barry adamson
Cut To Black
Reviewed by Mo Longfellow
Album released - 24th May 24
If ever there was a hook to get you into an album, this is it. Adamson’s new album ‘Cut To Black’ starts with a belter, ‘The last Words of Sam Cooke’. Much like Adamson himself, it’s as cool as the ice cubes in the large dose of whatever you charge your glass with. It drives, it’s funky, it’s just all round, well, cool.
Barry Adamson is nothing short of a visionary. He’s always been known for his eclectic style and in this, his latest album, he once again demonstrates his unparalleled creativity. The production of the album is off the charts good, with a melee of immaculately produced instrumentation and lyrics that feel like he’s off loading a life long story woven into an epic tale of biblical proportions.
The whole album has a feel of the 1950s to it. In my minds eye I see Tommy gun touting suits tapping their shiny, two tone shoes along to each number in a room filled with cigar smoke.
There isn’t a bad, or even, nearly bad number on this album.
I’m fortunate enough to be able to shoot his show at The Brudenell in Leeds on 30th May. If you’ve read this far, I’m pretty sure you don’t need me to tell you I can’t wait!!
Definitely, definitely one to listen to.
Links:
erasure
Cowboys (rerelease) - Mute records
Reviewed by Stuart Clarkson
Album released - 31st May 24
When Andy Bell answered an advert placed by Vince Clarke in a 1985 edition of Melody Maker who could have predicted the set of events that would follow.
However here we are almost 40 years,18 albums and upwards of 25 million sales later.
During that time the duo have become a by word for infectious, feel good , dancey electro pop.
Their eighth studio album , 1997’s Cowboy is about to become the latest in an ongoing series of overdue CD re-issues.
The album reached the top ten on its original release and it’s now been treated to an expanded 2CD hardback book edition. Disc 1 contains a new 2024 remaster of the original album whilst Disc 2 holds a collection of B sides ,demos, classic re-mixes and live tracks from The Tiny Tour.
The deluxe package is completed by a hardback book 28 page booklet containing sleeve notes by Matt Smith at Electronic Sound.
The albums 3 singles, Rain, Into My Arms and Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me are all examples of finely crafted classic pop with the latter being the pick of the bunch. It’s a genuine uplifting, life affirming pop anthem which remains a gem despite the passage of time.
Other tracks such as Treasure and Worlds On Fire ensure that the quality count is maintained with melodic pop vibes and catchy choruses.
Disc 2 reveals several hidden treasure and a highlight is the acoustic version of Into My Arms which reveals the true beauty of the song.
Two Blondie cover versions seem natural territory for the boys and the live version of Heart of Glass brings the album to a triumphant close. An extended version of Rapture is good but confirms , much as the original did that rapping isn’t for everyone.
Elsewhere 5 previously unreleased versions of songs will be of interest to completists.
In summary, there’s plenty in this release to attract existing Erasure devotees especially given the previously unreleased tracks. as well as newer fans seeking a high energy pop fix from a couple of its finest purveyors.
Links:
richard hawley
In This Town They Call You Love - BMG
Reviewed by Mo Longfellow
Album released 31st May 24
Richard Hawley’s new album ‘In This City They Call You Love’ is such a lovely album, it meanders along with beautiful lyrics and Hawley’s usual warm, rich vocals. He really is a remarkable artist whose music always seems to keep you captivated and in the moment. With his soulful voice and stunning guitar sound,
Hawley has created an album that is both melancholic and uplifting, introspective and hopeful.
Each track on the album tells a story, weaving together melodies and poignant lyrics that linger in your mind even when the album has finished. He has a distinctive sound, reminiscent of the classic crooners of the past but with a modern twist, it’s both familiar and fresh and I’m loving it.
As ever with Hawley's music it is emotive and captivating, drawing you in with each note of each number.
Overall, this album is a triumph of artistry and emotion. It is a timeless collection of songs that will undoubtedly stand the test of time as is always the case with his music.
Another one to add to the must by vinyl list!
Links:
john cale
Poptical Illusion - Double Six/Domino
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 14th June 24
When John Cale was unceremoniously given the order of the boot from the Velvet Underground, having washed their hands of his more experimental tendencies seemingly in favour of delivering the deliberate attempt at radio airplay that was Loaded, attempting to veer into Abbey Road- period Beatles territory, Who Loves The Sun perhaps a bleaker cousin of Here Comes The...., the Welsh wizard could have simply washed his hands of it & carried on crafting works which skirted around the fringes of accessibility to kick off his solo career.
Until around 2012 it seemed that was exactly what he would do- until a few Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood saw him find a little hip- hop & incorporate its beats alongside a smattering of everything he'd thrown at his previous works, a move which has carried on across MFANS, his reimagining of 1982's Music For A New Society & last year's Mercy with collaborators ranging from two- fourths of Animal Collective ( Avey Tare & Panda Bear) to Weyes Blood, & its the likes of Story Of Blood from that record which seem to inform much of what goes down here alongside a little J- funk, to shamelessly borrow from Dr Dre's lexicon, though where that relied on samples, Cale relies on his own ear to the ground to make the beats work for him.
Its first two singles- How We See The Light & Shark- Shark- prove, at least, that he's not lost the intensity of the likes of Fear but merely tempered it to suit his latest sonic playground, having toyed since his Velvets days with the possibilities of dissonance, Poptical Illusion suggesting another cult success deep within the bowels of Nookie Wood, straight outta Garnant.
Links:
focus
Focus 12 - Cherry Red Records
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 5th July 24
Can you ever truly outgrow a hit as niche as Hocus Pocus?
And perhaps equally worthy a question is when do you stop trying?
Either way those who know Focus only through their one big radio hit risk missing out on a late- blooming resurgence under the auspices of Dave Brock's nearest Dutch equivalent in Thijs Van Leer, sole remaining member of the line up which put yodelling on the map in what must even now rank as at least one of the biggest surprise moves even for a genre so outwardly ambitious as prog!
And should you give this a go, you'll find plenty of the get up & go which inspired their recent Refocused project.
