ALBUMs
- Album Reviews
Philly locals Nothing release sophomore album Tired of Tomorrow on Relapse Records, following the controversy surrounding original label partner Collect Records. Collect Records loss is Relapse Records gain.
Treading the fine line between melancholia and euphoria, Tired of Tomorrow builds on 2014 debut Guilty of Everything, and often adds a further lush layer of strings into the wall of sound filling the speakers.
Leader of the 4 piece, Dominic Palermo has drawn on his recent personal events and tragedies experienced since the debut (isn’t the best art inspired by tragedy ?), to create a heavy doom laden drone of an album with an uplifting afterglow. On a recent plane journey from Italy, this perfectly soothed the usually daunting experience.
Album opener Fever Queen is an urgent pounding start to proceedings, with its crashing symbols and bass intro, before adding the dreamy vocals, and spiriting the listener away on a multilayered cloud.
Following track The Dead Are Dumb is named after the feeling that is just damn easier being dead....I’m guessing you are now realising this isn’t a light and airy listen ? Think MBV and even Lush, and you won’t go far wrong with this gorgeous track.
ACD (Abscessive Compulsive Disorder) is lyrically about having a rotten tooth and an equally rotten personality (phew.) and is a heavy slice of foreboding, but again has the musicality and structure to be euphoric at the same time.
The just damn beautiful Nineteen Ninety Heaven is where the electric guitars get put away (briefly) for the acoustic, to create this dreamy slice of bliss, with added strings and female backing vocals provided by the equally beautifully named Kylie Petal.
Curse of The Sun, in which “It’s the suns fault that everyone on earth is alive”, gets us back on track with the immersive multi layered wall of sound.
You might think Everyone is Happy would be a uplift in the subject matter thematically running throughout the album, but you’d be wrong...its about watching someone you love suffer and the inability to do something about it....thankfully, the song is another lovely slice of dreamy, droney pop music the Cocteau Twins would be proud of.
Title track Tired of Tomorrow closes this 10 song album, and begins with some delicate piano work, before the soaring lush strings take over to create an unexpected, yet fitting end to this collection.
This is an album of contrasts - gloomy yet uplifting, quiet yet loud, heavy yet light, but the overall feeling having listened to the album several times is an blissed out, uplifting one and ultimately rewarding. Play loud.
9/11
Keith
- Album Reviews
It was great to be at the 100 Club in London on the 6th April for The Poses only UK gig of their current European tour.
We like the quirky 100 Club in London for its intimacy. The stage is low (with a large pillar just in front of it) but the room is wide and shallow so can get close to the band.
The band are from Seattle and are Ken Stringfellow on keyboards and guitar, Jon Auer on guitar and Frankie Siragusa on drums. On some of the numbers they were joined by Gizelle Smith who provided some great soulful vocals. We were impressed with their new drummer Frankie. His drumming was enthusiastically brilliant. (Last year the Posies long time drummer Darius sadly died).
As always their songs were full of poetic lyrics and beautiful harmonies. Sometimes you need raw piercing sounds of heavy rock and sometimes you feel like standing on a warm beach and letting the gentle waves of rock wash over you. The Posies sound was the latter. It makes you feel good, but there were some serious lyrics wrapped up in there.
They played all of the tracks on the new album Solid States which is to be released next Friday on 29th April. Other numbers were from previous albums dating back to Frosting On The Beaters of 1993.
On the new album we really like the tracks We R Power which has a faster rhythm, the foot tapping March Climes and meditative like The Sound Of Clouds.
7/11
Ken
Set List
We R Power
Unlikely Places
Squirrel vs Snake
Dream
Scattered
March Climes
Licenses
The Glitter Prize
Sound of Clouds
Rollercoaster Zen
Titanic
The Plague
Throwaway
Please
The Definition
M Doll
Burn
Solar
Radiance
Fucking Liar
Flavor
You’re the Beautiful One
- Album Reviews
Newcomer to the scene John Parry releases his new 4 track self titled EP. Although as yet unsigned, there is some buzz about this East Londoner who is earning his stripes playing on the live scene and this reinforced by his EP launch party being at a pop up shop gig.
With a plaintive lugubrious voice, the tone of the 4 tracks on show here is laid back and mainly acoustic, but don’t be fooled because this guy has a cutting edge lyrically.
