ALBUM REVIEW – LIP CRITIC: HEX DEALER

Let me preface this review, of NYC group Lip Critic’s debut album ‘Hex Dealer,’ with an admission: these guys are my favourite musicians of the moment – to me, they are the musicians of the moment, for reasons you’ll be exposed to throughout my hopefully slightly coherent ramblings to follow. As I just said, though, this is […]
Silent Radio presents this week’s tantalising selection of new releases. Beth Gibbons                 Lives Outgrown              Portishead singer’s debut solo album reflects on farewells to family, to friends, even to her former self. These are songs from the mid-course of life, when looking ahead no longer yields what it used to, and looking back has a […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 17 MAY 2024

ALBUM REVIEW – KINGS OF LEON: CAN WE PLEASE HAVE FUN

Being a staple in rock music since 2003, the three brothers and a cousin know how to create a tune that everyone loves from the indie lads in the field or ye nan. Influencing every guitar-based band ever since is not an easy feat yet critics pan them as they make good plain and simple […]
It is never easy to predict what is coming next from Laura J Martin. Her previous solo album, 2016’s ‘On the Never Never’ was recorded in Nashville with members of Lambchop, Silver Jews and Jesus Lizard. Most recently, in 2020 she collaborated with Lavania Blackwall, formerly of Trembling Bells, on the exquisite freak folk project, […]

ALBUM REVIEW – LAURA J MARTIN: PREPARED

ALBUM REVIEW – FREEDOM CALL: SILVER ROMANCE

Germany is renowned for having some of the best-known power metal bands. From Helloween to Powerwolf, there are some really well-established bands, to bands like Freedom Call who do not receive as much credit as they should. The band has over 10 studio albums and Silver Romance includes some of their most creative and original […]
There are certain records that you need to mentally prepare yourself for before you can listen to them, artists like Adele and Billie Eilish, for example, are masters at pouring hearty emotion into their work; Abigail Lapell possesses that same talent in almost identical quantities. The Canadian musician is scheduled to release her newest collection […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ABIGAIL LAPELL: ANNIVERSARY

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 10 MAY 2024

A week high in quantity and quality includes these new releases. Group Listening            Walks  Woodwind and piano duo including Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo and Cate Le Bon’s band) draw from the field recordings of Ernest Hood; the abstraction of Harold Budd; the saxophone of Sam Gendel; the “heightened naturalism” of a Martin Parr photograph; the […]
BBC Scotland recently repeated the 2014 documentary, ‘Where You’re Meant To Be’, in which Aidan Moffat set about reinterpreting traditional Scottish folk songs. Seeing him take ancient songs and put them in a contemporary framework offered an opportunity to reconsider his writing as part of Arab Strap and his guile in chronicling modern life. From […]

ALBUM REVIEW – ARAB STRAP: I’M TOTALLY FINE WITH IT DON’T GIVE A FUCK ANYMORE

ALBUM REVIEW – UNLEASH THE ARCHERS: PHANTOMA

Most power metal bands will stay within that genre, rely on huge, catchy choruses and musicianship that will make them stand out. Musically, a lot of power metal is very similar. Not Unleash The Archers. Canada’s best metal band have proven with Phantoma that power metal can branch out to other genres, such as prog, […]
Plenty of top tunes this week to keep your toes tapping and your brains thumping. Jessica Pratt    Here     Some of her most adventurous music yet. Throughout these nine songs, timpani, glockenspiel, baritone saxophone, and flute are layered alongside robust vocal arrangements that create a triumphant mood, even when the lyrics hint at devastation. Pete Philly […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 3 MAY 2024