Having another stab at some of their earlier stuff in a similar fashion to Hawkwind's Road To Utopia, which carried on their own resurgence since switching to Cherry Red Records. A worthy sequel then to Focus 11, the first run-out for the latest line up to take a punt on restoring one of Holland's best kept cult secrets alongside Shocking Blue.
We can only hope this moves them out from under the radar.
been stellar
Scream From New York - Dirty Hit Records
Reviewed by Neil Milner
Album released 21st June 24
All the ingredients are there for this to be a classic debut. Their name, location, album title and album cover. And yet, it doesn't quite cut the mustard for me.
It’s a competent and well-delivered record. They’ve arrived fully formed and are technically excellent. But it’s a record that could have been released at any point over the last 30 years of so.
The album could easily be called ‘Now that’s what I call alternative rock 1990-2020’. There are things in this record to love and admire. I hear Ride and Radiohead. I definitely hear Interpol on title track ‘Scream from New York, NY’, and ‘Simmer’. But we have an Interpol. I wanted to hear Been Stellar, but I’m struggling to understand who they are on this record.
But make no mistake, they are musically dextrous and brilliant with a tight, spot-on rhythm section. The arrangements are solid, and songs well crafted. It’s clear they have enormous potential. They need to be bolder and take risks with their art and sound.
Opening track ‘Start Again’ sounds like it could have been made by New Model Army. ‘Passing Judgement’, is watered down Janes Addiction. ‘Sweet’ has the strong shoegazing vibe of earlyish Ride and is a great song. Shimmer has echoes of Radiohead and borrows Tom Yorke’s vocal arrangement style. ‘I have the answer closes the record, which I initially thought was Cigarettes After Sex after the shoegazing intro ended.
‘Can’t look away’, is an example of the kind of daring they should aspire to. It’s an adrenaline rush and takes no prisoners. It stands out on this record and is more of a Sonic Youth template approach to rock, which they should aspire to, but in their own way.
There’s a lot to love and admire on this record, but also frown at and reproach exclaiming, ‘Seriously’! If they were a football team, I would say they are presently a good, solid Championship side with strong potential to reach the Premier League.
But a short period of time slugging it out with the likes of Millwall and Preston North End, (no disrespect), may help their development, but only if they remember the prize is to reach the promised land.
Track listing:
- Start Again
- Passing Judgement
- Pumpkin
- Scream From New York, NY
- Sweet
- Can’t Look Away
- Shimmer
- Takedown
- All In One
- I Have the Answer
rifles
Love Your Neighbour
Reviewed by Levi Tubman
Album released 5th July 24
Essex indie band The Rifles are back with their highly anticipated 6th album. Spending the past 2 decades growing in the UK music scene with increasing popularity and sales its set to be their biggest yet.
Opening track, The Kids Wont Stop, starts relaxed with bird song giving way to laid back pop rock, briefly easing you in to the record before the pace and volume picks up, with lyrics like “A million and one different bills to pay” singing of the weather and the world spinning on, the patches of frantic paced music working well to help emphasise the almost hurried exasperation of the lyrics.
Mr Sunflower is as upbeat and happy as the title sounds, guitars working around a slow ska upstroke, drifting into sections verging on flower pop repeatedly singing Love love love your neighbour, the lyrics are full of friendly sharing themes, love your neighbours, take them a sunflower and make friends and make people smile.
This happy energy carries on with Out For The Weekend, but dialled up a notch or two, with running baselines and drum breaks, it’s a more party anthem celebrating the break for the working week, being happy, free and forgetting your name. With the energy and feel of a weekend celebration, they’ve teamed up with Signature Brew to bring you their own lager also called Out For The Weekend for you to enjoy with the record on the weekend.
In the middle of the record, Fall Apart shifts the mood completely, fuller more complex musically, it’s a slower melancholy number, they do happy go lucky fun so well, this switch in the theme of the album shows their skills as song writers and musicians, able to produce longer slower ballads layering vocals instead of instruments.
Money Go Round is an Indie hit straight out of the 90’s, with organ, staccato guitar and running bass, light on the lyrics, with the line Money Go Round taking up 90% of the words, its more of an instrumental track that’s had a few words added to it to fill it out, by no means a criticism its simple but works so well it rises up high on the album.
Ending the album, Starting Monday, is a long reflective slow burn, singing My Minds Out Of Shape, Its Taken Its Toll, it does build up to the pace we’ve come to expect and a more positive outlook, with lyrics like Im Turning My Life around, but not long before bringing everything back down again, undulating between the two styles throughout it leaves you feeling upbeat and positive and ready to start your Monday.
While it's an often overused word, the album is catchy, they have little hooks throughout that get your feet moving, with riffs and songs that work into your head. You can hear the Rifles sound across all the tracks, but it feels a touch more grown up and refined.
It's clearly an album by a band who haven’t lost who they are, and instead grown and matured their style and sound, managing to keep to their roots while still giving us something new, and what could be their best album to date.
honey joy
III - Everything Sucks Music
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 5th July 24
A dose of snotty social realism awaits should you dip into III, Honey Joy somehow managing to come across as the unlikely love children of X- Ray Spex, the Slits & Wire, all mostly in under three minutes.
Final song Thursdays at 8pm is perhaps the most withering of the attacks here, the futility of clapping for carers in a world which seemingly either can't or won't afford the unsung heroes the respect they deserve rightly drawing ire.
Prior to that it seems the focus is inward, Language concerned with being unable to put feelings into words, Live 100 % probably the highlight with its message of life minus compromise amidst a nagging sense of doubt.
Are You Still Having Fun? the most insistent harbinger of it as at times almost sickly sweet tunes hide considerably more grown- up lyrics, a theme kicked off with Ready Now to open things up, the head- on collision of Pink Flag, Germfree Adolescents & Cut surely more than enough to draw in the curious.
millie manders and the shutup
Wake up, Shut Up, Work
Reviewed by Levi Tubman
Album released 2nd Aug 24
This is the eagerly awaited second album from Millie Sanders And The Shutup, but it feels like it could be their third or fourth, with how settled in as a band they sound and with how present they seem to be, its proof that great music, effort and energy can make it feel like you’ve been doing this for a couple of decades now.
