New Born City is the follow up to McCullagh’s 2013 North South Divide record and has been out in the UK since early May. The record is produced by John Power (Cast) and includes the singles Towerland Lullaby, Box Of Tricks and She’s Calling. McCullagh says he influences include Donovan, Bolan, Weller and Johnny Cash […]
I first came across Jens-Uwe Beyer with one of his tracks on the excellent Pop Ambient series on Kompakt and The Emissary marks the artists first full length outing under his own name.
Classic Albums, John Scott takes a look at that perennial favourite Astral Weeks by Van (The Man) Morrsison…
John Otway used to base much of his act around being a one-hit-wonder. Until he became a two-hit-wonder. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Released in June “Before This World” is Taylor’s seventeenth studio album and represents the artist’s first album of original material since “October Road” of 2002 – for that reason alone it represents something quite interesting and I imagine partly why it was a Billboard number one album in the States. Broadly speaking the tracks herein […]
Jazz funk is not a genre I’ve explored a great deal but this album suggests it may well be having a bit of a deeper delve… Idris Muhammad was born Leo Morris in New Orleans in 1939 and says that he’s a “natural drummer” whose gift came from the “Creator”. He made his recording debut […]
Croatian Cacija fled that war torn land in the early 90s to seek safety with his family in Frankfurt, Germany where aged just six he began professional music lessons and received a degree in classical piano from the city’s conservatoire. Cajica gained both a Bachelors and a Masters Degree at the Kunstuniversitat in Graz, Austria […]
It seems that nearly all the new music I’ve been listening to lately has had a distinctly retro feel. None more so than Coming Home by Leon Bridges. Twenty six year old Bridges from Fort Worth, Texas had been working as a dishwasher but due to chance meeting with Austin Jenkins from psych-rock band White […]
“Iconic” is a much overused word but when it comes to Tubular Bells, its use is entirely justified. From its cover art to its multi tracked instrumentation, the album embodies the early seventies just as Sergeant Pepper did for the late sixties a few years earlier and Never Mind The Bollocks would do for the […]
A nice release, this, from the ever-reliable 4AD label. Pixx is a new signing – and it’s immediately obvious why she’s piqued 4AD’s interest. The music will please both 4AD purists and listeners new to the label. Pixx is a pseudonym for 19 year old Hannah Rodgers from London. I’ve been intrigued by comments which […]
Let’s start at the beginning – Max Richter is one of my favourite post-classical composers who you might say has literally been around the block. He currently records on the German classical label Deutsche Grammophon, but many of his earlier releases were via the imprint ‘130701’, an offshoot of the indie label FatCat Records, one-time […]
This is the second outing in about a year from Christopher J Connelly (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Sons Of The Silent Age) and Jason C Novak (Acumen Nation, DJ?, Acucrack, Czar) and can be summed up in one word (pretty much) BRUTAL !!!
30 year old Nikki Lane caused a bit of a fuss when she said she wanted to be the next First Lady of outlaw country. Some over-sensitive country fans misinterpreted this as her suggesting that she actually was the next First Lady. “On one of my first interviews, someone asked me who I would like […]
Now in its eleventh year the much loved Fest Jazz at Chateauneuf-du-Faou certainly didn’t disappoint visitors this year…if only the same could be said for the weather which was excitedly moist to say the very least.
Aside from the music itself, one thing that popular music culture has always provided is a home for people – both artists and fans – who don’t fit elsewhere in the world. Ezra Furman is a cross dressing, bisexual, depressive, observant Jew. If you happen not to be a cross-dressing, bisexual, depressive, observant Jew but […]
What do you think of when you think of New Zealand? Sheep perhaps? – the country has 7 sheep for every human inhabitant. Hobbits maybe? – Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations have made the islands practically synonymous with Middle Earth. The Haka? – The Maori war dance is famous for striking terror in the hearts of […]