Good friends of ours Cyanna Mercury have released a video as a taster for the forthcoming debut LP. The as yet untitled album will be releases later this year but you can sample some of its delights thanks to the video they've made for 'If We Were Blind'. It's a psychedelic rock tune based on the traditional greek dance rhythm of zeimbekiko. Enjoy!
Fire
up your Bunsen burners! '80s Brit-psychers return with a brand new
studio album.
In the late '80s The
Chemistry Set bravely flew the flag for 60's influenced psychedelia.
It may have been against the grain of the prevailing trends, out of
step maybe with what record labels and the wider public wanted but in
music you just gotta follow your heart ain't it!
Fast forward to January
2016 and the reformed Chemistry Set have a brand new long-player for
those who keep the faith. With the widened tastes and more open and
accepting minds of the internet generation, the time is right for
fans old and new to take this record to their hearts. A teasing taste
of what you can expect was released last year on the 'Elapsed Moments
EP', (also on Fruits De Mer Records). Time may have passed but talent
lasts.
Time may have passed
but thankfully talent lasts. From the opening fanfare of 'The
Splendour Of The Universe' there's a sense of vigour, a renewed sense
of purpose. This track in particular is a great calling card,
combining a psychedelic mindset with the bombast, swagger and melody
of mod-rock.
With all the sonic
hallmarks of psych-pop intact (Mellotron strings, snatches of sampled
dialogue, fairground organs, backward guitar solos etc.), fans of
original '60s era psych can add The Chemistry Set to their approved
list of contemporary bands. And Oasis fans will appreciate the cheeky
nod to Shakermaker on 'Albert Hoffman' along with the way they house
their brand of psych in such sugar-coated, whistle-able, sugar-coated
pop tunes.
Limited to 600 copies
on gold vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with a special fold-out periodic
table poster. Also look out for the very special boxed version in the
spring which comes with test-tube filled candy and a selection of
experiments. Intriguing eh! You may not have received a chemistry set
for Christmas so treat yourself to one of January's best albums
instead.
A
David Axelrod for the alt-rock and electronic generation!
Not a remake of the
Fleetwood Mac bestselling LP as some might hope, this is an entirely
different beast made up of arty instrumentals. In much the same way
that Daxid Axelrod mixed rhythm and blues with third stream music to
create something contemplative and with a deeper resonance, Paolo
Spaccamonti mixes alt-rock, looped chord sequences and soundscapes
that at first listen seem beguiling but over time reveal a
transporting power all of their own.
His technique of
repetition and layering is at times in danger of being bogged down by
its own seriousness but he does do it rather well. Deeper listening
shows there to be a myriad of influences and styles at play;
post-punk industrial guitars, a nod to OMD's Dazzle Ships, a
touch of sludge-rock on the album's heavier moments, and even some
Robert Kirby style pastoral strings on the closing track 'Fango'.
Spaccamonti already has some impressive collaborations to his name
both live and in the studio. This solo outing will cement his already
growing reputation.
Old
dogs, new tricks! New Hampshire proggers' latest EP!
It's something of a
mystery that Dreadnaught are not more widely known. It's nineteen
years since they formed (yep nineteen!) and as their latest EP
Gettin' Tight With shows, descending into blandness or stasis
is not an option for these chaps. The five-song EP opens with the
dense prog calling card of 'Nervous Little Dogs', all intricate
virtuoso playing which for all its complicated twists and turns
manages to hold together and er.. rock!
The prog tag is
somewhat misleading as over the course of the EP there's traces of
country rock, skewed funk, jazz fusion and Steely Dan-style
sophistication and smoothness to be heard. It's this freedom in their
approach which appeals most, along with their sense of humour. You
get the feeling they take the music seriously but not themselves.
Fans of old school prog bands such as ELP, King Crimson, Genesis and
the like will wet their pants over this stuff. As will open-minded
fans of good music in general. Get on board!
Southern
Gothic epitomised. The American Civil War inspires album and
documentary.
The American Civil War was a brutal, harsh affair
which set brother against brother. It still resonates and haunts
modern America as illustrated by the recent controversy over the
Confederate flag and its continued use in the Southern states. It
still fascinates but is rarely used as subject matter in contemporary
roots music. The Orphan Brigade: Soundtrack To A Ghost Story
is a suite of songs featured in a documentary about Octagon Hall –
a Civil War-era plantation house, reputed to be haunted. Soldiers of
the First Kentucky Brigade were stationed nearby, and it's their
writings and journals that that have inspired the songs featured in
the film and on the accompanying soundtrack album. The musical
collective also took their name from the unit's nickname.
The story of the American South is complicated,
but the music here will teach you as much as any history book. A
project such as this could easily have come across as dry, stilted
and worthy but such is the skill of the musicians and writers
involved this is not the case. Each song focusses on the personal,
human stories that take you into the heart of the subject in a deep
and powerful way. The music is mighty fine too, a hugely enjoyable
example of Americana, which also displays some European and Celtic
roots. It may also contain the finest (and sadly prescient) new
Christmas song you'll hear this year, 'We Were Marching On Christmas
Day'. Whether you believe in ghosts matters little, but it's
difficult to deny how actions and events echo down the years.
Cult
Liverpool musicians' new album searches for truth, beauty and meaning
in a messed up world!
Musicians reforming for the coin may garner more
column inches but when they do so for the music, and because they
have something to say, the results are infinitely more interesting
and worthy of our attention. Such is the case with Beauty Will
Save The World. After an 18 year hiatus RAIJ feel the time is
right for for the world to hear their latest work. A low-key release
it may be, but one that deserves and needs to be heard.