The album opens in classic shut up style with a catchy upbeat guitar riff and vocals but it doesn’t take long before the whole band comes in with 100% the brass adding bright splashes and following the vocal line perfectly under “I Broke The World” with sections leaving you wondering how does she find time to breath, with running basslines under the constant driving drums and guitars, you get the whole Millie Manders experience in one song. I Hated life, I cried Inside, But On My Face I Wore A smile. Lyrically the song hits just as hard, looking back on her youth, and the sadness and anger may feel and some still do, it’s a very personal song from a singer who isn’t afraid to lay everything out bare, a theme the band carry throughout.
By far the heaviest track on the album is Me Too. Everything is played just that little harder, unlike their usual mix of happy music and serious words, the playful edge and ska is gone, tempered with a tone more in line with the lyrics. Taking its name from the Me Too movement, it draws heavily on women often getting the blame with lines like “You Blame The Girl For Being Weak” and “It Doesn’t Matter What We Wear” it really holds no punches, attacking the system for how it fails to work and needs to change, just how hard it is to say something when it puts the spotlight on you the victim, “Stands in front of the judge her knickers on display” and how the women in question feel like they are the ones on trial. This is without doubt the best song on the album, the words really get into you and take hold, with some beautiful vocal and bass work, but it feels almost wrong to enjoy a song about such a serious matter. That’s the key, serious matter, and if this catchy song helps get the message out there then that’s what matters.
Fun Sponge, we all know one, that mood hoover that even without trying manages to draw all fun and atmosphere out of every place they are! I can’t imagine there’s a Fun Sponge big enough to take on this band, but the lyrics say otherwise, there’s someone out there that’s managed to bring them down, and you have to love a band that’s tackled it with the most fun song on the album. Oh and you’ll learn some wonderful new names for these lovely people in our lives.
Halloween, that track you often find in the second half of the album, where everything steps back a little, guitars if not acoustic are quieter and refrained, with the vocal taking centre stage, yes, the ballad. I think Millie has an often underrated voice, here it’s so up front, that even when the band picks up its still the most prominent part, hitting some wonderful driving notes that might otherwise not work in their more punk numbers, I never knew just how big her range was until hearing this. It’s a little sad and reflective, singing “Autumn feels so much colder now I don’t get to hear your laugh” but its sang in such a beautiful way it’s a standout track with a huge up-tempo string filed outro, showing just how creative a band they are.
Threadbare features focuses on their personal experience with the cost of living crisis. With mainly spoken vocals, it echo’s the voice of many, singing about “One More Year Of Trying” and “There’s A Certain Kind Of Tummy Ache That Comes From Money Problems” and how the clothes, like the songs title, are Threadbare. While it’s an all too common story in recent years, its made to feel more personal, this is just one voice among many, but with a saxophone echoing the vocal melody, it’s a voice with a lot of backing
There are bands where you have angry distorted music mixed with caustic vocals screaming down the mic, and on the other end bubble gum happy pop music with lyrics about rainbows and sunshine, with everything in between, and then you get Millie Manders. Now they’re not the first band to mix serious and at times angry lyrics to the backdrop of upbeat carefree music, but they do it well, it’s an artform in their hands. It’s hard to get a hammer blow without a hammer, but here it is. With the exception of one line the vocals are never forced and to the extreme, instead the words do the heavy lifting here for you, and the ska tinged pop punk helps smooth the way for them, it really is a spoon full of sugar helping the medicine go down.
It feels dirty to employ an overused cliché talking about such well written songs, but I don’t have their skills!
And all along you have this fun energetic pop ska punk sound with some of the catchiest riffs I’ve heard in a long time. This is not just a fantastic record, it’s an important one, they write what they know, unfortunately they and the world don’t always know joy, hopefully this helps change the narrative.
beabadoobee
This Is How Tomorrow Moves via Dirty Hit
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 9th Aug 24
For an album about tomorrow, Beabedoobee's latest feels winningly steeped in the past- file alongside the likes of TLC & All Saints, particularly Real Man, perhaps a reflection that James Brown's contention that its a man's world hasn't changed all that much & therefore music like this still has a place in an only nominally more progressive space....
Tie My Shoes is another winsome rumination on similar, a more mature take on the sort of girl power which formed the backbone of the Spice Girls' Nineties gospel before Girl Song strips things back both musically & figuratively at the piano, a sort of Your Song for today's overworked & overstressed professional member of the fairer sex, universal sentiment put across in deceptively simple fashion.
In light of which the following Coming Home feels like a dream sequence, addressed to a partner whether real or imagined yet still completely relatable, a sort of Motown of the mundane ( see also the likes of Sorry Again, Mate from Field Music's Plumb, the everyday gone widescreen).
In a similar vein, the second half of proceedings feels similarly addressed to either a disappointing reality or a dream which sounded good in theory, Taylor Swift- ish levels of ambiguity across all from Everseen- This Is How It Went to close things off with shades of 1989, though wisely underplayed & nicely understated in stark contrast to that juggernaut of unashamed pop perfection for the sisterhood, who might find plenty to like here....
Body meat
StarChris - Partisan Records
Reviewed by Levi Tubman
Album released 23rd Aug 24
Body Meat is the shapeshifting musical project of producer Chris Taylorm, with this his debut album being described as “weaves a narrative akin to a hero's journey” so with that I have no idea what to expect.
Opening up with A Tone In The Dark, it is dark, its low moody and feels like the room should be shaking, but then it glides up, it’s like you’ve gone up through a rain storm and bursts out above the clouds into the sunlight, and it’s all so calm. There’s a smooth string lead weaving throughout the wide soft almost dreamlike atmosphere created by everything underneath, its only 2:50 long but its breathtakingly beautiful, and I didn’t quite get everything in the first listen.
