Alternative | Mr Kinski's Music Shack

Alternative Jewels (say hello to the modern)

4 03 2018

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4CoHIaTzJBv510scBKTd49?si=5fda17aba7b4457c

Alternative Jewels (say hello to the modern) is the second in a series of blog posts attached to Spotify playlists I will be putting together, alongside my regular reviews of new releases. Alternative Jewels (say hello to the modern) is the first of two playlists of some of my favourite alternative songs.

I hope my playlists will shine the light on artists that you might not be familiar with, and maybe remind you of some acts that have slipped off your radar. I would love to read your comments about the tracks I have chosen – please feel free to follow my playlists and share them.

I hope you enjoy listening to Alternative Jewels (say hello to the modern).

Opening up the playlist are The Dear Hunter, with one of my favourite tracks from their Migrant album. Bring You Down is one of the band’s most accessible songs, and a great live track. That chorus!

migrant

The Dear Hunter now count one of my favourite singer-songwriters, Gavin Castleton, as one of their members, so I am even more keen to see them live again whenever they next head back to London. I also recommend The Color Spectrum and any of the Act albums, especially Act III: Life and Death.

Crowd Surf Off A Cliff by Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton is one of the most simple yet haunting songs of recent years. The key track on the Knives Don’t Have Your Back album never fails to move me.

Next up in my playlist is the more Fleetwood Mac than Fleetwood Mac pop/rock of Dreamworld by Rilo Kiley, taken from the Under The Blacklight album. I’m probably straying a little from the alternative music genre here, but its such a good song.

My most played track from St. Vincent is the short but achingly beautiful piano instrumental We Put A Pearl In The Ground from the Marry Me album. Cherokee by Cat Power, from her Sun album, is so evocative. Close your eyes and you can feel the blistering desert sun on your skin.

In Our Bedroom After The War is my favourite Stars album (closely followed by Heart). Personal is a tale of dating ads and rejection, and one of Stars most heartbreaking songs. You and I Are A Gang Of Losers by The Dears is a great single, with an amazing chorus and powerful lyrics. The Gang of Losers album is the perfect starting point if you are new to the band.

Hello? Is This Thing On? by !!! or Chk Chk Chk as they are often known, is the song that first introduced me to this wonderful NYC based dance-punk band. I get real Sandanista mid-period The Clash vibes from this track. The paranoia is off the scale here, and you will not be able to keep still whilst listening to this song. Dance suckers!

open heart zoo I had to include Danish prog-poppers Mew in this playlist. You can’t go wrong with any of Mews albums, but a good start would be No More Stories… from which Silas the Magic Car springs forth. The first UK artist on this playlist is Martin Grech, who has gone a little too quiet over the past few years. There have been rumblings of new material recently, so hopefully new music is not too far away. Tonight is one of my favourite songs from the Open Heart Zoo album. A lovely, beautifully paced arrangement and production.

Stay Tuned from Anja Garbarek’s Smiling & Waving features Richard Barbieri on atmospheric synths and co-production from Steven Wilson. An evolving, often stark production gives way to a delicious, Portishead like chorus.

I am a newcomer to the music of Destroyer, and whilst Poison Season and Kaputt are my favourite albums so far, Shooting Rockets (From The Desk of Night’s Ape) from Trouble In Dreams is one of their finest songs and so an obvious choice for my playlist. A bold, often discordant arrangement pays dividends after several listens.

midlake Shearwater are really an albums band, so it was hard to pick one track, but just for the vocal effects on the songs end section alone, I had to pick Leviathan, Bound from Rook. I fell in love with Midlake around the same time as Shearwater, and The Trials of Van Occupanther is such a thoughtfully constructed album. Head Home could easily have been released in the early to mid-70s and the song surely would have been a staple of FM radio in that era.

Another stripped back song is up next, with Joseph Arthur’s A Smile That Explodes from Our Shadows Will Remain. This is the Joseph Arthur that I prefer – an intimate, natural performance from a great singer-songwriter.

Field Music cross so many genres. Whilst they clearly fit into the alternative genre, I hear shades of 10CC and other 70s acts in their adventurous arrangements. I recommend the short and sharp Plumb and their latest, Open Here. The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ by the late Jackie Leven is the oldest track on this playlist. Leven was a Scottish songwriter who fronted the late 70s band Doll By Doll, and this song is a late career highlight.

lunatic-soul-II The final two tracks are worlds apart. I Need My Girl is taken from Trouble Will Find Me by The National, a band who I feel are making the best music of their career at the moment. Gravestone Hill is from Lunatic Soul II. Lunatic Soul is the progressive / electronic project from Riverside vocalist and bass guitarist Mariusz Duda. Lunatic Soul have gained a sizeable following and will shortly be releasing their sixth album. All of the albums are worth seeking out – but especially the two most recent albums – Walking On A Flashlight Beam and Fractured.

