Every week, our writers gather in some sort of small time operator, music lothario's lair to dole out sacks of love to recent releases and anything else that's takes their fancy. FIVE HEARTS! It's the best you can hope to do and in November the number of records with 5 Heart reviews was 42. That's a good month.
ADAM RUDOLPH - Timeless 2023-11-17 (Meta Records)
by Toon Traveller
AMARO FREITAS - Encantados 2023-11-17 (Psychic Hotline)
by Sofia Ribeiro Willcox
The epic Encantados single is out now, but Sofia Ribeiro-Willcox says the Amaro Freitas LP 'Y'Y' will be the real big astonishing thing. See Sofia's preview here⇒
AMELIE LUCILLE - Beautiful Creature 2023-11-30 (Independant)
by Tim Sparks
Amelie Lucille is a young singer songwriter from New York, and this latest release is essentially a one take home recording of Piano and vocal, proving you don't need a full production team to come up with something special, the arrangement and delivery is just right. The lyrics say volumes about some of the trials faced by young people in todays society, and are quite compelling to hear from someone so young themselves, the haunting melody and vocal style could stand on its own to be honest, its a very nice performance and the final production has talent all over it. She has attracted plenty of attention on social channels and streaming sites and I suspect this will continue as she grows an audience and builds her profile, definitely someone to watch out for.
AMIGO THE DEVIL - Cannibal Within 2023-11-10 (Regime Music Group)
by Toon Traveller
ANTONY SZMIEREK - Seasoning EP 2023-11-23 (Underplay/LAB Records Ltd. )
by Jay Lewis
"None of these jobs existed in the Stone Age/ And they'll disappear again in a hundred years time". Of all the lines from Antony Szmierek that cut through me, this is one that really stings me. Just imagine a life that's not defined by that new tech that your company acquired to simplify procedures but is now zapping you all of the will to live? Imagine that! Imagine having more time to indulge in Szmierek's funny, sad, introspective and profound lyrics? Imagine more time to just enjoy his poetry? He's one of the most astute wordsmiths to arrive in a long, long time and the 'Seasoning' EP is filled with smart but never showy lyrics, identifiable little truths delivered over a soundtrack of hip hop, garage, hip-hop, house etc. As he defined them earlier, these are Poems to Dance To. Songwriter of the year? No one else comes even close.
ARNOLD DREYBLATT - Resolve 2023-11-03 (Drag City Inc.)
by Katherine Pargeter
Being introduced to the music of Arnold Dreyblatt is like entering a whole new sound world. It feels like a distorted version of something familiar with musical motifs repeated over and again. By inventing new and original instruments, and having a system of tuning and composition that are somewhat unconventional, there is genuinely no else that even sounds like him. Dreyblatt was part of a second wave of New York Minimalist composer as has, like Philip Glass before him, managed to weave his music around more rock / pop based concepts. The mesmerising single 'Shuffle Effect' could even sneak it's way onto a popular daytime radio show, it's weird twists and diversions only appearing mid way through. The highlight of 'Resolve' though is the 17 minute 'Auditoria' - which blends a droning ambient soundscape with, in it's closing section, the clang of repetitive notes. It is hypnotic and cleansing.
DARKPLACE - About The End Of The World 2023-11-03 (Icons Creating Evil Art)
by Alan Rider
I have to hand it to Darkplace, they really know how to see a concept through. This album has been introduced gradually through a series of videos based on animated digital paintings for four of the tracks off the album, starting with ‘Arken över Hesselby’ (The Ark Over Hesselby) about a city haunted by an unknown aerial presence. That was followed by ‘Fearmonger’, featuring a post apocalyptic scene with a spooky airship. Then came ‘Cars’, which saw a man travelling north following cryptic messages written on motorway signs. Finally, the last single ‘This Is Loud’ came full circle back to the beginning and the fictitious location of Hesselby. You can view the full album as a fully animated Youtube video - see link below. A separate stand alone video for the track 'The End' has also been made to celebrate the release of the album and can be seen HERE. Its an ambitious and impressive undertaking. Previously I hadn't been especially impressed by the individual singles, but taken in the context of the whole album. and the accompanying animations, it all makes a lot more sense and works really well. This is audio visual storytelling rather than a conventional album and needs to be approached as such. Darkplace are well named as its a grimly pessimistic vision of the future they paint, and one which, much though I'd prefer it not to, is looking increasingly like the present.
