rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Well, of course Walk in the Park is a cool and delicious sonic beast. How could it not be? After all, it has Harry Stafford steering its swaggering, scratchy and strutting sonic ship, a man adept at churning out Waitsian gutter balladry and Cave inspired apocalyptic blues like there is, as Cave himself would have... Continue Reading →
If Unlocked neatly demonstrated just how unique and nonconforming Jenn Vix is, PTSD shows that she has lost none of that strange attraction since that release, if anything, she might have even travelled even further down the rabbit hole. PTSD is a beguiling mix of electronic-pop and dark 60's psychedelic vibes, R&B exploring far ahead... Continue Reading →
Now, this is a song that I can massively relate to. Whenever I get some young whippersnapper reminding me that I am…well, let's just say that I'm not as young as I was…I remember that they never got to see all those iconic bands that formed part of my youth, they never experienced the peace... Continue Reading →
Pop? Rock? Alt? Indie? Call it what you will (genres are so 90's anyway) but there are elements of all of those woven into this track, which is a neat trick if you can do it, and The Undecideds can! It is infectiously pop, grooves with a slightly harder rock edge, jangles with indie-pop sweetness... Continue Reading →
There is something fascinating about reviewing music sung in a language other than your own. If I was listening to music that was part of the modern western pop canon, then it would be easy to be led by the lyrics, to be taken by the hand and gently dragged to the place that the... Continue Reading →
If you are an artist carrying a torch for the traditions of folk past whilst seeking to take that sound into a bright new future, as Serious Sam Barrett unquestionably is, then recording an album of music, in part inspired, drawn from and replicating songs found in a 1967 book published by The English Folk... Continue Reading →
That Julian Shah-Taylor can be found moonlighting in bands paying tribute to musical pioneers who really pushed the sonic and generic boundaries - namely Bowie, Depeche Mode and The Cure - tells you a lot about the music that he makes under his own name too, also labelled The Singularity. And his latest, Darkling Universe... Continue Reading →
Music is a time machine, it's as simple as that. Just the opening refrain of one of your favourite songs can transport you back to a time and place, evokes memories and faces, sounds and sights, both smile-inducing and bittersweet, whistful, joyous and reflective. And that is what is being celebrated in this latest release... Continue Reading →
In the crowded world of pop, indie-pop, singer-songwriters and chart bound music, you have to make your songs stand out. You don't have to go as far as hopping genres, going off on tangents or leaping small buildings…sonically speaking, but you have to make sure that your song offers the audience something that it isn't... Continue Reading →
Another busy week working with all sorts of cool artists and their amazing creations, going to gigs and generally being surrounded by absolute ace-ness. Please check them out, explore their back catalogue and buy something, help keep music alive and moving forward. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6gZ8Ej2sTOGqSFwmeCQ6pB?si=f792c8d986af49af
There are many skills to be accrued when it comes to making great clubland music, one of them is what I like to call the "slowburn," and Song and Dances, a teaser track from YayRaven ahead of a full album to follow, is the perfect example of how it's done. Slowburn is the art of... Continue Reading →
If there is an EP that better sums up the creative scope and genre-hopping nature of song-crafting in today's music scene than this, then I am yet to stumble across it. Most people would be more than happy to have created a record with such grace and beauty, such cinematic elegance and infectious artistry, that... Continue Reading →
Blending the coolest, sultry R&B grooves with some smart and accessible pop moves, Emotions is perfect for the modern mainstream scene. It leans on timeless soul traditions, but if the vocal delivery seems to have simmered and sashayed down through the ages, the beat and body of the song are very much the product of... Continue Reading →
I have already established that Deep C Divers are one of the lucky few bands to have found their way to the place where pop and rock music meet and merge perfectly, when writing about previous songs My Luv and Smile For Better Days. Their latest single, Buried Treasure, is also the product of such... Continue Reading →
Jon Arthur Schmidt seems to be an artist who stands with his creative feet in many different worlds simultaneously, as evidenced by his latest album From The Marrow. There is a spiritual and personal quality to his music but it never seems to step over into the realms of the preaching or devotional, seeming more... Continue Reading →