Awkward kicks off the EP....”I’m not your typically type” “I’m not someone you look twice at on the street” “Im just a very very very very awkward person to meet”. Very honest autobiographical start to the EP, which I can only assume was a cathartic process he had to get out.
Second track Do is a not so subtle ode to love and lust “take off your dress you’ve already impressed”. This is a late night slow burner of a song, but maybe not a song to attempt to find a partner “All I want to do is her”.....lets not forget though that Parry is only 18.
Highlight song for me is Enough, and this feels like a more fully formed song, and closest comparison would be Ben Howard, and again a song filled with angst “I’ve had enough, of doing what you want me to”
Closer, What Have I Done features an electric guitar break which hints at some depth and another dimension to the overall sound, but ultimately is again another lovely laid back arrangement.
This is highly impressive music from a teenager, and sounding like a cockney version of the aforementioned Howard, there’s no reason why Parry’s career couldn’t similarly take off.
7/11
Keith
- Album Reviews
The Kick is the debut EP from Bridport based multi-instrumentalist Gris-de-Lin.
Lead track 'The Kick' starts with a little jazzy trumpet break, simple percussion and electronic accompaniment. This is stripped away as the vocals (the lyrics in the song are apparently commentary from a rugby match assembled in a cut-up style) and piano start, then suddenly WHAM as the big drum breaks into the Arcade Fire style shouty chorus “Time...Kick”. You can probably tell there's a lot going on here. Of course with many changes in style and tempo it doesn't help the flow of the track until at the bridge when a lovely melody “ I did not feel the kick, the breeze, the prospered home and absent me” finally breaks through which makes the track worth hanging around for.
'Your Ghost' heads down a different path. Starting with a eerie, scratchy sample of a child's voice, Gris' vocal “I won't be at the mercy of your ghost” is (ahem) haunting throughout the track. The dense percussion crashes around the chorus as layers of instruments get added to fatten the sound. There's a remix by Clyma which adds a trippy, housey beat and results in a totally different feel.
Strongest track is 'Birthday' which has the most traditional song structure. Opening with an acoustic guitar and vocal reminiscent of some of Radiohead's recent output it lays off the heavy use of samples to reveal a simple, very catchy, chorus ; the use of lush strings adding and complimenting the track.
As the only constants are Gris' haunting vocals and changes in style this EP may find it difficult to find an audience who typically respond to consistency and immediacy in their music. However, there's so much that is good and interesting in these few tracks, that there are rewards for everyone who has the patience and sense to actually listen. From a musician who has this breadth of ideas in her, it will be fascinating to see what she does next.
The Kick EP is released on digital format by Noisy Little Birds / BB*Island on 22 April 2016
Alisdair Whyte
- Album Reviews
Veteran New Yorkers Nada Surf have released album number 8, and 4th for City Slang called You Know Who You Are. This follows a self imposed 4 year hiatus, where they have had time to regroup, concentrate on solo projects etc, and judging by this album, its done them no harm at all.
Led by guitarist, songwriter and vocalist Matthew Caws, You Know Who You Are is full of pop/rock riffs, sunshine and harmonies - think Teenage Fanclub and the poppier side of Death Cab For Cutie, and you won’t go far wrong.
First track shared from the new album Believe You’re Mine is a slightly more laid back affair than the rest of the album, but no less impressive for it. “One day, I’ll love somebody else, one day, I’ll take care of myself....”
Friend Hospital is also a mid tempo tune, again about love and heartbreak “so much better that we’re not together, cos I will not lose you, or be the blues to you”....
New Bird ramps up the power pop template with its driving rhythm and lack of harmonies as a more straightforward rock song, but even Caws himself states : “Sometimes it feel like, to our audience at least, we are 2 or 3 different bands at once.......other people are looking for love songs, and then some others just want to rock”.
They certainly get that contrast on this album, and next track Out Of The Dark almost has an ELO sensibility about it, with additional horns.
Rushing is another song destined to be sung back to the band on a live stage, and the Stones-like Animal will have the audience pounding and jumping like salmon.
Album highlight for me is the krautrockish pounding Gold Sounds, which sees the band chugging and churning and could potentially go on for days live..
An album full of influences, none so much as their previous work, but also is forward looking to see which direction the band will come up with next. Another really strong contender in what is already becoming a strong year.