DAVID BENJAMIN BLOWER - Kindness Is Solid Stone Violence is a Heavy Loan to Pay 2023-11-10 (Bandcamp)
by Tim London
A new DBB record is always a thing of joy and ambiguity, see Tim London's review right here.
DEAD VOICES ON AIR - Dadu 2023-11-10 (eMERGENCY heARTS/UMP)
by Alan Rider
Alan Rider sees Dadaism in Dadu as you can see over here
DEMOCRATIZE - Futureproofing 2023-11-03 (Bandcamp)
by Alan Rider
Previously I've hailed John Costello as an unsung hero, who in a fairer world would be a giant of electronic music on a par with Depeche Mode. We gave the recent Sharktown EP by one of his other collaborative acts, The Indoor Show, five hearts and a page of its own. Democratize maintains that stellar standard with 'Futureproofing', which has recognisable elements from his other prior project, Engram, and 2017's towering 'The Enemy Is The State' album. John is an absolute master of his art and could give many a chart act lessons on how to compose original and exciting electronic music. Its a shame that there is no accompanying video so you can hear for yourself, but the Bandcamp link below will allow you to play the whole album if you are too tight to download it or stump up for a limited CD. I'd suggest you do though, as music this good deserves your support. Do it here
DJ RASHAD - Last Winter 2023-11-03 (Partisan Records)
by Toon Traveller
FATOUMATA DIAWARA - 'SETE' feat. Brooklyn Youth Choir 2023-11-24 (3ème Bureau)
by LamontPaul
FLESH FIELD - Voice Of The Echo Chamber 2023-11-10 (Metropolis)
by Alan Rider
Kicking off with an impressive and powerful set of pounding drums and guitars, its pretty clear that Flesh Field want to stand out from the crowd, blending elements of orchestral and metal together. Anthemic and impeccably produced, 'Voice Of The Echo Chamber' explores the stages of the radicalization of individuals toward political violence. Its a heavyweight topic, but very relevant to the shit show we are witnessing on the news every day. Where art imitates life, it is important not to trivialise or resort to cliche to make your case. Fortunately, Flesh Field manage to do that and the resulting album is an impressive and thoughtful work, where others would have resorted simply to volume and histrionics to make the point. There is a definite evolution over the course of the album to fit with the theme of gradual radicalization. It works. Its been almost 20 years since the last Flesh Field release, which is way too long, so its good to see them back with a definite bang here with 'Voice of The Echo Chamber'.
GAZELLE TWIN - Black Dog 2023-11-03 (Invada Records)
by Alan Rider
Gazelle Twin is a revelation. Alan Rider tells you why, right over here
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF - Alibi 2023-11-24 (Nonesuch)
by Jay Lewis
This breaks my heart. Having taken on global concerns on their last album ('Life on Earth', 2022), singer-songwriter Alynda Segarra now focuses on more personal issues for the forthcoming album 'The Past Is Still Alive'. As the title suggests, it is a record about grief and uncertainty and is the first music the Segarra has written since the death of their father. 'Alibi' is one of those touching moments that wraps poignant words around an infectious country/Americana melody (Think of Big Thief if you want to look for comparisons). It's a song about '...trying to get through to someone you already know you're gonna lose'. And it hurts. A lot.
INNER SPACE QUARTET - Perspex Capitalism 2023-11-17 (Dime Records)
by Lee Paul
Some of the funkiest sounds ever fitted onto a Fostex, it's fair to say. The Inner Space Quartet's Perspex Capitalism is a compendium of fourteen previously released & unreleased & hard to collect tracks. The record includes their first four 45s, Soho Radio sessions, dub versions, and outtakes from the future. It is true. A debut LP slated for 2024 won't feature some of the tracks here. The cavalcade of stars making this record reads like the Who's Who of indie, indie experimental dance funk... Lee Skelly (Discodor, The Prescriptions), Aaron Fletcher (The Bees, 77:78), Shawn Lee (Young Gun Silver Fox, Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra), Marc Zeriat, Leila Khaloub, Michael Stuart (The Prescriptions, The Mike Lee Sound), Snuffy Miller and Isabelle Monier. These are the dudes that made me the Vibraslap person for hire I've become and inveterate searcher for all used reasonably priced Latin Percussion detritus in car boots online and off the world over. If only I could buy a sense of time. Perspex Capitalism by the way is brilliant from beginning to end.
