indie
Album: Nicole Faux Naiv - Moon RallyMonday, 04 April 2022![]() Although Moon Rally has unambiguous musical roots, pinning down where it’s from is trickier. The album’s title nods to Air’s Moon Safari, as does a fair degree of the rhythmic chug and shimmering atmospherics. Sweden’s Radio Department come to mind... Read more... |
The Weather Station, Scala review - communion achieved against the oddsThursday, 24 March 2022![]() Acknowledging the contrast between personal and public situations, The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman says “I have a lot of songs about not being heard, yet I’m holding this microphone.” An individual’s voice can be ignored, but if it’s given a... Read more... |
Dream Wife, St Lukes and the Winged Ox, Glasgow review - an exhilarating reminder of live music's powerThursday, 24 March 2022![]() Rakel Mjöll has a nice line in understatement. “We released this album in July 2020”, she said at one point, referring to her band’s sophomore record “So When You Gonna...” before adding, dryly, “which wasn’t the best time”. Finally, nearly two... Read more... |
The Coral, Barrowland, Glasgow review - pop experimentalists prove overly smoothMonday, 21 March 2022![]() Even blessed with youthful confidence, when the Coral first stepped out on the Barrowland stage 21 years ago to support the late, great Joe Strummer it’s hard to imagine they could have foreseen that they’d be able to return to the same stage over... Read more... |
White Lies, SWG3, Glasgow review - indie veterans get their groove onThursday, 17 March 2022![]() White Lies began their set as many bands would end it, with a familiar hit ringing out and an explosion of confetti over the crowd. Such a tactic made you wonder if the three-piece would peak too soon here, mirroring the band’s commercial fortunes... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Broadcast - Maida Vale Sessions, Microtronics, Mother Is The Milky WaySunday, 13 March 2022![]() In 2000, Broadcast’s first album The Noise Made By People entered the UK’s mainstream Top 100 and claimed the top spot on the dance charts. Three years later, their second album Haha Sound was in the Top Ten of America’s dance/electronic charts. It... Read more... |
Album: Midlake - For the Sake of Bethel WoodsSaturday, 12 March 2022![]() After a count in, the first lines of album opener "Commune" are “I’ve been away now far too long, lost and alone with no commune.” Fair enough. For the Sake of Bethel Woods is Midlake’s first album since 2013’s Antiphon.The second track is “Bethel... Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 69: Andrew Weatherall, Courtney Barnett, Wings, Los Bitchos, Popol Vuh and moreSaturday, 05 March 2022![]() As the year starts to rev up, theartsdesk on Vinyl returns with over 7000 words on new music on plastic, a smörgåsbord of the kind you will find nowhere else. This month we also have a competition for the dance music lovers among you, a chance to... Read more... |
Music Reissues Weekly: Bernard Butler - People Move OnSunday, 27 February 2022![]() This new edition of People Move On, Bernard Butler’s April 1998 debut solo album, takes what was issued then to up to four CDs. Nothing unusual in that. Box set-isations of a single album customarily add alternate versions, outtakes, non-album... Read more... |
Album: Melt Yourself Down - Pray For Me I Don't Fit InFriday, 18 February 2022![]() Melt Yourself Down’s last one, 100% Yes, was the most ballistically exciting album of 2020. The band are unique, a six-piece mutation who, as their album title indicates, don’t fit in anywhere. The good news is that they’ve not tempered what they’re... Read more... |
Album: Basia Bulat - The GardenThursday, 17 February 2022![]() On her sixth album, Basia Bulat re-records 16 of her own songs with specially created string arrangements. The Garden isn’t a best-of, more a recalibration of how the Canadian singer-songwriter sees herself through her music and how the meanings of... Read more... |
Album: Metronomy - Small WorldWednesday, 16 February 2022![]() Metronomy have gone all out to knock off their quirky corners here, and goodness, it’s worked. It’s quite a move from a band whose eccentricity has always been part and parcel of their image – and they really haven’t done it by halves, in fact they’... Read more... |
