ALBUM REVIEW – PAN AMERICAN & KRAMER: REVERBERATIONS OF NON-STOP TRAFFIC ON REDDING ROAD
Pan American is a moniker of post-rock musician Mark Nelson (Labradford). Kramer is a New York music man, mainly producer, who I had the pleasure of reviewing and interviewing not that long ago. Mr Nelson and Mr Kramer, team up here to create a 12 track malaise into dense space fog. Detached from the ship, the listener floats into the unknown. Or something to that effect. Track one “Floating Island” does what it says on the tin. It’s ethereal and full of light electronic... Read More
ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 22 MARCH 2024
Probably the busiest week of 2024 so far. Without further ado, here is Silent Radio’s roundup of the week’s new releases. Julia Holter Something in the Room She Moves Singer-songwriter/composer whose production choices and arrangements form a continuum of fretless electric bass pitches in counterpoint with gliding vocal melodies, while Yamaha CS-60 lines entwine warm winds and reeds. Saint Saviour Sunseeker Produced... Read More
LIVE REVIEW: BILL RYDER-JONES – NEW CENTURY HALL 16/03/24
On a night when there’s so much going on in our city with numerous well known indie, rock and pop bands playing across town, it’s heartening to find a sold out crowd at New Century Hall to witness one of the UK’s finest songwriters perform his biggest gig to date. After listening to Bill Ryder Jones’ sublime new album ‘Iechyd Da’ released earlier this year (see our album review here), it’s easy to see why this Wirral songsmith has captured the hearts... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – AOIFE O’DONOVAN: ALL MY FRIENDS
In the United Kingdom, women couldn’t open a bank account until 1975 (the same year they invented the digital camera, for context). Taking it back a few decades earlier for those of us that are ill informed, The Suffragettes were a group of women that tirelessly campaigned for the right to vote and for general equality in the late 19th and early 20th century. Carrie Chapman Catt and Emily Wilding Davison are names that should be eternally burnt into our consciousness at the... Read More
ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 15 MARCH 2024
To celebrate World Sleep Day, here are a selection of releases to fulfil your wildest dreams. Pete Astor Tall Stories & New Religions Recasting some of the less expected songs from his forty-year career, both with The Loft and Weather Prophets as well as solo songs. Sam Lee Songdreaming Folk musician produced by Bernard Butler and utilising a range of instrumentation from double bass, percussion, and violin through... Read More
INTERVIEW – THE K’S
“People have been waiting for it for so long… it’s hopefully gonna explode.” There’s an animated anticipation to Ryan Breslin, lead guitarist and founding member of The K’s, as he sketches his hopes for the band’s upcoming debut album and accompanying UK tour. Frenzied fans, frenetic festival sets and a fateful night out – Breslin charts the bands ascent that started, as all success stories do, drunk and in a kitchen. He beams nostalgically, recalling the night... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – BEANS: BOOTS N CATS
Beans are a Melbourne-based garage band that for the past week has truly blown me away with their amazing, unique sound of psychedelia mixed with funk and a dash of Australian garage-rock with their brand-new LP ‘Boots n Cats’. The album is so vivid with its layers of prominent and fantastic drum work, distorted and rhythmic guitar riffs providing a great backdrop for the listener’s imagination, funky but at times gloomy basslines and the peculiar, rewarding use of an organ... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – CAITY BASER: STILL LEARNING
Sweetly scathing and swift with a verse, Caity Baser epitomises the new age of whistle-stop pop. Her ‘Still Learning’ mixtape plays out every almost romance, delicate decision and reinvention of spirit with witty abandon; entire expanses of thought all in under three minutes a piece. Angelic vocals turn into acidic rap on a dime – it’s the sound of someone experimenting with colour by tossing paint at the sky. She’s Kate Nash for the Instagram age. Lily Allen injected... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – SAM LEE: SONGDREAMING
Have you ever felt like disappearing from society? Or had that exigent urge to run away from the noise of city life? Maybe you’d like to trade the feeling of disappointment associated with the current political climate for a feeling of exhilaration by joining a commune somewhere in the woods and living out your days bathing in a stream and sleeping in a hammock. Now the real question, if you were to abandon reality and reconnect with the great outdoors, what album would... Read More
ALBUM REVIEW – XMAL DEUTSCHLAND: EARLY SINGLES (1981-1982_
Jarring synths, war march drums and German vocals about god knows what, it’s not hard to see why I like this release. Of course, different from a studio album in nature, there’s no overriding theme or story here. It’s just a collection of early singles which, to be fair, sound like they belong together. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a welcome documentation of how bands like Xmal laid the foundations for others to flourish. I often find compilation albums to... Read More
