NEW MUSIC: Tom Ashbrook – Oaktrees
Ambient and (neo)classical compositions can often tread a fine line, evaporating into the ethereal realm or overstating their grandeur. Both extremes lack the required balance of satiating the heart and the mind. In the hands of auteurs such as Nils Frahm, Brian Eno and Harold Budd, music of this ilk can blossom and sway with the most subtle of transitions and adjustments – and it’s those … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Tom Ashbrook – Oaktrees
NEW MUSIC: Lewis Goldmark – Twilighting
Lewis Goldmark is the name of the new project from Liam Judson, best known for his work with Belles Will Ring and his production work with bands such as Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Cloud Control. ‘Twilighting‘ is his debut single and the first taste of a full-length album, set for release in 2020. The single is a warm and wistful slice of indie guitar … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Lewis Goldmark – Twilighting
NEW MUSIC: Abracadabra – Dirty Pan
There’s a wonderfully deadpan, stylised quality to this new single from Oakland CA duo Abracadabra (duo Hannah Skelton and Chris Niles). It’s pure 80s synth pop – the good kind where robots and fashion were the future, Kraftwerk were kings and neon was a colour. There’s also a playfulness to the music of ‘Dirty Pan’, a day-glo utopian sound built on lush washes of keyboards such … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Abracadabra – Dirty Pan
NEW MUSIC: Seatbelts – Sinful City
The jangly art-pop factor is high on this new track from the new project based around James Madden and Ryan Murphy of Liverpool indie pop quartet, Hooton Tennis Club. The horns are the clincher, giving it a soft soul sound before a fuzzed out guitar solo brings the song to an abrupt halt. Infectious as hell too. Reminds us a bit of a cross between … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Seatbelts – Sinful City
SPECIAL SOUNDS FOR STRANGE TIMES: Romy Vager (RVG)
Over the last few months, one of the things many people have been turning to during periods of isolation during the pandemic is music. Music for distraction, companionship, solace and joy. Whatever the reason, putting on a favourite album or discovering something new that pulls you in and hits the spot, intellectually or emotionally, can be a great and wonderful experience. In this series we … Continue reading SPECIAL SOUNDS FOR STRANGE TIMES: Romy Vager (RVG)
NEW MUSIC: Mockcharge – Marauder
New York metal trio Mockcharge deliver in spades on their recent single ‘Marauder’, with its breakneck speed riffs, deadly screams and at its mid-point it drops gears and gets low-slung and sleazy before a hi-hat count-off sends the song to its crashing conclusion. To our ears it sounds like a beautiful collision between Motörhead and White Zombie. Of the track the band say: “This song … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Mockcharge – Marauder
NEW MUSIC: Midnight Garden
Midnight Garden is Nick Donlin and Zach Vouga, an electronic duo based in San Diego, CA. who have an album called Blue Tomorrows due out on August 12th, 2020. Sad synth music is the perfect combination to our ears – that mix of synthetic, digital sounds and melancholic human emotion. Midnight Garden mix those ingredients nicely on their single ‘For The Last Time’. It’s a song … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Midnight Garden
NEW MUSIC: IDLES – A Hymn
IDLES have released ‘A Hymn’, a new single and accompanying video clip from their forthcoming new album Ultra Mono, set for release on 25 September 2020 on Partisan Records. The music video features the band driving with their parents through their hometown streets to the shops, providing a grey window into suburban English life that matches the song’s heavyhearted churn. Frontman Joe Talbot says of … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: IDLES – A Hymn
NEW MUSIC: Buddy Glass – Wasted Habit
Sydney songwriter Buddy Glass (Bruno from Peabody) is back with a brand new single and video, his first since he released his self-titled solo album in 2014. ‘Wasted Habit’ comes from his forthcoming new album Wow & Flutter, due out September 4th on Glass Half Empty Records. ‘Wasted Habit’ is a hard-strummed acoustic and densely fuzzed out electric shakedown. There’s desperation and anxiety in the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Buddy Glass – Wasted Habit
ALBUM REVIEW: Khruangbin – Mordechai
Khruangbin Mordechai Dead Oceans / Inertia After a busy few years touring and riding the wave of attention that their last album Con Todo El Mundo brought them, Khruangbin retreated to their Texas studio to begin work on their third album. Earlier this year we got a mixed bag EP with Leon Bridges but that was a stop gap. Mordechai is the band spreading their … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Khruangbin – Mordechai
NEW MUSIC: Jo Meares – The Dirty Game Of Art
Synthesised terrains of psychedelic melancholia delivered in a weathered tone, halfway between a whisper and a growl. Following the release of A Handful Of Smoke (2009) and One More Time (2010) with The Honeyriders, his acclaimed solo albums King Of The Crystal Mountain(2014), Back To The World (2018) and last year’s singles ‘The Dream Hotel‘ and ‘Fields Of Yesterday‘, Australian songwriter Jo Meares recently began a new and creatively fertile collaboration with Melbourne musician Anth Dymke (Pony Face). Premiered on UK website Backseat … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Jo Meares – The Dirty Game Of Art
NEW MUSIC: Montecore – Ott Sauce
Straight out of the gates into a krautrock, psych sprint from Chicago group Montecore. The song comes from their One Night album that came out in May and they’ve already followed it up with a new album, House Fire Themes, which hits the same frantic, hyper-melodic hypnotic sweet-spot, Those kinds of songs that could (and should) go on endlessly as guitar solos fire off into … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Montecore – Ott Sauce
Doubtful Sounds 