rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Wonky isn’t the same as broken. Off-kilter doesn’t mean out of control. Oddball isn’t a bad thing. Unfashionable is better than faddish…and then again if you get good at being unfashionable then you generally end up becoming a cult figure anyway, which is sort of the same thing. Just because you are on the outside... Continue Reading →
When you get to the heavier end of the music spectrum there seems to be as many genres as there are bands, which sort of proves just how pointless they are in the first place. So you can argue all you want about which this-core, alt-that or post-other box KnightressM1 fit into, at the end... Continue Reading →
This latest slice of sonic seduction from Jim Chorley lands as a timely reminder of the very nature of the human condition. People need people. Simple. We need them to lean on and to laugh with, they energise us and revive us, they help us forget our problems and, if needs be, share some of... Continue Reading →
The great thing about musicians, the ones who you need most in your life at least, is that you can’t second guess them. We all know people in bands, usually local bands and generally destined to reach their peak playing the Kebab and Calculator’s Monday Night Battle of The Bands in the heart of Newport... Continue Reading →
Nothing Is Like It Used To Be is a song with a very simple message. Whatever you're going through, whatever you are dealing with, wherever you are headed and for what reason, it’s a totally new experience. Others might have done something similar but it is by throwing you, the individual, into the mix which... Continue Reading →
What’s the difference between an album and a playlist, or indeed a channel? Well, often not that much. All three have to go on a sort of sonic journey, one where the music follows a pre-ordained sequence of the curator’s choosing, follow dynamic ups and downs, were one track is sympathetic to or deliberately conflicting... Continue Reading →
There is a something both wonderful and scary about the way Fred Abong’s voice reaches out to the listener on his latest track, The Minit. It’s like someone leaning in to speak to you directly and comes across as both intimate and slightly unnerving, direct but uninvited and leaving you with the feeling that someone... Continue Reading →
It was going to happen sooner or later, the first overtly Christmas song of the year, oh, well, that’s the flood gates open, there’s no going back. But at least it comes courtesy of JD Days, someone who you know will tackle such a subject with the right blend of mirth, magic and irreverence, and... Continue Reading →
Eddy Mann is the voice of calm that we need in the world right now. As storm clouds gather, ever darker, as the world seems an ever more divided place, songs such as One Day and the previous Listen and Love, have a sort of healing quality to them, a calm, a songs which are... Continue Reading →
A pretty busy week in the sonic trenches has resulted in all sorts of musical gems for you to uncover. Don't forget to support these artists in any way you can, you are going to need such people more than ever by the time all this blows over. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6v09d6CcejuE4zTw8BnwVQ?si=GlooCx5NQFmXYAcVfS61ZA
If Evergreen Christmas is the sound of someone waxing lyrical from inside a well-established, safe and settled relationship, Not In Vain narrates those early, often faltering, steps of the dawn of a new relationship…or perhaps the opening chapter of the one found in previous songs such as Angel Woman. Again, acoustic pop is the chosen... Continue Reading →
Pop is a very broad spectrum. For every, glitter-clad, upbeat, dance-routine, Day-glo, pop-tart dreaming of fame, fortune and their own range of cosmetics, there are twice as many people doing something much more interesting within its wide-ranging borders. Artists such as Schmiddo for one. He takes a lo-fi melancholic approach, the title alone tells you... Continue Reading →
Perhaps because the first music I heard by him was the dulcet tones of Angel Woman is why I associate JD Days with the more romantic end of the musical spectrum. Of course, since my first encounter I now realise that he is a man of many sonic talents and musical turns, that he is... Continue Reading →
It goes without saying, although it may just be my limited knowledge of such things, but whenever an album emerges from the Swindon vicinity with a broadly ska-o-centic sound, there will be some connection to champion of that scene, Erin Bardwell. And so it is that Million Miles Away comes courtesy of his Pop-A-Top label,... Continue Reading →
There has always been a social and political undercurrent to My Politic’s songs. Stories as songs, narratives about family and traditions, the working man, tales of the home, the hearth, of hope and reflection and the American spirit all wound into gentle mythologies and relatable histories. But something has changed for My Politic since 2017’s... Continue Reading →
