Review: Acclaimed South African folk singer Vusi Mahlasela joined forces with singer songwriter Norman Zulu as well as the superb Swedish jazz and soul collective Jive Connection for this album back in 2002. It was thought to be a lost recording until it recently showed up and now gets fully revived by Strut. There are strong political links between these countries which no doubt adds weight to this musical link up. It is a great exchange of cultures from parables to laments on child abuse to tunes that fuse reggae, jazz and post-punk with township styles.
Review: Laura Marling is back with her eighth studio album Patterns in Repeat. Now eight albums and 15 years into her career, Patterns in Repeat was written following the birth of her daughter in 2023 and finds Laura reflecting on her motherhood experience, as well as more broadly diving deeper into her reckoning with the ideas and behaviours we pass down through family over generations. Dedicated to girlhood, Marling's sense of perspective is noticeable here; we journey with her through the recognition of the 'Patterns' of life (having a child of our own causes us to remember all sorts) as well as the utterable reassurances, such as 'No One's Gonna Love You Like I Can'. Motivic throughout is the sense in which the experience of having children isn't communicable, because Marling herself is lost for words.
Review: The debut album Approach to Anima by Maya Ongaku landed originally in May 2023 but sold out quickly so is now being reissued. Initially available as a rare import, the album features Sonoda's fluid guitar and vocals, Takano's undulating bass, Ikeda's ethereal woodwinds and delicate synths and percussion to create a calm yet unsettling atmosphere. Tracks like 'Approach' and 'Water Dream' showcase their diverse influences by blending "Neo-Dada and Fluxus" with 1960s recording advancements. Based in serene Enoshima, the trio's music is free-spirited and reveals hidden depths and untamed vitality which reflect their ongoing creative journey.
Review: Lizzy McAlpine's third studio album, Older, is a poignant and emotionally charged collection of fourteen tracks that showcase her remarkable talent as a songwriter and vocalist. Delving into themes of love, loss, and the complexities of growing older, McAlpine's heartfelt lyrics and captivating vocals resonate deeply with listeners. The album opens with the enchanting 'The Elevator,' setting the tone for what's to come with its harmonious melodies and introspective lyrics. From there, McAlpine navigates through the highs and lows of relationships in tracks like 'Come Down Soon' and 'Like It Tends To Do,' where she grapples with insecurity and uncertainty. Throughout Older, McAlpine's songwriting prowess shines as she candidly explores her personal experiences, including the death of her father and her own struggles with mental health. Tracks like 'All Falls Down' and 'March' offer poignant reflections on grief and resilience, while 'Vortex' delivers a powerful climax with its haunting vocals and stirring instrumentation. With each track, McAlpine expertly crafts a sonic landscape that draws listeners in, weaving together lush instrumentals with her emotive voice. From the tender piano chords to the soaring violins, every element of Older feels purposeful and deeply evocative.
To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth (4:57)
Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever (4:45)
Dry Fantasy (15:02)
Ritchie Sacramento (4:11)
Drive The Nail (7:12)
Fuck Off Money (5:54)
Ceiling Granny (3:58)
Midnight Flit (5:48)
Pat Stains (6:50)
Supposedly, We Were Nightmares (4:35)
It's What I Want To Do, Mum (7:21)
Review: Ask yourselves not whether Mogwai are just the tonic we all need in the middle of a particularly psychologically damaging pandemic. Instead, ask yourselves if there are any situations in which we don't need a new record from the Scottish space rock, post-rock, math-prog masters. Needless to say, then, As The Love Continues couldn't have arrived soon enough.
Marking the triumphant tenth LP, in many ways it's typical stuff from the band - commanding, epic, crashing, wooshing, flying, falling, loving, losing, dreamy guitar music that seems to open as many eyes as it does render listeners blind through sheer hypnosis. Packing some delightfully droll track titles to boot - for example 'F**k Off Money' - given most of us spent a good deal of time after the announcement last year wishing this would get here sooner it's our pleasure to confirm it's every bit worth the wait.
Review: Whilst Mogwai's scores for Zidane and Les Revenants were diverting enough pieces of work, it's some testimony to the frontier-striding attitude and emotional heft of 'Atomic' - which marks a soundtrack to the movie made by Mark Cousins and shown on BBC4 last year, dealing with the atomic age - that is stands amongst their very best work, Expanding the band's palette to include Kraftwerk-esque electronica and emotive orchestration alongside their trademark six-string melancholy. these powerful and resonant pieces pack a mighty punch, summoning awe and fear in equal, elegiac and singularly appropriate measure.
Review: Deerhunter co-founder and drummer Moses Archuleta works solo under the Moon Diagrams alias and here he impresses once more with a second album, Cemetery Classics. This 12-track release is a collaboration between Sonic Cathedral and Angus Andrew's new label No Gold adn it has been mixed by Simian Mobile Disco man James Ford. Guests like Anastasia Coope, Patrick Flegel and Josh Diamond from Gang Gang Dance all feature on what is Archuleta's first new music since 2019's Trappy Bats mini-album. The album spans several genres, as you would expect, from Basinski-esque degradation on 'Neptune' to industrial noise on 'Listen To Me,' with postmodern pop, trip-hop, shoegaze, and more. The man himself calls it a "graveyard disc" of songs for the afterlife.
Review: Thurston Moore's ninth solo album, Flow Critical Lucidity, showcases his eclectic artistry with a blend of European and UK influences. Released under Daydream Library Series, the album draws lyrical inspiration from nature, lucid dreaming, and modern dance, evoking a vibrant, introspective journey. Recorded at Total Refreshment Studios in London and mixed at Hermitage Studios, the album features the single 'Sans Limites,' whose title phrase lends itself to the album's thematic depth. The cover art, 'Samurai Walkman' by Jamie Nares, complements Moore's avant-garde style, reflecting a longstanding artistic partnership rooted in New York's No Wave movement.