I hope you enjoyed listening to all of the songs, and maybe you’ve discovered some music you were not aware of. Feel free to leave a comment below and please share this blog / playlist. The next playlist will be the second Alternative Jewels – one of older songs – expect post-punk a-plenty.

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: Alternative, Playlist, Steven Wilson
Categories : Music Review, Playlist

The National – Sleep Well Beast

11 09 2017

Sleep Well Beast is the seventh album from Cincinnati’s The National, and the follow up to the 2013 release Trouble Will Find Me.

I’ve always loved the more mid-paced, atmospheric songs such as Lemonworld, Fireproof and the haunting I Need My Girl so Sleep Well Beast is a pure delight for me. Opening with glitchy percussion and buried deep in the mix atmospherics, Nobody Else Will Be There sets the scene for the majority of the album.

“Its getting cold again but New York’s gorgeous”

Sleep Well Beast is stuffed to the brim with a mix of memories, the trials and tribulations of getting older and attempts to make sense of our messed up world.

I think its a brave move opening the album with one of the slower paced tracks, rather than a more obvious opener such as Day I Die. After the disappointment of the last Arcade Fire album, its great to be reminded that there is still plenty of great alternative rock coming from across the Atlantic.

Walk It Back is a perfect example of how simplicity can lead to the most beautiful music. The simple three note guitar riff, underpinned by strings, in the songs mid-section is one of the most moving parts of the album. Talking of great guitar work – the white-hot guitar solo that leads into a wonderful delay heavy rhodes piano and rhythm outro on lead single The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness is a moment of pure magic.

“I can’t explain it any other, any other way”

Born To Beg feels like a love song to New York and to an un-named someone. The often discordant electronica bubbling alongside the repeating piano motif works well, and shines a bright light onto the aching lyrics.

Turtleneck is the album’s noisiest track, with a late 80s / early 90s U2 referencing guitar line in the 1st verse, and what sounds like a dig at the current resident of The White House. Achtung baby!

Empire Line has one of the album’s most infectious choruses and some Fripp like squealing, processed guitar lines as the track heads to its conclusion.

The intro to I’ll Still Destroy You sounds like 80s Bill Nelson – all handclaps and crazy marimba. The arrangement and instrumentation is playful and endearing, and at odds with the more sombre feel of the majority of the album. I would have loved to hear this song blaring out of an FM radio in the 80s. This one is a keeper!

Of course, after such a frenzied and uplifting track, you just know that the comedown is waiting just around the corner. Guilty Party is the delicious antidote to the joy that preceded it. The end section of Guilty Party, with a trumpet line battling for your attention against a looping guitar melody, is awe-inspiring.

“Its nobody’s fault – no guilty party”

Carin At The Liquor Store is the first of a pair of songs that almost feel like standards from the mid 1950s. The arrangement and band performances feel effortless on this track.

The National

Dark Side Of The Gym is my favourite song on the album, and likely to be one of my favourite songs of 2017. After a quiet, unassuming opening and chorus, the chords of verse two hit hard. The song slowly builds but keeps its core simplicity throughout.

And how can you not fall in love with a verse like this:

“I have dreams of anonymous castrati, singing to us from the trees
I have dreams of the first man and first lady, singing to us from the sea”

Seriously, everyone else just stop writing your self-obsessed lyrics and ask Matt Berninger and Carin Besser to supply your words from now on.

The psychedelic ending to Dark Side Of The Gym leads into the album’s title track and final song. The percussion and electronica backing of Sleep Well Beast has a feel of some of Bjork’s darker material. The fuzzy guitar and deep synths add a feeling of disquiet that mirror the lyrics of loss and dread.

“Thought that you were something good that I would always keep”

I hope you feel like diving into the new album by The National. Let me know if you enjoyed the album by leaving a comment below.

Buy The National – Sleep Well Beast on CD

Buy The National – Sleep Well Beast on vinyl

Buy The National – Trouble Will Find Me on vinyl

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alternative, Vinyl
Categories : Music Review

CousteauX – by CousteauX

22 07 2017

Cousteau were a London-based band who released three albums between 1999 and 2005. Their most well-known song was The Last Good Day of the Year from their debut album. After success in the UK, Italy and the US, the band went their separate ways in 2006. Singer Liam McKahey reunited with song-writer Davey Ray Moor in 2015 as CousteauX, and they released their first album in over 10 years in September 2017.

CousteauX opens with Memory is a Weapon, and instantly the years roll away. This is the music of the debut album with added pathos and a much richer, fuller production. I loved Liam’s two solo album’s, but team him up with Davey Ray Moor and something magical happens. The yearning backing vocals and simple piano motif over the insistent bass-line delivers a powerful and direct opening.

This Might Be Love rides on a bluesey acoustic guitar riff and a meandering synth line. One of the darker songs on the album, it has a real Americana feel to it, and breaks new ground for the band.

