The third batch of 50th anniversary releases arrives in June, with Brother Where You Bound and Free As A Bird. In keeping with the previous releases in the series, both are 180g pressings and have been half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios.
During the tour for 1982’s Famous Last Words co-frontman Roger Hodgson decided to quit the band, leaving Rick Davies as the band’s sole songwriter. The following album, 1985’s Brother Where You Bound, was the group’s proggiest album in over a decade – see the pulsing ‘Better Days’ and the 16-minute title track, which features cameos from guitarists David Gilmour and Scott Gorham. Two years later, Free As A Bird marked another change of direction, with a shift towards…
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…Like Hoboken’s finest, Styrofoam Winos are content to operate within the underground. Rather than striving to break through to a mass audience, they’ve spent the 2020s pursuing their muse and cultivating a network of likeminded music geeks in their home base of Nashville and across the country. They’re in the music business, but also the business of community. It’s what they’ve been up to in the years since they graduated from Belmont University and began jamming after shifts together at the now-defunct J&J’s Market And Cafe.
…They’ve all logged time in the Roadhouse Band with Ryan Davis, one of the breakout stars of the indie world in recent years, who released the Winos’ self-titled debut on his stellar Sophomore Lounge label in 2021. Another big fan…
When Belgian singer-songwriter/multidisciplinary artist Camille Willemart, alias Camille Camille, sings over a fingerpicked acoustic guitar, you feel as if memories are holding onto you or you’re holding onto them. Inescapable either way. She’s an arresting folk artist — more than that, though, her songs are fey lullabies as if plucked from some forgotten century or land. Although seemingly innocuous and otherworldly, the tracks are weighed down by longing. Yearning pulls them from beneath like an anchor.
Yes, the encircling guitar strumming sounds as if Camille is retracing her thoughts or circling back around to a subject, an idea, a referent that lingers like a half-remembered dream. Indeed, it is a soporific-induced world in which…
There is an impressively austere quality to Alison Cotton’s music. Set within the self-imposed parameters of only using instrumentation that she owns, that policy initially saw her limited to viola, voice and Omnichord drone on her debut. In contrast, The Gods Laugh has an expanded palette that also includes harmonium, piano, hammer dulcimer, treble recorder, bowed cymbal and percussion while partner / producer Mark Nicholas contributes bass, drums and synths. Both in its sound and inspiration, her catalogue has a seriousness of intent. This was exemplified by her 2024 album, Engelchen, which translates as ‘little angels’ and was inspired by the lives of Ida and Louise Cook who used their travels through Nazi-occupied Europe to see their…
The Analog Africa label continues its obsession with the music of Peru with this retrospective of famed psychedelic cumbia pioneers Los Orientales De Paramonga. Named for their coastal town three hours north of Lima, the band emerged from the city’s vibrant music scene that was informed not only by cumbia, but also surf, rockabilly, and tropical grooves. The original group’s founders were guitarists Victor Ramírez and Maximiliano Chávez. They loved psychedelia and injected it into almost everything they played. Their sound shaped the musical identity of the region. Following early hit singles, internal tensions led to a split between the two principals resulting in two rival groups using the same name. Los Orientales De Paramonga 1972-1976 focuses exclusively…
How wonderful to see The Westerlies honouring Bill Frisell, not as a guitarist but as a writer. Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar’s contention that “Bill’s singular mastery of his instrument means he isn’t adequately considered as a composer” is astute, though to be clear it’s not that the quality of his writing isn’t appreciated but that the sound and style of his guitar playing has been so game-changing it tends to overshadow everything else. A quick scan of his many recordings reveals a wealth of classic compositions that carry his voice as distinctly as his playing. However, this set of Frisell material doesn’t draw from that voluminous archive; instead, eleven new pieces created (with one exception) during the pandemic were created by Bill and given to the group to…
The concept of virtuosity is often misunderstood as an outsized display of technique. In truth though, by definition and in reality, it’s about mastery. Such expertise is just as likely to be shown in measured command as it is to appear as fireworks, and this absorbing duo date is a firm reminder of that fact. Legendary bassist Ron Carter and eminent guitarist Yotam Silberstein each possess extraordinary skills and have the wisdom and experience to know when not to flaunt them. That balance between sparkle and spare elegance is what makes Duets such a delight to behold. Crafted in part as a tribute to the late Jim Hall and a nod to the Carter-Hall partnership — and recorded, by divine coincidence, on Hall’s birthday — this music, nevertheless, speaks to its own…
Roomful of Teeth has long pushed boundaries on what a choir can do, using their mouthes, tongues, and throats for more than simply singing or humming. Singer/songwriter/composer Gabriel Kahane consistently ignores the boundaries between pop, theater, and concert music – if it contains tunes and can support lyrics, it’s on the table. Knowing these facts, it seems inevitable that these artists would come together on a project.
