Dallahan: Smallworld

This is a tasty folk / roots album. The opener is an instrumental, Aye Chiki, which uses instrumentation typical of any folk band but — as the name might suggest — with an Eastern flavour. The beat (to our ears) is Tartar, and reminiscent of some of the music we collected following a recent trip […]

Mariko Terashi: Piano

We perhaps were not expecting too much from a Japanese pianist playing a Portuguese (Carlos de Seixas) composer, never having heard of either, but that just shows you should never judge. José António Carlos de Seixas (1704–1742) is described as a composer during the “golden age” of Portugal, an accomplished virtuoso of both the organ […]

Richard Sutton: Paper Plane

There are people who like non-league football for its grassroots nature, people doing something for the love of it, and the same is true in music: this CD is one for people who love honest, heart-on-its-sleeve folk/pop. Sutton is a guy who plays guitar (possibly for a living, he seems to play regularly at a […]

Robert Loreggian: Bach – Goldberg Variations

This is the second or third CD we’ve had with the Goldberg Variations “played as they were mean to”. This time, Loreggian is playing a copy of a harpsichord made by Michael Mietke in the early years of the 18th century; exchanges between the maker and Bach are documented. Loreggian is a top notch player. […]

Red Rum Club: Matador

Listening to this resembles a wine tasting: a bouquet of Echo and the Bunnymen, the aroma of Joe Jackson, a hint of The Beatles and a sniff of The Coral. Red Rum put their twist on all this by adding mariachi trumpet, which lifts even the less interesting tracks up a notch. The band is […]

Still Corners: Slow Air

This new album marks a change in direction for Still Corners. The last album of theirs we had was rooted in England in the 80s, mixing the gloomy beats of Bronski Beat with the more commercial sound of Bananarama (in places anyway). It was too slow to be dance or have you spinning right round […]

Metronomy: Nights Out

If success is sounding as fresh as a decade ago, this reissue of the Metronomy break-through album is one of the best. The sound of what the band’s mainman Joseph Mount said was a bad a night out (maybe more than one, looking at the title), we found it too weird to like when we […]

Cæcilie Norby: Sisters in Jazz

Jazz is all a bit male; the BBC Radio Three jazz podcast from Geoffrey Smith is overwhelmingly about blokes, with Jelly Roll Morton, Erroll Garner, Jim Hall, George Russell and 10 other males in recent weeks, only jazz singer and pianist Shirley Horn flying the flag for the sisters. Jazz label ACT is trying to […]

Cellar Doors: Cellar Doors

If you’ve ever wondered what a Kasabian — Doors mash up made by a someone who loves his kick drum might sound like, look no further. Throw in some My Bloody Valentine, Stone Roses and Joy Division and you’re close to the sound of Cellar Doors. They sound English but they’re actually from California. They’re […]