JENYA KUKOVEROV - Walk: A Pedestrian Guide 2023-11-17 (Topot)
by Ancient Champion
So there it is. In this fucked up world beauty is still possible in simple things. Wood and wires. Russian-born, France-based, urban romantic Jenya Kukoverov harmoniously blends acoustic sounds, gorgeously. He is a musical geopoet. I'm going to list what you should look out for here... Harmonica, percussion, clarinet, xylophone, tambourines. It's ambitious, it's light and it is airy and it has such emotional resonance I have to question whether it is proper or right to enjoy this, to find respite in this music, right at this moment. But that's just me. I am as fucked up as the world is fucked as this is quietly brilliant and unmissable. Weird review I know for a wholly exceptional and beautiful piece of music. Seek it out and you will find. I'm a writer I could listen to this and write all day.
LEATHERETTE - Small Talk 2023-11-10 (Bronson Recordings)
by Alan Rider
Leatherette caught my eye as the warm original version of their name is one of my all time favourite songs. The sax driven piece of social commentary about our drowning in a sea of bureaucracy, which is the single 'Bureaucracy Apocalypse', is what Sleaford Mods would sound like if they were any good (ie if they were not Sleaford Mods!). Leatherette's sound is an odd sort of tooty angry jazz tirade, short and straight to the point. Jazz agit punk? I'm sure that's a genre now. If not, it definitely should be. The 80's were full of indie bands like this, often hailing from Leeds. Gang of Four could be a reference point here. Delta Five too, especially the track 'Isolation', the opening riff of which is stolen directly from Delta Five (I'd sue). Despite that, 'Small Talk' is well worth a listen. The good news is that through the magical generosity of Youtube, you can listen to the whole thing for free there right now.
LILLI LEWIS - Sin Eater 2023-11-24 (Righteous Babe)
by Toon Traveller
LOL TOLHURST X BUDGIE X JACKNIFE LEE - Los Angeles 2023-11-03 (Play It Again Sam)
by Alan Rider
In December 2018 ex-Banshees/Creatures drummer Budgie is passing through LA and meets up with old friend Lol Tolhurst... The LP that happened next is reviewed by Alan Rider right over here...
MARC ALMOND AND MIKE GARSON - My Death 2023-11-03 (Cherry Red)
by Jay Lewis
I first came to the songs of Jacques Brel via a somewhat melodramatic version of 'If You Go Away' by Neil Diamond that was in my parents' record collection. It was a perculiar way to be introduced to someone who would become one of my favourite songwriters. It would be decades before I heard Scott Walker, David Bowie or Marc Almond's renditions of Brel's canon, or discovered those original French language records by the man himself. Brel's performances are filled with such passion, such torment. They are stunning. Almond may have already recorded 'My Death' when he was much, much younger, but to hear this version, decades on and with ex-Spider from Mars Mike Garson on piano accompanying him, is to hear what a master interpreter Almond has become. Stark, dramatic (but never melodramatic), this is a beautifully haunting rendition.
MASSINO SILVERINO - Jeva 2023-11-17 (Okum)
by Toon Traveller
NEW ORDER - Substance (2023 Expanded Reissue) 2023-11-23 (Warner Music)
by Jay Lewis
I know that this will appall hardened New Order fans but the one album of theirs that I return to more than any other is this unfussily chronological singles compilation (everything from 'Ceremony' up to 'True Faith'). 'Substance' is a tale of New Order tiptoed out of the shadows of Joy Division to make some of the most captivating singles of their era, a catalogue of their life before the Balearic beats and Acid House influences of 'Technique', before the football song, before the formulaic records that left little trace. It's a joy to delve into (almost) five hours of this expanded edition, to be reacquainted with the original versions of 'Temptation' (their best single - it's not negotiable, it just is) and 'Confusion' as well as the splendid b-sides ('Hurt', '1963'). The live material is fairly inessential, although I still laugh at the puerile change of lyrics on 'Perfect Kiss'. Still. So, apologies to any die-hard fans, but New Order - they're a singles band, right?
