• Molly Nilsson – Imaginations

    May 23, 2017 - By 

    In the time it takes you to read this sentence, Molly Nilsson has probably already written, recorded and mastered her ninth LP. So studious is the Swedish born, Berlin-based musician/tour manager/designer/Dark Skies Association founder that her latest effort, Imaginations, marks an almost unparalleled eighth album in just nine years. Refreshingly though, Nilsson’s remarkable productivity still bears evolution and expansion. 2015’s effort Zenith was well received, combining vintage synth-pop with power ballads, dancehall and reggae undertones, all with an almost glazed and cold-blooded delivery, pleasing to fans of Eurythmics and Book of Love. Imaginations, written over a two year absence that…

  • New Jackson – From Night To Night

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    It’s been a full eight years since David Kitt released his last studio album The Nightsaver, but he hasn’t put that time to waste, continuing to gig sporadically, while also reinventing himself as New Jackson, swapping his usual ‘folktronica’ for a more purely electronic approach and releasing a string of EPs from 2011 on various house labels. Impressive then that the same year he makes a return under his own name – long awaited seventh LP Yous is released in September – this new alter ego also finally makes a full length debut with From Night to Night on Dublin’s…

  • Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persistent Illusions

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    Do Make Say Think were always careful to differentiate themselves from their peers in the nineties instrumental rock boom. More subtle than Mogwai, less doom-mongering than Godspeed You! Black Emperor, more instrumentally varied than Explosions in the Sky and Comets On Fire, Do Make Say Think have always ploughed their own jazz-influenced furrow. As a result of this, the Toronto outfit have always seemed a band apart, one more interested in broadening their palette than sticking to one particular sound. This inquisitive spirit may be the reason for their somewhat sporadic output over the years, as various members pursue side…

  • Black Lips – Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art?

    May 22, 2017 - By 

    Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art is the eight album from garage rock stalwarts Black Lips. The Atlanta, Georgia natives have been ploughing this furrow since 1999, undergoing various lineup changes and becoming well known for their raucous live show, all thrown guitars and downed beers. While the band remain impressive in the live sphere, their studio albums took a decline around the time of 2011’s Arabia Mountain, primarily produced by Mark Ronson. The subsequent album, 2014’s ‘Underneath The Rainbow’, continued the decline and this year’s effort unfortunately doesn’t quite buck the trend enough, despite the recruiting of the mighty Sean Lennon…

  • The Mountain Goats – Goths

    May 19, 2017 - By 

    The truth isn’t as truthful as it once was. The line between slander and sincerity is blurred beyond recognition. It’s comforting that there are some ideas with an aura of objective honesty. One of them is this: The Mountain Goats, and by extension John Darnielle, do not make bad songs. It’s been nearly three decades and the man has a track record to rival Lasse Virén. He’s not the type to rush and hastily release some cash grab. Even a cursory glance shows how much his work is defined by care, consideration and an unwavering cynicism. From his earlier stripped…

  • Pumarosa – The Witch

    May 16, 2017 - By 

    Imagine you have a piece of rope, approximately two metres long, with a diameter of approximately 11mm. Create two bunny ears in the rope, cross them over, make the bunnies run round the tree, watch the bunny jump in the hole, pull tight and voila – you’ve created your first knot. Add a few more, such as a bowline, figure eight and square knot and eventually you’ll be left with a tangled mess that is, scientifically speaking, significantly weaker than the original piece of rope. You’ve twisted and contorted the rope to such extreme proportions the tensile strength has been…

  • Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol. 2

    May 12, 2017 - By 

    The double album is a much maligned concept nowadays, something that can be thrilling when done right but is far more often overly long and bloated, easily chopped down to a single album of highlights. The announcement of a double album release sets alarm bells ringing as fans start to worry about their favourite bands’ ambitions starting to fly a bit too close to the sun. Perhaps splitting them up into a part 1 and 2 is a good way of keeping things less bloated, but then of course the records both have to be good enough to justify buying…

  • At The Drive In – in•ter a•li•a

    May 9, 2017 - By 

    For a long time, it was hard to envision any kind of world where El Paso’s At The Drive-In could amicably sit silently in a room with one another, let alone make music together. Not that there weren’t calamitous appeals from legions of devotees. These five men crafted the most indispensable punk music of the 1990s. Along with Refused and Jawbreaker, they earned a level of adoration and obsession that few can only dream. As time rolled on and lucrative reunion tour deals reared their ugly heads, these fantasies began veering alarmingly close to reality. Now, Refused are fucking undead,…

  • Big Walnuts Yonder – Big Walnuts Yonder

    May 10, 2017 - By 

    A lifelong self-professed student of the bass, Mike Watt has tirelessly explored the instrument’s intricacies since his teenage forays into punk rock with D. Boon in Minutemen. Watt’s subsequent four-decade career has seen him play with a slew of bands and collaborators, influencing countless players along the way. Through his tenure with fIREHOSE, Dos, and in later years The Stooges and current freeform trio Il Sogno Del Marinaio, Watt has bounced between genres, musicians and continents playing his trade; mastering his instrument. It was in Japan that the genesis for Big Walnuts Yonder began, from a conversation between Watt and…

  • Actress – AZD

    May 9, 2017 - By 

    Experimental music is supposed to try and expand the boundaries of the possible. It’s always something of a gamble, but a thrilling one at that. Actress, AKA London-based experimental techno artist Darren Cunningham, has thus far managed to carve a niche for himself in an area that’s generally quite difficult to stand out in. Spend enough time among his soundscapes and you can begin to easily identify an Actress track – there’s a distinctiveness to his work that Cunningham has characterised as “almost like extreme patenting”. AZD (pronounced “azid”) is his fifth album under this moniker, one that arrived with…