DAVID HOLMES レコード& CD

Review: Yeah X 3, the latest single from David Holmes and Raven Violet's album Blind On A Galloping Horse, diverges from the overtly political themes of the record, instead offering a personal revelation. Featuring remixes by Panda Bear and Sonic Boom, as well as The Vendetta Suite's Gary Irwin, the single showcases diverse experimental approaches. For the A-side, the remixes are atmospheric and heady, creating a euphoric feeling with your head in the clouds. The second remix being the more beat forward version. For the B-side, massive amounts of sound heavily affected the remixes processing. The first being more of an ambient version while the last version is more straightforward and radio friendly. If you like the original song, then these versions will sit alongside them very well.

Review: The injunction to "stop apologising" can be affirming or destructive at the same time, depending on how you look at things. It's also the name of the new single from David Holmes' forthcoming album Blind On A Galloping Horse, which captures this contradiction quite nicely: a tripletting, dark electro come hi-NRG sound provides the dark underside to Raven Violet's angel-inside-your-head lyrics: "stop apologising for things you've never done / stop catastrophizing, get your feet back on the ground." The resistant, prefigurative political bent of Holmes' music is well-reflected here, striking at the heart of his personal philosophy: carve out some headroom for yourself, you don't need to take so much responsibility; such is the bedrock of effective action. Oh, and the remixes by Horse Meat Disco and Cosmodelica are wicked as well.

Review: One of two new David Holmes releases to be released in the run-up to his recent album Blind On A Galloping Horse, 'Necessary Genius' complemented the contemporaneous 'Stop Apologising' and now comes to 12" vinyl for a remix set from Phil Kieran, Decius and Skymas. While the original track functions as something of an imperfect list of musical and political greats, come "necessary geniuses" - Sinead O'Connor, Terry Hall, Angela Davis - the remixes here make for nicely expanded versions, post-punk-techno of the original electro cut.

Review: David Holmes' first solo album since 2008's The Holy Pictures, Blind On A Galloping Horse now comes to Heavenly Recordings. A politically-charged LP full of sonic interrogations of political disaster and turmoil, Holmes here joins the cast of artists using their art to provide solace to music fans suffering at the hands of the Uncertainocene. With updated versions of the previously released singles 'Hope Is The Last Thing To Die' and 'It's Over If We Run Out Of Love', as well as a recording of an unreleased song by Holmes' late friend Andrew Weatherall, we're reminded of conflict, migration and othering, as all manner of voices combine to form a diverse but unified whole against a backdrop of leftfield post-punk - be they the spoken word accounts from Afghan and Ukrainian refugees now welcomed as residents in Belfast, or the French and Irish observers of the UK's turmoil of recent years.