NICOLE RAMPERSAUD - A Tourist In My Youth 2023-11-03 (Ansible Additions)
by Toon Traveller
POPCLAW - Stocking Filler (Trussels Trust Charity song) 2023-11-30 (Independant)
by Tim Sparks
This is a bit different, a seasonal 1 minute Christmas Punk song with a message for a worthy charitable cause. Popclaw band have taken time out to put this together with all of the proceeds going the the charity Trussell Trust, who work hard continually fulfil the needs of food banks around the UK, and help folks who might be struggling little, particularly at this time of year. Let's get to the track, it's 1 Min., its raw, its punk, its guitars, it carries the message - Kids shouldn’t go hungry at Christmas... These guys are out there on all social channels trying to raise awareness, if you can help them in anyway that would be commendable.
PRUILLIP - Pruillip 2023-11-10 (Cortizona bandcamp)
by Alan Rider
PRUILLIP are a two piece guitar and drums Belgian 'sludge band' (their description!). They remind me very much of a more intense, low fi and exposed early White Stripes or maybe Earth. Distorted feedback guitars and basses, rattling drums echoey screams and vocals, heavy, doom laden, loud. You get the gist. The single 'Botherham' is a wonderful slice of in-yer-face puglilism. The intro to the album is the very definition of plangent (you may need to look that one up!). Pruillip have a great red raw sound that grates and rattles and shakes the bars on the windows in all the places that Jim Jarmush's SQÜRL also do (if you know them). Rough, ready and other-wordly in some parts, bass guitar heavy and repetitive thuggery in others, its a heady mix, not over produced as many releases now are, and avoids the obvious in favour of a surprise round every musical corner. It's good. If you can't find it, it's on Bandcamp, here
RANDY NEWMAN - Shining Bright -Live San Francisco 1972 2023-11-17 (Raygun)
by Jay Lewis
Occasionally I need to be reminded of what I hold most dear! Sometimes, all it takes is for an obscure live recording released on a made-up label and with a shonky sleeve to pop up on a streaming service, and I'm transfixed. And this is where I find Randy Newman, it's 1972 (pre 'Short People' , 'I Love LA' and way before 'You've Got a Friend In Me') with just a piano and some exceptionally dark and biting songs. As it's a live album you can revel in all of the inappropriate laughter at 'You Can Leave Your Hat On' and 'Lovers Prayer' and then feel the silence descend when he performs 'I Think It's Going To Rain Today' - one of the loneliest songs ever written. Whoever operates the 'Raygun' label, I love you for releasing this.
RUBY DOOM - Medium Sized Sweater 2023-11-17 (Streaming Platforms)
by Alan Rider
A song about a sweater. Now you're talking! Great cavernous sound too.
RUIQI WANG - A Descent of Lilies 2023-11-03 (Orchard of Pomegranates)
by Toon Traveller
SARAH MARY CHADWICK - If I Have It In Me At All 2023-11-10 (Kill Rock Stars)
by Toon Traveller
SAY SHE SEE - Silver 2023-11-09 (Karma Chief Records)
by Jay Lewis
As we hurtle towards the end of the year, or the impending apocalypse (whichever comes first), it’s probably not much consolation to know that before all societies collapse in on themselves, there were a few good funked up, retro disco flavoured, soaring harmonized, ridiculously eclectic records to listen to – and that they were all made by Say She She. I wonder if I will still wake up singing 'Astral Plane' on the days that I have to go and search for food in a nearby skip or recall how I listened to ‘Cest Si Bon’ on repeat before the sirens started to wail. Some may moan that, at 16 tracks and over an hour in length, Say She She’s sophomore album is far too long. Just think of it as generosity and that, after the rationing starts, no album will ever be that length again. Cherish it.
