Outsideleft Week in Music The Very Nearly Last Week in Music

Solange goes to work. I mean, she shows up late and I didn't expect that, her records are so fastidious. This is a six minute song and I'd almost given up waiting for her to arrive. It's fine enough without her, if a little, so what-ish in wattage. I began to wonder whether Solange even knew she was on the call sheet for the session, whether she knew that her name was going to be on the record label. What if Solange was on a record and she didn't sing? Are you buying it?  Maybe Solange plays trumpet? Does Solange play trumpet? Is the trumpet a good instrument to take up mid-life? Like all stars, I know nothing about Solange, except her sister once stood on Mrs Champion's (who never ever calls herself that) foot. Meanwhile this week I am pondering a child's lost trumpet. And yet, this is no family affair. But it is a pretty great record all the same.

Sure it goes on because there are a lot of ways to say you make me feel like $0. And I want to empathise for a long time because that's how this record is reminding of exactly how I have felt for a long time. Excellent.

There is always a frisson of excitement when a new Dots album comes along, and the upcoming 'So Lonely In Heaven' LP, due out in late January, is no exception.  The Dots have built up a legion of fans worldwide, including some big names (Steve Wilson, Amanda Palmer, Skinny Puppy's Kevin Key), yet for reasons best known to the cosmos remain underground and under appreciated, especially in sole remaining founder member and prophet Ed Ka Spel's native land of the UK.  The Dots paint a disturbingly dystopian picture of the present (the dystopic future having long since arrived) far more effectively than the majority of their Metropolis label mates, who continue to churn out ten-a-penny industrial goth to little effect.  For the Dots, dystopia exists on the inside too, in a way that only writers like J G Ballard understand. They can flicker the candle flame like no one else. They have a bit of history with heaven too, having previously released tracks 'The Key To Heaven' and 'Pennies For Heaven'. Hell is always easier to find though.  Just take a look around. The albums title track, released here as a teaser, is a sound and unsettling opener, setting the scene as a lament for the world, but there is much, much more awaiting inside the album itself.  We have a copy here ready to review closer to the January release date (wouldn't want all that December tinsel and mince pies to obscure the Dots vision of the present, would we?) and it is a real treat. "We are floating in purgatory, as that's all that's left" sings Ed as the terminal kaleidoscope spins ever faster. The dark allure of the Dots transcends both genre and musical fashion, perfectly illustrated in this track as a taster for what could be their best nightmare yet. 

Winter is coming, the weather has settled on 'cold' and daylight is somethin' I experience in fleeting moments passing between buildings. In an ideal world, I'd curl up and hibernate till the days are longer than my working hours. It's an awkward time of year for music, because so little 'feels' right. It's not hard to pique my interest, so the name 'Horsegirl' in my inbox was intrigue enough. Produced by Cate Le Bon, 'Julie' fills the seasonal hole in my musical year with such precision, I wonder briefly if I've willed it into existence. A softly paced, brief interlude of awkward droning indie, it turns out, is the perfect companion for a tired mind. This is absolutely the kind of song, you should hear, so I shan't answer unspoken questions and urge you instead to listen, or if you prefer watch the gorgeous video.

Blood Incantation’s 'Absolute Elsewhere' came out of the gates in October, so we are late to the party for this, but who said that you can only talk about an album on the week of release? The bloody record industry, that's who, keen to gobble up and spit out 'product ' and then move on. We say "fuck that" here at Outsideleft.  This album is a good old, old school Prog-y concept album.  With two tracks spread over 45 minutes, with multiple parts to each (check out the 20 minute filmic video to give you an inkling), 'Absolute Elsewhere' takes its title and cue from mid-70's prog collective who boasted King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford as a member.  Although Metal in tone, Blood Incantation have more in common with Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream, with each track evolving and unfurling as it goes. Love it or hate it, you can't deny there is real skill to the work here.

"Anthemic electro-prog soundscapes" is an excellent description for the sound that We Are Bodies make, with an eye kept firmly on the commercial.  This would have been all over the charts thirty years ago, but things just don't work like that these days.  Charts?  What are they?  Does anyone even care what is Number 1 in whatever chart?  I don't. By removing the binary nature of pop and rock chart placings, all that really matters is 'is it any good?' and 'do I like it?'. So do I? Well, it's not really my cup of tea tbh, as its too slick singalong chart-y, but without the darker twists I am always looking out for.  I keep thinking of Prefab Sprout, and trust me, that's not a good thing. Each track seems to end rather abruptly too, as if they couldn't think of a way to finish it, so just stopped when they ran out of lyrics.  The constant guitar shimmer gets a bit much after a while too.  The consequence of recognising the ease of adding a reverb shimmer to any guitar line at the click of a mouse has made me a little jaded when it comes to such things.  Sometimes a shimmer is good, other times not so much.  The emphasis on the lyrics at the expense of a good tune here is a weak point for sure.  As I said, thirty years ago this would have been all over the charts as anthemic was very much the thing then. Nowadays though, We Are Bodies, despite the musical pedigree of the two members, Dave Pen and Robin Foster, leave me with an empty feeling.  Sorry, they just do.  Pristine recordings, electronic cleverness, meaningful lyrics bemoaning various sadnesses and injustices (the dark slowly creeping, shadows, something about his heart, etc) are not enough on their own.  There has to be a spark of some sort to move things up a notch from the formulaic and contrived.  This could very easily be an AI generated album, so eager to please it sounds.  Give me some human dirt on the gloss please.

