Author: jerobear
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Meadowlark: Paraffin EP
Meadowlark’s last EP Dual is one of our favourite releases in the 15 years we’ve been writing reviews. It’s lovely, mainly because of Kate McGill’s voice, but her bandmate Daniel Broadley’s minimalistic guitar and synth arrangements complement her rather elfin vocals to perfection. They produce nuanced and textured sparse tunes, to which the word…
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Sixx AM: Prayer For The Damned
We were never fans of Motley Cru and glam/sleaze rock bands of their ilk, finding them clichéd and formulaic but this new album from Sixx Am — bassist Nikki Sixx, guitarist DJ Ashba and singer James Michael — is pretty good. It’s their fourth album (the first two were soundtracks for Sixx’s books) and as…
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The VirginMarys: Divides
It’s a shame VirginMarys were formed 10 miles down the road: Macclesfield has a bona fide successful modern rock band to boast about and we can’t wangle a local connection (other than drummer Danny Dolan has mates in Congleton). This is their second album and it’s a bit of a monster. It’s a sign of…
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Lydia Kakabadse: Cantica Sacra
This album of sacred choral works for the 21st century is a delightful CD, with some surprises as far as its background goes: Lydia Kakabadse has her roots in Greece, Austria, Russia and Georgia, but was born in Southport and grew up in Altrincham. Clearly a compulsive over-achiever, she started composing at 13 and after…
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Plague Vendor: Bloodsweat
If an album entitled “Bloodsweat” by a band called Plague Vendor sounds good to you, you’re going to like this. It’s a name for a band playing at the limit of music, be it punk or metal, one that wants a frenzied and loyal fan base to sweat blood in the moshpit at gigs. In…
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John Illsley: Long Shadows
“Low key Dire Straits” would be a thumbnail review of this new album from bassist Illsley. We saw him live a while back and don’t remember him as being so Dire Straits-ish but the guitar work and overall sound on this suggests that the signature Straits sound was as much his as Mark Knopfler’s.…
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The Croutons: No Nonsense Monkey Business
The Croutons are Bill Ollier from Goostrey and Chris Wood from Congleton, who met in 2005 and so have been writing and playing together for a decade. We imagine the songs tell the story of the band: early hopes of becoming the new Simon and Garfunkel abandoned when they realise it’s more fun to play…
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Dave Dove and Amy Wakefield: The Players
This opens with You Ask Me, sounding like a Whitest Boy Alive song, with clean acoustic guitar and double bass, before the vocals come in; it’s clear we’re in home-made territory though in a good way — we once returned from Shetland with a boxful of CDs from local musicians sounding like this. It’s endearing…
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Highasakite: Camp Echo
If you’re going to name your album after a camp in Guantanamo Bay and then call yourself Highasakite, you’d best not be offering a stoner’s view of American politics. “It’s bad stuff, man.” Happily, Highasakite’s Ingrid Helene Håvik says Camp Echo is “more a state of mind”, and we know what state that is: chilling…
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John McCusker: Hello, Goodbye
Charming is the word for this solo album from fiddle player McCusker: he’s celebrating 25 years as a professional musician but as he joined the Battlefield Band when he was still a nipper (well 17) he’s still a comparative stripling. As well as the Battlefield Band, he’s played and produced with Kate Rusby and Heidi…
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