Although this is the debut single for Captain Mike, he has been a face and fixture on the Minneapolis music scene for years, something which is immediately clear from the quality of the music that he makes. Here he and his musical posse merge country imagery with off-beat pop perkiness, folk moves with some more... Continue Reading →
Music is made for almost as many reasons as there are people making it. To relax to, to broadcast ideas, to let off steam, to excite, seduce, rally, rant and almost every other emotional state that you chose to name. But perhaps the purest reason of all for making music is to celebrate a loved... Continue Reading →
There is always the thrill of the unexpected felt when diving into a new song from Beauty in Chaos. Not because you go in wondering if they are going to knock it out of the sonic park… that is pretty much a given…the excitement comes from seeing who BIC main man Michael Ciravolo has got... Continue Reading →
Anna Azerli is a unique new artist from New Zealand. She eventually moved to Berlin then later to pursue a music career in Milan, at Accademia Teatro all Scala of all places. Sonically too she is interesting to place, a trained opera singer turned to dance-pop, a TV actress with an upcoming Las Vegas show,... Continue Reading →
I tend to listen to new music in my car on my commute to work, I can settle down without interruption and simply take in the music that is on offer, I lean towards the music that unfolds and has a story because it works so well with my daily journey. Upon reading that Justin... Continue Reading →
Some people use auto-tune and other sonic tricks to fix failings in their vocal delivery, Speedy2x uses it to great wonderful sonic textures, cascades of voice as an instrument, turning his gentle deliveries into a beguiling and other-worldly sound. This isn’t about fixing things, this is about building whole new sonic worlds to explore.Don’t Know... Continue Reading →
If Downward Dog (Wiggle Your Butt) show us that Mark R. Goujon has a neat way with perky, tongue-in-cheek lyrics, then A Dreamer of the Night shows that he has a more serious, smoother and more mature side to his songwriting too. Based around Addie Nicole's soft and seductive vocals, A Dreamer of The Night... Continue Reading →
After what can best be described as a psychedelic life-coaching style introduction, possible one being broadcast from a basement in Haight-Ashbury in 1968, The Silverbeets get on with the job at hand. And if the job at hand is to write paisley-patterned, hippy-haze, retro-infused pop then it is a job which they are well suited... Continue Reading →
Blending trap beats and trippy sonics, laid-back lyrics and understated soundscapes, Ded Diary Volume 4 is the 5th EP from multi-disciplinarian and rapper Ded Stark. There are many routes to be taken through the urban music landscape, some obvious and aggressive, confrontational and cock-sure, others more understated, more intimate and it is the latter path... Continue Reading →
Music is certainly serious business but sometimes we can get so lost in arguing about our favorite bands, trying to emulate the stars of the day, getting precious and defensive about the songs which matter most to us that we forget its primary role. Music. Is. Entertainment. It’s as simple as that and thankfully for... Continue Reading →
Hip-Hop has always revelled in machine-gun salvoes of lyrics, a message delivered via dexterous vocals and deft wordplay and Solo1 certainly understands this, running between a simple but hypnotic (hip-notic?) chorus and fast-flying verses to make his point. And as the title suggests, this is the sound of an artist making music as a declaration,... Continue Reading →
Although music is something which should be universally celebrated all-year round, some of it makes more sense at certain times in the calendar. You wouldn’t sing carols in the middle of summer nor Auld Lang Syne before sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner. And although there is so much to love found on this gorgeous... Continue Reading →
I love the voice of Lydia Lunch so when the first vocal came in I knew I would be smitten with this record. It's not derivative or mimicry at all but Lizzy has a beguiling tone that makes an immediate connection. Coocoo Banana is poetic in its lyrical content and angular yet simple in its... Continue Reading →
Arriving with perfect timing, this latest musical missive from Laslow Simplex, might seem like a simple song but its straightforward and fairly unsophisticated sonic lines, and I mean that in the nicest possible of ways, underplay the poignancy and potency of the message that it carries. Many people have made music of late ranting against... Continue Reading →
No-one does a cover like John Fryer’s Black Needle Noise. Some people understand the idea of making a song your own, even if it is such a permanent fixture of the musical landscape, as we find happening here. A few have the imagination to subsume familiar music into such shockingly dark sonic underworlds. But no-one... Continue Reading →