Brûlez les meubles are principally Québécois duo, bassist Éric Normand and guitarist Louis Beaudoin-de la Sablonnière. Together they a responsible for  a string of collaborative recordings over the past few years that have invited the likes of Jean Derome, Alexandre Robichaud and Félix Hamel, as well as drummers Tom Jacques, Louis-Vincent Hamel and John Hollenbeck into their sonic universe. On Folio #5 (out this Friday on Tour De Bras and Circum-Disc) they are joined by celebrated improvisers Marianne Trudel (piano), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone) and  thrilling and spilling vibraphonist Jonathan Huard. This is a breathtaking concoction of errant chamber-jazz. Listening mught be one of the better things to do for yourself.

Sleater-Kinney have been doing what they do without any fuss since 1994, which makes it easy to take them for granted. Naturally, this is a huge mistake. Few bands have been as consistently brilliant over thirty years and eleven albums which all range from the pretty good to the outstandingly brilliant. Little Rope, their most recent effort, is another triumph, and if it's not quite in the top league of Sleater-Kinney masterpieces with Call The Doctor, DIg Me Out or The Woods, it's still a damn fine album. This time round Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker are driven by the personal tragedy of Brownstein's mother and step-father's death in a car accident, and the band respond by putting their grief and heartfelt emotion on their sleeves, with ten songs exploring loss, anger and loneliness. Tracks like 'Hell' and 'Hunt You Down' show the band at their best, demonstrating their musical muscle and emotional heft. Following the release of the album proper at the beginning of the year, Sleater-Kinney close out 2024 with a deluxe edition of Little Rope. These things can feel like inessential cash grabs, but in this case we get an entire disc of high quality bonus material, including off-cuts 'This Time', 'Here Today' and 'Nothing To Lose', which are easily good enough to sit on the album proper, three live versions of album tracks from gigs this year that show the band on fine form, and three raw alternate versions that let the listener imagine what an even rawer and angrier version of the album might sound like. Wonderful stuff.

"The consensus on The National's live album, Rome, seems to be generally positive, with many critics and fans praising the band's powerful performance and the album's ability to capture the energy and emotion of their live shows. However, it's understandable that some fans might not perceive it as a significant progression from their previous work. Live albums often focus on reinterpreting existing songs rather than introducing new material. If you're looking for a progression in The National's sound, you might want to explore their studio albums, such as "First Two Pages of Frankenstein" or "I Am Easy to Find." These albums often experiment with different sounds and styles, showcasing the band's artistic evolution. Ultimately, whether or not "Rome" feels like a progression is subjective and depends on your personal expectations and preferences." AI Generated response to this record. I am not looking for progression from them really. I'd like them to stop making records for a while, I can happily play Boxer and Alligator over again, preferring that studio sound to throwing the kitchen sink at it live versions, all the while keeping myself warm with the enduring quote from our writer Mr. Lake's friend, "The National are like U2 without the choruses." Said that ages ago, wasn't wrong then, not wrong now. Only half of this was machine A.I. generated. The opnionated part all me, buddy.

Montague Armstrong are a duo from St. Leonard's on Sea in East Sussex. I am unsure that you'll need any more information to know that acquiring this recording is a requirement. I might say they are idiosyncratic but I think they might just be St. Leonards archetypes. Modern Classics is their third full-length album. The track here, despite their Latvian heritage just sounds to me like Captain Beefheart wiggly wigging around on his guitar in the organ pipes somehow. Why not. I used to live in Hastings and St. Leonards, following  the well worn Alistair Crowley path from Leamington Spa.  I think I used to live on the King's Road but I didn't, it was such long time back, I've checked the almanac, it was Norman Road. Above a hairdresser.  I moved there from Warrior Gardens, where if you craned your neck out far enough, there was a view of the ocean. Modern Classics is essential listening, maybe for slight eccentrics, maybe for everyone else too.

Saint Tropez Orchestra 's Heavy Soul Dance Party album shoes-in the correct way to enjoy the South of France, at night, away from the sun, in a basement, in internal disarray, making bad decsions in the hopes of being shepherded from your table to the dancefloor, by a heavy hand with a gold sovereign ring equivalent on that little finger at the base of your spine. It's wild and it's hot and it's what some people might consider dirty and you can't even remember the name of your hotel anymore let alone how you'll get back there tomorrow. One thing you'll figure out is that the crazed band filling the club have a back catalog and you're gonna get it as soon as it gets out on vinyl in 2025. If you make it there. But only because despite the most massive miasma in the club, these 11 tracks of raw, psych, analogue funk stands up with all of the other great things music can remember from this year. 

Sam Gluck's LP came out earlier this year and despite our best intentions we didn't get to it. Jeremy Gluck gets us right with God, or at least the Gods of record reviews, right here.

You probably know why this is here, this week. If you don't, consider paying more attention to the world you live in. Here are eight minutes you won't think to ask for back. 

Gloriously silly, in the way that TV spin off singles used to be in days gone by.  Listen out for Patrick MacNee's entirely unconvincing and slightly embarrassed statement that "leather is SO kinky'.  To say that The Avengers in the time of Honor and Patrick was the epitome of cool is obvious. At the height of post punk, this used to blast out of our house alongside PIL, Gang of Four, and The Damned. This is perfect festive fun too and not a sleigh bell in sight!