SINGLES
WITCH - Avalanche of Love (Youtube)
by LamontPaul
Witch. Veterans for sure, are back in a big way for a psych-out, here with Sampa the Great, but really me, you or anyone would do. Avalanche of Love is the third Witch single of 2023, if you've been playing We Intend To Cause Havoc! for ten years, the new releases are going help. This is one of the ones that makes me happy the musical instrument store is still open for business. The LP Zango arrives in the summer. Witch are pretty much a perfect pop group.
KEVIN SUN - Ghosts of Repetition (None)
by Toon Traveller
MUNA - One That Got Away (Saddest Factory)
ZERO s
by Tim London
The singer thinks this is a ‘super bombastic, Janet Jackson-era track’ and I think she is confusing the ground-breaking production and presentation of a pop star from over three decades ago with someone yodelling over a gated snare drum and some programmed hammy sequences that inspire the kind of emotion you might get from sucking up the dregs of a vanilla milkshake.
CMAT - Whatever's Inconvenient (AWAL)
by Ogglypoogly
“Mum, you NEED to listen to CMAT, I think you’d really enjoy it if you did.” So sayeth the elder of my progeny repeatedly until I relented. Suffice to say, they were right, fast forward a few months and I was genuinely a little over excited about the release of Whatever's Inconvenient this week. It’s what I can only describe as a sneaky song, starting slow and building into something far bigger than expected - all strings and heartfelt vocals. Capturing a cycle of romantic self sabotage with lyrics that activate your internal monologues knowing nod - either self directed or in recognition of that one acquaintance who perpetually chases the high of a new beginning. Deserving of *ALL* the hearts on offer, this is definitely one to listen to.
ESBEN AND THE WITCH - The Depths (Nostromo Records)
by Alan Rider
The third single taken from the upcoming album 'Hold Sacred' (See my recent exclusive interview here on Outsideleft⇒), 'The Depths' is aptly named as you truly feel like you are drowning in Rachel Davies' pain and doubt. The shimmering backing and the intimate vocals are a hallmark of the new Esben and The Witch sound. Its a fragile thing and I am really not sure how it will stand up to the harsh light and scrutiny of live performance as they prepare to take to the road to promote 'Hold Sacred'. I feel strangely protective of them, not that I could remotely do anything about it. "I'm just skin and bone" Rachel sings on previous single 'True Mirror' and that skin never felt more vulnerable and translucent than on here. Esben and The Witch are pure emotion and as close as you can get on this earth to inhabiting someone else's pains and doubts. Its not a comfortable feeling, but its good to know that you are not alone.
DANKO JONES - Guess Who's Back (AFM Records)
by Alan Rider
Danko Jones always wanted to be AC/DC. Now that AC/DC are no longer a realistic touring band, Danko think there is a gap there for them to fill. All they need to do is hollar in a RAWK AND RAWL! voice inviting people to kiss their bottoms (a popular request it seems in Rock and Punk circles) over slabs of mid tempo metal riffs and the crown is theirs. They see no need to change, develop, or any of that sissy nonsense. Just keep your head down, recycle those riffs, and it will all happen. Once enough people who like maternal sex can be persuaded to kiss their bottoms, its a done deal and great riches await. 'Guess Who's Back' (that needs a question mark on the end, surely?) is a well executed nail in the already nail festooned coffin of intelligent, non-derivative music. The thing that surprises me most about it is that I actually found myself humming the chorus line "Kiss My Ass" whilst doing the washing up. Not a thought I'd normally associate with that activity.
LARAAJI & KRAMER - Immersion (Shimmy Disc)
by Toon Traveller
Hmm ambient music, a mixed bag, and a sometime excuse for disjointed ideas, and lack of adventure. This is one of those for me. Sure it has that sun rising on calm water opening, sure it has that ethereal quality at the centre of the genre's music. Sure is has living legend Laraaji and Kramer ain't far behind. An admirable vibraphone / marimba strings swirl, effortlessly glide, calm and serene opening. Light and warmth and magical realism, in the aftermath of a summer flash of rainfall. Leaves drip, streets shimmer, and steam rises from hot tarmac. Urban music for a cityscape seen from the 30th floor. Isolated and insulated from the maelstrom of humanity scurrying, ducking and diving below. Don't get me wrong, in suburbia, away from the City's hustle, this is a delight. But for many a world too far away.
THE NATIONAL - Your Mind Is Not Your Friend (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) (4AD)
by Alan Rider
Taken from The National's upcoming album 'First Two Pages Of Frankenstein', 'Your Mind Is Not Your Friend' will be familiar to anyone who has observed The Nationals rise and rise since they formed back in 1999 (yes, it was that long ago). It rises and falls in all the right places, builds nicely, has emotion in the lyrics, is professional, well produced, slickly performed and expertly recorded, is anthemic, and will play well both live and on the radio. Yes, you've got it. It's boring.