Review: Daffodils & Dirt, the debut album by Samantha Morton and Richard Russell, is a brooding and poetic exploration of Morton's troubled past and raw emotional experiences. With Russell's production prowess, the duo creates an unsettling yet captivating musical landscape that delves into themes of resilience and vulnerability. Morton's haunting vocals, coupled with Russell's sparse yet evocative soundscapes, transport listeners into the depths of her teenage years, where she grappled with homelessness and instability. The album's collaborations with artists like Jack Penate, Laura Groves, and Ali Campbell add unexpected layers of depth and beauty to the already compelling narrative. The album is a mesmerising blend of haunting melodies and raw emotion, inviting listeners to journey alongside Morton as she navigates the complexities of her past.
Review: Mount Kimbie's The Sunset Violent offers a deeply evocative, unsettling exploration of emotional dissonance. Opening with the single 'Dumb Guitar', the album vividly portrays a couple grappling with their fractured relationship amidst the beauty of a fictional Chinese beach resort. Andrea Balency-Bearn's serene vocals juxtapose against lyrics of personal turmoil, while buzzy synths, discordant pianos and overdriven guitars evoke an atmosphere of tension and heartbreak. Mount Kimbie, led by Dom Maker and Kai Campos, have expanded their lineup, adding Balency-Bearn and Marc Pell, crafting a post-punk sound with corroded guitars and skeletal drums. Their sonic evolution from their earlier work culminates here, drawing from influences like Sonic Youth and The Fall, while frequent collaborator King Krule contributes to the melancholic undercurrent. Recorded in California's surreal Yucca Valley and pressed on translucent petrol blue vinyl, this album mirrors the desolation and hope of the landscape. Tracks like 'Yukka Tree' and 'Fishbrain' dive into themes of isolation and disconnection, balancing dark tones with flashes of light. With The Sunset Violent, Mount Kimbie stretch their horizons, blending post-punk, dub, and indie influences into a compelling emotional journey.
The Voice Came Out Of The Box & Dropped Into The Ocean (5:56)
Blank Like Snow (2:36)
Hydra (4:01)
The Blossom Filled Streets (3:22)
Facing West From California's Shores (5:40)
Mono Valley
Heatwave Pavement
Darkness - Glow Blue
Stone
The Voice Came Out Of The Box & Dropped Into The Ocean
Blank Like Snow
Chocolate Grinder
Summer
Hydra
The Blossom Filled Streets
Facing West From California's Shores
Review: It's not hard to understand why John Peel called Movietone in for a recording, or rather three. Firstly, the results are far-reaching stuff to say the least, informed by folk, electronic, grunge, jazz, and some otherworldly oddness, a sonic tapestry that feels very much like a journey. A layered adventure packing the spectrum of emotions. Secondly, Kate Wright and Rachel Brook are hidden gems, beloved by those who know, and strangers to everyone else. The perfect act for tastemakers to really get behind.
These recordings were originally made over three individual visits to the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studio, in 1994, 1996, and 1997, and it's a case of being sucked into a beguiling universe very quickly indeed. There's so much mood and atmosphere here, suggestions of seduction, moments of calm, and deeply textured sections in which you can't remember where the front door is, or whether the door is actually a window. Talent defined.
Review: Movietone are a Bristolian band from the late 1990s to early 2000s whose music aimed to bridge the conceptual gap between film and sound, mainly through the sonic medium of shoegaze and the visual medium, of, well, not-so-visual lyrical references to film. That being said, this new reissue from ultimate curators World Of Echo hears their debut album receive a full restoration, bolstering memories of their rise in the late 90s as a secondary school shed band and on into a full-blown powerhouse. With nods to every influence from beat poets to Galaxie 500, Movietone is and are an intellectual's darling of post-rock and indie.
Review: A new bedroom pop outfit, Mystery Time (Ayman Rostom aka. The Maghreban) paints a neatly outlaid sound-picture of quotidian lifestyles and humdrum joys, perhaps specifically those which are used to tape over the harder but more pronely repressible realities of grief and mourning. From the off of 'Thank You Deeply', we're told of "salad days in Archway" and being "on the phone in doorways", suggesting an attitude of listlessness and naivete as key to surviving the otherwise often excruciating experience of living in London. Its self-description as "maudlin" serves it just as well; the record wafts off a kind of haunted contradiction, describable only as the impossible mixture of post-punk and floral chintz, of wallpapering over the ability to feel fully and holistically with yet another lifestyle, pattern, habit, prescription. In Rostom's own words, "The title speaks for itself. Maudlin means emotionally sentimental. Tales, these songs are stories to me, about different times. Grief - there is much sadness and darkness in it, and Love - there is some light there too, a bit of joy, to frame the shadow." Rostom's vocals are just as listless and blinkered, tunnel-sung so as to express emotions through a drab medium.
Review: Deep Valley is a new collaborative work by Australian artists Seaworthy aka Cameron Webb and Matt Rosner and they came together for it during a week-long residency at Bundanon Art Museum in New South Wales. The property which was gifted to the Australian public by artists Arthur and Yvonne Boyd in the 1990s offers a unique landscape along the Shoalhaven River and is surrounded by sandstone cliffs and diverse wildlife. Drawing inspiration from Boyd's belief that "you can't own a landscape," Deep Valley combines the inspiration of that setting with environmental recordings, guitars, piano, and electronic processing all of which aim to highlight the transient nature of ecosystems and encourage you to reconnect with the sounds of nature.
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