• The Icarus Line – Slave Vows

    August 9, 2013 - By 

    I love a good steak. It’s a delicious, vaguely healthy treat that tastes like victory with an additional side of glory. The thing I love most about steak is the precision involved in getting it just right. The Icarus Line‘s Slave Vows in many ways is an overcooked LP; one which starts off as a fine rare and ends up as charcoal. The album is definitely one of two parts: the noisy, overlong Stooges covers and the noisy, substantially better Stooges covers. With regards to the first half, it is very clear that Iggy and friends’ Fun House record was the…

  • Scott and Charlene’s Wedding – Any Port In A Storm

    August 7, 2013 - By 

    Moving to a new city can be hard. The initial bewilderment at unfamiliar surroundings can quickly give way to crushing loneliness, self-doubt and yearning for days gone by. Working dead-end jobs to make the rent; becoming infatuated in seconds and watching it fade just as quickly; a never-ending supply of encouraging words from newfound friends in bars you’ll never see again. All familiar moments in a life that might be ‘just getting started’, but is constantly dogged by a desire to return to a time when such troubles simply didn’t exist. Scott & Charlene’s Wedding’s second album, Any Port in…

  • The Bug – Filthy EP

    August 5, 2013 - By 

    Having spent the better part of fifteen years producing some of the grimiest, dub heavy-ragga-techno-dancehall (of course it’s a genre… right?) as well as building an extensive, impressive roster of collaborations, it isn’t surprising that the latest EP from The Bug (Kevin Martin) is titled Filthy, or features some of the biggest names associated with Grime, Hip Hop and Dancehall providing the truly terrifying MC duties. Delving into his back catalogue of releases and remixes, it’s easy to see that Martin has always had a knack for making music that could comfortably soundtrack an end of the world scenario; his production…

  • Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus

    July 31, 2013 - By 

    With a name like Fuck Buttons you’re entering into some dodgy territory. At face value, a name like that seems deliberately and obnoxiously attention seeking. To pull off something like this you need to either go to the extreme (Anal Cunt‘s discography being a prime example) or you have to be good enough to justify such a name (Fucked Up‘s David Comes To Life). In the case of Fuck Buttons, they end up firmly on the side of Fucked Up, releasing what is sure to be one of the most exciting electronic albums of the year. Slow Focus is the…

  • Walton – Beyond

    July 29, 2013 - By 

    On his debut LP young Hyperdub affiliate Walton has produced 13 disparate and genre-spanning tracks that comfortably sit seemingly incongruous sounds alongside one another while liberally peppering a range of R’n’B samples throughout. By adeptly ensuring that this blend never seems forced – and, crucially, always keeping the dancefloor in mind – Walton displays a maturity beyond his years; with Beyond never losing focus or meandering off on aimless tangents. The opening title track sets out the record’s modus operandi both literally and figuratively with the use of a sample from Mary J. Blige‘s ‘Forever No More’. The refrain which states “a…

  • Grant Hart – The Argument

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    In some ways, it must sort of suck being a person like Grant Hart. Amongst a subset of people you had reached a level of respect and adoration reserved only for deities. Your work was critically acclaimed and sold impressively for underground scene. The music you wrote not only inspired a generation but brought about a sea change within the mainstream. And yet you never quite cracked it. You teetered close within the 90s with Nova Mob’s Last Days of Pompeii album – buy it – and your own solo work, but ultimately never got the fame you so rightfully…

  • Cuttooth – Cuttooth LP

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    Considering the gruesome state of current urban music trends, evocative and engaging Hip Hop can be pretty tough to come by these days, and with the likes of J Dilla and Flying Lotus having set the standard for dreamy, lush and stripped back Hip Hop compositions (Strip Hop?) Cuttooth – aka Nick Cooke – manages to hold his own in this milieu with his second, self-titled LP.  It doesn’t feel like there is a direct regurgitating of the late Dilla or of the very much still rocking FlyLo, but, there is more than just a tip of the hat to…

  • Bell X1 – Chop Chop

    July 24, 2013 - By 

    As any fule kno, “doing a Radiohead” has become journalistic shorthand for when a given band releases a record which sounds different – sometimes radically and sometimes just a little – to the ones which preceded it, or at the very least features synthesisers or sampled drums. Derived from the moment when said band dropped Kid A on an unsuspecting public, it can either be used a positive or a pejorative, and suggests an artistic act of bravery or petulance. Of course, none of these things are in any way accurate or insightful, and are instead employed to squeeze a given artist…

  • David Lynch – The Big Dream

    July 25, 2013 - By 

    American auteur David Lynch‘s reputation as the foremost curator of surreal, gothic Americana alive today precedes him in such a huge way that “Lynchian” is surely the most frequently used journalistic crutch after “on acid.”  The soundtracks to Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet have defined these movies as edgy, dreamlike and often uncomfortable viewing.  Most directors resist the temptation to indulge their musical passions outside of the home studio; even fewer choose to pick up the microphone. When David Lynch – a soft-spoken, nasally-toned Montanan – sings on opener “The Big Dream”, at first it seems no…