more thing before I sign off - there's an lovely back-story to
the recordings on this single as told by Jack on the press release
which I feel is worth including here...
"The
grand piano used on 'Cricketer' belonged to my grand father in Torun,
Poland. In 1990/1991 my father took me and Tomasz to Poland to get
it over to Germany. We had to smuggle it out because it was forbidden
to transport instruments across the border, as they might be valuable
collectible items or state property. We did it in two turns using an
old Mercedes 9-seater. On the first trip we took the inner metal
works and mechanics out and hid them under lots of other stuff. On
the second journey a month later we got the wooden frame, which
appeared like a sort of cheap big wardrobe when not inspected
properly. Luckily the wooden outer parts fit into the lift in
Stuttgart and didn't need to be carried up the stairs to our flat on
the 6th floor where we lived in at that time. It was great to have it
around and we used it a lot on early recordings.
My brother
Tomasz was then made to play classical music on that thing for about
seven years, and he recorded me playing 'Cricketer' in the living
room in Stuttgart (not the same flat) just before it went back to
Poland for good, together with my parents.
'Supernaut'
is one of those Sabbath tracks that doesn't seem to belong to their
obvious classics, but for me it somehow earned itself a special place
in their canon. Tomasz sent me the drums recorded in his cellar
studio/rehearsal space and I added all the rest at home."
(This review first appeared in issue #81 of Shindig! magazine.)
Mcniff's music is rooted in the Anglo-American storytelling tradition but offers more than a mere stylistic re-tread. His sixth and latest LP Joy And Independence is as stripped down as they come, mostly one voice, one guitar, no studio trickery, just songs and sentiments that draw you in and stay with you long after the disc has stopped playing. It's part travelogue, part autobiography and part emotional stock-taking with McNiff looking back at lost loves, his early troubadour days and the changing nature of dreams and ambitions.
His wistful reminiscences take in travels through Italy and northern Spain, and he recalls the fading rainy London of the 1990s with a rare sensitivity and a knack for finding the universal in the specific. Fans of Blood On The Tracks will find much to immerse themselves in here. Aside from the first person songs there's also sympathetic commentary on the Amanda Knox story. Rich pickings.
(This review first appeared in issue #81 of Shindig! magazine.)
Sydney-based five-piece The Jim Mitchells have a sound that's from the garage but is refreshingly non-macho and comes infused with a DIY Daisy Age feel. Ambiance and texture share equal billing with melody, and you're drawn in by dreamy sounds rather than bludgeoned by riffs. Described by the band as “an ode to love and mental struggles”, their full-length debut Love Hypnotic is a laid-back, gently intoxicating affair as exemplified on album opener '(Let Them All In)' with its languid beats and sun-dappled guitar lines.
'We're Up High' fuses indie with two-chord raga-rock, all repetitive groove and spiralling guitar. 'Easy Love' is a soothing slice of soft 'n' hazy psych not dissimilar to the music of Allah-Las, whereas 'Got To Believe' sounds like Supergrass taking a hiatus in Haight-Ashbury. A highly enjoyable album, and one that deserves to be part of your soundtrack to the imminent summer of love.