Following that up is The Mad Hatter, and I hit a wall. The vocals are intentionally highly processed, with over the top of an electronic track, which is catchy and bounces about, but the vocals spoil it for me unfortunately, it’s a personal taste but I had to turn it off which is a shame because the music is so interesting.
High Beams brings in an industrial element that’s worked so well, the whole track feels full of life and energy, its home would be a club in an old warehouse, it’s very much its own animal, but again the processed vocals stop it for me.
The hero’s journey narrative does come through in the record, a lot of the sounds and music makes you feel you’re in a computer game traversing levels, with the calmer sparse Northside coming across like a retro platform or adventure game, and with a lot of the album really uses the stereo field well, with sounds either bouncing left to right or having a musical call and response from the left and right.
Musical this album has so much going on, you won’t hear everything the first time round, and you’ll hear it differently on headphones and speakers. The writing and production is complex, and its done well, it would be so easy to have all the sounds and instrumentation sound messy and unintelligible, but it’s been handled with expert hands.
The vocal processing on the other hand is such a hard no from me, it made parts hard to listen to and I found myself skipping parts or stopping for a while before coming back to it. I know I’m not the target audience for this album, and the vocals are a taste that simply isn’t mine.
Taking that away though its musically captivating and intriguing with some really exceptional parts, at times akin to Aphex Twin, While this isn’t for me I can appreciate it for what it is, and it’s had me listening to more electronic music recently that I usually would.
andrew combs
Dream Pictures - Via Loosose
Reviewed by Stuart Condie
Album released 23rd Aug 24
Since releasing his first EP in 2010, Dallas-born singer / songwriter Andrew Combs has kept up a steady output with studio albums appearing in 2012 (Worried Man), 2015 (All These Dreams), 2017 (Canyons of My Mind), 2019 (Ideal Man) and 2022 (Sundays) before this new album, Dream Pictures in 2024. If six albums over 14 years feels like a relaxed pace, that sits well with the overall feel of Dream Pictures. This is definitely not for adrenaline junkies and you’ll never use it to get the party started, but it most certainly could fit an after-party wind down and relax kind of vibe. It has all the feel of things that could be on your mind at the end of a day. Moments of tension, and there are some, aren’t created by clashing instrumentation or sudden juxtapositions but by lyrical subtleties instead.
Musically we’re in country territory with familiar, but not cliched, passages of pedal-steel guitar and an almost total absence of anything which could be called a riff. The drumming is consistently understated; something to keep time by and punctuate rather than set the pulse racing or get the feet tapping. Tempos are generally relaxed and the arrangements are supportive without intruding. None of these songs outstays their welcome with extended play outs or endless repetitions of a chorus through to fade out. These songs say what they need to say and then stop.
If any of that sounds negative, it’s not meant to be. There are songs here which are destined to be someone’s favourite way to end a hectic day, someone’s comfort in a bad break up, someone’s go to for a slow dance (with someone else, I hope) and someone’s justification for one more glass of wine before calling it a night.
Appropriately enough, it’s with wine that we kick things off. Fly in My Wine is the outlier in this set. A gentle piano figure cuts through some almost intelligible cocktail bar chatter until the mood changes with the droning buzz of the titular fly. In isolation, I had no idea what to make of this and couldn’t really reach for comparators (although Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast from Atom Heart Mother and its sounds of frying bacon is in the same neck of the woods). Listening to the whole album through though, I’m persuaded that this might tie in with the later Table for Blue which also references “expensive wine”. If this is the artist deliberately puncturing the overall (fairly) serious tone of the album, he should be applauded. A slightly more cynical view would see this as a reminder that even when things are going well, there’s always something to take the shine off, but I think that’s out of tune with the overall feel. (Spoiler; no insects were harmed in the making of this album.)
The first proper song Eventide is a better mark of the album as a whole. I’m taking this and its easy pace as a gentle celebration of trust and friendship and having someone who is “my back against the wall”. Musically the bubbling synth figure which emerges towards the end of the song was initially unsettling, but it makes sense if you run this song straight into the next one, Point Across. The synth drops away leaving a chorus over simple but insistent piano chords before the album’s first proper involvement of pedal steel guitar. If there’s a message to be found in this I’d guess it’s about making the most of the time we have to say what we mean.
Although I’m generally distrustful of songs featuring too much in the way of “La La La”, Heavy the Heart uses the device as the first stage in something which gradually and subtly builds through impressive vocal harmonies and a shuffle beat. Overall the mood, as with much of this album, is one of unhurried reflection. Of all the songs in this set, Mary Gold is probably the one most directly addressed to someone specific. The extended references to flowers and to the colour gold are clever. The relationship with the addressee is ambiguous, “If you’re looking for a friend, Put your hand in mine and I’ll take you dancing” isn’t exactly a declaration of undying love; maybe admiration is nearer the mark. Great pedal steel solo on this one.
I found Your Eyes and Me positively creepy after a few plays and I don’t really want to dwell on the back story that’s hinted at. The tone is one of regret for a love gone wrong (for whatever reason) and an acknowledgement of “your melancholy like a curtain in between your eyes and mine” which gets in the way of attempts to “remember the good we had before the bad”. Melancholy and the tendency for it to intrude on memory are also a feature of Genuine and Pure. If the whole song tends to the rose-tinted, there are smart little lyrical stabs such as describing “sorrow like a foreign tongue I never knew”. Big washes of pedal steel sit behind and help to colour all this reverie.
I’m Fine is my favourite song from the album. It captures the bitterness, the contradictions and the “what ifs” of a break up quite beautifully. The verses set up just how badly our protagonist is feeling (“punching the wall”) before the chorus dismisses and underplays it all. “Time keeps moving but it’s moving too slow” and a private recognition of things unravelling are in sharp and bitter contrast to the public statement, “I’m fine, Couldn’t be Better, I’m Fine. Yes I’m fine, You hardly ever cross my mind”. In fact, it’s all he’s thinking about. Combs’ vocals are at their most exposed and vulnerable here perfectly matching the mood.
