ALBUM REVIEW – BAR ITALIA: THE TWITS

With the arrival of ‘The Twits’ at the start of November, it appears bar italia are on top of their game: the enigmatic trio’s latest offering comes just months after their record ‘Tracey Denim’ hit the airwaves and streaming services in May, which saw the group hone their trademark vocal interplay and intense instrumentation. Also heavily present in […]
I am in awe of Ajay Saggar. In addition to his day (and night) job as production manager at the Paradiso, Amsterdam’s main venue, he has found time to bombard the listening public with an array of great albums during 2023. He started off greeting Spring with a double album from his solo project, Bhajan […]

ALBUM REVIEW – VOLKSEMPFANGER: ATTACK OF SOUND

EP REVIEW – UNIVERSITY: TITLE TRACK

Self-describing as being like getting punched in the face by a gorilla but then being cuddled afterwards, UNIVERSITY are definitely something like that. To be totally honest this EP is a little bit difficult to listen to but let’s just call that an artistic choice. Frantic and disorganised, ‘Title Track’ is an obvious attempt at […]
Lots of new releases in Silent Radio’s latest roundup of the last really busy week before Christmas. Mock Media      Mock Media II   Debut album from Canadian supergroup comprised of Garnet Aronyk (of Crack Cloud), Bennett Smith (of N0V3L), Austin Boylan (of Pottery) and Evan Aesen (of Painted Fruits) whose punk-rock stylings serve as a framework […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 17 NOVEMBER 2023

ALBUM REVIEW – HOTLINE TNT: CARTWHEEL

‘Cartwheel’ by Hotline TNT is an album of pure fuzz, existing and then dissolving back again into obscurity. To the untrained ear, this LP may sound little more than someone throwing all the instruments at a wall and expecting something to stick, when in actuality it’s a lot more nuanced than that. Each layer of […]
Over the course of 24 years, Spearmint have specialised in wonderfully crafted, melancholic songs with outstanding lyrics that tell emotional stories that deserve far more than their dedicated cult audience. Fronted by Shirley Lee, who can lay claim to a prominent place amongst the most famous male Shirleys in popular culture, coming a very distant […]

ALBUM REVIEW – SPEARMINT: THIS CANDLE IS FOR YOU

EP REVIEW – SNAIL MAIL: VALENTINE DEMOS

This could just be my best review ever. A part of me feels like I won’t ever get enjoyment like this. It’s interesting the hallucinogenic trance of ‘Snail Mail’s’ ‘Valentine Demos’. Lindsey Jordan’s vocals are quite hard to follow at moments, it’s without a doubt something that captures a listener with an eerie but spooky […]
So, “metal” is a bit of a catch-all term – which obviously is why we have “black metal”, “hair metal”, “cheese metal” etc. (although there’s just no reason why we have “nu-metal”!). In any case, it can be a bit of a pot luck to just shout up for any “metal” that comes across the […]

ALBUM REVIEW – SATAN’S FALL: DESTINATION DESTRUCTION

ALBUM REVIEW – HILARY WOODS: ACTS OF LIGHT

Hilary Woods’ Acts of Light is the third full-length release in the Irish artist’s catalogue of enveloping drones, following on from the discomforting forms that snaked through 2021’s Feral Hymns. Having already established a track record of skin-invading frequencies, Woods returns on Acts of Light with nine resonant confrontations of self. It’s an incredibly difficult […]
Another week bristling with some top-quality releases jostling for attention. Beirut   Hadsel  Their first album in 4 years, recorded on the island of Hadsel, in the north of Norway. Songs based around a church organ take Beirut back to its solitary yet self-assured roots, exploring new sounds and foreign settings. Irrespective of far-flung musical influences, […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 10 NOVEMBER 2023