With cuts for each singer in Roomful of Teeth, Elevator Songs presents a cycle concerning the denizens of an unnamed hotel that defies all boundaries of space and time, allowing the stories to take place in the present, past, and future. Given the eclectic nature of the narratives, it makes sense that each track follows its own…
The spirit of Liz Phair, Fiona Apple and the late great Jill Sobule emanates from this fantastic first record, and these 11 songs show Emma Gerson (aka lucky break) is a name to look out for. The album was mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated Jessica Thompson and was recorded with Gerson and her friend and co-producer Elliott Woodbridge in a studio in Burbank. They did all the instrumentation together; Gerson was on acoustic guitar, Woodbridge did everything else. And what a confident and truly enjoyable listen it is.
It opens with ‘Big Swing’, a dreamy, guitar-drenched ode to the challenges of reaching adulthood. This new feeling is a difficult one, and she’s voicing her feelings of being all at sea. An opener that captures the imagination…
On Parole Sessions celebrates the 1975-1976 recording sessions for what was originally intended to be the band’s debut studio album, On Parole. Because their record label shelved the project at the time, it was not commercially released until 1979. It stands as the only studio album to feature Motörhead’s original lineup: Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister (bass/vocals), Larry Wallis (guitar), and Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor alongside Lucas Fox (drums).
The 50th-anniversary release is organized across a 4-disc set (3 CDs and 1 Blu-ray) containing completely overhauled and unreleased material:
CD1: The Studio Album (Steven Wilson Remix): A brand-new stereo remix of the core 9-track album handled by acclaimed producer Steven Wilson. It uncovers clarity and depth while maintaining the gritty attitude of the original tracking.
CD2 & CD3: Extensive Session Outtakes: Compiled and mixed by Richard Digby Smith, these discs feature a deep dive into the vault with instrumental jams, alternative takes, early demo versions, and raw studio dialogue.
The first album in 17 years from Belgian alternative rock stalwarts Ghinzu can be a cause for celebration. W.O.W.A and its driving initial salvo of the groove-laden “When Other Worlds Await,” “Snow White,” and “Out of Control” explodes out of the speakers as an enigmatic and propulsive take on the early 2000s indie rock.
Think Interpol if they played their songs faster and took in elements of the atmosphere The Strokes sought to create at their peak. Three songs in and you’re hooked. W.O.W.A feels like a debut album and, given the gap in releases for the band in a sense it is something of a rebirth, but to find that this is merely the latest stop in an increasingly creative and robust discography is all the more satisfying.
Confined to his home after a pulmonary embolism and two heart attacks, Ibrahim Alfa Jnr. had only music to sustain himself. The Brighton-based producer, whose roots go back to the blistering techno 12″s he released in the ’90s alongside Cristian Vogel and Tobias Schmidt, had already weathered substantial adversity — including a prison stint during which he read about footwork in The Wire magazine and, unable to actually hear any tracks, tried to sequence it in his mind. His health problems were his most serious obstacle yet, as well as a motivator to reorient himself toward his passion. His latest album, Infinite Black Inside, is a thorough exploration of the ideas — evasive rhythmic switch-ups, jazz melodies, busy textural interactions — that have often…
Where would you choose to be as a singer songwriter if your music would fit within so many categories but having a strong connection to roots and Americana sounds? Well Nashville might be too country bound, and L.A. too away, so, quite possibly New Orleans might seem an obvious choice, as the sounds created there could go in so many directions.
That is where Gina Leslie decided to be and create her debut album with a longish title, I Love You Always No Matter What Happens. Yet the title is not the thing this album is long on, as Leslie shows an abundance of talent and musical variety through all of the 10 tunes here, and that variety may be being that New Orleans X factor here.
