This zombie apocalypse concept album came out on Friday 13th and is destined to go down as a classic; cult classic maybe, but classic nonetheless. To say it’s ambitious would be an understatement; it’s huge in scope and styles but the album that keeps coming back to you as it plays is … Pink Floyd’s […]
Plague Vendor: By Night
One for lovers of a clattery racket, By Night is perhaps louder than their last one and, although more textured, definitely not for the tender of ear. But they have a good sense of melody and fondness for dance that keeps the album civilised. More or less. Opener New Comedown clears out the cobwebs, the […]
Georg Philipp Telemann: Michaelis Oratorium
This review is a little late but hopefully someone who wants festive music that’s not too heavy or cliched will find it ideal. It’s the music for the opening of St Michael’s Church, Hamburg, in 1762, which was destroyed by fire in 1760. It was a big ceremony and of course Telemann, Hamburg’s director of […]
Jess Klein: Back To My Green
Klein is more country than Americana, though there’s also something of the Laurel Canyon about her, thanks to her voice (mezzosoprano say the sleeve notes). Somewhere between county and lively Carole King. With a touch of Motown thrown in. The album — her 11th — is a mixture of styles, which may or may not […]
Sarah Rodgers: The Roaring Whirl
The story of this delightful and quirky CDis as interesting as the music. It was originally a piece of musical theatre based on Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, a musical journey across the North Indian Punjab. The work was commissioned by clarinettist Geraldine Allen and after touring it, a final version was played — and recorded — […]
Hayley Ross: The Weight Of Hope
Ross might have a name that suggest large-lunged covers of musical theatre (“Hayley Ross sings Evita!) but she’s actually somewhere between folk, indie and Americana. It’s all very gentle. She has one song that’s really good, track three Barracuda, which we remember from an EP. It’s wonderful and haunting, the music from a scandi-noir, just […]
Larkin Poe: Venom and Faith
This is an album that falls between pop and blues. It’s like one of those visual illusions, where upside down plates suddenly flip to the right way round. In this case you’ve got to see it as a pop album rather than blues; it sits a little uneasily until you do. There’s a mix of […]
Wilder Woods: Wilder Woods
Wilder Woods is Bear Rinehart, the lead singer of Needtobreathe (us neither) and the album is named after his two sons — Wilder, (3), and Woods, (1). Sweet. Rinehart can write a song and knows how to arrange his instruments, and this is a rich, luscious set of songs. We were expecting something indie but […]
Slowthai: Nothing Great About Britain
Rapper Slowthai attracted alarm from a certain sector of the UK recently, holding up a (fake) severed head of Boris Johnson. When it’s satirical tv show Spitting Image it’s satire and Shakespeare is art, but, alas poor Slowthai, a kid from Northampton is outrage. We’ve had this album for a while and not reviewed it; he’s […]
The Night Cafe: 0151
When a band calls its album after its home city’s dialling code, you know they’re proud Liverpudlians, (and no review copy will be finding its way to The Sun) but you can’t tell, the odd accent aside, that they’re from Liverpool or even England — they’ve got a West Coast feel that’s more California than […]