Hip-hop, and all it spawned, has come a long way, and that is as it should be; all scenes and genres need to move with the times. D Skrilla sits at the cutting edge of that perpetual journey, propelled by the traditions of the past and poised, ready to help write the next chapter in... Continue Reading →
Okay, cards on the table. I don't know much about big band music...or jazz...or big band jazz...but I know a good tune when I hear it, and I'm listening to it right now. I even recognise some of the names of the players who make up, what is essentially a jazz supergroup, all playing under... Continue Reading →
When I was writing about Rasmus Fynbo's 7 track collection which went by the name of Please Panic! earlier in the year, I waxed lyrical about his ability to write and deliver pop-aware, folk- and indie-infused songs, a fine collection of his creations that hit the mark with the confidence of a "Best Of" album.... Continue Reading →
The classic electro-palette of 8 bit, BBC Micro, SOUND C, A, P, D FOR NEXT loops parsed via VCFs and ramped are all reimagined to suit a 21st-century ear where electronics are substituted with heavily modulated analogue brass instruments interacting with physical-mechanical apparatus that surrounds them. Nerds, weirdos and datafiles will be drawn to this... Continue Reading →
I have to confess that I have no idea where one metal genre ends and the next heavy rock pigeon-hole begins. The heavier end of the musical spectrum has always loved its demarcation and divisions, its post-this and that-cores, some people could get very upset about such things, funnily enough though, those people were always... Continue Reading →
Another week working with great music and groovy artists. Here are just a few of the sounds that have made the DAA office a great place to work this week. Bit of a long list this week, but that is just a reflection of how busy we've been. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/70DP0FfrENthVLGn7JtSzi?si=5f70e4ac34a147b7
Willard Overstreet and the Highborn Kingsmen have forged a fantastic sound out of everything that was great and good about pop and rock past. Not in a plagiaristic or nostalgic sort of way, this is certainly music of the here and now, but their own sound does suggest that they do have very good record... Continue Reading →
I always find it hard to categorize Echoglass's music. Not because it is particularly way out nor genre-hopping but because any label that I apply never comes remotely close to doing it justice. Pop seems too transient and lightweight a word to really capture what is going on and indie too hipster and faddish, though... Continue Reading →
We live in a musical age where things seem to be less and less about having an overall plan and more about knee-jerk reactions. By this, I mean that the age of "write a batch of songs, record an album, tour the album, write a new batch of songs, record the next album…repeat until exhausted"... Continue Reading →
If this album were actually a museum, then the songs found within would be the various exhibits, lovingly created, curated and displayed by our heroes The Speed of Sound. This sonic collection takes as its theme the madness of the 21st century as it flashes past us at breakneck speed. There is a lovely juxtaposition... Continue Reading →
David Long and Shane O'Neill both have their roots in the early eighties, a time of new-pop, new wave and post-punk, a time of experimentation and adventure, a scene capitalising on the opportunities left after the punks had kicked down the creative barricades. So it comes as no surprise to find that their songs ring... Continue Reading →
Bone Architecture might sound like an album forged of underground musicians slaving over their art in close proximity, huddled together in shaded rooms that smell of booze and sweat, of intimate collaborations, of sonic synapses sparking as flashes of improvised creativity zap acroos the room between our two protagonists. Nothing could be further from the... Continue Reading →
Five albums in? Where has The Kundalini Genie been all my life? I mean, any band that manages to wrap such an acid-tripping, psychedelic haze around those raw and raucous guitars, that can blend a heavy shoegaze vibe with dreamy alt-rock sound, that can provide the perfect sonic collision point between orient and occident, then... Continue Reading →
Never Ready is one of those effortlessly cool songs which crosses a lot of generic boundaries. It has a solid R&B groove, one heightened by some quick and clever digital drum manipulation, it is sassy, sensual and soulful and it is infectious enough to cross from those more urban realms into straightforward pop pastures. It... Continue Reading →
It isn't so much the music that Luis Mojica creates that really stands him apart from those around him, though that is pretty unique and beguiling stuff, but more the scale on which he thinks. Most artists work with an idea, something taken from the moment, a passing thought, a memory. Mojica seems to work... Continue Reading →
