...ruminates on the relationship between Norway and the United States, particularly on the flow of migrants in the nineteenth century. Having spent some time on the remote island of Traena, he uncovered correspondence and photographs sent between siblings who had never met as one had emigrated to Hawai'i and there is something in the dichotomy between two different civilisations that has been captured here.
Yearly Archives: 2025
237 posts
Whilst the arrestingly cheesy-peculiar front cover of Impostor Syndrome is rather offputtingly redolent of something you might easily flick past in a car boot sale crate of decades-old novelty records, inside the sleeve resides an assemblage of absolutely charming warmth and ingenuity.
...although ostensibly jazz, the pieces recorded here run through a real mix of styles from light impressionism to dramatic rhythmic workouts.
Both a revolving door group and a single-minded mission, Matt Pond PA were officially inaugurated eponymically in Philadelphia way back in 1998, with the debut Deer Apartments LP. Since this beginning, the off-to-one-side enterprise has been adroitly steered by self-described ‘dignified drifter’ Matt Pond through innumerable membership configurations, label deals, modes of operations and sonic shifts across prolific releases of various shapes and sizes.
Utilising, electric, pedal steel and Portuguese guitars along with electronics, his sparse, diffuse sounds evoke the lull of the surface and the mystery of the depths.
It is absolutely great that these pieces have found the light of day after all these years and is an essential addition to what is a relatively slender discography for such a long-standing group.
With cosmic horror having made something of a sly comeback in recent years (as the malign influence of HP Lovecraft has given way to the Thomas Ligottis and Laird Barrons of this world), there’s never been a better time to immerse yourself in the secrets of this strange, physics-and-architecture-defying house and its wonderful gallery of grotesques for a unique slice of surrealist horror.
...an acute observation of a time in this country when things seemed remarkably bleak; but it doesn't jeer or harass, just observes and reports. It just so happens that the musical making is a delight and the singer has lived to tell the tale.
... a solid slice of guitar / synth graze, psychologically skewered on Adi’s impassioned delivery ...White Souls In Black Suits is a welcome Clock DVA reissue with the promise of more classics to re-released in the near future.
Paul Horlick has long been one of the of the most influential people on the Bristol gig scene. As well as co-owning Invada Records and running the sadly missed Swarf Finger, he has been a Teenager In Trouble, been part of Black Sheep and exhaustively and enthusiastically promoted shows in the city for longer than I can remember. So to hear that another label was up and running and there was to be a showcase for Black Mound Sound Lab in the cellar of The Exchange with five acts, entrance for a fiver and lots of merch available
Noah Baumbach invokes the self-reflexive spirits of all the great directors who’ve made movies about making movies with this great-looking but languorous and elementally compromised comedy-drama that follows a movie star (George Clooney, by the look of it playing himself) and his forbearing agent (Adam Sandler) on a tour of Europe that soon ripens into a journey around the interior of his own navel.
To be fair, you can see why this film would have been annoying / perplexing to reviewers back in 1981, and many of those issues remain. It is genre-(and gender-)bending in every way. Is it a monster movie? A psychological thriller? A spy film, even, with heavily codified Cold War chic?
...really does come with a wave of enthusiasm as he and the band welcome you again into their dream-like world; the soft focus of the production, the ethereal keening voices, it all draws you in with open arms. It might be a little jaded, but there is always hope.
... after a snaky Sebadoh-infused instrumental prologue to usher us in (“Theme”), we’re firmly thrust into a series of tune-stuffed songs, with Josie’s magnetic vocals pulling things into sharp yet warm focus for the majority of proceedings.
Keith's voice is from that landscape, and his love of the outdoors comes through in the warm northern English tones; but the esoteric nature of the words, describing ancient geology, are secure in their place within this wilderness.
...they conjure up a momentous whirling sound that travels across borders seemingly at will, struggling up steep inhospitable inclines and streaming across open plains, as if something were in hot pursuit. But through it all they are reacting to one another's playing in a way that showers the portentous percussion with streams of fiery frustrated strings.
There’s a falling spaceman on screen and you feel the helplessness in the sonic tumble of those sharpened melodics rush on over you. A life-affirming experience that ends on an updated version of "The Hacker" that mauls supernova, stuttering in harshly beaten majesty, rough-cut keys and an urgent thrust of images that pile upon your retina in stark black'n'white.
Multi-instrumentalist Jan Todd's fourth album has Frostlake has her once again teaming up with Terry Todd to provide bass tones; but the addition of Andy Peake on piano has imbued the pieces here with a timeless air and a real sense of the soft hush of a dreamworld.