ALBUM REVIEW – DEXYS: THE FEMININE DIVINE

Few bands can compete with the legacy Dexys Midnight Runners created in the early 1980s. Both the donkey jacketed, amphetamine surge soul gang of ‘Searching For The Young Soul Rebels’ and the dungaree clad Celtic soul barrage of ‘Too Rye Aye’ burst with incomparable euphoric energy and intensity. Unlike the records of many of their […]
The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band were part of the 60’s psych explosion emerging from California, who melded brilliant harmonies with folk rock riffs. The three albums the band recorded for Reprise Records, ‘Part One’, ‘Vol 2’ and ‘A Child’s Guide To Good And Evil’ are contained within this box set, as well as […]

ALBUM REVIEW: WEST COAST POP ART EXPERIMENTAL BAND – A DOOR INSIDE YOUR MIND, THE COMPLETE REPRISE RECORDINGS 1966-1968

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 14 JULY 2023

The first sign of the summer lull with a comparatively quiet week but still a few releases to contemplate. Current Affairs                  Off The Tongue Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache. Peace Flag Ensemble     Astral […]
Until now, Habibi Funk Records has specialised in releasing music that was originally recorded decades ago. With their latest release, Charif Megarbane’s ‘Marzipan’, they have unleashed a collection of tracks recorded in Beirut and Lisbon in the second half of 2022. Megarbane is a multi-instrumentalist making what he calls ‘Lebrary’ music, a mix of Lebanese […]

ALBUM REVIEW – CHARIF MEGARBANE: MARZIPAN

THE MIGHTY BARD – BEYOND THE GATE

I never used to be pleased to see an album with only seven songs; it just didn’t seem like good value –but nowadays seven songs clocking in at over an hour seems like a promise of some good development and most likely some serious musicianship, so I’m all aboard! The Mighty Bard are a British […]
With pre-released singles, ‘Lovers Come and Lovers Go’, ‘Falling To Pieces’, and ‘Summer Girl’ already drilled into the brain of every indie-lover, The Pigeon Detectives are raising the tension in the scene with the wait for their sixth studio album, ‘TV Show’. The band’s celebratory rerelease of ‘Emergency’  for its 15th anniversary from earlier this […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE PIGEON DETECTIVES – TV SHOW

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 7 JULY 2023

July begins with a hefty batch of releases. It is an especially busy week for bands with Pigeon in their name, although no sign of a Lieutenant Pigeon reissue. Anohni and the Johnsons My Back Was A Bridge To Cross For You Inspired by Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ tackling global and environmental concerns, the […]
When PJ Harvey released her debut single, ‘Dress’, in 1991, it was immediately apparent that she had star quality. Matching a startling self-possessed voice to attention-grabbing lyrics, her songwriting managed to blend a recognisable indie rock style with more experimental elements. Over the subsequent 32 years, she has developed an ideal career, one where she […]

ALBUM REVIEW – PJ HARVEY: I INSIDE THE OLD YEAR DYING

ALBUM REVIEW: GRIAN CHATTEN – CHAOS FOR THE FLY

The emotional rollercoaster ‘Chaos For The Fly’ is lead singer of huge rock band Fontaines DC, Grian Chatten’s first solo album. Chatten decided to create an album of raw, earnest songs that he wrote alone with his guitar. Certainly, this album incorporates poetic lyricism and powerful guitar to shape a masterpiece.  A moment of airy […]
June ends with a lovely collection of releases which are gathered here in our weekly guide. Sweeping Promises – Good Living is Coming for You Boston post-punk band that dirties up earworm melodies with a lo-fi charm. Influences discernible on the album take in Young Marble Giants, Kleenex/LiLiPUT, B-52s and Blondie. Mong Tong – Tao […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 30 JUNE 2023