8/11
Keith @kjsmith4082
- Album Reviews
It seems an age ago when I first saw Treetop Flyers play a barnstorming set at the then newly formed Deershed festival. Their West Coast harmonies going down perfectly as we sat in the sun and drank cider. Shortly after, debut album The Mountain Moves was released on the ever wonderful Loose Music label, and everyone was happy.
And that was that...even their own website was only sparsely populated with the odd gig here and there. So it with great pleasure that follow up album Palomino is released, still with the ever dependable Loose Music. Apparently the band have been through some tough times in the intervening years between debut and follow up and some clues are held within the album itself.
Opening track You, Darling You quickly gets into its stride and allays any doubts about what their sound may have evolved into over the last few years. The track is apparently about a failed marriage, however the theme does in no way dampen the beautiful harmonies and groove this track delivers. Gorgeous song, with a strong Crosby Stills & Nash influence, but contemporary and fresh as a daisy.
So the scene is set, and there will be no surprise to learn that Jonathan Wilson was on mixing duties for the album which was recorded at their own Soup Studios in London.
Various events have moulded the shape of this album; the death of close friends and parents, the aforementioned broken marriage, cash flow problems and the departure of their long term bass player, but often after adversity, something beautiful emerges, and so it is with Palomino.
Lady Luck has Wilson’s hallmark stamped all over it ; Midlake style flute, piano up close and personal and restrained guitar breaks. A 6 minute slice of melancholic beauty.
Dance Through The Night is another track clocking in at over the 6 minute mark. It’s an almost jazz/prog fusion beast of a song, with unexpected twists and turns along the way and a surprise, but in a good way, addition to the album.
Next track St Andrew’s Cross is a much simpler affair of predominantly acoustic guitar and harmonies which vocalist Reid Morrison wrote about the passing of his father. A song of redemption.
31 Years is also a song about the passing of a loved one, however the band decided that the best tribute would be an upbeat groove which would also double up as lead single from the album.
Wild Winds closes the album, and is an intense, complex arrangement and featuring the albums only guitar solo. "Never let your wild wind blow” Good advice.
This is an album born of London but with its heart on the West Coast of the States, very much bathed in sunshine and with a sea breeze blowing in through the window. Sit back, enjoy and let it wash over you. Great to have you back Treetop Flyers.
9/11
Keith @kjsmith4082
- Album Reviews
Like him, or loathe him, there’s no ignoring the prolific Joe Bonamassa. Blues of Desperation is Bonamassa’s 12th studio album, following on the heels of 2014’s Different Shades of Blue and taking a break from his live album release schedule.
Recorded after an intense period holed up together in Nashville, Bonamassa and producer Kevin Shirley assembled an a-list group of musicians and background singers including the wonderful Mahalia Barnes, and the result is extraordinary and vibrant.
This Train kicks off the album like, er, a train.....”This train don’t stop for no-one, this train’s got a mind of its own”.....perhaps a metaphor for Mr Bonamassa’s career itself. Pounding drums, thumping piano keys, and of course the great man’s guitar virtuosity make this barnstorming track perhaps the best song 1, side 1 contender of the year.
After the Free-influenced Mountain Climbing (and come to think of it, there’s a little bit of Paul Rogers about Bonamassa’s singing style), we get to Drive, and the mood changes direction.
We are now in cool, Mark Knopfler territory, with a tale about his lady "putting on some old blues songs, letting all our troubles be gone" and driving off into the night, accompanied by some gorgeous background vocals.
Now we come to the monumental No Good Place For The Lonely, all 8 and a half minutes of it. The rhythm of the track is built around an early Fleetwood Mac style riff, and with a vibrancy and clarity only contemporaries of Bonamassa can dream of. Roughly 5 minutes in, and we’ve had enough of the vocals, and the maestro takes over, with a blistering guitar solo to rival anything he’s done before. Magnificent. I’ve been living with this album for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve been struggling to get past this point as this track has been on continuous repeat.
The title track is a down and dirty more straightforward blues ditty, with slide guitar to the fore and the fantastic stick work of Anton Fig.
Next, we take another detour from the expected route, and The Valley Runs Low, is an almost country/gospel track of euphoria with pretty acoustic guitar and again those lovely background vocals.
Best song title on the album “You Left Me Nothin’ But The Bill And The Blues” is a genuine foot tapping romp along a familiar blues theme, and includes another vital Bonamassa solo.
The 6 minute Distant Lonesome Train is also another album highlight, of an album full of highlights, and the same goes for the sleazy penultimate track Livin’ Easy, all sax and piano.
