ALBUM REVIEW – JD MEATYARD: LIVE THE LIFE

JD Meatyard’s latest album, ‘Live The Life’, sees John Donaldson resume his explorations of politics and the deeply personal with the characteristic urgency that made him a Peel favourite from Levellers 5 days onwards. The title track updates one of his previous band’s, Calvin Party, most thrilling moments, ‘Caspers Ballroom’, combining a gigantic riff, melody […]
Rachael Dadd’s previous album, ‘Flux’, was one of 2019’s hidden gems. When I saw her perform those songs at Manchester Gullivers, it was 31st January 2020, the date on which Britain was leaving the European Union, a cause for grief on stage and amongst the audience.  The atmosphere was uniquely protective, a celebration of people […]

ALBUM REVIEW – RACHAEL DADD: KALEIDOSCOPE

ALBUM REVIEW: THE BLACK ANGELS – WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS

The Black Angels never fail to make you lose yourself in their heavy-duty riffs, calling on the spirit of Sabbath, Led Zep and even the motorik grooves of Can, On album number six, the hefty guitar lines are there in abundance for a free-spirited ride yet one infused with thought provoking lyrics on environmental destruction, […]
One of the saddest musical losses of 2022 was the death of former Microdisney and Fatima Mansions frontman, Cathal Coughlan on 18th May. He enjoyed a prolific late period with 2021’s solo album, ‘Song of Co-Aklan’, and two full-length collaborations with producer Jacknife Lee under the guise of Telefis, ‘a hAon’ and the posthumously released […]

ALBUM REVIEW – TELEFIS: A DO

ALBUM REVIEW: BJORK – FOSSORA

Bjork occupies a unique place in pop music, famous enough to be accorded a Channel 4 documentary with David Attenborough and to be an answer in prime-time TV quiz shows, yet the creator of increasingly unlikely music. From the early wonky indie of the Sugarcubes, through the first two dance-inflected solo records that made her […]
Kramies is a Dutch singer songwriter from Ohio, who on his latest album has created eight tunes which he states are a like a “polaroid scrapbook of his life”. With inspiration for each song originating in the different life stages and situations he’s encountered over the years it could have made for a disjointed listen, […]

ALBUM REVIEW: KRAMIES – KRAMIES

ALBUM REVIEW: THE LOUNGE SOCIETY – TIRED OF LIBERTY

The name may conjure up smoky wood panelled rooms and hushed conversations, or loafing around on hazy Sundays, yet this lot couldn’t be further from that imagery if they tried. Lounge Society hail from Hebden Bridge and Todmorden and are the latest band to emerge on the wonderful Speedy Wunderground label. Not fitting in and […]
The art of falling apart, a theory put forward by those wise philosophers Soft Cell, serves as a succinct manifesto for creating thrilling songs. There is little more delightful than music which is beguilingly odd and unlikely yet still has immediate fluency. ‘The Hit’ by Kamikaze Palm Tree is a prime example, beginning with an […]

ALBUM REVIEW: KAMIKAZE PALM TREE – MINT CHIP

ALBUM REVIEW: TY SEGALL – HELLO HI

Just when you think you know Ty Segall as the modern king of psych rock, he blasts any preconceptions you have of him into outer space, as the ‘Whirlybird’ soundtrack released earlier this year demonstrated. Hot on the heels of that epic, comes his latest studio album ‘Hello, Hi’. There’s always been a touch of […]
During ‘Vietnam Tabloid’, the closing track on ‘The Sound of Musick’, Stan Batcow launches into a spoken description of what it takes for a piece of music to become popular, arguing that it merely has to become familiar. In safe, formulaic music, the listener can easily predict the chord changes, where the chorus and instrumental […]

ALBUM REVIEW: HOWL IN THE TYPEWRITER – THE SOUND OF MUSICK and THE RED ALBUM