Category: Uncategorized
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Son of Dave: Explosive Hits (By Other Artists)
The other week we reviewed SoD’s latest album Music For Cop Shows, which is good, but we made a couple of points with which he disagreed, and he contacted us over Twitter. To call him grumpy would be like calling Donald Trump orange; it might be an act and he might well be sat at…
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Joana Serrat: Dripping Springs
Not quite as intense as the Felice album (see elsewhere) this is still very good, and has a few standout moments. Vocally she sounds a bit Lana Del Rey but with a richer sound. The music is dreamy Americana that’s a little unvarying, rescued by a couple of outstanding moments that give the listener a…
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Falter Bramnk: Glassical Music
You want experimental? Try this, an album based on the sound of glasses rinsed with hot water. You’ve all done the washing up and heard odd noises from the glasses as the water/air cools and dries. If you stuck a mic close enough, presumably the different shapes and sizes would produce different sounds. You might…
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Blitzen Trapper: Wild and Reckless
A friend in the States introduced us to Blitzen Trapper’s debut album. We gave him Mumford and Sons’ debut in return and for some years we’ve thought he got the better end of the deal. Blitzen Trapper were worthy if not dull, and their second album did little to change our mind. But this is…
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Rob Keeley: Twists and Turns
Skittish is the word for this CD from Keeley. This is partly because of the pairing of instruments such as clarinet and harpsichord (which create a sound different to what one normally hears) but also because of the music itself, which skitters about like a giddy rabbit in a summer’s field. The sound is somewhere…
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Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow: Franz Schubert: Complete Piano Duets
This came out a while back. It’s a lovely thing to have, as an object: a nice box, with seven CDs and a thick booklet. That’s before you hear a note. Short of an essay, how can you review it fairly? Worse, Anthony Goldstone died last January, while Divine Art was finalising the design…
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The Head: Space
The most interesting thing about this is the punnery in the title. As for the rest, The Head, brothers Mike and Jack Shaw, joined by Jacob Morrell, all from Atlanta, play the right notes at the right time, and make a noise that approximates to melodic stadium-pleasing rock. Except it’s a bit duller. This is…
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Michala Petri and Lars Hannibal: Garden Party
This is an odd little album, but in a good way. Michala Petri (recorder) and Lars Hannibal (guitar) played their first concert in Andalusia, Spain, in 1992, and 25 years and 1,500 concerts later have selected this programme of some of the pieces they have played live. As the cover suggests, birds loom large and…
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Pet Shop Boys: Yes
This is PSB’s 10th album and it’s the latest in a series of reissues that we’ve been enjoying. We were never massive PSB fans, the early singles aside (though we have seen them live, and surely no-one actually dislikes the Boys) but being sent albums to review, we’ve been impressed at the intelligence and diversity.…
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Arcane Roots: Melancholia Hymns
Arcane Roots’ debut album Left Fire is one of our highlights of the last decade: loud, ambitious prog/math rock with tons of melody. Follow-up album Blood and Chemistry ditched the melody in favour of more complex but less tuneful prog, with some screaming thrown in. This new album reels back on the full-on prog but…
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