What I’ve Known For A Very Long Time closes the album with panache and style, where seemingly every musician on the album is playing their part, and obviously includes the Bonamassa brand guitar break.
This album is a triumph, maybe a masterpiece - time will tell, but what it is right now is a guy at the top of his game surrounded by some musicians at the top of their games, and the result is a good-time, barnstorming album of 11 tracks under the blues genre, but somehow sounding contemporary and like nothing else out there.
I never knew I liked the blues until I started listening to Bonamassa.
10/11
Keith @kjsmith4082
Photo of Joe Bonamassa by Laurence Harvey
- Album Reviews
Birth of Joy are a three piece Dutch rock band , who describe their sound as “Sixties on steroids. Psychedelic organ rock and roll” , 'Get Well' is their fourth studio album , a live album ' Live at Ubu' was released in 2015.
First track 'Blisters' contains a crunchy guitar riff similar to recent Biffy Clyro output and a big chorus “ Gotta find a way, give me a sign” as the big, fat Deep Purple style organ sounds appear for the first time. The pace unfortunately drops for the second track ' Meet Me At The Bottom' as Gertjan Gutman's big and beefy, bouncy organ sounds and Kevin Stunnenberg's guitars are involved in a musical muddy puddle of a battle for the instrumental section which made my speakers complain. 'Choose Sides' has a cleaner sound and is better for it, where you can actually hear that the band are considerable musicians who can create a good tune. There's a total Jon Lord (ex-Deep Purple , but sadly no longer with us) keyboard takeover for 'Those Who Are Awake' and 'Carabiner' as the keyboard riff propels the song along at a pleasing pace.
Best track is the single ' You Got Me Howling' which kicks up the pace again, with a rattling drum intro and the stabs of organ sound throughout the track as it bounces and bangs along, this is really good stuff.
Unfortunately a lot of the good work is undone by the one misstep which is 'Midnight Cruise'. Key lyrics include “She's my woman with the excellent touch”, “She knows how to turn me on”, or low point “She comes all dressed in black, she's smoking hot she makes me sweat” all accompanied by an organ sound which just says sleazy. Now either I don't appreciate the Dutch version of irony, or copies of Spinal Tap didn't make it to Holland as we're getting uncomfortably close to Spinal Tap's 'Big Bottom' here. Either way this track could have been left off the album and I doubt anyone would have missed it.
Cleansing the memories of 'Midnight Cruise' is the title track which sees us heading deep down the psychedelic river with Apocalypse Now's Captain Willard on his journey to find Kurtz, sound tracked by The Doors as Jim Morrison's face melts into a haze of bright swirling colours. Again Birth of Joy show they can write really interesting and diverse songs which are played by obviously talented musicians.
Subtle will never be a word used to describe Birth of Joy , but if you like your rock music with a big beefy sound and you can avoid 'Midnight Cruise' then this might be for you.
8/11
Alisdair Whyte
- Album Reviews
New band with a 70’s throwback style.
Inglorious formed early 2014 are starting 2016 with a fabulous album of debut album that harps back to Deep Purple and other Coverdalesque influences.
This 11 track album is fun, loud and memorable. Self-penned by the band, with contribution from the likes of Whitesnakes Joel Hoekstra and Al Pitrelli from Tran Siberian Orchestra each track is a glorious cacophony of all that’s right with what should be a stadium filling blast of historically inspired rock. All the clichés are therefrom the gypsy references and girl dun wrong with a gun scenarios, the obligatory vocal screams and guitar riffs even tipping it’s hat to Queen with some nice mid song piano solo’s to lull the listener into forgetting this is an awesomely powerful and tight rock band of note.
Bleed for you, Girl got a gun and the titular Inglorious all worthy of single status and should see airplay on the right rock channels.
The album is going to be toured around Europe supporting the Winery Dogs throughout February, so take a punt and invest in both ticket and album so you can smugly say I knew them before.....
9/11 Iain
@docswallow
The band start a UK tour at Islington Assembly Hall London on Friday 21st Feb. Details on their website.
- Album Reviews
New Supergroup doing what they do best, so sadly over shadowed by recent loss.