THE DIRTY NIL - A Nice Guy (Dine Alone)
by Alan Rider
The Dirty Nil seem like nice guys, don't they? Smiley. Clean Cut. Inoffensive. Ditto for their music. They will probably go on to middling careers in Sales or Real Estate. Good luck to them I say. Such nice boys.
BEN COPPERHEAD - Moon Rabbit (Shimmy Disc)
by Alan Rider
Labels are confusing nowadays. 'Sci-fi/psych-folk ' is the label attached to Ben Copperhead. Pardon? That's a hard description to get your head round. Lets just say its a bit weird. 'Moon Rabbit' is an electronic fuelled satire on human space travel inspired by a mythological figure from East Asia and American folklore, telling the story of a trickster rabbit with magical powers who inhabits the moon. All sounds perfectly sensible to me so far. With a mix of heavily effected banjo and cello, tape-echo, drum machine loops, and a baritone guitar, its a total mash up of traditional folk instruments with electronics that is actually quite unsettling. Being a reviewer is getting to be a challenge these days as you never really know what is coming around the corner. My inability to make any pre-judgements and the genuine innovation on show in this and many of the new releases coming on to OL these days is a very good sign that all is not lost. Moon Rabbit is good.
79.5 - B.D.F.Q (Razor-N-Tape)
by Alan Rider
B.D.F.Q. stands for “Bitch, Don’t Fucking Quit” but I guess they probably thought that would limit its media exposure, so opted for the safer acronym instead. Which of course is actually taking the opposite stance to that of the empowered and angry lyrics about composer Kate Mattison’s struggles in Detroit "creating and releasing music in an environment fuelled by misogyny and neglect", as is the epilepsy inducing video featuring her and her bandmate gyrating and pouting for the camera in patent leather catsuits. That contradiction will be familiar to any of us who have yawned our way through 'empowering' videos of semi naked girls thrashing around desperately on screen whilst proclaiming their inner strength and railing against misogyny. B.D.F.Q (I'm using the acronym only because its shorter and to be frank, the title sucks) is a rather pedestrian and clunking take on merging rap and industrial that gets annoying after the first 30 seconds or so. Sorry 79.5, the potty mouth title just isn't enough to lift this beyond a couple of hearts.
KING KRULE - Seaforth (XL Recordings)
by Tim London
I’ve never heard King Krule speak. I hope he speaks like he sings and, if he did, I would want him to read the morning papers to me, if that doesn’t sound too fresh. I’m not always down with his jazz chords but this is a lightly strolling float along the beach with a video that dwells lovingly and in a very British way on a couple of Labrador dogs. He does sound a bit depressed, but so would you if you had to read the papers every morning with your tea and toast.
CUMGIRL8 - cicciolina (4AD)
by Tim London
Recent signings to 4AD, a very old fashioned provocation project that makes me wonder if the whole thing isn’t funded by a New York Foundation Arts grant. The single here being part of a larger project involving a sort of hybrid digital-cable talk show and other elements I haven’t seen. No doubt, if their recordings start to do well then the project will become a straight-forward band, much like Pussy Riot or any other conceptual art project that has a pop band element. So, 5 love hearts for the project but, sadly, just two for the retro elctropunk tune. Shame that the boundless energy and sense of humour on display here couldn't be used to power some equally groundbreaking/interesting sounds.
TINARIWEN - Kek Alghalm (Wedge)
by Tim London
How do you feel about the Tuaregs? There are a few million of these traditionally mobile people, many of them in Mali and some fighting for their own state. While we’re at it, what are your thoughts on the Sonrais, Peuls, Bambarras and Maures? All of them poor ‘desert peoples’ along with the Tuaregs. It’s the latter that Tinariwen represent in this song, a tune that sounds sad but is also defiant, a kind of accusatory rant at other Tuaregs with what sounds very much like a banjo and yearning chords and something you can imagine soundtracking an epic western transposed to 21st century Saharan Africa. Now that, my friend, is the ‘now’, right there. Brought to your ears in a matter of seconds via cables and satellites. ‘Fantastic’ as Malcolm McDowell’s Travis might have said.
BEE BEE SEA - Time and Time (Wild Honey Records)
by Alan Rider
DUDU TASSA & JONNY GREENWOOD - Ashufak Shay (World Circuit)
by Toon Traveller
POPSICKO - Some Mothers Son (Big Stir Records)
by Alan Rider
Popsicko were one of those second wave US Alt-Rock bands of the early 90's that seemed to be going somewhere just for the briefest of flickers. Positioned somewhere between Nirvana and Green Day they peddled that sanitised version of punk beloved of teen movies and daytime radio and dreamed of filling stadiums. Sadly, it was not to be as their singer, guitarist, and songwriter Keith Brown was killed in a car accident in 1995. This track is nothing particularly special though, and comes across as a little desperate to be commercial, so it is anyone's guess whether it would have happened for Popsicko if he had survived. There must have been hundreds of these bands across the US. I guess it was pot luck which ones got there.
