Wow, well that turned out to be a great week in music right? I check the reviews throughout the week as they come in, wilting away with worry. Things looked dire on Tuesday or whenever - you know we need writers, right? And then... Tim London, Toon Traveller, Ancient Champion, Spanish Pantalones, Lee Paul, Erin, Ogglypoogly, and Jay Lewis got their records on...
SINGLES
MOUNTAINSCAPE - Atoms Unfurling (Trepanation)
by Lee Paul
Mountainscape inhabit a post-rock hinterland. Own it really. From their current breakout LP here comes the title track Atoms Unfurling. An inevitably heavy nine minute opus. J Mascis wouldn't be unhappy with these guitar sounds. At some points these are the sounds you will hear when you are separated from your soul. Formed and informed by metal but influenced too by an array of avant-garde composers. Mountainscape are one of those new British bands that fuck fashion and do whatever they need to do to break the mold. It feels like nothing can stop them now.
NADINE KHOURI - Keep on Pushing These Walls (Talitres)
by Ancient Champion
OMG! This is like the record I have been searching for forever. Nadine's voice is religious. One listen and you'll be a worshipper. There's something so perfect for laconic optimists in Keep on Pushing These Walls. And the music, oh so many miles away from the voice, and then here comes the guitar all subtle and then all outrageously bendy and tearing at your speakers. Quietly still. Redolent, a little, of Natalie Bergman's great record stylings. Nadine Khouri is a giantess of graceful understated beauty for sure. This record, damn! At least we can still have nice things.
SOFT CELL - Light Sleepers (EMI)
by Tim London
After their last release, a painful, collaboration with Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell seem to have remembered what they’re all about as Marc does his best lonely poet observing the world from a coffee stained formica top world weary croon. With a video that pays homage to the truly groundbreaking element of the band, the way that they brought a Tom of Finland, out and proud, gay presence into the life of teenage girls dressed entirely in black just at the point when they could really do with an outrageous, dark and sentimentally hearted gay best friend.
LIV.E - Wild Animals (In Real Life)
by Ancient Champion
Love Liv.e, she makes feminist politics set to music seems dangerous still. Who gets to say who is objectifying who? Meanwhile though, maybe you can just buy these kinds of backing tracks off the peg. From the factory. But you know like you can buy Continental Tires or generic ones and the latter lead you off mountain roads? Liv.e obviously spent a little more at the Lo-fi beats factory. The bass drum is authentically, beautifully, cardboard boxy. The bone idle piano I'll remember all day long. I don't really like dogs but c'mon, all the fetishistic claws, the dog-ear-hat - especially the dog-ear-hat cosplay, it's so irresistible. I want one. To replace my trusty crown. Wild Animals got me thinking about my crumbling persona and how this could soundtrack that afternoon with Luna Dupree when we shopped for boxing gear, rented a room from noon opposite a big box diy store and after filling ourselves with disgust at the people going in for paint and planks in their free time, I laced up Luna's boxing gloves and took a beating. Hours after Luna left, she called hotel security. A lot later my kidney problems abated. "I've got my nose up in the air-Most of these dogs don't deserve a meal-They always wanna bite when they see me." Lovely tripartite. It's the voice, Liv.e; it's the sound of a woman not taking any old dog's shit. And making a great, great pop records while she's about it.
GERALD V CASALE - The Invisible Man (Remix by Martyn Ware/Heaven 17)
by Toon Traveller
Devo's Gerald V. Casale Record Store Day single, The Invisible Man, is released on clear... I daresay, invisible vinyl and features Josh Freese (NIN, Weezer) and Steve Bartek (Oingo Boingo) hmmm. The fun stops there. Not following all the twists and turns in post, post, post, new wave and old new wavers, I saw this and thought "Devo" hmmm. I enjoyed them for a few turns of a 45. Immediate impression though, oh dear, it's nothing new, it's lots of sounds going nowhere, could be the Art of Noise, with sub Frank Zappa dry humour lyrics. It's really as tired as the snores at the end of the track. Probably old Devo fans will want to check this out. Back to Napa Valley then and probably quite a good life for Gerald.
