ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 4 OCTOBER 2024

As Autumn develops its tentacles and the nights grow ever longer, there are plenty of new releases to keep us company on those lengthy evenings. Nice Biscuit   SOS     The nine-track album embodies the fuzzy groove-laden psych that Nice Biscuit is renowned for, while introducing new danceable feels influenced by their love of disco, jazz fusion […]
It would be fair to describe NJ White’s, aka Whitey, latest release, ‘Mental Radio’, as sprawling. As a double album there is less need for tight focus and it allows the space for him to flit through a range of styles and moods. It is exemplary of his eclectic career that has seen him release […]

ALBUM REVIEW – WHITEY: MENTAL RADIO

ALBUM REVIEW – HALF WAIF: SEE YOU AT THE MAYPOLE

The backdrop to ‘See You At The Maypole’ is heartbreaking. Nandi Rose, who performs as Half Waif, was expecting her first child but in December 2021 a scan revealed no heartbeat. The treatment for a missed miscarriage is most effective with two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol. However, Rose was only prescribed the latter so her […]
The elegant, frayed decay of the Albert Hall gives it its charm, its chunky charisma. It is arguably our finest live venue, the balcony like a hug, the room something of an architectural cuddle. And if it’s not homely enough, tonight there are rugs on the stage, and lamps dotted about as well, so that […]

LIVE REVIEW: JORDAN RAKEI – ALBERT HALL 26/09/24

ALBUM REVIEW – GEORDIE GREEP: THE NEW SOUND

When I first saw Black Midi nearly two years ago at New Century Hall in Manchester, my mind was blown, I was enthralled by what I was seeing on stage, my eyes as wide as humanly possible, stood in complete awe as others around me screamed every word back to the band. From that moment, […]
Rounding up a bumper week of releases that is equally high on quantity and quality. Sharada Shashidhar                Soft Echoes   Described by Gilles Peterson as ‘The Jazz Kate Bush’, ‘Soft Echoes’ justifies the fanciful description. A step forward, eschewing her previous work’s hip-hop tilt for expansive compositions that blend jazz and Indian classical influences into a […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 27 SEPTEMBER 2024

ALBUM REVIEW – ALAN SPARHAWK: WHITE ROSES, MY GOD

I haven’t anticipated the release of an album as strongly as I have in the case of Alan Sparhawk’s debut solo record, ‘White Roses, My God’. Like countless other fans of the work he produced while a member of the esteemed duo Low (alongside Mimi Parker), I was taken aback upon listening to ‘Can U […]
“Dance is life and you can’t be angry when you’re dancing so keep dancing”, states the voiceover on ‘Our Element’, a brief linking track on Ezra Collective’s new album, ‘Dance, No One’s Watching’. While “anger is an energy” as John Lydon once described it, the horrendous fact that he has ended up as a Trump […]

ALBUM REVIEW – EZRA COLLECTIVE: DANCE, NO ONE’S WATCHING

ALBUM REVIEW – GEMMA HAYES: BLIND FAITH

The sixth album from singer-songwriter Gemma Hayes falls into the “grower” category. It is not an album that clamours for attention but through a combination of cunningly low-key instrumentation and storytelling weaves its spell. Having relocated from London to Baltimore, West Cork and taken up residence in the holiday home of her husband’s family, Hayes […]
If you tell me that Efrim Menuck – founding member of one of my personal favourite bands Godspeed You! Black Emperor – has a new project, I’m already on board. We Are Winter’s Blue and Radiant Children have more prestige than just that alone, though. Joining Menuck are Mat Ball, guitarist in drone doom outfit […]

ALBUM REVIEW – WE ARE WINTER’S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN: NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER