rescuing musical virtue in distress.
You can tell that an artist really understands the power of music when they are able to deliver tracks which are about mood rather than melody, anticipation and atmosphere rather than anything as unimaginative as lyrical hooks and the usual pop and rock gimmicks. Brittleness is just such a track, a drifting collage of textures... Continue Reading →
Imagine if Ennio Morricone had taken a different approach to Leone’s iconic Spaghetti Western soundtracks and decided to invent dream-pop whilst scoring them. You can’t imagine such a scenario? Well, give The Roogs debut album a spin and you’ll get some idea what that might have sounded like. Courtney Davies and Steve Gerdes are perhaps better... Continue Reading →
There is much talk at the moment about the challenges facing musicians cut off from their place of work, much moaning about lack of support for the arts and those who make a living within. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth on social media about the state of the world and the future... Continue Reading →
Anticipation is a much under-appreciated tool in the composers bag of sonic tricks but Call of Dreams is built almost exclusively on just such an energy. From the first, soft and oozing electronic washes it is a track which causes the listener to be constantly waiting for the big sonic jump, the musical pay-off. And... Continue Reading →
Once you hear the term “dreamweaver” used to describe Josh Werner, it is difficult to think of him needing any other name. Musician seems to undersell the minimalist majesty and ambient grace of his music. Bassist also seems to give the wrong impression, even though it is the predominant instrument in this composition, in the... Continue Reading →
For a while the handpan became the hipster instrument of choice, at least it did in my part of the world, the ukulele having fallen out of fashion, just like the banjo and mandolin before it, before being allowed to return to its quiet, sonic folk pastures. So it was an absolute thrill to find... Continue Reading →
It would be only natural to assume that having released himself from the complexities of the sonic world of Karda Estra, that Richard Wileman’s current musical vehicle, essentially a duo with Amy Fry, would result in some much more simply drawn music. And to some extent it does, but of course everything is relative. If... Continue Reading →
As the recent title track revealed to us, the parent album, from which this lush track comes, is a gorgeous piece of slow burning, wide-screen, cinematic and ambient instrumental beast. And Two Swords is the perfect taste of what you will experience if you dive into its cool sonic depths. Painting gentle celtic vibes onto... Continue Reading →
Musicians often rely on the sonic sucker-punch, the gimmick or the quick and obvious saccharine hit to hook the listener and draw them in. And then there are musicians who are smarter than such that. Violinist Chris Murphy has turned his hand to almost every conceivable style of music over the years, from classical to bluegrass,... Continue Reading →
If ever there was a piece of music which deserves to be prominently placed in the next Sci-Fi blockbuster movie, then this is it. With it’s obvious Vangelisian, Blade Runner-esque fluidity and a video which revels in mystery, beauty and science fact, this short dream state slice of ambient cinematics goes beyond just being about... Continue Reading →
Given that the last time I had Daniel Angelus under my pen it was to write about an album called Act I, it wasn’t entirely unexpected that I should now find myself with a new album titled Act II in front of me. What wasn’t expected was how much he had moved things on since... Continue Reading →
The man himself admits that the concept album is an unfashionable and much derided form in the modern age. But just because it isn’t in vogue isn’t a reason not to tackle it. In fact, the people who would wilfully jump the zeitgeist shark, ‘scuse the mixed metaphors, are probably the ones that you should... Continue Reading →
If, like me, you first encountered Cori Elliott playing weaponised bass and kicking ass as the focal point of The Vim Dicta, then Too Far Gone might come as a bit of a surprise. Then again, perhaps not. They were always a band who knew how to work with drama and dynamics, build atmosphere and... Continue Reading →
When you look back over the history of classical music, it is interesting to see how it has moved from been something exclusive, being performed for the upper echelons of society into a modern world where it has found perhaps a new found sense of purpose, being accessible to the masses by its perfect matching... Continue Reading →
Will Lawton and his band of sonic Alchemists have always made music which is challenging to write about. But that is what also makes them one of the most appealing bands to write about too. As a writer you tend to find yourself pulled towards adopting a certain literary tone, one which matches the music... Continue Reading →
