Nicole Saphos Band – Figure Eights (Album Review)
There’s something bittersweet about rummaging through old boxes in the attic. Artefacts from the past, like old photographs, love letters, and cultural knick-knacks, can inspire poignant trips down memory lane. In the case of Nicole Saphos, home-recorded VHS tapes were the source of inspiration for her third album, Figure Eights. AnContinue Reading
Dimitris Kakavoulis Quartet – Curves (Album Review)
The shortest distance between two places is a straight line. However, travelling on a curve can provide a more scenic view. The music of Athenian multi-instrumentalist Dimitris Kakavoulis combines elements of afro, funk, Latin, Brazilian and jazz music to create energized pieces full of improvisational skill and arrangments that alwaysContinue Reading
Katie Gerardine O’Neill – Into the Beyond (Album Review)
As an artist, musician and performer, Katie Gerardine O’Neill is perhaps best known for being a member of Dublin-based trio Alien She, whose mix of high-intensity pop, punk and indie – with an experimental bent – saw the band make a name for themselves on the Irish underground music scene. InContinue Reading
Single Reviews: 4 March 2023: Guy Blue, Cian Nugent, Melanie MacLaren, Mimesis, Wise Up
Photo by Scott Evans Guy Blue – No Other Life (Without You) alternative If you’re due a cry, “No Other Life (Without You)” by Milwaukeean indietronica musician Jack Ladd, AKA Guy Blue, might be able to open the floodgates. A simply gorgeous melody is given heightened meaning with lyrics thatContinue Reading
The Lonely Bell – Ghost Town Burning (Album Review)
As societal creatures, city living fulfils all of our modern-day needs. The interconnectivity of the masses undoubtedly occasions convenience. However, living on the peripheries of society, in small rural settlements, detached from the machines of big towns and cities, can supplement inconvenience with an advantaged perspective, though some moreContinue Reading
Rushkeys – Outlook (Album Review)
Rushkeys is the moniker of Lithuanian producer Domas Ruškys. His stage name is clever, with his family name Ruškys being phonetically close to Rushkeys, a word that accurately describes his bolting, notation-heavy electronic dance music. Ruškys has been a professional sound engineer, composer and recording artist for over a decadeContinue Reading
They Are Gutting a Body of Water & A Country Western – An Insult to the Sport (Split EP Review)
The science on friendships is out; they are critical to our mental health and general well-being. Friendships allow us to share our ideas without fear of being judged and can make the burdens of life seem less insurmountable. Unfortunately, the importance of physical comradery has waned in our digital world.Continue Reading
Bondo – Print Selections (Album Review)
LA-based four-piece Bondo make delicately robust music on their debut album Print Selections. If “delicately robust” sounds like an oxymoron to you, that’s because it is. The group’s music is contradictory in that it is both gentle and edgy, innocent and sinister, and lulls the listener into a strange worldContinue Reading
Single Reviews: 27 February 2023: Vitesse X, Michael It’z, Shayan Javadi, Wolf & Clover, Sweet Giant
Photo by Kyle Johnson Vitesse X – Right Now alternative pop NY-based electronic thaumaturge Jordan Stern, AKA Vitesse X, spins an intoxicating waterfall of sputtered melodies, hazed-out vocals, and danceable percussion on her recent single “Right Now”. The single is taken from the upcoming follow-up to her debut album, Us Ephemeral,Continue Reading
Album Reviews: February 2023: Igor Ballereau, United Isolation Ensemble, Clara Engel
Photo by Sinitta Leunen Igor Ballereau – ijkl French composer Igor Ballereau leads the listener down complex corridors of dark piano, expressive guitar, gutsy percussion and strange sonic experiments on his recent album ijkl. Field recordings of crumbling earth and falling stones are set against sporadic and discordant strikes onContinue Reading