With such a loaded
album title (a Dostoevsky quote), the music has a lot to live up to.
It doesn't disappoint. Comprised of ambient, soft cinematic
soundscapes with poetical spoken word passages drifting in from the
ether in a variety of languages. Over several listens a central
thrust emerges, one concerned with religion, beauty, truth and
transcendence. The music is gentle and tinged with sadness yet
manages to be both elegiac and hopeful. Although there are several
languages throughout the album (every continent represented), the
album is about connections rather than differences. Truly music for
the healing of nations. It may get overlooked in the
end-of-year/Christmas scramble but you're unlikely to find a more
affecting and unique album. Recommended.
South Londoners' latest 7”, very limited and
very very good!
There's a lot of fuss
currently about 1966, due in no small part to Jon Savage's book, 1966
The Year The Decade Exploded. Those of us in the garage world
have always known that the year represented some sort of high water
mark for guitar bands before fragmenting into either drug addled
psych, overblown proto-metal, or back-to-the-country navel-gazing.
Which brings me to The
Fallen Leaves, whose latest single on Market Square Records harks
back to that classic and timeless '66 Beat Explosion, all taut riffs, snappy beats and
guitar jangle. Neither overproduced or overblown, just great taut
songwriting and playing which evokes every era of back-to-basic
bands, from the '60s garage scene, through punk and onto the DIY
ethos of '80s indie.
B-side 'The Inside Of A
Chair' is a more aggressive affair, all instrumental apart from the
spoken “Hello” and “Goodbye” that bookend its short sharp
blast. All in all this 7” is a cracking double header, managing to
bring together all the threads and strands of what a great four piece
band is all about. Get it while it's hot!
Limited to 300 copies
complete with a hand-numbered postcard.
Ex-members
of That Petrol Emotion return for more manic pop thrills!
That Petrol Emotion
were a band whose critical reputation was not matched by record
sales. If anything they were a band out of time. For a band made up
of former members of The Undertones, a smaller following did however
mean the band had more artistic freedom after casting off the pop
shackles. With a sound that was spiky and angular, but bolstered a
solid rock-funk groove the band were out of step with the populist
Britpop sounds when they split in 1994. It was a further ten years
before Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, Maximo Park and the like
cashed in with a style that owed much to TPE.
Twenty years on from
their dissolution the final line-up of TPE return with a new name, a
new outlook and no diminishing of their talents or enthusiasm. On
their debut album as The Everlasting Yeah round all four members
share vocal duties along with writing credits. Egos and genres are
left at the door leaving the band free to go where the muse takes
them. They describe their sound as Keltic Kosmische Musik on their
website. While that may be a somewhat bold claim there is a sense of
freedom, an abandonment of tried and tested routes, but with a
remaining belief in the power of a good strong tune.
The Keltic Kosmische
claim is most evident on closing opus 'The Grind' where the band
stretch out into an extended hypnotic jam. Elsewhere top session
saxophonist and indie music biz lifer Terry Edwards makes a guest
appearance on 'Taking That Damn Train Again', a sterling lesson in
skronk 'n' roll. There's even room for some indie-funk on '(Whatever
Happened To The) Hoodlum Angels'. Fans of boundary pushing guitar
music from Television through to QOTSA will find much common ground
here, and much to like!
To title your 2nd
album Cosmic Radio Station is a bold move but not if the
sounds it contains can back it up. Fortunately New Zealand trio The
Shifting Sands have concocted a pleasing mix of hazy shoegaze and
indie thrum and chime which more than backs up the claim. Softly sung
vocals and poppy melodies break through the wall of sound making the
album as much about tunes as it is about textures.
Highlights include the
moody 'Making It Through' where the band get a chance to max out
their pedal boards, 'Coming Back', a pop tune in noisy wolf's
clothing, and the short instrumental 'Whareakeake', a nod to where
the album was recorded, its yearning folk melody adorned with baroque
strings. Throughout the record noise is tempered by melodies, which
break through the shimmer like sunshine through clouds.
Fans of Chaptehouse,
Slowdive and the like will feel right at home, as will those of The
Jesus and Mary Chain. Other signposts include The Psychedelic Furs,
Kurt Vile, and Ultra Vivid Scene. That said, there ain't nobody
around right now quite like The Shifting Sands. Check 'em out!
Lost
recordings from the Brooklynite's mid-noughties reformation.
Much like that other
New York band The Velvet Underground, The Optic Nerve may not have
played much outside their home city, or sold many records in their
brief first flowering. But posthumous LP releases by Get Hip and
Screaming Apple Records have resulted in a well deserved re-appraisal
of the band's sound.
In 1985 on our side of
the pond, bands such as Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, The
Bodines et al were taking inspiration from mid '60s folk rock,
dressing like Sterling Morrisson and finding an appreciative
audience. In the US such back-to-the-garage mentality was out of step
with what mainstream audiences wanted. Punk rock had yet to go
overground.
Skip forward to 2005
and The Optic Nerve mainstays Bobby Belfiore and Tony Matura form a
new line-up of the band to record an album's worth of material. These
recordings ended up shelved for a further ten years. It's only now,
that State Records are issuing two cuts from these sessions.
'Penelope Tuesday' is
the upbeat, poppy A-side, sounding like a summer smash best heard on
AM Radio. Flipside is a more considered moodier affair, big on
jangle, vocal harmonies and descending chord sequences. Both sides
are worthy of your attention though. Let's hope that full album will
sometime see the light of day.