If all the songs here are very personal, Table for Blue feels like the one which most obviously features characters. The song is written from the perspective of a waiter observing and fantasising over a female diner he clearly doesn’t know. She has “sad eyes, expensive wine” while he has “dirty dishes” to keep him busy. It’s a song about a sort of longing for what he knows to be unattainable and a fantasy but is potent enough for him to be writing a song for her. I think it’s smart that this song doesn’t linger long enough to raise concerns that the observation or longing becomes unhealthy. To Love changes the musical mood. There is an insistent beat; are we dancing? Well, no. The tone remains dreamy with echoey vocals and a pondering of the cosmic mystery of how “to love and to be loved”. There’s an almost rocky distorted but ultimately controlled guitar solo and some faraway vocals to end the song.
In some ways The Sea in Me is a companion piece to I’m Fine. It’s another break up or impending break up situation but this time from the other side. The sea represents constant motion, restlessness and the inevitability that things will have to move on whether he wants it or not. The album rounds off with the title track Dream Pictures which again plays with memory or snatches of memory through clever use of the past tense and contrasts. I particularly like, “She’s a mountain and I am just a pebble in the sea” as an image. There is no wallowing or self-pity in all of this and again there is a sense of inevitability.
This album won’t set a fire under you and won’t have you storming any barricades, but it might prompt some reflection and a bit of recognition of times when things didn’t go quite as you imagined or hoped they would. It may even prompt you to indulge in some nostalgia or reverie of your own. Musically it’s a comforting experience and Combs never gives the impression of being anything other than in complete control even when reaching into the falsetto range. I’m confident he could cut loose if he wanted to but here he gives absolute priority to some clever, confident lyricism and there’s a comfort to recognising and identifying so much of what he describes.
1. Fly in My Wine 1.31
2. Eventide 3.31
3. Point Across 3.07
4. Heavy the Heart 3.20
5. Mary Gold 3.43
6. Your Eyes and Me 3.12
7. Genuine and Pure 3.43
8. I’m Fine 4.14
9. Table for Blue 3.41
10. To Love 3.27
11. The Sea in Me 4.44
12. Dream Pictures 2.59
sam palladio
The Perfect Summers Day
Reviewed by And Bridges
Album released 13th Sept 24
A lot of you will be unfamiliar with the name Sam Palladio unless you enjoy your television programmes with a musical bent. Having played Joe Strummer (twice) of all people, this British actor then landed the role of Gunnar Scott in the American tv series Nashville in which he appeared for 122 episodes. So, what do you do when that comes to an end? You return to your first love, music, especially if you are a multi-instrumentalist. This album is the result.
For a debut album that was effectively started in 2018 and has been six years in the making you would expect it to be good and you would be right. Across the 11 songs there is a level of musicianship and songwriting that is outstanding (not all down to Sam, more on that later).
As a Brit growing up with Britpop and Indie music then having success in America in a Country/Americana setting, means that across the offering there are a myriad of styles that shouldn’t work but are held together by Sam’s voice. It isn’t the strongest however it is very warm and listenable.
Opening cut, Meanwhile In London, is a mid-Atlantic rocker, a deliberate statement of intent about his experience of being a British guy who spent a long period in the States and fell in love with a American girl. He also opens his live sets with the song. Tennessee starts with some big chart alone “woo woos” and is again an up-tempo number with some tasteful additional guitar licks supplied by none other than the Foo Fighters Chris Shiflett.
Something On My Mind, is a softer tune as befitting for a tribute to his mother who passed away whilst making the album. Piano and horns come to the fore to drive this number. Sam says of the song, "I wanted to dedicate the album to mum and took the chorus lyric, “there’s something on my mind, it haunts me every night, the perfect summer's day, before we lost the light”, to create the title. It symbolises mum being the light of our lives, and the darkness once it fades.
Spill Your Heart, features (and was co-written with) Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro fame. Another softer tune. The title SMF doesn’t really prepare you for the chorus, although neither does the musical make up of the song. Angelic backing vocals over synth and keys. Give way to “Oh, she’s a Super Mother Fucker”.
B.O.A.T. is the point on the album where Sam reveals his Indie influences, it has a different energy and yet it doesn’t seem out of place, nestling as it does in amongst the rest of the album.
Sam isn’t the only Palladio on the album, his grandfather provides the opening words on the closing track, Wake Me Up In Nashville, which nicely completes the circle.
The album was created in Nashville, and the UK. It was finished in Los Angeles, in the legendary Sunset Sound studios. Dave Sardy (Noel Gallagher, Royal Blood) worked on production, and called in some musician friends. Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, David Bowie) replaced Sam’s own drum work, while ex-Jellyfish man Jason Faulkner (St Vincent, Beck) came in and “replayed a load of guitars, and put in some beautiful organs and keys”. So, this little bit of California stardust was sprinkled throughout.”
tom meighan
Roadrunner - Blue Rocket Records
Reviewed by And Bridges
Album released 4th Oct 24
Roadrunner the second full length offering from Tom Meighan kicks off with Use It Or Lose It. This is an unashamedly in-your-face rocker. A short sharp blast of feedback and we’re off. Certainly, there are elements of his old band but this is less dancey and more angry. As opening numbers go, he’s thrown everything at it to get your attention. Tribal drumming, a cracking guitar riff and thumping bass. Lyrics that wouldn’t be out of place on a Zodiac Mindwarp album “I’ve got a neon pulse/I’ve got a rattlesnake fever/I caught a lightning bolt/ Too many times, too many times”. It good to see the oblique (possibly) drug references are still in place, “Did you take too much?/Did you take to little?”. Lead single White Lies brings the tempo down and in truth is a bit overshadowed by the preceding track being so strong.
That said when I first heard it as a single release, I thought it was catchy.