LINDA LINDAS - Groovy Xmas (Epitaph Records)
by Toon Traveller
O - Ogo (Speedy Wunderground)
by Toon Traveller
THE WOMBATS - Is this what it feels like to feel like this (AWAL)
by Toon Traveller
Great nonsensical title of the week. Retro-Oasis opening, crash bash chords, and that sorta sprezzatura for sure, '"I don't care delivery". A great riff, and a steady driven beat, that's erm what drummers do after all, into a sorta disorganised middle eight, but this could a Britpop tribute band on an off day, wait for Blur, Oasis, Pulp, and the rest of your 90's brit pop heroes to return, replay and release new stuff, it'll still lack ambition, it'll blow this away.
DAISY GEORGE - See Me Now (Brace Yourself Records)
by Toon Traveller
Last night I listened to an old steve Hillage album. Not so far removed from Daisy, thanks to the frilly guitar work. I love the off-beat drumming, the lead bass guitar, and the electric 6 string. Straight outta the crossover space where Steve Hillage, Mike Rutherford, and Steve Howe meet and swap licks and solos. Daisy George is proudly individual carving her own path. Cool.
BEACH WEATHER - Trouble With This bed (Arista Ariola)
by Tim London
The trouble with this bed is obviously that our protagonist is the kind of skinny young dood who leaves his stinky Converse on his feet when he lays down. I’ll lay money that there’s an Arista A&R person approving a small but decent budget on the basis that the lead singer is another Paddy McAloon, who, of course, we remember as the OG of soppy yacht pop, and that the kind of hipsters who have been through the don’t drink coffee anymore and are back on the I do but it’s got to be tiny Turkish thimbles of brown treacle (but who prefer Gatorade) will want this streamed as they do something important on their tastefully knackered looking laptops in an unpretentious cafe named F*knames somewhere in Harlem which is the new Brooklyn. Pounds, I bet pounds.
GITKIN - Chicala (AntiFragile Music)
by Ancient Champion
Credit to the atmospherics and percussion persons in the room for making the record so fantastic. Gitkin is itinerant explorer, multi-instrumentalist Brian J looking lazily and languidly eastwards. Sure he's done it before. But this is so lovely it makes me wanna get Christmas out of the way so that I can look forward properly to the new LP in March. Twang dub. If they say so.
ROzzI - Hand in My Pocket
by Toon Traveller
It takes courage and self-belief to cover a modern classic, especially one as loved and popular as Alanis' Hand in My Pocket. Happy to say Rozzi's piano and phrasing give a different meaning. This sounds more like a confident sense of figuring "it" out, as opposed to Alanis' talking about figuring "it" out. A subtle difference but that's the point. Rozzi sounds like she's actually authentically living the life. Alanis... Just reporting on it. Love the 'southern soul' organ, and semi-gospel chorus, matches Rozzi's soaring vocals. Brilliant.
EPs
JOSHUA BURNSIDE - Late Afternoon in the Meadow (1887) (Attic Thing)
by Lee Paul
Joshua Burnside's Late Afternoon In The Meadow (1887) EP is out this week. One of the most powerful avant-folk musicians operating right now. The atmospherics of Late Afternoon In The Meadow beautifully underscore a singular vision and voice. It's superlative and daring writing for sure. "I really thought I would have been somewhere else by now," Joshua muses. Listen hard. Where are you now?
LPs
JOJI - Smithereens (unknown)
by Erin
Erin hears Joji's Smithereens and says...meh or something like that I think. You tell me... (reader interactivity gambit). Erin's review is here⇒
HUMAN LEAGUE - The Virgin Years (Virgin)
by Jay Lewis
Jay Lewis listens to the giant Human League retrospective box set. Read Jay's story, Human Error, here⇒
PAPER IDOL - The Playground Sessions (Cloud Kid)
by Ogglypoogly
From start to finish Paper Idol's The Playground is a sequined bag of joyful noise. See Ogglypoogly's full review here⇒
GRACE KELLY - All That I Need (La Reserve Records)
by Spanish Pantalones
I'm gonna be honest with you, I only took a chance on listening to this thing because of the act's name. I really don't have the time right now to go on a deep research dive here (Is it a band? Is it a solo act?), but on first listen, this LP is really interesting. I think if you like Macy Gray and have an unironic affinity for generic mid-'80s saxophone, you'll like about 65% of this album. You're not going to find odds like this anywhere else on this page. The leadoff single is really bad though -- We Will Rise -- bad choice.
Other Materials
JACKIE MITTOO - Jerico Skank (Studio1)
by Ancient Champion
Jackie Mittoo mired in artificial birdsounds? What is this melody again. This weeks competition. Just preternaturally great.
Essential Info
Main Image: Mountainscape