As you get through the songs on the album,…
Describing himself as an alt-country artist, St Louis native Adam Gaffney has actually created an album that is full of real country songs, sounding like they’ve come straight from a barroom or dance hall. Product of Another Sad Song is clearly an extremely personal journey for Gaffney, as it holds stories of the loss of his mother, and his own battle to overcome alcohol use, as well as reflecting on love lost and found. If that all sounds like it may be a little intense and hard going, fear not! This is music that is frequently up-tempo, joyous and toe-tapping. Heavy on honky tonk piano and pedal steel that dances around the tunes as much as it weeps, the comparison to a modern-day Buck Owens makes total sense.
Musically, tracks like ‘Pinch Me’ and ‘Lay Me…
Carrying the torch of great artists and bands is not as easy as some listeners might think. That torch could be damn heavy if you haven’t picked up all the right cues and if you didn’t add at least a modicum of something that turns out to be your own.
The case in point here – British conglomerate that goes under the name of Simon Bromide and The Bromides (yes, there is a guy there that goes under the name of Simon Bromide, with his real last name being Berridge) and their latest album Forest Mountain Forest.
The band’s PR cites quite a few hip names as inspiration, from Husker Dü to Yo La Tengo, among many. And sure, you can hear traces of that here and there, but it is something else…
With Lucid, his fifth album as a leader before his 30th birthday, composer/pianist Micah Thomas continues to redefine, and self-define, the ways a prodigy can express and sponsor brilliance. Able to play what he has heard since he was two years old, Thomas was gigging with national-caliber musicians in high school while steadily absorbing a swath of music that ranges from Thelonious Monk to Gustav Mahler to Willie “The Lion” Smith. Probably still best known for his long, ongoing tenure with the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet — where his adventurous solos are frequently a highlight of the group’s live performances — Thomas’s own projects favor conceptual clarity and innovation over dazzling technique.
For Lucid, the abiding concept is to generate…
Thirty years since the release of their breakthrough self-titled album and lead singer Bradley Nowell’s passing, sunburnt reggae punk rockers Sublime are back with an hour-long love-letter to their past, and their home. The band proudly states in their 1996 chill out track “Doin Time”, that they’re “qualified to represent the L.B.C”, a statement that has stood the test of time considering how little they have faltered.
All of the same laid-back stoner rock, soaked in sunlight, Mexican beer and good times, but now, however, there’s a new man at the helm. Jakob Nowell, son of founding member Bradley Nowell, has had been passed the torch seamlessly and with a respect to the band’s past, that makes Until the Sun Explodes even more enjoyable.
The Karl Hector adventure continues with their fourth studio album. Since the release of Sahara Swing, the group have built a devoted following through their fusion of funk, psychedelic sounds and influences from across Africa, the Middle East and beyond.
Yolek digs deeper into the Krautrock history embedded deep in the soil of their native Munch – three of the most influential bands of the 1970s experimental German rock scene sprung from there: Amon Düül, Popol Vuh and Embryo. Drawing from those bands’ homebound and worldly influences, JJ Whitefield and Zdenko Curulija conceived and produced this kosmiche-werk. Influenced by these musical heroes, and following the path of Non Ex Orbis, Whitefield…
Birdland is the fourth album by New England line-up The Bluest Sky, built around the songs of Chuck Melchin, long of the Bean Pickers Union. The ten songs on Birdland are an eclectic mix, and paying tribute to his brother Bill, who passed away early this year, Melchin writes: “More than an inspiration, he was the person most responsible for my interest/obsession with music at a very young age (who) had eclectic taste and a record collection to match. From Deep Purple to John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, I was exposed to a wide spectrum of musical styles and genres which I believe continues to inform my own music today. Maybe you can hear the influence in Birdland. This one’s for you, Bill.”
At the core of the band’s sound is electric…
The San Diego via Boston alt trio’s complete original studio recordings, remastered, restored, and compiled into one lavish box set. ‘Wait a Lifetime’ gathers the band’s peerless albums ‘Junk’ and ‘This Afternoon Malady’, plus ‘R.I.P.’, expanded to include their unfinished 3rd album, singles, splits, and comp tracks.
Jejune were never the Berklee-educated New England scene’s best band, but they proved their mettle all the same, penning a pair of albums that almost inadvertently steered the course of the emo underground. Those records aren’t without their faults, sure, but it’s hard to get an accurate read on the US scene without them. And they’ve never sounded better; with a fresh lick of paint, ‘Junk’ and its superior, if way more…