...based on recordings that they had completely overlooked, so there is a feeling of reinvention here as well which -- along with the bizarre track titles, a sense of the absurd and a generous coating of humour -- only adds to the charm.
A raucous revelry that burns solidly throughout, pokes the post-punk corpse, churns wildly industrial, sounds that hold well to that roughly-hued head of the cover that scars darkly primitive. Magazine really feels like a brooding wound of discontent that’s still wide open demanding to be prodded.
...at about twenty-three minutes is over before you know it; but the ride is well worth the effort. Meatshell's ideas are varied and their vision limitless, and the fun they appear to be having is a large part of the charm.
...takes the familiar drifting folklore-influenced soundscapes and merges them with strings and voices for an unexpected journey. The album uses the live recordings as a basis and then re-imagines them in the studio, the distant piano and drifting trumpet immediately sending the listener off into a world where edges are blunted and the things softly reverberate.
..couches his clear, upbeat style over seven varying pieces that range from two to nine minutes and encompass blues, slide and Spanish inflections within a landscape of wide-open desert spaces.
...operates on a smaller scale than previously, dealing with stand-up comedians as opposed to rock stars (A Star Is Born) or master conductors (Maestro). Thus it feels like a return to the roots, an origin story for an ordinary but talented Joe who gets his break. He’s more interested in the neurotically funny camaraderie of a street-level scene, rather than the curse of individual high-functioning genius.
Mattias brings his trademark textural sax and synth backdrops while Black Koyo bring the ritual chants, guimbri (a three-string bass lute), the qraqeb (a kind of metal castanet) and a sense of mystery. Together, these disparate acts make a six-part suite that offers Gnawa traditionals in expansive and often dreamlike settings.
To their credit, the film-makers at least try to build a more interesting arc for its central character than the simplistic 1980s cartoon ever bothered with; then it blows up his colourful world into three dimensions, telling his tale in a mostly playful register cribbed most obviously from Thor: Ragnarok.
The initial impetus for Green Prism came from composer Hilary Jeffery asking the late Keith Tippett to compose some music for Berlin-based group Zinc & Copper. This was originally premiered in Berlin in 2019, but unfortunately Keith was too ill to attend and sadly died soon after. In a form of tribute, Hilary took some of the pieces that Keith wrote and re-imagined them for a brass ensemble.
With getting on for forty people lined up to play covering trumpets, trombones and horns as well as reeds, viola, percussion and keyboards, their first album, The New Atomic, is a wild and unpredictable ride taking in big band swing, soundtrack tension, bluesy stomps, funky soul stylings and even torch song jazz.
The last forty years seem to have treated the members of the Loft well and with their musical history put through a prism of those years, the quality of the song-writing and playing shines through. Two albums in twelve months is good going and by the strength of this there will be more to come.
I knew I’d love this even before listening and when played its bleached-out summery disposition wove quite a spell, blistered with unexpected alt-pop moments that ear-wormed in the there and remained. So glad to see this back in print coupled with its reworked cousin
They wish to bring these classic folk forms into the twenty-first century and although there is still something ancient in the tone, there is enough modern inspiration and desire for deconstruction to make Vindespel resonate with today’s listener.
...plasticised blurs affixed to a melodic underling. Enveloped and overlapping textures feed in some nice weirded-out drone candy, slamming to full-on rock-out surprise before getting softly celestial. Intriguing shapes stippled and percussively bubbled, fluxing in hissy transits and snake-charmed loops.
...Both sides show the band working well but in different ways and the more you play, the more you discover... with five members bringing ideas and two vocalists with contrasting approaches, you know the outcome will be diverse.
...it’s time to commence one of the best weekends in London for lovers of all that’s loud and heavy, as Desertfest celebrates fifteen years of taking over Camden venues and turning them into temples to The Riff
...they have constructed four pieces over two volumes that use rhythmic repetition and respectful interplay to propel the listener into previously unconsidered realms. With trumpeter Ellen Kirkwood and sax man Matt Otignon as well as incisive drummer Evan Mannell, these extended improvisatory journeys are a breathtaking discovery.
Strange angels pouring into the on-screen fractal shapes and patterned orbits. Jarboe silhouetted, long hair flowing over her face, upturned hands to her solemnly pointed words, occasionally raising them in alter-like reverence to the intensity