Album review: David Christian & The Pinecone Orchestra – ‘For Those We Met On The Way’: Comet Gain man sends a folk-rock postcard, looking back with sadness but without anger
THIS record begins not in the virus, lockdown, careers suddenly and virally iced, like the back story of so many records of recent times. Which in itself, may be a relief of sorts. No: this record begins with that other cultural tragedy of our isles and times. B. B. Can I even say it? Brexit. …
News: Cambridge psych-folk explorers Fuzzy Lights announce UK dates for February
WITH their album Burials having been in out in the world a while now and receiving deserved praise for its exploratory shifts out of the genre from all quarters – we noted it as being “Way beyond folk and folk in essence all at once” (and you can read our full review here), Cambridge’s wyrd-folk …
See: Austin ‘gazers Letting Up Despite Great Faults drop the easy glide of ‘Corners Pressed’ – come see the lyric video
HAILING from Austin, that Texas city which is the home of SXSW, shoegaze four-piece Letting Up Despite Great Faults have stretched, arisen and are back in the game with gusto after long years away. The collective of vocalists and guitarists Mike Lee and Annah Fisette, bassist Kent Zambrana and drummer Daniel Schmidt, whose last album …
Track: Senior Citizen x Tim Walker share the electro ode ‘The Foreign’
FREDRICTON, New Brunswick musician Bob Deveau, who you’ll find jaunting out and about in synthy surroundings as Senior Citizen away from the drum stool he usually occupies with bands like The Olympic Symphonium, Grand Theft Bus and Force Fields, is primed to release an album with sometime bandmate Tim Walker at the beginning of next month for …
See: Casper Skulls join hands for the evocative, mysterious roots rock of ‘Ouija’
WITH their first album since 2017’s The Mercy Works out yesterday, Casper Skulls have shared a video for the mysterious and evocative roots rock of “Ouija”, which sees them connect to the infinite in well-wrought melody, A slight step away from the tenebrous and thundery aesthetic of their previous work, and finding some common sonic …
See: With their ‘Fish & Chips’ EP out now, Average Life Complaints share a video for the wiry rage of ‘Answers’
WITH that crisp, declamatory and wiry, post-punk, post-Speedy Wunderground sound, sweeping songcraft and such judicious revival of the chorus pedal, last heard in such mistily evocative effect in early Killing Joke and The Cure circa Faith, it’s no wonder that Average Life Complaints’ “Fish & Chips” has been tearing it up on the airwaves, particularly …
See: The Self Esteem-collaborating Soft Lad steps out on her own with the leftfield pop glow of ‘Singapore’
SOPHIE GALPIN? Another of those musicians doing god’s work in bringing the tunes to us, hiding her light under a bushel in support of others, crafting the songs of others for us to lurve. It’s something she’s done half her actual life so far: 14 years with acts such as The Breeders, James Vincent McMorrow …
Live review: Billy Bragg, Exeter University, November 11th, 2021: our favourite troubadour of the heart and the people returns to the stage
A PILGRIMAGE of sorts, to see the Bard of Barking, Billy Bragg (although these days it’s the Bard of Bridport, not so many miles east along the Dorset coast); who’s playing this date of a hugely virally-delayed tour in the lofty surrounds of the university’s Great Hall, pine-panelled and architecturally brutalist and blessed with good …
News: Thomas Leer and Robert Rental’s cult punk-electro classic ‘The Bridge’ gets a reissue in January; hear ‘Monochrome Days’
NO LESSER a cultural vulture (and someone you’d love to go on an Edinburgh pub crawl with) Ian Rankin says of Thomas Leer and Robert Rental’s cult ’79 album The Bridge that “it spans the gulf between punk and electro. It’s as good as the best of ‘79 and still potent, still the future.” Joining …
Track: Cousin Kula bring the chillwave jazz of ‘Something So Sweet’ from the banks of the Avon, with a debut album and dates soon
BRISTOL quintet Cousin Kula ply a line in woozy, chillwave jazz to bliss you out with sophistication, talent and a lazy groove – doubt them not and check out “Something So Sweet”, the first single they’ve dropped today from their debut album, Double Dinners, which is out in a fortnight. Vocalist and guitarist Elliott …