Album Reviews

Album Reviews

Egg – The Civil Surface

Well, this re-release on Esoteric Recordings is certainly one for the progressive heads. The year is 1969 and Egg emerged from an earlier quartet with Steve Hillage going by the name of Uriel, but Egg founding members were Dave Stewart (No not the one of Eurythmics fame) on the organ, Mont Campbell on bass and […]

Album Reviews

Deep Purple – Made In Japan Deluxe Edition

I’ve had this record on vinyl for years but apart from the odd outing for Child in Time I’d not really given it the respect that others clearly think it deserves. Truth be known apart from Hawkwind my classic rock collection was pretty much confined to the shelves of the music room…this was until about […]

Album Reviews

Natalie Merchant – Natalie Merchant

Now, I have been known to enjoy a bit of 10 000 Maniacs in the past but I never really got into them in any kind of big way and they were never top of my list when it came to choosing what got played next, so when Natalie Merchant’s eponymous album landed on my […]

Album Reviews

Gus Gus – Mexico

Out yesterday in the UK and today in US, this album on Kompakt is one I’ve been looking forward to taking a listen to for a while now. Icelandic band Gus Gus and their Arabian Horse record were what initially highlighted the Kompakt label to me after a long time in the electronic music wilderness.

Album Reviews

InDuologue – Blue Skies

Induologue are Alexandra Lerta (vocals) and Vasilis Stefanopoulos (double bass) and is described as a dialogue between the voice and souble bass…simple enough then. Blue Skies was recorded in a chapel in the woods of a Dutch National Reserve over a couple of days and this adds a really beautiful atmosphere to the record. The […]

Album Reviews

Philipp Gorbachev – The Silver Album

Out now on the Comeme label The Silver Album from this self exiled Russian now living in Berlin is a difficult one to tie down and I must admit that on the first few listens I found it difficult to get my head around. The Silver Album could never be accused of being easy listening […]

Album Reviews

Elekfantz – Dark Tales and Love Songs

This is the first full length album for Elekfants Daniel and Leo who first met over 20 years ago when they played together in a blues band. Daniel is well known in his native Brazil and is something of a local hero where he is considered one of the country’s finest Djs. Leo on the […]

Album Reviews

Rebolledo – Momento Drive

Kompakt is fast becoming one of my favourite “go to” labels when it comes to techno but this release from Rebolledo is a bit different in that it’s actually a DJ mix…yes, remember them?? This is the first major outing for Rebolledo since his first full length debut Super Vato way back in 2011 and […]

Album Reviews

Killer Be Killed – Killer Be Killed

“A perfect blend of a legend, a freak, a beast and a wookie.” –  Troy Sanders. A strange thing happened today: unusually I was stumped at an appropriate way to start this particular review  and was mutely & vacantly staring at a blank document, but the  Mastodon frontman and Killer Be Killed protagonist has provided […]

Album Reviews

Helge Lien Trio – Badgers and Other Beings

What a great title for a record first of all! Badgers and Other Beings is an album of clever jazz featuring pianist, drums and bass. The Helge Lien Trio has been a bit of a hit on the jazz scene since their breakthrough album Hello Troll and it’s no wonder really. Lien is joined here […]

Album Reviews

Jan Lundgren Trio – Flowers Of Sendai

Recorded and mixed by Stefano Amerio in Italy on July 15th – 16th and November 1st 2013 Flowers of Sendai is released on the Bee Jazz label and here it’s been downloaded from HIGHRESAUDIO. The trio is made up of Jan Lundgren (piano), Mattias Svenson (bass) and Zoltan Csors JR (drums). Style wise Flowers of […]

Album Reviews

Sontaag -Sontaag

I was very excited when the post lady pipped and handed me the envelope that I knew would contain what is being heralded as “A stunning new album in the finest tradition of progressive rock and space rock” because being a bit of an ageing hippie I’m partial to both a smattering of prog and […]

Album Reviews

Kaito – Less Time Until The End

I really enjoyed the last Kaito offering, Until The End Of Time which came out in October on the Kompakt label calling it thoughtful and thought provoking and indeed this record could be summed up similarly – in fact it’s the same tunes bereft of their drum tracks. Essentially it’s an ambient album that has […]

Album Reviews

Melphi – Through The Looking Glass

Melphi are a Dutch four piece and say that they are inspired by contemporary Scandinavian pop music. Through The Looking Glass is their first full length album being preceded by an unnamed EP in 2011. The band were formed in 2010 by Rogier Telderman who writes most of the music here (and plays piano) but […]

