Month: January 2021

• The Heliocentrics: Infinity of Now

  

  The Heliocentrics bill themselves as psychedelic-funk which is about right: it’s a hybrid of jam music (Goat or Holy F—sprang to mind) mixed in with Portishead and some Can / krautrock. They claim to sound like the funk of James Brown and “the disorienting asymmetry” of Sun Ra (psychedelic jazz player) It’s all very cool, […]

  jerobear

  January 23, 2021

  Pop rock, Trip hop

  99% Revolution, baroque, Blues, brother, Burning Wooden Ship, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, Elephant Walk, funk, good new music, Hanging by a Thread, Infinity of Now, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Light in the Dark, music, Non-sense, People Wake Up!, pop, Pt. 1, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, support music, The Heliocentrics, Venom

• Ben Bedford: Portraits

  

  This is Bedford’s sixth album; his last, Hermit’s Spyglass, was excellent and this is even better. Perhaps not surprising, as he has picked songs from his first three albums to create a collection of songs, the intention’s clear from the album title. Hermit’s Spyglass told some good tales – it mapped daily life on a […]

  jerobear

  January 22, 2021

  Acoustic, Americana, Folk

  baroque, Ben Bedford, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, good new music, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, pop, Portraits, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul

• Beans On Toast: Knee Deep In Nostalgia / The Unforeseeable Future

  Beans (aka Jay McAllister) normally drops one album a year but clearly lockdown has left him with little else on his plate and we get two. They’re both self-explanatory in their titles. Knee Deep In Nostalgia sees man-of-the-people poet and guitarist Beans looking back fondly at his past and his likes, from memories of favourite […]

  jerobear

  January 21, 2021

  Folk, Punk

  baroque, Beans On Toast, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Coincidence? [Explicit], Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, good new music, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Knee Deep In Nostalgia, music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, The Unforeseeable Future

• The Messenger Birds: Everything Has to Fall Apart Eventually

  The Messenger Birds follow in the footsteps and The Black Keys, The White Stripes and Royal Blood, two blokes making a lot of noise (“That’s not a rock band, that’s just two guys!” they cite “some guy named Kevin” as saying on their Bandcamp page). Like Jack White, they’re from Detroit, Michigan. The album opens […]

  jerobear

  January 9, 2021

  Pop rock, Rock

  baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, Everything Has to Fall Apart Eventually, funk, good new music, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, The Messenger Birds

• Roderick Chadwick: La Mer Bleue

  This technical and slightly self-involved album revolves around Catalogue d’Oiseaux (“Catalogue of birds”), a work for piano solo by Olivier Messiaen. The full work is 13 pieces, devoted to birds and dedicated to his second wife Yvonne Lorio. The CD takes in the first three, the Alpine chough (chocard des Alpes), The Eurasian golden oriole […]

  jerobear

  January 8, 2021

  Classical, Piano

  baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, Catalogue d’oiseaux, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, DDA 25209, early, funk, good new music, interlude for violins, jazz, Jem Condliffe, La Mer Bleue, music, Op. 36, Piano Sonata No. 3, pop, postlude for violins, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Roderick Chadwick, soul

• Eagles: Live From The Forum

  We’ve never really been massive fans of Eagles but you’d have to be a miserable wretch not to like this new double album recorded live at the impressive Inglewood venue, practically a homecoming gig for the band. Someone who saw Eagles years ago complained to us: “It sounded just like the records”, which is perhaps […]

  jerobear

  January 7, 2021

  Pop rock, Rock

  baroque, Blues, Boys Of Summer, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Desperado, Eagles, early, funk, good new music, Hotel California, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Life In the Fast Lane, Life’s Been Good, Live From The Forum, music, Ol' 55, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Rocky Mountain Way, soul, Take It Easy, Those Shoes

• Kulick: Yelling in a Quiet Neighborhood

  We almost decided not to like Kulick on principle; he’s just too cool for school, cheekbones and all that. We watched a couple of videos and he looks like a yoof from Sarf Laandan, but he appears to be from America. This is surprising: the sound is English commercial indie/pop. He sounds like loads of […]

  jerobear

  January 6, 2021

  Pop rock

  baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Crawling, early, Fun!, funk, good new music, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Just Be Friends, Kulick, Lonely, Monster, music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Rope, soul, Talking to the Ceiling, The Way I Am, Waiting for You, Yelling in a Quiet Neighborhood

• Idles: Ultra Mono

  Idles and Fontaines DC trod similar ground with their early music, enjoyable fist-in-the-air ramshackle punky rock making political statements. The DCs moved on to slicker fare with their most recent release but Idles have not; it’s still gnarly. When it works, it’s great; other times less so. Expressing working class anger at the state of […]

  jerobear

  January 4, 2021

  Punk

  A Hymn, Anxiety, baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, Carcinogenic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Danke, early, funk, good new music, Grounds, Idles, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Kill Them With Kindness, Model Village, Mr. Motivator, music, Ne Touche Pas Moi, pop, Reggae, Reigns, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, The Lover, Ultra Mono, War

• Arcade Messiah: The Host

  We first came across Arcade Messiah years ago, when we had a double (?) CD to review; we thought it was the career-end of a US cult prog band but they must have been very early releases from Arcade Messiah, and now we feel bad. Particularly as he gave this album away.Arcade Messiah is one-man […]

  jerobear

  January 3, 2021

  Indie, Prog, Rock

  Arcade Messiah, Can Of Worms, Diagnosis, Electro Magnetic Divine, Show Me The Sun, The Host, The Witch From The West, Wasteland, Wildlife

• Ayalew Mesfin: Che Belew!

  The Press notes say that Ayalew Mesfin is among the greats of 1970s Ethiopian music legends, the music he created with his Black Lion Band among the funkiest to arise from Addis Ababa. His records were mostly 7in singles and reel-to-reel tapes collected for this and it’s a charming and enjoyable album. The recordings are […]

  jerobear

  January 2, 2021

  Dance, World

  Ayalew Mesfin, baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Che Belew (March Forward), Che Belew!, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, good new music, Harrar Dire-Diwa (Harrar Dire-Diwa), Hedech Gara Zura (She Left Across The Mountain), Ho Bilo Hede (He Went Marching), jazz, Jem Condliffe, Konjo Lidge Nat (She’s A Beautiful Girl), Libe Menta Hone (My Divided Heart), music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, Tereterkush Betam (I Suspect You Are Unfaithful), Yesew Neger (Amazed By Humanity), Yetembelel-Loga (Tall And Graceful), Zebeder (Mesmerizing)