Tag: Home
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Squirrel Flower: I Was Born Swimming
One might expect some kind of fey folk frippery from a person (Ella O’Connor Williams) who calls herself Squirrel Flower, but this is pretty decent. Squirrel’s got a deeper voice than might be predicted and a fair few of the songs are decently beefy, the guitar playing sturdy in the vein of Dinosaur Jr, albeit…
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Phil Collins: Plays Well With Others
Who knew he’d played with so many people? And himself — by the definition of the title he counts playing with himself as worthy of inclusion, with half a dozen or so Collins songs, including In The Air, live. He did once say drumming was all in the wrist action. The CD is like Collins’…
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John Butler Trio: Home
Butler is one of those unfortunates who made his best album early on — Sunrise Over Sea —which fans love. We’re fans and we love it beyond reason; we’d happily pay to see him tour and just play Sunrise year after year, with a couple of other songs to stretch the set out; some newer…
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Murray McLachlan: Innovations, Music for Two Pianos and Percussion
Other critics have called it “excellent” and “hugely impressive” but we found this is a little intimidating for its early plays: The Rite of Spring but on steroids. The playing is technically impressive, and the sound is bracing and enervating, but it’s a programme that’s challenging and powerful, if not harsh. Obviously, another pair of…
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Jack Carty + Gus Gardiner: Hospital Hill
Hospital Hill is Jack Carty and Gus Gardiner, whom we could claim to know all about, if we lied. Never heard of them. Carty won the 2010 acoustic singer-songwriter of the year award at the National Music Oz Awards, while Gardiner was with Australian rock band Papa vs Pretty. Despite being limited by us never…
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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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Charlotte Gainsbourg: Rest
Critics generally seem to love this, and it’s selling well on Amazon, top 300 or so in CD and digital. One can only assume it’s people with a fondness for nostalgia as it leaves us a little unmoved, sounding as it does like the soundtrack to a 70s French cop film. The music is mostly…
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New Kingston: A Kingston Story, Come From Far
This came out a while ago. Ok, August. But it’s reggae: it’ll find a ready audience and it all sounds pretty much the same anyway so there’s no rush for a review. This is the fourth studio album by New Kingston, who are Jamaican by heritage but living in New York: Courtney Panton plays drums,…
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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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Gogol Bordello: Seekers and Finders
Gypsy punks Gogol Bordello emerged from the depths of the Balkans (ok so it was Lower East Side of Manhattan but that doesn’t sound so romantic) a good few years ago. We’ve never taken to their raucous brand of punk: it’s good fun and brilliant at a festival, but not something you’d sit and listen…
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