NEWS: experimental composer and Cocteaus collaborator Harold Budd reported to have passed, aged 84
SAD NEWS this evening as reports began to circulate across social media that the poet, avant-garde composer and pianist Harold Budd, a progenitor of the modern ambient piano style, has died at the age of 84. Budd was born in May 1936 in Los Angeles, but was raised in Victorville, in the Mojave desert. He …
SEE: Jimi Tenor – ‘Small Things’: bright, brassy Afrofunk-pop is a winter tonic
JIMI TENOR, the Finnish producer with roots in the darker, industrial side of dance music way, waay back, has been on a hell of a pilgrim’s progress to where he is today, with his second long player for Philophon, Aulos, out in the racks now. By jiminy it’s a world away from those dark beginnings; …
TRACK: Death By Unga Bunga – ‘Egocentric’: your new Nordic garage-punk idols
NORWEGIAN quintet Death By Unga Bunga have recently announced the release of new album, Heavy Male Insecurity, which will be out on Jansen Records on February 12th; and they’ve trained their sights on your rawk heart with their latest single, “Egocentric”. Take a listen below. It takes everything that’s great about Nordic garage rock, gives it a little …
TRACK: Maps – ‘Sleep Today’ (Go! Team remix): a grinsome tune to banish the winter blues
JAMES CHAPMAN, the South Midlands producer better known to lovers of a stonking good tune as Maps, has followed up his single from a month or so back, “Sleep Today”, with a Go! Team remix of that selfsame track. We adored the original when it dropped a month back, noting: “It’s a glorious pop rush, …
NEWS: Nick Cave pulls 2021 European tour
MORE sad news for all gig lovers – that’s pretty much all of us, right? – as Nick Cave has announced this afternoon that he’s cancelled his upcoming European and UK tour dates due to the continuing pandemic. A short statement says from Nick and the Bad Seeds reads: “We are very disappointed to announce …
ALBUM REVIEW: M. Ward – ‘Think Of You’: Portland guitar wonder seduces with Billie Holiday set
M. Ward’s pulled off quite a neat trick here. Think Of You has many of the appurtenances of a seasonal album without quite being one. It could be M. Ward’s best album in a good while, proving that all he really needs is some retro recording equipment and a guitar to be at his very best
ALBUM REVIEW: Louis Philippe & The Night Mail – ‘Thunderclouds’: the blessed return of a baroque pop genius
FOOTBALL writer, baroque pop legend, in-house producer, literary collaborator: truly Philippe Auclair – known worldwide to an adoring fanbase as Louis Philippe (for it is, indeed, him) is the sort of erudite, intelligent, popstar we need – especially right now. Populist three-word sloganeer he sure as hell ain’t. We should be more than grateful then …
ALBUM REVIEW: Heavenly – ‘A Bout De Heavenly’: seminal sevens compiled in time for Santa
Rolling down through Heavenly’s career through the prism of the single, you can see what a great band they were at that seemingly most humble, but powerful and demotic of formats, all packed full of the goodness of proper indiepop
ALBUM REVIEW: Late Night Final – ‘A Wonderful Hope’: Public Service man takes an ambient diversion
Public Service Broadcasting’s J. Willgoose takes a glorious ambient diversion – pretty doesn’t cover it
SEE: Hiatus – ‘Arrival’: meditative deep grooves from Cyrus Shahrad
HIATUS, the London-based atmospheric electronics project of Cyrus Shahrad, has announced a new album, Distancer, for a mid-March release. The very first fruits of that project are with us now in the shape of a single, “Arrival”; you can watch the stunning video below. The Hiatus project began more than a decade ago, when Cyrus …