As with Black Star Riders, Last In Line have impressed with the approach that sometimes it better to keep writing rather than touring like a tribute band. Last in Line take their name from the Dio album and for good reason, Viv, Vinnie and Jimmy are all prior alumni. Viv, taking a break from his Def Leppard day job rounded up the gang, added frontman Andrew Freeman and wrote an album very much in the Dio style but with a fresh modern approach. Does this work, hell yeah!
You can’t put a band of this quality in a studio and not hit a rich vein of gold, Viv’s soaring riff laden interpretation of the songs are simply wonderful, with a more solo freedom, rather than the multilayered guitars of Del Lepp., each track sets up the roaring vocal range of Freeman to simply sing it for fun, like the Vegas showman he formerly was. Every track is a peach, but Devil in Me seems to be the one you’ll pick out on the airwaves, and I have no issue with that, though Orange Glow, for me is the killer.
The band is due to tour in 2016, but the very recent, and dreadfully sad, news that Jimmy has passed will no doubt impact this. That said the album is a very fitting end to his songwriting career.
10/11 Iain
- Album Reviews
“My country heart, is yours from the start” sings Michael Gallagher, aka The Mining Co. over plaintive pedal steel and acoustic guitar, and instantly we’re transported to the Laurel Canyon, or at least to a scorched dustbowl somewhere in the mid Western States. Except Gallagher is from London, albeit with Irish roots, and with the opening track Country Heart, he might just have set the scene for an Americana gem of an album.
Due for release in early March, the album treads a path somewhere between Mojave 3 and Phosphorescent, although more classic influences are obvious too. This is both a traditional and modern album full of widescreen and spacious tunes about love and loss, and while never in a hurry, the 9 tracks on show run at just under 30 minutes.
Cover of Night introduces some keyboards to the backdrop, and again you would swear this had come from the States.
Ballad of The Mining Company is a heartfelt song about a driver working down a mine all day, without daylight and love in his life - a beautiful track that just reveals itself a little bit more on each listen.
Copper Ghosts is the nearest we get to something you would describe as uptempo, and also introduces a female backing vocalist, minimally admittedly, but it just adds that little something to the track and indeed the album.
The ubiquitous banjo in country music is used sparingly, making an appearance in penultimate track Lonesome Bird, and this is also the first track that hints at Gallagher’s Irish accent and connections.
Closing track Keep on Rollin’, all 1 minute 40 seconds of it, is an unashamed country ditty.
This is an album to keep us warm during these cold wet winter months, and almost matches the wintry mood of the country while giving us a glimpse of optimism for the summer months ahead. It’s a lovely slice of Americana, alt country and alt folk all wrapped up in a small and bijou, but perfectly formed package.
8/11
Keith
- Album Reviews
Everybody’s Dying to Meet You is Flowers second album release, following their 2014 debut, and Bernard Butler produced Do What You Want To, It’s What You Should Do.
For the uninitiated, Flowers are a London based indie trio comprising of Rachel Kenedy on vocals, Same Ayres on guitars, and Jordan Hockley on drums, and have an almost nostalgic sound from the 90’s indie scene. Rachel’s voice however wouldn’t be out of place on Songs of Praise, with its almost pure, choral quality and the backing band give off a distinctive Cocteau’s whiff.
Don’t however think the overall effect is at all tweet or fragile, because these guys can rock in their own way too, and a couple of plays in reveal a certain muscularity.
The album opens with the ridiculously catchy Pull My Arm, which starts with the vocals at such a pitch that local dogs' ears pricked up (don’t even try singing along lads), before the jangly guitars and aforementioned muscularity fills out the sound. That’s the way to open an album.
The following track, Bitter Pill, showcases Rachels, fragile crystal clear vocals fabulously - you might wonder if this sound could ever be replicated in a live venue ? Well, when I saw them at The Brudenell in Leeds a while back, the answer was yes, and the crowd were so mesmerised, you could hear a pin drop.
Ego Loss almost has a touch of Echobelly about it, certainly the vocals again have me thinking about Sonya Madan’s style.
Russian Doll introduces the listener to some subtle keyboards, just to add a little OMD into the mix and another layer and dimension to the sound which is a nice touch.
Bathroom Sink closes this delightful album, which again opens with just the delicate vocals, before the distorted guitar adds atmosphere and heft.
This is a step on from the debut, despite not leaving the template too far behind, with 10 assured songs given space to breathe. Another addition to the strong start to 2016.
8/11
Flowers are touring the UK. Next venue is The Prince Albert in Brighton. Tour details on their website.