Tag: jazz
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Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac
This was their breakthrough album, released in 1975, and a big hit, reaching No1 in the States; Say You Love Me and Rhiannon are both on here. The band’s complicated lives were already unravelling and that turmoil led to Rumours, a much better album; admittedly one of the best albums ever. This one is good,…
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Laila Biali: Laila Biali
We usually Google bands to see other reviews, often on badly written geeky or student sites but it was telling that Biali’s top review was a syndicated one: she plays a brand of international smooth jazz that they probably play to soothe the evil souls of delegates at Davos. Music like that often leaves us…
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Peyton: Sinners Got Soul Too
Chris Peyton operates in worlds with which we are not familiar, house music and talent shows, though he got his musical start in the church. Raised in the south of the US, he was brought up in a family of Pentecostal preachers and was working as the minister of music for his father’s church by…
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The Sad Song Co: Worth
The Sad Song Co is Nigel Powell and Mr P is representative of what we call the Mr Bloom factor: Mr B is a gardener on kids’ television and you tend to assume he’s just some guy who can garden a bit and fell lucky. Then you see him live (or you do if you…
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Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Young Adult
This is a strong acoustic pop album. You should buy it. We preface the review with that in case you remember GCWCF and think, “oh no, not more average indie”. We suspect Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. (aka Sam Duckworth) is stuck with the grammatically imperfect name, which probably seemed cool a decade ago when…
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Mahir Cetiz, Panayiotis Demopoulos: Anairesis
This is one for lovers of modern, harsh music, though it’s mostly not as harsh as it could be; less aural barbed wire than, well something not as barbed or as wiry. It’s written for small chamber ensembles and when one instrument is being harsh, another is more soothing. Much of the music is like…
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The Go Team: Semicircle
When the Go Team first emerged, we (and lots of other people) loved them: infections, joyous pop/hip hop performed by a lively band, led by a singer called Ninja. We saw them live three times; by the third time we were a bit “meh”, the lack of depth to their tunes soon leaving the listener…
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The Limiñanas: Shadow People
The last Limiñanas album we had to review was cool but a little dull, the highlight a song with Hooky on bass. This new album from the hip French duo is much better, so much so that the apparently statutory Hooky song is something of a jarring oddity on an otherwise fine album. (We assume…
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Weaves: Wide Open
Weaves mix genres as readily as Heston Blumenthal blends snails and porridge: New Order, the B-52s, a dash of glam rock; just when you’ve got a comparison they switch direction. At heart it’s raucous indie with swagger and ideas aplenty. Opener #53 is inspired by Springsteen but it’s more for the moshpit than lyrical analysis;…
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Howie Payne: Mountain
Payne was previously in The Stands, short-lived melodic rockers treading the same ground as The Thrills and The LAs. We found their appeal, like that of The Thrills, limited. This album was recorded over four days. Most of the songs were done in a couple of takes, giving it a relaxed, live vibe. While he…
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