From here on in the tracks start sounding very much like Kasabian, proving to those of us that thought Serge was the driving force that that wasn’t necessarily the case. The band he has surrounded himself with, keyboardist/guitarist Briann Infadel, bassist Ele Lucas, lead guitarist Chris Haddon, guitarist Brodie Maguire and drummer Gareth Young, doing a great approximation of Tom’s past musical colleagues as well as stamping some of their own identity on the tunes. We Can Do It, track four has the Reverb on the vocals and the single guitar string motif, this is familiar territory. There are plenty of terrace chant backing vocals spread across the songs and should keep the audiences happy in the live arena. High On You Gospel is a love song, though whether it’s to a person or something less tangible only Tom knows. If you wanted to hear these songs against some of the old K******n classics, you’re in luck he sets off on a 13-date UK tour this autumn, before playing a homecoming gig in December.
There are a few exceptions to this statement, Better Life being one of them, this is Tom at his most reflective: “And you only know what you have lost the moment you see it slip away/And you only know what you have got when you’re losing it in every way”. It could easily be addressing the situation Tom found himself in.
The album finishes with Would You Mind, this was the very first song that Tom released as a solo artiste as a free download on his website. Underscored by a Beatlesque keyboard part, it’s a holding the one you love moment and is on the album because there were repeated requests for it to be on the next album. It deals with asking for help when you need it the most but can't find the courage to ask.
We’re all familiar with Tom’s fall from grace. This is a cracking album however, whether you buy it is, I guess, a matter of whether you can forgive a man and allow him a shot at redemption.
kaeto
Intro - Polydor Records
Reviewed by Dave Flerin
Album released 20th Sept 24
“Intro” is described as a mixtape by London-based artist, Kaeto, who’s been getting some all-important live exposure with recent support slots across the UK for the likes of Bleachers, HAIM, and The Last Dinner Party.
Kaeto nails her dreamy colours to the mast straightaway, with breathy vocals and sweet melodies which run right through this record like the words in a stick of rock. “Kiss Me” sees those same vocals joined by a gorgeously silky synth which arpeggiates throughout it’s all-too-short life; and like The Nolans, it’s got me in the mood for dancing.
It’s taut, hypnotic, and probably the best song here. “Distance” teasingly reveals itself, giving off the lightest whiffs of trip hop and is the sort of music which is perfect for soundtracking an evening by yourself. The quality still holds up on “Alma”, where everything is coated in a hazy sheen of reverb, but stops short of full-on dreampop vibes.
Sadly, the back end of “Intro” slightly unravels, and Kaeto can’t quite hold the bar up all the way through to the end. The last three songs are nondescript but not unpleasant, and inoffensive to the ears. Closing track “YOMM” (You’re On My Mind) is light, synthy dance-pop and the one you know she’s singing to a massive festival crowd in her dreams. It then ends abruptly, and I’m left slightly wishing she’d bared her soul in a last big parting kiss of a song on this record; but I’m left looking silly, stood here with my lips all a-pucker in anticipation, but ultimately unrequited.
Lack of a big finish aside, the production is great and there is some really good work in this release. But, you do wonder whether it’s enough to make folk become sit-up-and-beg devotees. I’m not so sure it is, but I’d love to be proved wrong. I’d like to hear what this record would sound like with a bit more sandpaper rubbed into its whole creative process.
It’s maybe lacking a bit of rawness/evil/x-factor, call it what you will; but that magic ingredient which would really lift it up above the crowd. She still deserves to be heard though, and there’s enough promise shown here to make you hope she gets the commercial breakthrough she deserves.
Blossoms
Gary - SK Recordings
Reviewed by Liam McEvoy
Album released 20th Sept 24
Blossoms return with their fifth studio album Gary.
A brilliant album that shows the band at their very best with punchy synths and an undeniable groove that in classic Blossoms fashion makes you want to dance.
The album opens with ‘Big Star’ with its driving guitars, other worldly synths and echoing vocals this starts the album with a real groove that carries through the entirety of the album.
Title track Gary again has a brilliant feel that will make anyone listening want to dance. But the track also displays Blossoms incredible ability to tell a story. The band weave a rich tapestry telling a tale about of all things an 8-foot-tall fibre glass gorilla stolen from a garden centre.
Story telling is something that Blossoms have always excelled at and this album is no exception.’ Nightclub’ tells the story of the struggles 5 friends can have trying to get into a night club whilst ‘Mothers’ tells a tale of familial ties.
Blossoms have a big year coming up. With a UK headline tour in October and November 2024 and then supporting Oasis on what will undoubtedly be a massive uk tour Their fifth studio album Gary kicks the year off in supreme style and is an album that shows the band at their very best.
Track List:
1. Big Star
2. What Can I Say After I'm Sorry?
3. Gary
4. I Like Your Look
5. Nightclub
6. Perfect Me
7. Mothers
8. Cinnamon
9. Slow Down
10. Why Do I Give You The Worst Of Me?
brand new heavies
Brother Sister - London Records
Reviewed by John McEvoy
Album released 27th Sept 24
When you mention ‘Acid Jazz’ as a genre, the majority of people will of course immediately think of Jamiroquai and Jay Kay pirouetting around moving furniture.
However, dig a little deeper and those of you with an interest in this music have over the years found a treasure trove of bands who’ve been delivering some great tunes over the years.
‘Corduroy’, ‘Incognito’ and the mighty ‘James Taylor Quartet' are some of finest exponents of this type of music, and then of course there is the Brand New Heavies, who’ve been doing the business now for almost 40 years. Whilst there have been a few lineup changes, especially on lead vocals, founder members Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy are still very much present to this very day.
It's been a while since their last new release (TBNH) from 2019 and following on with the current vogue of releasing anniversary editions of albums, they have followed suit with the 30 year anniversary re-release edition of their 3 album ‘Brother Sister’ released on London Records
The good news is that this has been completely remastered and given a fresh new feel and includes some additional tracks not included in the original release.
I was given the 2 cd version to review and from the opening bars of ‘Have A Good Time’, it’s clear that the passing of time doesn’t diminish a great tune, and it was genuine pleasure to re-visit this album.
Now personally I do love a remix and I’m delighted to say that the 2nd CD was precisely that. Loads of dance remixes as well as a couple of demos thrown in for good measure.