Good music is either the easiest or the hardest thing to describe, it is only average music which requires cliche. Great music even makes you resort to non-musical references to help you make sense of what is going on. And Ruheman makes great music. It is the sound of space being filled with an encroaching... Continue Reading →
Haunting and beguiling music isn’t just the domain of the gothic set. After all, most of the wailings and wallowing that was emitted from that corner of the music spectrum over the years has been largely hammed up and over-theatrical, music made by people who have watched one to many episodes of Buffy the Vampire... Continue Reading →
Not all music needs the direct communication of a lyrical component. In fact sometimes it can really get in the way. A smart artist knows that music is just as powerful a medium as words when it comes to getting your message across and Joe McCann is a smart artist for sure. The difference is... Continue Reading →
Music, all too often, sounds very much like the product of the human world. Even when it is trying to express more abstract concepts, talking about the wider world or dealing with intangible ideas such as emotions and feelings, it still generally sounds, without wanting to sound obvious, man-made. How could it not? What has... Continue Reading →
Greg Smith has always had a way with understatement. Even when mining a more upbeat sonic seam he does so in a spacious and tasteful way, employing the minimal amount of musical building blocks to the maximum affect. Here, he really takes that idea to its logical conclusion. In the Vicinity of Miracles is gentle... Continue Reading →
There are a few words which get over used in music writing. Words such as haunting, ethereal, otherworldly, I should know as I, as much as anyone, have been responsible for their dissemination and proliferation. But how can you review music as gorgeous, as unique, as unusual, as mystical as David Åhlén’s without at least... Continue Reading →
We get so used to hip-hop's core sound being used as a vehicle for hard-hitting, socially aware, sonic salvos and lyrical attacks that we forget that this is only one of many avenues down which it is possible to take the music. What if you took those same beats, and ways of sampling and styling... Continue Reading →
It isn’t so much the case that Sebastian Reynolds hops genres or even attempts to merge them like some sort of sonic alchemist, it is more that he floats without concern above them. And whilst you could make a good argument for elements of avant-garde classical, trip-hop, free jazz and ambient experimentation all finding their... Continue Reading →
“I like working alone and also I like collaborating.” Andy Ellis’ seemingly dualistic statement may have been an irreconcilable conundrum in a previous age, but thankfully the technology of the modern world means that he can still weave his magic with the other half of Black Lab, Paul Durham via the long distance file-sharing that... Continue Reading →
He doesn’t do things by halves does that Mr Lawton. Whilst most other musicians are using the current restrictions to add half-baked covers of songs I never really liked in the first place to the ubiquitous flotsam and jetsam that is modern, on-line music, he has contributed something truly original, truly necessary and perhaps more... Continue Reading →
The fact that both classical piano and avant-garde metal have featured in Leah Hinton’s past comes as little surprise when you listen to the first full blown Murmur Tooth album. It’s not an obvious thing but it might account for the fact that the album is on the one hand peppered with a sense of... Continue Reading →
Whilst this debut album from YYY might be genre-hopping, musical gene-splicing, sonic scatter gun of sounds and ideas, the more you play it the more you are drawn less to the mad eclecticism and more to its common factors. Less to the building blocks and more to the cement…as it were. There is an obvious... Continue Reading →
There is a point where chilled dance music and a more ambient, cinematic vibe seem to merge into something which is the best of both worlds. It is music which takes the beats and energy of the former to give it a rigid structure and then uses this as a framework on which to drape... Continue Reading →
Why make noise when you can manipulate silence? And odd thing to say perhaps but if anybody can make a noise (and they pretty much can) trapping silence inside exquisite sonic bubbles take a whole different set of skills. But that is what Mr Dog The Bear continues to excel at. Already you could level... Continue Reading →
If only as an antidote to the madness of the world at the moment, the hustle and hassle, the knee-jerk reactions and the lack of thought, the self-centred view points and the narrow-minded visions, a new album from Astronomical Twilight feels like the perfect healing process. The first thing that hearing such ambient drifts and spacious... Continue Reading →