ALBUM REVIEW: VIS-A-VIS – BEST OF VIS-A-VIS IN A CONGO STYLE

One of the joys of recent years has been the retrospective discovery of K Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas. He was often backed by Vis-A-Vis who recorded 13 albums between 1975 and 1982. Toronto based label, We Are Busy Bodies, are now undertaking the admirable work of rereleasing their back catalogue.  In contrast to the […]
Following ‘Tell Me How You Really Feel’, an album that found itself on numerous best of 2018 lists, including most improbably Barack Obama’s, was always going to be a difficult task. With ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’, Courtney Barnett has adopted a subtler musical palette and has set to sketching smaller details alongside honest emotions […]

ALBUM REVIEW: COURTNEY BARNETT – THINGS TAKE TIME, TAKE TIME

Good Morning - Barnyard

ALBUM REVIEW: GOOD MORNING – BARNYARD

Good Morning is a two piece band from Melbourne, who are part of the indie rock revival movement occuring with other bands like Boy Pablo, Crumb and Yellow Days just to name a few. Their latest release ‘Barnyard’ is a laidback album, which feels as if you are listening to an intimate live session instead […]
Combining delicate pop harmonies with Americana style guitars, La Luz are the missing link between floaty, dreamy indie and cosmic country, with plenty of vocal harmonies and reverb drenched guitar sounds throughout the album. There’s the twangy opener ‘In The Country’ then the surf rock blast of ‘The Pines’ with its gentle vocal harmonies. ‘Metal […]

ALBUM REVIEW: LA LUZ – LA LUZ

ALBUM REVIEW: SEPULTURA – SEPULNATION

Sepulnation is a collection of the five studio albums released by Sepultura after they replaced original vocalist Max Cavalera with Derrick Green. Sepulnation spans 1998’s Against and Nation, Roorback, Dante XXI and finishes with 2009’s A-LEX. With some bonus material thrown in, it boasts a mammoth 83 tracks in an 8 LP / 5 CD […]
Ah, the sixties, a time of Beatlemania, rock n’ roll rebellion, pop dominating the charts, three tv channels, and space exploration. While the world was fascinated by what lay beyond our own planet, in the late 1960s music fans around the world were discovering other ways to get ‘far out’ and ‘go cosmic man’ thanks […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THINK I’M GOING WEIRD – ORIGINAL ARTEFACTS FROM THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC SCENE 1966-1968

ALBUM REVIEW: FAUST – 1971-1974 50 JAHRE FAUST BOXSET

Celebrating fifty years since they formed, German experimental pioneers Faust have released a seven album compilation of their recordings between 1971-74. This includes the mythical long lost fifth album ‘Punkt’ recorded in 1971 but never released until this box set. They were recording it for Virgin Records but having not consulted the label first, spent […]
Released on Jack White’s Third Man Records, ‘Up’ is a swirling psychedelic gothic blast of an album, originally recorded in 1987 but only getting a release now after thirty three years. Formed in Manchester in 1986, and taking their cues from The Velvet Underground, The Fall and Buzzcocks, they had a guitar driven squalling soundscape […]

ALBUM REVIEW: THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT – UP

ALBUM REVIEW: JESSE MALIN – SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Over the past twenty years, Jesse Malin has managed to craft some of the best americana, verging from more mainstream rock to laid back heartbreak  tunes. A sound that takes in Tom Petty, Springsteen, with a twist of Husker Du and Wilco. On his latest album, ‘Sad and Beautiful World’, he’s been inspired by the […]
In a sense, I have always had a prejudice against “world music” as being the sort of quirky but forgettable background to lunch in a vegetarian cafe – but on the other hand I really take offence at the arrogance of the sections of British music industry that pigeon-hole anything that isn’t English-speaking western-style music […]

ALBUM REVIEW: BALLAKE SISSOKO – A TOUMA