SLEAFORD MODS - West End Girls 2023-11-24 (Rough Trade)
by Jay Lewis
The best band in this dreadful country (both facts not debatable) covers the greatest number one single of all time (according to The Guardian and also not debatable), and proceeds go to the unfortunately essential Shelter. Buy this record as being forced to live in a tent is not, and never ever will be, ''a lifestyle choice' as that dangerous and soon-to-be-forgotten loon said.
SPEARMINT - Melodies Mother's Jam's 2023-11-17 (WIAIWYA Records)
by Toon Traveller
STEVE WILSON - Beautiful Scarecrow 2023-11-10 (Virgin)
by Toon Traveller
SUPPLEMENTAL PILLS - Judgement Time 2023-11-10 (Bandcamp)
by Toon Traveller
SWAMPMEAT FAMILY BAND - Polish Your Old Halo 2023-11-17 (PNKSLM Recordings)
by Ancient Champion
I was lucky enough to hear this set live at the Swampmeat Family Band record release party for Polish Your Old Halo, earlier this week and boy do these dudes rip it up a shitstorm on stage. I would say take your dollar down and your friends and go get out to see them and get some fun. With this band. They're about as contemporary sounding as say, well, imagine you're burying your dad and along the way you gotta clear his stuff out, and you're gonna begin with the records of course, and slipped in amongst them, you just get amazed by his handful of copies of H&E magazines that your mum probably hadn't seen. He wasn't known as a naturist. So that's how they did it back then? And so Swampmeat Family Band aren't going to be giving too much credence say to the conventions of EDM. They're much, much more like Electric Crickets, which is where they wanna be. They sound like making allowances for stereophonic signal processing might be the cause of some consternation within the band. Woe betide the guitarist if he suggested he'd like locking tuners or a two point trem on his Strat. Authenticity ain't easy and Swampmeat Family Band have it. Pedal steel, deep swooping lead lines and there it is Americana's bastard son. Dan Finnemore crafts songs with seemingly effortless ease and grace and in Why Do You Care, vocalist Joni Coyne provides a total Exene Cervenka-esque edge. Masked with jeopardy. That great. Quite brilliant really. Oh wow! Swampmeat Family Band have it and they have it in the very right now.
(love everything about this...)
THE BEATLES - Now & Then 2023-11-03 (Apple )
by Jay Lewis
Jay breathes a sigh of relief...it's not Free As A Bird. Link here
THE NATIONAL - Laugh Track ft. Phoebe Bridgers 2023-11-24 (Domino)
by Toon Traveller
THE RAKERS - Quicksand 2023-11-17 (Mid-City)
by LamontPaul
From Baton Rouge, The Rakers let their electric guitars unspool from the getgo and you just know everything is going to be alright. Theirs is several walls of sound collapsing at once into an impenetrable sonic stew. It's thick and gooey. And out of that songs form and take shape and shift that shape around. It's like a Pep Guardiola tactical masterclass. Dizzying. The curveballs are going everywhere that you least expect them to go. And guess what, it all sounds amazingly great. Over 12 songs and five interludes The Rakers tear it up and turn it out. This sounds like what Harry Crews would sound like if he'd made rocknroll records in the south. Quicksand is a relentlessly epic LP.
YAEJI - easy breezy 2023-11-07 (XL)
by Tim London
It’s so easy breezy for Yaeji’s generation to meld sound and vision and fashion and living into one THING. Not a brand or a promotional video or PR or even a pop song. It’s a single entity that is hard to discuss - it just is. And what is it? It’s a few chords, minimal production, fruity loop beats and cutesy-pie singing. It’s a cultural artefact containing music, dancing and ageism. It’s not for you, you’re too old. Go away. Too old, too fast. Relax. Speed up the footage not real life. Think of the bananas. Won’t someone think of the bananas?!?!?
YAYA BEY - the evidence 2023-11-08 (Big Dada)
by Tim London
It’s a bassline and a mood, that’s all. But the way the bass battles the kick and the way the voice is just ineluctably there… and, a BIG AND, for the video, which is how I want my videos done these days, with minimal production, well dressed humans and hold the miming.
Essential Information
Main image Yaya Bey screengrab from her video for The Evidence
