Doris – Storm Doris (Album Review)
While the London-based group Doris were “born out of a stormy night,” there’s an energizing quality to their precision-sharp blend of shoegaze and dream pop. The ensemble is composed of three core members; lead vocalist Romy Jo, who sings with a dulcet sweetness that floats over strong foundations of rock,Continue Reading
M.Krebs – Peggy Lee (Album Review)
M.Krebs are an alternative rock band composed of Spencer Moody, Brian Yeager, and Jeff Alvarez. While the trio has just released their debut album, the inebriating and insightful Peggy Lee, their CV is full of chops, with members having played in groups such as Triumph Of Lethargy Skinned Alive ToContinue Reading
Single Reviews: 16 May 2023: The Rabbitts, YuMe, Scott William Urquhart and Constant Follower, Raays, icoro
Photo by Sasha Matveeva The Rabbitts – Sunrise indie folk Norvician duo The Rabbitts have added a heavy-handed serving of the fantastical to their otherwise 60s psychedelic folk stylings on “Sunrise”, a track taken from their second album, Love. The sweet fingerpicking and haunted melodies are complemented by folksy-cum-mediaeval mandolin, birdsong,Continue Reading
Cheree – Factory (EP Review)
Oaklander noise merchants Cheree come out guns blazing on their debut EP, Factory. Replete with face-melting guitar lines, sinisterly impassioned vocals, and industrial sounds held together with mechanistic programmed drums, the four-piece deal with visceral anti-capitalist sentiments, shoved down the listener’s throat with the kind of raw intensity thatContinue Reading
Single Reviews: 10 May 2023: Felix Rösch, Eyesore & The Jinx, Sergio Díaz De Rojas, Dead Actors, Friendship Commanders
Photo by Zsófia Fehér Felix Rösch – Vienna neoclassical While strolling around a snow-covered Vienna during lockdown, Berlin-based pianist and composer Felix Rösch was having some profound thoughts. Relayed here in the recent single, “Vienna”, Rösch takes melodrama to new heights, with strings that ruminate around a mournful ostinato as fluttery electronicsContinue Reading
Occurrence – Slow Violence (Album Review)
New Yorker trio Occurrence blend abstract worlds of polluted alt-pop and energetic flourishes of danceable rhythms on their creative and flamboyantly far-reaching fifth album Slow Violence. The sprawling double album encompasses 22 tracks of artistic technological pop, all imbued with a sense of dance, emergency and psychological and sociologicalContinue Reading
Lee Switzer-Woolf – Annihilation Signals (Album Review)
Annihilation Signals is the second solo album of Reading-based singer-songwriter Lee Switzer-Woolf. The follow-up to 2022’s Scientific Automatic Palmistry, the album centers around Switzer-Woolf’s candid and heart-on-the-sleeve songwriting while folding in a variegated backdrop of sounds; from affected vocals and processed drum beats to whirling keys and an assemblage ofContinue Reading
Single Reviews: 5 May 2023: Eydís Evensen, Tara Jam, Hudba Lyrika, Bad Flamingo, Neighborhood Libraries
Photo by Inga Seliverstova Eydís Evensen – Tranquillant neoclassical Eydís Evensen · Tranquillant Icelandic pianist and composer Eydís Evensen expertly balances the moody and tense atmosphere of her recent single, “Tranquillant”, with cinematic strings, neoclassical piano ponderances, and jazzy wind instrumentation. The track is taken from Evensen’s second album, TheContinue Reading
Cabbaggage – Microscripts (Album Review)
While the name of Vancouverite Levi Kempster’s musical project, Cabbaggage, is a befuddling assemblage of letters, his music is anything but. Kempster’s simplistic musical phrases utilise the emotionally stirring capabilities of music to craft alluringly escapist, reverb-laden soundscapes that are easily identifiable and dissectible. Cabbaggage’s recent album Microscripts is dedicated to RobertContinue Reading
Single Reviews: 1 May 2023: Silky Disturbance, Gunnar Spardel, Sutras, Inezona
Photo by Polina Romanenko Silky Disturbance – Indebted To You alternative Bristolian experimenters Silky Disturbance hammer into psychedelic depths on “Indebted To You”, an idiosyncratic cut from the group’s new album LensContinue Reading