Special mention needs to be given to the T-Empo 24 Club mix which is simply sublime, especially with its L’il Louis ‘French Kiss’ feel throughout. If ever you want a party to liven up, this really is the track that you need to play!
Album closer ‘”Back To Love’ (Luke Mornay’s Homecoming Mix) is also an outstanding rework of a club classic, which was cited as one of Mike Tysons favourite tracks, and who’s gonna argue with him.
In summary, is there enough for die hard BNH followers to go out and buy this anniversary edition? For me it’s an emphatic yes, and the remix CD2 is simply a reminder of just how good this band were, and indeed still are.
On the flip side, if you’ve never heard of the BNH, then this release could be the perfect introduction to them.
Go on, try it for yourself…
Track list:
CD1 / 2LP
- ‘Have A Good Time’
- ‘Brother Sister’
- ‘Dream On Dreamer’
- ‘Midnight At The Oasis’
- ‘Back To Love’
- ‘Ten Tone Take’
- ‘Mind Trips’
- ‘Spend Some Time’
- ‘Keep Together’
- ‘Snake Hips’
- ‘Fake’
- ‘People Giving Love’
- ‘World Keeps Spinning’
- ‘Forever’
- ‘Day Break’
- ‘Los Burritos’
- ‘Baby Don’t Use Me’
- ‘Touch of Your Love’
CD2
- ‘Pocket Full of Bass (Help Me)’ (Demo)
- ‘Put Yourself In My Shoes’ (Demo)
- ‘Brother Sister’ (Stone One Vocal Remix)
- ‘Dream On Dreamer’ (Extended Morales UK Version)
- ‘Back To Love’ (Much Love Mix featuring Bahamadia)
- ‘Mind Trips’ (SuperStar Remix)
- ‘Forever’ (Mellow Mix)
- ‘Midnight at the Oasis’ (Roger’s Brand New Anthem)
- ‘Spend Some Time’ (Bobby D’Ambrosio Remix)
- ‘World Keeps Spinning’ (Spen-N-Jo’s World Mix)
- ‘Dream On Dreamer’ (T-Empo Club Mix)
- ‘Back To Love’ (Luke Mornay’s Homecoming Mix)
blitz vega
Northern Gentleman
Reviewed by Stuart Condie
Album released 27th Sept 24
The first thing I want to say about this album is that I really got it from the first play. I’ve played it many times since and fully expect to have it on rotation for some time to come. The Smiths albums formed a good chunk of the soundtrack of my student years and, of course, Morrissey took the limelight, but for me it was always the bass and guitar that made those albums stand out. Johnny Marr is rightly celebrated but I never felt that Andy Rourke got the recognition he deserved. There was a fantastic crispness and rhythmic discipline to his bass sound – go listen to The Headmaster Ritual or Rusholme Ruffians to hear what I mean.
If his post-breakup career saw him popping up to record with a variety of people from Morrissey to Sinead O’Connor, the Pretenders to Ian Brown, his own band ventures tended to be short-lived. From 2019 until his death in 2023 he worked with Kav Sandhu (ex-frontman of one of the reincarnations of Happy Mondays) as Blitz Vega. If there was any doubt that Rourke is the Northern Gentleman of the album’s title, it should be dispelled by the excellent and moodily lit cover portrait photo.
This album pulls together the previously released Blitz Vega material (except the first single “Hey Christo”) and new songs. It’s tempting to compare the songs from 2019 with the later recordings, if only to play the eternal rock’n’roll game of “what would have happened if X had lived…”, but that way madness lies. There’s a great deal of stylistic variety here and the album is all the stronger for it. You will undoubtedly hear shades of Happy Mondays, but in places it’s really quite heavy stuff. There are sprinklings of electronics and big sweeping strings. High Gravity is driven along over acoustic guitars and a mandolin. Rourke’s bass sound is thicker and more obviously rocky throughout but it still drives the action along without shoving anyone else out the way.
Disconnected gets us going with a gradual fade in before we hit a solid rock riff. The first verse sees the vocals riding atop a thick, overdriven bass sound (almost reminiscent of Jack Bruce in the days of Cream) before the whole band kicks back in. This is a catalogue of things that aren’t working, but if there are a lot of those creating dysfunction, “Post pandemic revolution, hosted by criminals, now they’re all digital, I never wanted to lose control”, there’s also a knowledge of what will solve the problem. “I wanna be feeling, I wanna be touching, I wanna be kissing, I want to spend my time with you.”
Strong Forever sees Johnny Marr sprinkle some of his guitar magic, commendably subtly, over the sort of ranting vocal Shaun Ryder would have found very appealing. “We got the love, we got the power, we’re in together, stay strong forever.” Just basically don’t let it all get you down. Hole in My Heart is the nearest thing to a straightforward love song in the set, “I got a hole in my heart for you and there’s nothing I can do until I see you again”. It’s not maudlin in the slightest. It’s more of a shuffle than an outright rock song and you might detect shades of George Harrison in the guitar and vocal style.
Big Nose is an instant classic. What better way to get your vitriol out there than through a singalong? Far be it from me to speculate on who the “crooked man” this is aimed at might be, but the post-Smiths acrimony, especially over money, is well known (There is also the really tempting inclination to think of “Bigmouth Strikes Again” from The Queen is Dead, but perhaps that’s too obvious.) So “I don’t want you to ever like me, I just want you to come and fight me, Spreading lies with your evil mind, Now it’s time admit your crimes” could be aimed at some imaginary target or someone quite specific…
Lost Myself is a bit of a puzzle. It bowls along at a decent pace but musically, it jars with the feelings of regret and helplessness in the lyrics. On numerous listens though I think I started to get it. There’s a whole verse with a single sustained string chord in the background and generally everything bar the chorus has a minor key feel to it before we sweep into an altogether cheerier chorus. But for all the melody and vocal harmonies, the words still aren’t exactly happy. “I lost myself in a moment of sadness, I lost myself in a moment of madness, I couldn’t help you, I couldn’t save you, take a step back, I’ll never forget you.”
