Author: jerobear
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Helen Habershon and John Lenehan: Found in Dreams
You’re always on safe ground with Helen Habershon, who writes music for people to enjoy, and not expend any energy “getting into”. This new album is lovely, the title perhaps giving a clue as to the gentle nature of the music. Her approachable sound is obviously onto something: this is her fourth album, with one…
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The Kut: Grit
To be critical of this is a bit like taking a Doc Marten to a kitten; it just seems wrong. The Kut is Princess Maha, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and PhD (positive schizotypy related research), a double award winner in the UK Songwriting Contest, and awarded Arts Council funding to create the album. She’s not an…
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Margo Cilker: Pohorylle
Unusual name, unpronounceable album, gloomy cover: we weren’t expecting much from this but it’s great, and it’s her debut, too. She’s a working, touring musician and the album is inspired by her experiences on the road. At heart it’s rootsy Americana but she draws in other influences. Keyboards are provided by the Decemberists’ Jenny Conlee,…
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Neil Young: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion 1971
This is part of the Neil Young Archives Official Bootleg series and it’s excellent. The last album we reviewed was good but mostly interesting for the now-classic songs played early in their careers, the crowd mysteriously silent as Young rolled out future bangers. This new live release conversely is genuinely enjoyable, and we’ve had it…
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Sons: Sweet Boy
Sons hail from Melsele, Belgium, a country that also produced one of our favourite bands, heavy blues rockers Triggerfinger. Like Triggerfinger, Sons play high-energy music with a lot going on, except Sons are more at the punk / garage end of the sound spectrum. We suspect the marketing will be aimed at fans who like…
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Surprise Chef: Education and Recreation
Surprise Chef are from Melbourne and play funky soul with some nods to jazz. It’s the kind of music you might find in a Tarantino movie, quirky but sharp, and with a real groove. But it usually makes us think of reggae dub plates, those sparse tracks made for other people to add sounds. Surprise…
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Berries: How We Function
This excellent album is melodic, loud, fast, punky and just the right length. Musically the sound is somewhere between the better end of early punk / indie and early Foals, when math rock was still a thing. There are some nice heavy rock riffs in places, maybe not Black Sabbath but certainly a dark edge.…
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Charlie Bit My Finger: Back and Fourth
This Belgian pop punk band channel NOFX a little (and only a little), from the sound to the jokery with nomenclature – Charlie Bit My Finger is a famous internet video (child bites another) – while Back and Fourth is their third album. The sound is solid, mosh-pit pleasing, sing-along anthems to get sweaty to…
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Rich Jacques: Everything Must Change EP
This is a nice EP, like really nice. Almost too saccharine, but not quite. It’s just about Americana / pop as opposed to folk, although Richy boy has a delicate voice and is often to be found on acoustic guitar; he adds other effects and harmonies to move away from the folk feel. A slightly…
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Neil Young and the Promise Of The Real: Noise and Flowers
Young is churning out his archives at a prodigious rate, some of which are excellent, others for the completist only, as they say. This one is great and if you’ve got a Neil Young fan in the fam, this is one gift you don’t have to worry about for Christmas. The great thing about Young…
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