The title “Tone Phase 1 for 2 Guitars & 4 Oscillators” is a giveaway, clearly indicating what’s going to be heard once the LP has landed on the record player. And, indeed, the first track on the second side of Eleh’s newly reissued Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis 1 seamlessly fuses single tones generated by electric guitars and analogue oscillators. However, what’s less apparent from taking in the title is the magnetic power exerted by the track during its translucent progress over ten minutes. Hypnotic.The same applies to what follows: the also-ten-minute “Tone Phase 2 for Read more ...

What an extraordinary band are The Punch Brothers, a bunch of conspicuously talented musicians whose six albums never fail to delight and stimulate as they push the boundaries of acoustic music to what you think would be beyond breaking point. It’s been said that they’ve taken “bluegrass to its next evolutionary stage, drawing equal inspiration from the brain and the heart”.Virtuosos all, The Unsung Adventures of Punch Brothers marks the debut of fiddler Brittany Haas with the band which, in addition to Chris Thiele, includes Chris Eldridge on guitar, Paul Kowert on bass, and Noam Pikelny on Read more ...

The key track gives the album its title. “Where the Fades Meet” opens with swelling strings, which are swiftly underpinned by groovy, shuffling, percussion. The lyrics are carried by a chorale singing of a “fading signal”, “stillness” and “shadows.” It seems to about what lies in the gaps between the perceivable. The melody has a vaguely eastern Mediterranean lilt. Overall, it leans into evoking an exotica-inclined Rotary Connection – the late-Sixties/early Seventies outfit that was a core influence on acid jazz.“Where the Fades Meet” is the sixth track on the seventh album – there has also Read more ...

I didn’t want to review Shania Twain. My sense of her is of ancient mega-selling hits I can’t stand. I didn’t even go to her Sunday afternoon set at Glastonbury 2024. But it’s difficult to get most music writers to cover the biggest pop stars of our era. So here we are. And, you know what? It's a much better album than I was anticipating.I wasn’t looking forward to slating a smorgasbord of nursery rhyme, line-dance cheese. Given her remit, it felt unfair and pointless. But I’m off the hook. Even the songs that head that way, such as the breakbeat-rolling “That’s the Money”, boast acceptable Read more ...

There’s a long and rich tradition of scabrous indie rock lyricism from Yorkshire. Sheffield’s Jarvis Cocker and Alex Turner tend to get the plaudits, but the particular kind of gimlet-eyed social observation and pub philosopher’s knack for a toothsome phrase can be found from Hull (Paul Heaton) to Rotherham (Rebecca Lucy Taylor), and Todmorden (Sydney Minsky-Sargeant of Working Men’s Club). And Leeds has its whole own strain, starting with the screeds of The Mekons and Gang of Four, running through David Gedge and Ricky Wilson in his spikier moments to Lily Fontaine of English Teacher and, Read more ...

In a similar vein to 2024’s Mercury-nominated album Silence is Loud, Nia Archives' latest offering is an appealing blend of jungle and pop. It’s a strange concoction but a successful one. In case you don’t know, Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt is Yorkshire born DJ and singer-songwriter known for melding genres.Opening track “Feelingz Go Numb” sets the tone – that rousing jungle beat is something of a call to arms. One thing Nia Archives doesn’t struggle with is writing memorable tunes – she makes it seem a breeze. “Around the Bend” has a fantastic guitar hook and overall sound reminiscent of Read more ...

It is never a great sign when a local authority is forced to comment on a music festival. The opening night of the In The Park series of shows at Newcastle's Exhibition Park forced such a reaction from the city council, after claims of overcrowding to see headliner Lewis Capaldi perform, on a day of sweltering heat. Nothing amiss was found according to the council, and by this night, the final one in the series of shows, there were thankfully no issues to cause concern. Instead the sunshine was accompanied by a light breeze to create an atmosphere more suitable for picnics than rock Read more ...

Everything I Ever Saw continues The Menzingers’ tradition of heartfelt storytelling through their signature Americana punk rock style. It's an album built on consistency rather than reinvention, leaning heavily into the formula of impassioned vocals and steady rock riffs that has made the band so beloved. The use of Shin Noguchi’s street photography for the artwork immediately stamps the album with a recognisable personality, the same intriguing, sombre vulnerability that is present across most of their album covers is undeniable here. In fact, it is one of their strongest artwork Read more ...

Reviewing The Clash’s 27 October 1976 appearance at Birmingham’s Barbarella’s, UK music weekly Sounds detected a particular, unique, characteristic of the band. Jonh (sic) Ingham identified “a Clash trick of everything dropping out except for Mick Jones' guitar, dropping back in two bars later behind a thundering crack from Terry Chimes' baseball bat sized drumsticks.”The drop-out was a feature of dub, the form of studio-created reggae which emerged in the early Seventies. Music historian David Katz has pointed to “Ivan Itler the Conqueror,” a 1970 single side credited to Bunny Lee Allstars, Read more ...

The Fez Festival of World Sacred Music has been peerless over the years in presenting world/global music acts in one magical place. Only WOMAD is a serious rival as a long-established global music fest.Fez is also special in another way, the city has miles of car-free winding alleys in the medina that make you feel like you are in a time machine spun back several centuries. It’s slightly easier not to get totally lost since GPS arrived but I still managed it several times.It has a reputation as one of the Islamic world’s great spiritual cities, you feel the energy of the Sufi saints in the Read more ...

Ever since he crashed into the world with that eerie masterpiece, Maxinquaye (1995) – an album that has never aged – Bristol-born Tricky, once a maverick member of Massive Attack, has mined a vein of suffering and pain, extracting, disc after disc, the essence of his troubled shadow and ancestry. The new solo venture, hot on the heels of a rich diversity of collaborations, is no different. This is the music of a haunted man, whose wounds have nourished streams of musical consciousness that speak to all of us, and never feels like maudlin navel-gazing or confessional self-indulgence. Read more ...

Mould are a post-punk sounding trio from Bristol. The press release says that their debut album is “13 tracks that explore the horrors of the outside world and the internal minefield of the brain”. A nice description, and very post-COVID in aspect. Also correct. The lyrics are the best thing about Hoping as a Coping Mechanism, born of prosaic nihilism and boredom, with a seasoning of desperation.Musically, Mould’s angular energy makes up for what they lack in musical originality, and the whole thing is done in about 35 minutes so they don’t outstay their welcome. They veer from harsh Idles- Read more ...