Album Review: Pottery – Welcome to Bobby’s Motel
If you asked a band what was the idea behind their new record and that record was called ‘Welcome to Bobby’s Motel’ and they told you that it was based on an ‘all encompassing alt-reality’ that they had built around themselves where the band is Bobby and the motel is wherever they are….you might think …
Track: Jon Hassell – New album/preview track, ‘Fearless’
Pub Quiz question: Name a connection between La Monte Young, Terry Riley’s seminal record ‘In C’, Brian Eno, David Byrne, Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder, David Sylvian, Tears for Fears and Lloyd Cole plus his Commotions? Answer: they have all drawn on the talents of the essential trumpet player, composer and musical adventurer Jon Hassell. …
See: The Beths new single ‘Out of Sight’ and 2021 tour
The Beths do power pop and they do it very well with the pizazz, attention to detail and inventiveness that hints at their jazz past. The foursome from Auckland, NZ have ridden through a heady couple of years ever since their debut LP ‘Future Hates Me’ gained what seemed to be unstoppable but worthy momentum. …
See: Moses Boyd releases new Video for Stranger than fiction
To think of Moses Boyd as a jazz drummer misses so many beats. Producer, composer, collaborator, shape shifter and innovator, this MOBO award winning musician has been central to the phenomenal ‘nu-jazz’ scene that has exploded out of London town over the last five years. With an influence that spreads far and wide, from his …
Track: Shrimp Eyes release new single Straight Up
Peckham’s Shrimp Eyes are further proof of south east London’s continuing credentials as indie art pop central. Proudly DIY in all they do, the band have been bobbing in and out of the spotlight for a while: gigging hard (pre Corona) around the essential haunts (Sebright Arms, The Waiting Rooms); landing support slots (for Gengahr’s …
Track: Deh-Yey – Danephesians 4:31
Could new contenders for the two-piece powerhouse crown be emerging from the borderlands? Chester band Deh-Yey (Cash Burns-guitar/vocals and Tom Maude-drums) show their intent to keep on pushing with a second thumping single ‘Danephesians 4:31’. Whereas last year’s release ‘Death and Politics’ was a wild ride through riffs, switches and even skanking, ‘Danephesians 4:31’ goes …
Track: Skullcrusher – Don’t Show
You must be thinking is it thrash, doom or drone? None of these – Skullcrusher is the project of LA based songwriter Helen Ballentine who makes rich acoustic sounds that lean in the new folk direction. Having shifted from an art college/gallery pathway to focus all her creative energy on music, Ballentine seems to have …
Track: Local Nomad – ‘Young Vampires’
If you go for Animal Collective synth swathes, the MGMT rhythmic bounce and an anthemic lift of A-ha proportions then ‘Local Nomad’ will be worth checking out. New York multi-instrumentalist Michael Desmond has drawn on the polish and shine of eighties influences in this new project that marks his stepping out as a solo artist …
Track: Shirley Collins – Wondrous Love, plus album news.
Shirley Collins is living history. A pioneer who has been exploring the possibilities of folk music right from its second surging UK revival in the 1950’s. Along the way she was a key player in Davy Graham’s mid 60’s jazz folk fusions and then with her sister Dolly, injected authenticity and traditional flavours into the …
Track: Rival Consoles – Articulation, plus album news
Ryan Lee West aka ‘Rival Consoles’ and the esteemed Erased Tapes label go back a long way, the Leicester born musician was their first signing, and now thirteen years later that relationship is still going strong. The partnership have just announced details of the new Rival Consoles album ‘Articulation’ for release on 31st July and …