Album Reviews

Issac Hayes – For The Sake of Love

This is the first of a couple of Hayes releases that I took a listen to this month and this particular album was released in ’78 on the Polydor label. For the Sake of Love was Hayes second studio album for the label and reached #15 on the US R&B album chart. Just the Way […]

Album Reviews

Patrick Adams Presents PHREEK

More funky disco rereleases here and I really make no apology for it…disco is making a comeback in the Hifi Pig household and we’re loving it. And so this time we have the expanded edition of the classic Patrick Adams Presents PHREEK. I think the opportunity to rediscover some of these classics from the 70s […]

Album Reviews Uncategorized

The Salsoul Orchestra – Street Sense

As soon as I see that rainbow coloured logo and the name Salsoul I know I’m gonna just love the record it’s attached to – somewhere I’e got a press cutting of me Djing with the caption “Salsoul at Nine o’clock” underneath. And the six original (and four remixed bonus tracks) on Street Sense really […]

Album Reviews

Omen Opus – The Plague

I thoroughly enjoyed the sheer energy and other-worldliness sci-fi themes of Omen Opus’ Archives album I reviewed a couple of months ago and so was really looking forward to giving this CD a spin. It’s labelled as a two disc EP Album and was released in May 2012 on the brilliantly named Monty Maggot Records. […]

Album Reviews

Loleatta Holloway – Loleatta Holloway

There’s a slew of great disco albums being released at the moment and I reviewed Loleatta Holloway’s “Queen of the Night” only a short while ago – any excuse as I’m quite a fan of this dance music legend and pleased her music is being made available to a new and younger generation. This eponymous album […]

Album Reviews

Wolfmother – New Crown

Well, this one came as a bit of a shock.  After several lineup changes, the temporary hijacking of the band’s material by increasingly egotistical frontman Andrew Stockdale and a break-up which lasted about a month, Wolfmother have pulled a Beyonce. No they haven’t been captured un-photogenically at a Superbowl half-time show, they’ve dropped a surprise […]

Album Reviews

Vinny Peculiar – The Root Mull Affect. A Retrospective

Alan Wilkes (AKA Vinny Peculiar – his real name is “lame”) is a Salford (NW England) based singer songwriter and “The Root Mull Affect” is a collection of outtakes and remixes picked from 15 years of his recordings and represents his 10th album release. Some will be aware of Vinny Peculiar and he has indeed […]

Album Reviews

Peter Wyngarde – When Sex Leers its Inquisitive Head

If you watched television during the 60s and 70s (69 -74 to be more precise) in the UK then you will recognise, if not immediately, Peter Wyngarde’s Jason King character from ITC’s Department S program. For those not familiar then take Austin Powers and inject it directly in the gentleman’s region with a gallon or […]

Album Reviews

Slowly Rolling Camera – Slowly Rolling Camera

Slowly Rolling Camera is a British four piece band made up of Dionne Bennett (lyrics and vocals), Deri Roberts (sound design, electronics, trombone, additional saxophone and production), Elliot Bennett (drums and drum programming) and Dave Stapleton who is the composer as well as playing keys. There’s a whole host of other contributing musicians on the […]

Album Reviews

Fire – The Magic Shoemaker

Fire were a late 60’s/70’s three piece band, The Magic Shoemaker (“a fairytale opera”) was released on the Pye label in 1970 and was recorded in January 1970 at the label’s studios in London. This reissue is re-mastered from the original master tapes by Ben Wiseman at the Audio Archiving Company and released on Esoteric […]

Album Reviews

OmenOpus – The Archives

OmenOpus are, it has to be said, a new band to me and they have a handful of albums and EPs on the Monty Maggot label that we’ll take a listen to over the next couple of months, but judging by what I’ve heard so far they certainly know where they’re going and what they’re […]

Album Reviews

David Crosby – Croz

Released at the end of January 2014 on Blue Castle Records (the label that Crosby founded with Graham Nash in 2011) and downloaded here in FLAC from HighResAudio, “Croz” is David Crosby’s first album of solo material in twenty years and contains eleven new and original tracks recorded at Crosby’s home studio. Croz will be […]

Album Reviews

Anne Hytta – Draumsyn

Anne Hytta is a leading player of the Hardanger fiddle in her home country of Norway and here in Draumsyn performs her own music which is very much rooted in the traditions of this distinctive instrument. Here’s what her website says about the record “The music is both modern and old – new and original […]