Bella Union
News: Nell Smith and The Flaming Lips will release an album of Nick Cave covers, ‘When The Viaduct Looms’, tomorrow; see ‘The Ship Song’
WELL that came pretty much out of nowhere, with only a two-week lead-in; Wayne Coyne and his merrie band of Oklahoman astral explorers The Flaming Lips, are releasing an album of Nick Cave covers, Where the Viaduct Looms, tomorrow; with vocals and instrumentation by 14-year-old Nell Smith and Dave Fridmann, of course, working his sonic magic from …
Album review: Penelope Isles – ‘Which Way To Happy’: Jack and Lily line up a second set of ambitious, technicolour pop psych
PENELOPE ISLES, the gorgeous Brighton combo led by brother and sister Jack and Lily Wolter, are releasing their second album this week – that’s cause for joy as winter looms. surely. Until The Tide Comes In, their album from 2019 and first for Simon Raymonde’s excellent Bella Union imprint, was a slice of shoegazey guitar …
News: Spiritualized return with a new album and a tour for ’22; hear ‘Always Together With You’
ONE of the best bands you’ll ever commune with live should you get the chance, Spiritualized, are set to return in 2022 with a new album, Everything Was Beautiful, due for release in February on Bella Union. It’ll be their first in nearly four years (since 2018’s And Nothing Hurt). They’ve also dropped a first …
News: Penelope Isles’ second glorious album for Bella Union arrives this week – there’s an extensive UK tour, too
PENELOPE ISLES, the gorgeous Brighton via Cornwall and Isle of Man combo led by brother and sister Jack and Lily Wolter, have some rather excellent news for lovers of bright, nuanced shoegazey guitar pop; their second album, Which Way To Happy is out digitally this Friday, November 5th, with CD and cassette formats also up …
Album Review: John Grant – Boy From Michigan
Michigan boy John Grant has always moved to the beat of his own drum. If you were to ask me to fit him into a box – a genre that he could comfortably placed in, then I could only call it John Grant. From the dream-pop beginnings of his debut solo, Queen of Denmark, to …
Track: BC Camplight – ‘I’m Alright In The World’: Brian returns with a melodic mantra to guard against the dark and announces an extensive UK tour
HE’S BACK, with new melodies to entice, following last year’s Manchester trilogy-concluding album Shortly After Takeoff – an album embraced and drawn close by British music lovers; BC Camplight has opened his account for 2021 with the bright, loose, and melody-packed “I’m Alright In The World”, which you can watch the lyric video for, below. …
See: John Grant releases new video for the incredible ‘Boy From Michigan’
It’s A Mindfuck. Total Head Explosion. Grant Roams Eerie Alien Territories. Each Second There’s Madness, Obscenity, Terror. Here, Everything Radiates Fear, Unease. Cartoon Kallikantzaroi Eviscerate Reality. It’s Stephen King in song. Childhood distilled into essential sights and sounds and smells. Everyday cautionary tales, neighbourhood characters, the things kids get up to when time is no object and everything can …
SEE: Lost Horizons feat. Marissa Nadler – ‘Marie’: honeyed sorrow from Bella Union
THE NEW album from Lost Horizons, the project of Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde and Richie Thomas, formerly of 4AD label mates Dif Juz, is a hugely ambitious affair. Not only does every track feature a guest vocalist – of the calibre of John Grant, Dana from Porridge Radio, both Jack and Lily from Penelope Isles, …
EP Review: Tim Burgess – Ascent of the Ascended plus tour news
It has been amazing year for Tim Burgess – a rare species that has bloomed under the claustrophobia of COVID and provided an endless source of entertainment and education through his twitter parties and his solo album ‘I Love the New Sky’ (reviewed by me in May). His creativity is boundless – so much so …
EP REVIEW: Laura Groves – ‘A Private Road’: pristine and dreamy debut; socially distanced gig announced
A Private Road is a dreamscape, swirling elements of modern electronica, shoegaze, soul and folk into a set on which you really get a sense of Laura while she also remains wraithlike, a blur of whisper and talent at the core