Lost & Found gets going over a beat that hints at drum and bass and throws in some electronica before settling round a driven rhythm guitar figure. There’s a decent guitar solo in there too before the final repetition of the chorus, “Won’t let it take me apart”. Stirring stuff. High Gravity feels instantly familiar but I can’t really say why. The distorted guitar of the previous track gives way to an acoustic pattern and big swathes of strings. Not sure what to make of the line, “I drink my ale, Cos I’m a man, I ain’t no, up his own, guitar wanker”. When I think about it though, there’s a commendable general absence of ego and hogging the limelight on this album despite the previous profiles of those involved. Maybe that’s the point.
The pace picks up with Love City which is a real stomper. “Sun is out, got my best shades on, I like to dance when I’m all alone” and “Get my kicks from playing songs, Flying high, Get the good times on” tell you someone’s living their best life. I happen to think LA Vampire is probably the lyrically weakest track on the album although it was a previous single release. That said, it moves along at a fair old pace and the chorus is just as memorable as virtually every other track on here.
Pass The Gun feels like proper dance material, complete with a scratch intro and an insistent “Shall we do it again?” for a chorus. I think Rourke even grabs a Happy Mondays bassline for the bridge.
I don’t know if there are more Rourke recordings in the can waiting for release, but if not this is an excellent set to have put out there as a final tribute. Even in the last few days there have been stories in the media about whether a Smiths reunion could have happened. I can’t help feeling it would have been missing the key component in Andy Rourke. A Northern Gentleman indeed.
Track list:
1. Disconnected 4.33
2. Strong Forever (Featuring Johnny Marr) 2.57
3. Hole in My Heart 3.31
4. Big Nose 3.58
5. Lost Myself 3.52
6. Lost & Found 5.02
7. High Gravity 4.03
8. Love City 3.26
9. LA Vampire 4.26
10. Pass The Gun 4.03
pale waves
Smitten - via Dirty Hit
Reviewed by Neil Milner
Album released 27th Sept 24
Smitten, the fourth album from Manchester’s Pale Waves, is hook heavy earnest infectious alt-pop, which packs a punch and sounds ready for the surefire mainstream success that will inevitably follow.
Well, I wanted an opening to sound as explosive as the opening on this record. In these times, it’s hard to gauge what success is, but in bygone eras, this would have been a monster record. Big, brash radio friendly upbeat power pop. Uncomplicated with an instant appeal. An album strong on melody and full of crowd pleasers.
Its influences are obvious. Singer Heather Baron-Gracie openly states her main inspiration is Dolores O’Riordan, and both the Cranberries sound, and O’Riordan’s vocal style are evident. But I’m also hearing Jane Wielding, (the Go-Go’s), The Cure, The Corrs, and countless other 1980s-90s pop rock groups, vocalists, musical styles and arrangements. I even hear gothic shoegazing undertones which may make those bits of the record unique.
Most Pale Waves fans will love it, but I suspect their ambitions are broader. Maybe they can reel in those people who have a casual relationship with music. But getting them on board helps you get those big arena dates, even if they do spend half the gig watching cat and dog videos on You Tube, and a quarter talking. That still leaves a quarter of their time actually listening to what’s being performed! This record would be at home in those venues.
It’s lyrically darker than the music and is from a perspective of her younger self. Most of us find out our true self over time, and it’s not always a pretty journey. On the single Gravity, (which has echoes of Katy Perry), Baron-Gracie sings, “She’s pulling me like gravity everywhere she goes / Am I in too deep or out of my reach? Little does she know”, not for the first time suggesting relationships and religion having an emotional and tortuous ruck.
The slick contemporary clean production and quick pace of this record, along with punchy snare drums,means the lack of variation can sometimes jar and towards the end you may feel you want an aural rest and switch off. Well, I did.
Personally, it’s not my kind of thing, but I’ve been around long enough to know what type of alt-pop music works commercially and resonates with the public, especially with maturer audiences, and this should. I’d be surprised if it didn’t. But if the public don’t take to it in their masses, then hopefully film and television producers will come knocking on the door because it doesn’t deserve to be ignored.
Track listing:
- Glasgow
- Not a Love Song
- Gravity
- Thinking About You
- Perfume
- Last Train Home
- Kiss Me Again
- Miss America
- Hate to Hurt You
- Seeing Stars
- Imagination
- Slow
leif vollebekk
Revelation
Reviewed by James Fortune-Clubb
Album released 27th Sept 24
Leif Vollebekk - Canadian indie folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist of some repute, releases what will be his fifth solo album ‘Revelation’, out this week on Secret City Records.
Described as "both spiritual and down-to-earth" - Vollebekk offers us 11 self penned, self produced tracks supported by a small cast of esteemed musicians who've previously played with the likes of Dylan and Morrison etc.
So what 'Revelation' provides is a a suite of songs, similar in tone, both thematically and musically - all of which are sensitively delivered, against a subdued and melancholic backdrop encompassing sporadically cinematic strings. It's all undoubtedly very well presented, pitched, performed and produced, however...
Despite and inspite of the ever present emoting and core of sensitivity, there's really nothing new here and nothing to 'get your teeth into' as it were, the songs are mostly just mood creating, rather than songs per se. The opening song of the collection - 'Rock and Roll' being the strongest here.
'Revelation' adds up to a soporific and somnambulistic sleepwalk down the well trodden paths of the quieter sides of Dylan, Petty, Morrison and The Waterboys - and yes there's hints occasionally of Nick Drake, but the perhaps strived for beauty of Drake's sublime songs are sadly not to be found here.
So nothing dislikeable or objectionable here at all, just hugely derivative - not in itself necessarily a problem, but despite the high standards of musicianship and production throughout, there's sadly just nothing new or exciting on offer here.
Revelation includes the following tracks
Rock and Roll
Southern Star
Peace of Mind
Surfer's Journal
Moondog
False-Hearted Lover
Elijah Rose
Mississippi
Till I See You Again
Sunset Boulevard Expedition
Angel Child
