New Music Reviews
Amelia Coburn, Komedia, Brighton review - short set from rising Teeside folk sensation hits the sweet spotThursday, 23 January 2025![]()
The quandary is this. Middlesbrough singer Amelia Coburn made one of my favourite albums of last year, her debut, Between the Moon and the Milkman, and I hear she’s playing live near me on the south coast, not something that happens every day. Read more... |
Album: FKA Twigs - EusexuaThursday, 23 January 2025![]()
It would be really easy to get hung up on the definition for this album. Is it a new sexuality term? A holiday genre of technopop? A planet that will align with the others on January 29th? English singer Tahliah Debrett Barnett, aka FKA Twig, describes via X, that "eusexua is a practice, eusexua is a state of being, eusexua is the pinnacle of human experience". Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: The Twilights - Twilights Time The Complete 60s RecordingsSunday, 19 January 2025![]()
On 26 September 1966, The Twilights set-off from Australia to Britain. The journey, on the liner the Castel Felice, took six weeks. A day after boarding they learned their sixth single, “Needle in a Haystack,” was an Australian number one. There was nothing they could do to promote the hit, so after disembarking at Southampton they looked for work. Read more... |
Album: The Weather Station - HumanhoodThursday, 16 January 2025![]()
Four of Humanhood’s 13 tracks are short, impressionistic mood pieces. Between 48 seconds and just-over a minute-and-a-half long, they mostly lack singing. Instrumentation is jazzy, leaning on piano and wind instruments. Drones and white noise evoke ocean spray or wind. In one case, a wordless vocal edges towards articulating recognisable syllables. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Celebrate Yourself! The Sonic Cathedral Story 2004-2024Sunday, 12 January 2025![]()
Yeti Lane’s second album The Echo Show was released in March 2012. The Paris-based duo’s LP was stunning: holding together overall, as well as on a track-by-track basis. There were obvious influences: Kraftwerk, late-period Spacemen 3, motorik, My Bloody Valentine. But it didn’t sound like anyone else. Charlie Boyer and Ben Pleng had created a wonder. Read more... |
Album: Bridget Hayden and The Apparitions - Cold Blows The RainThursday, 09 January 2025![]()
The title Cold Blows The Rain encapsulates it. A mournful, unembellished female voice sings of loss. The musical backing is sparse. Rhythms are measured. Nothing is hurried. If this album was a weather forecast, it would predict impenetrable mist followed by cold rain and wind. Then, more mist. Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: American Baroque - Chamber Pop and Beyond 1967-1971Sunday, 05 January 2025![]()
The descending refrain opening the song isn’t unusual but attention is instantly attracted as it’s played on a harpsichord. Equally instantly, an elegiac atmosphere is set. The voice, coming in just-short of the 10-second mark, is similarly yearning in tone. The song’s opening lyrics convey dislocation: “You and I travel to the beat of a different drum.” Read more... |
Albums of the Year 2024: The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to EcstasyFriday, 03 January 2025![]()
Does absolutely everything have to get more difficult with each passing year? Apparently so. The amount of time I’ve spent deciding which of the many truly excellent albums I’ve reviewed this year should get the ‘top prize’ has, frankly, been ridiculous. I’m not an indecisive person. And, for God knows that reason, I feel personally loyal to the artists upon whom it would have been easier to bestow this huge honour (Nadine Shah, Elbow, Joan as Policewoman, see below). Read more... |
Best of 2024: Music Reissues WeeklySunday, 29 December 2024![]()
A reissue can be an aide-mémoire, a reminder that a record which has been off the radar for a while needs revisiting, that it deserves fresh attention. Read more... |
Travis, OVO Hydro review - a Christmas night out with some regretsTuesday, 24 December 2024![]()
Travis arrived onstage with the theme tune from classic sitcom Cheers as an accompaniment. The cavernous OVO Hydro might not be a place where everyone knows your name, but a Glasgow homecoming by local lads made good certainly tapped into a festive vibe of friends and familiarity, with singer Fran Healy making ample reference to the group’s roots during their set. Read more... |
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