Category: Uncategorized
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Kill Your Friends OST
November and tells the story of a music industry exec during Brit Pop’s heyday. Steven Stelfox is a horrendous individual by the sound of it, manipulative, off his head and cheating and stealing: “lies, betrayal murder: just another day in the music industry” as the sleeve says. This is music “inspired by” the film so…
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Bingham String Quartet: Bridge/Scott Piano Quintets
Frank Bridge (1879–1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor, while Cheshire-born Cyril Scott (1879–1970) was a composer, writer, and poet. Bridge was a pacifist and Bridge friends with a Christian Scientist, later becoming interested in metaphysics, and spending many of his latter years living with a clairvoyant. Both the compositions on here — Bridge’s…
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They Might Be Giants: Why?
If TMBG had been alive a few hundred years ago, they’d have been Europe’s most famous court jesters. They write catchy tunes with the cleverest lyrics you ever stumbled across. The problem is that once you’ve heard a song once or twice, it’s played out. The lyrics are the thing, and when you’ve smirked a…
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Thus Owls: Black Matter
We often wondered about why experimental / arty band Liars kept going but now we know — it was to inspire others with their creepy (and often unlistenable) electronic experimentation. Black Owls take the scary experimentation of Liars and make it more palatable, though this is still unsettling music in places. Thus Owls are…
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Kagoule: Urth
This isn’t what we were expecting, which was some kind of organic indie: Kagoule are far more ambitious than that and this is an impressive debut. Despite being from Nottingham, Kagoule’s heads are over in the US, their sound being that underground rock the Americans do so well, somewhere between Californians Incubus and Billy Corgan’s…
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Enter Shikari: The Mindsweep: Hospitalised
We like Enter Shikari, with their shouty but politically charged songs coupling anger with metal/DnB. The Mindsweep, which came out early this year, was no different, the title referring to those in power withholding new ideas and keeping our minds swept clean. This sees Hospital Records’ producers remix the tracks, and we have to say…
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Neil Young: Neil Young and Bluenote Café
This live two-CD set offers up an unexpected side of Young, his blues and (almost) big band sound. It’s an intimate set that features seven unreleased songs. Standouts include the closing tracks on each CD, a smoky, jazz blues Twilight and a 20-minute version of Tonight’s The Night. The recordings are from the Bluenotes tour…
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Emilie and Ogden: 10,000
This CD is a little too unassuming for its own good; it’s endearing and entertaining but just a little too quiet to really snag your attention, which is less than it deserves. Mind you, harp-led music can tend towards twee and there’s nary a sign of tweeing here, which is good. Emilie Kahn is a…
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Frankie Lee: American Dreamer
… and coming up on the inside is this contender for album of the year, though it takes one or two plays for its many charms to become apparent. This is an excellent, if low key, album, somewhere between Stevie Nicks (for the vocals) and Mark Knopfler (rootsy country with gentle guitar noodling) for the…
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Enya: Dark Sky Island
We struggle with Enya; we like ambient and New Age music, but Enya seems content (who wouldn’t be, given her sales?) to churn out albums that are aimed more at the garden centre than the record store. It’s as diffuse (and about as interesting) as a damp autumn mist. Dark Sky Island is her first…
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