EVERYTHING BY ELECTRICITY - Goodbye (Amplify)
by Alan Rider
Everything by Electricity accredits Slowdive, Tangerine Dream, and Joni Mitchell, as some of their biggest influences and I can see why. The languid 'Goodbye' drifts along sweetly for a good few minutes with a synth string undertow backing earnest lyrics like an extended intro and then just when you think its getting started, its over. Its all a bit disappointing really. The video is nothing much to write home about either.
TANLINES - The Big Mess (Merge)
by Toon Traveller
I love the video, Jackson Pollock rocks, after all, and the voice somewhere between Lou Reed and a touch of Tom Petty or the Boss in his 'Rising' period. The melody is a simple riff, a couple of key changes, occasionally a forth guitar chord, and an acoustic conclusion. It's all well played, and sounds sincere, with tender memories of days passed, usual mid twenties regrets. But the Tanlines being splattered with paint to produce a splatter master piece, thats the something.
PINKSHIFT - To Me (Hopeless)
by Alan Rider
Shoegaze is back. It was never really that much of a musical genre in the first place, being largely cobbled together by a music press desperate to have something to write about and bands' careers to launch before shooting them down like so many clay pigeons. Pinkshift has perfected the mid-paced distorted guitar sound and lazy, drawly, can-hardly-be bothered-to-get-out-of-bed, vocal style beloved of Lush, Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive and the rest. Watching their video I admit to a pang of jealousy that no band I was ever in enjoyed playing to packed houses singing along to every word and throwing themselves off the stage with reckless abandon. That's my fault for not being in a Shoegaze or Thrash band I guess. It's ok, this. Three hearts worth of ok. But not worth getting out of bed for.
EPs
THE INDOOR SHOW - Sharktown (Bandcamp)
by Alan Rider
If there was any justice in the world, John Costello would be a huge star by now. Read why in Alan Rider's review of The Indoor Show's Sharktown EP, here
ATLAS MOTHER - EP2 (Dime)
by Lee Paul
Atlas Mother unleash have an expertise in stereo panning that you may not have. EP2 consists of six journeys into sound. It's disparate, distinct from current sound shapeshifters. Atlas Mother sounds like they're using audio-shaping tools that Delia Derbyshire found too primitive. All told EP2 is brief and very beautiful.
LPs
SKELETAL FAMILY - Light From The Dark (Chapter 22)
by Alan Rider
With a name like 'Skeletal Family, you may have this lot pegged as an 80's Goth act, which they weren't really (well, maybe a bit!). If you were around at the time (I was!) you may remember that they enjoyed a deal of success in the early to mid 1980s (meaning I remember them now!), with their debut album "Burning Oil" doing pretty well at the time and recording sessions for John Peel, Janice Long & Kid Jensen on Radio One, as well as touring with The Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Spear Of Destiny, The Mission and others (I caught them playing with one of those but honestly can't recall which one). They split up in 1987 but got back together in 2002 to tour, record and release some further albums. That brings us up to date with this, the band's sixth studio album, "Light From The Dark". So what's it like, then? It's pretty good actually. The addition of vocalist Anneka Latta is a good move for sure. Her strong vocals really lift every track, but it still retains their distinctive sound, especially on tracks like opener 'Cry Baby' and 'Edge of a Dream'. Single 'Beautiful Disaster' isn't actually the strongest track on the album I'd say and the closing track 'My Own Redemption' is a strong finish featuring some impressive drumming. The recording (done at Paul Weller's studio) and production are slick and expert throughout. If I had to offer a minor criticism I would say its that the album is a little TOO polished, resulting in a slightly samey sound to all of the tracks and shaving off any sharp edges, just keeping it off a five hearts score for me. It's a keeper though.
PETITE NOIR - MotherFather (Roya)
by Toon Traveller
METALLICA - 72 Seasons (UMG)
by Dr. Richard Bennett
A Metallica LP is a media moment, Dr. Richard Bennett participates right over here⇒
IRREVERSIBLE - Sins (Dipterid Records)
by Alan Rider
'Sins' is a strange little record. Chugging Godflesh style guttural metal, as showcased on the single 'Blackness That Spread' (could there be a more Doom Core title for a track!), interspersed with spacious, almost ethereal tracks like 'Strike Your Heel' and 'Embalmed, Empowered', it's an odd mix. 'Sins' isn't a new album. Its 15 years old, and getting a fresh issue on vinyl with a new video (or 'Visualiser' as we apparently now have to call them) so you have to make some allowances for the fact that many, many, similar sounding bands have followed since. Several of the band hadn't spoken in years and got back together to promote this with new shows. A re-hash? Perhaps, but they have a right to their legacy of course, so I have no problem with that. But has it stood the test of time? Only partially, sadly.
Essential Information
Main Image screengrab from Avalanche of Love by Witch featuring Sampa the Great
