ALBUM REVIEW – CHELA: DIAGONAL DRIFT

Side projects offer the ideal space for artists to reveal previously unseen aspects of their musical fascinations. The band Bo Ningen is associated with brutal slabs of heavy psychedelic guitar assaults but the first release from Chela allows their guitar mangler and synth wrangler Kohhei Matsuda to reveal a more experimental side. On ’Diagonal Drift’ […]
Sometimes, you listen to a band and imagine that one Tuesday, sitting at the kitchen table two retired parents watch their middle-aged child emerge from his basement bedroom, long hair flowing, leather jacket shining in the midday light, carrying his spiky guitar off to band practice and they just look at one another as if […]

ALBUM REVIEW – DUN RINGILL: 150-WHERE THE OLD GODS PLAY ACT 1

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 4 AUGUST 2023

Here is a chance to browse through the Silent Radio rack of this week’s album releases, an intriguing array of generally newer artists to discover. Oiro Pena            Puna      Finnish jazz collective creating a mix of lo-fi spiritual jazz, experimental, and avant-garde music forms. It includes four vocal tracks recorded with Merikukka Kiviharju, which feature both […]
At a Tarot reading during the pandemic, Ryan Fuson of Holy Wave was struck by the Five of Cups card which signifies loss and grief. A cloaked figure with a bowed head looming over three spilled chalices while ignoring the two full vessels, it is seen as symbolising dwelling in a negative past rather than […]

ALBUM REVIEW – HOLY WAVE: FIVE OF CUPS

LIVE REVIEW: THE LAST DINNER PARTY – DEAF INSTITUTE 28/07/23

The Last Dinner Party are breaking all the rules. Tonight, they have sold out the jewel in the Manchester live music crown having released exactly two songs; by the time they are back in town in October to play the much larger Academy 2, they’re unlikely to have released many more. This is virtually unheard […]
Opening with strong, powerful electric guitar, Uzumaki’s debut EP ‘Square One’ strikes every emotion within only four tracks. On the first track ‘Hey There’ you can tell that there are multiple guitars used in the song. Different guitar riffs pile together to create a striking and passionate effect. An intense and long intro opens the […]

EP REVIEW – UZUMAKI: SQUARE ONE

ALBUM REVIEW – THE CLIENTELE: I AM NOT THERE ANYMORE

The Clientele has been described as a band who rather than merely creating their own individual sound have gone a step further to create their own world during their 32-year career. It is characterised by a hazy, shimmering, understated guitar pop married to an evocative lyricism. Their first release since 2017’s ‘Music for the Age […]
There is a healthy selection of new releases this week, including a few covered in greater depth elsewhere on this section. Here is our brief roundup. Dexys    The Feminine Desire      Their first album in over a decade sees Kevin Rowland reevaluating the whole concept of masculinity that he grew up with. Dot Allison         Consciousology Former […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 28 JULY 2023

ALBUM REVIEW – DOT ALLISON: CONSCIOUSOLOGY

Concept albums were scorned and derided for a long time. Recently, the pendulum has flipped and significant numbers of long players, if not advertising themselves as concept albums, have an underlying theme that links the songs. This could be a response to streaming and the need to make long-playing records relevant as entities rather than […]
Blur are back with their ninth album, a whole 20 years since 2003’s ‘Think Tank’ and eight years since 2015’s ‘The Magic Whip’. At this point, you’re probably questioning what is happening. Is there finally a resurrection of our classic, beloved Britpop? Or have we just harped on enough to get another album? Either way, […]

ALBUM REVIEW – BLUR: THE BALLAD OF DARREN