electronic albums
TRACK – 4’33 – THE NORMAL
Despite creating Mute Records, launching Fad Gadget and Depeche Mode, and then blazing a trail with Yazoo, The Birthday Party and a zillion more to become the indie label of all time, founder Daniel Miller’s moniker, The Normal has been strangely quiet since 1978. His one release, ‘TVOD/Warm Leatherette’ that initially launched the label was …
Album Review: Mndsgn – Snaxx
Of the thinking behind Mndsgn, aka Ringgo Ancheta‘s fifth album, he explains, “I think of all the posthumous Dilla leaks, and how I’ve always been just as, if not more inspired by the stuff that was never supposed to come out. Albums should be proper meals, but every now and then a snack can really …
Album Review: Tenderlonious – Hard Rain
Tenderlonious is essentially the project of London producer, jazz flautist/saxophone head and 22a label owner Ed Cawthorne. Under this moniker though he makes jazz infused house music aiming, by his own admission for the likes of Omar S, Theo Parrish, Glen Astro taking inspiration from J Dilla, Blaze and Carl Craig. His new album Hard …
Album Review: Stuart A Staples – Music for Claire Danis’ High Life
Out on its physical formats on May 3rd via City Slang is Tindersticks’ Stuart A Staples soundtrack for Claire Denis’ first English language film, High Life. In the gaps between Tindersticks records / haitus’, Staples has worked extensively with Davis, and this feature, focusing on a group of criminals who are tricked into believing they will …
Album Review: Gang Of Four – Happy Now
Although more of a solo project for Andy Gill who, following the departure of Jon King is now the only original member, there’s still enough of Gang of Four in this gang of one (yeah, I couldn’t pass it up…) to make it a worthwhile listen. Anyone expecting a record bathed in the searing angular …
Album Review: Battery Operated Orchestra – Snare
Battery Operated Orchestra might hail from Brighton but, in a previous incarnation as Katsen, they emerged on Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation. Which seemed very appropriate even then given the quality of their Kraftwerk-inspired synthpop, which would never have been out of place in the Steel City at any time over the last 30-odd years. Now …
Album Review – Black Moth Super Rainbow – Panic Blooms
That theme song from Silicon Valley? The incredible off-kilter synthpop played on a ribbon? That’s Tobacco – the enigmatic front-man who started life with Pittsburgh’s Black Moth Super Rainbow. Perhaps unfairly overlooked among some circles as another acid-laden, synth driven indie-psych band in the same era as Late Of The Pier and every mum’s favourite …
Album Review: Thievery Corporation ‘Treasures from the Temple’
Thievery Corporation Treasures from the Temple (ESL Recordings) released on April 20, 2018 Rating: 7.5 Washington DC based electronic duo of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton known as Thievery Corporation’s latest release of Treasures from the Temple is a companion to their chart-topping 2017 Temple of I & I album release. The 12-track compendium includes a trove of original recordings …
Album Review: North Sea Navigator – The Memory Clears the Space for What’s Needed
Former Gravenhurst sideman Paul Nash has been trading under the name North Sea Navigator for a while now, expanding the line up from himself to a three piece and then to a four piece band recently, but its his solo eponymous album for Felt that is getting its commercial release, titled ‘The Memory Clears the …
Album Review: Josh Rouse – Love in the modern age
Seems Josh Rouse isn’t one for staying still, with the follow up to 2015’s The Embers of Time promising that he has embraced the likes of The Blue Nile, The Style Council and Prefab Sprout, rather than the indie/americana of his previous work. As it turns out, Rouse makes good on his promises for the …