Track 3 is my favourite song on the album. Burma features an emotional acoustic bass and piano line, and for the first time I can really see the Bowie comparison with Liam’s vocals. Think Wild is The Wind and Bowie’s rich baritone from the Station To Station era. Burma is a song with wonderfully evocative lyrics, and one of Liam’s finest vocals.

“Go my love steady, just be upstairs ready, my angel”

I’m sure this will soon become a fan favourite. The arrangement evolves in an unforced and natural way as the song progresses.

After the beauty of Burma comes the darkness of The Innermost Light. A sleazy, razor-sharp performance that features Carl Barat (The Libertines / Dirty Pretty
Things), The Innermost Light is a future spaghetti western theme tune in the waiting. It makes you want to kick open the bar door and spit in the sawdust. Or maybe that’s just me.

Maybe You is a less tense affair. Arriving at the mid-point of the album, Maybe You is the sort of stripped back ballad that the band deliver so well. The upright bass is phenomenal, and reminds me of the playing of Danny Thompson and his work with John Martyn.

Portobello Serenade has the feel of a 1950s / 60s Soho, with its hazy jazz percussion and trumpet. Thin Red Lines switches the tempo up a gear and shifts forward a few decades, with an almost glam-rock / T-Rex feel to the jagged guitars and soulful backing vocals.

“Only the mystery remains”

Shelter is an oddity on the album but oh what a lovely oddity! It’s almost the bands take on modern r ‘n’ b production. A minimal programmed drum pattern on top of Art of Noise (Moments In Love) like backing vocals and a lovely Rhodes piano melody explores new territory for the band. I look forward to more experimentation like this on future CousteauX albums.

cousteaux band

The penultimate track, Seasons Of You is the nearest we get to the classic Cousteau sound of old. Its a joyful, breezy track that lifts the mood before the album’s closing song, the mean and goddamn moody as hell F***ing In Joy and Sorrow.

“I’m in love but I’m grieving”

The hi-hat and toms percussion that underpin a stark organ / guitar backdrop propels the brutally honest and direct lyric of lust, hurt and regret.

This is music made for the night. Switch off the lights, pour yourself some whisky on the rocks and let the music take over.

As a long-time fan of the band, who I have only seen live once (a memorable, packed and sweaty early 90s gig in Blackheath) – I was intrigued as to what a modern day Cousteau would bring us. I’m overjoyed to report that the core of what made this band so special is still intact. *That* voice and the quality song-writing and performances, combined with a brave stretching of the bands template, mean that the 2017 version known as CousteauX has delivered an emotionally satisfying and stylistically varied album that stands up to repeated listening. At times, its far from easy listening, but stick with it and you will find so much to savour in these deep, rich and often dark songs.

Welcome back Cousteaux. You have been missed, stay around a little longer this time….

Buy the Cousteaux CD from Amazon

Buy the Cousteaux vinyl LP from Amazon

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: 90s, Alternative, Vinyl
Categories : Music Review

Cobalt Chapel – Cobalt Chapel

2 02 2017

rsz_cobalt_chapel_edited Cobalt Chapel are a psychedelic / folk duo featuring Cecilia Fage (Matt Berry & The Maypoles) and Jarrod Gosling (I Monster, Regal Worm), and they have just released their debut album on the KLove label.

The late 60s / early 70s inspired music is built round the vocals of Fage and the classic keyboards (mostly organ) and drum machines of Gosling.

The album is very dark and perfectly suited to the Autumn and Winter seasons. The songs conjure up moods and memories from an England long lost to technology, reality television, rampant commercialism and a loss of imagination and mystery.

Album opener We Come Willingly is a tale of murder, driven by the album’s signature organs and vintage drum machines fed through an army of effects.

Fruit Falls From The Apple Tree continues the baroque ‘n roll feel, with a lovely layered vocal during the middle section, as the keyboards and low bassline shuffles alongside the powerful drums. I love the mixture of progressive and folk music that runs through all the songs on this fine debut album. And an album is what it is – built to be heard in one setting, in sequence, so you appreciate the journey as the artist intended.

Ava Gardner is a short instrumental that precedes one of my favourite tracks on the album, Who Are The Strange.

Reminding me a little of early Portishead mixed with The Shortwave Set (whatever happened to them?), this was the first track that Fage and Gosling wrote together.

The lyrics tell the story of a near-death experience and the rattling effects and stabbing organ are as unsettling as the lyrical content.

The Lamb is a cover of the John Tavener choral piece that you may know from the film Children of Men, and is the most moving track on the album. The arrangement is simple but its a beautiful, stunning performance, with wonderful harmonies from Cecilia Fage.

Photography by Alex Lake

Black Eyes is inspired by the 1975 film The Stepford Wives. Distorted drums and keys, along with a slowly mutating arrangement, underpin this sad song of transformation and loss of will.

Singing Camberwell Beauty is the first song that I heard from the album, and it remains a favourite. A playful fairground waltz that gets darker as it progresses – and a song that will surely appeal to Saint Etienne fans due to the spoken interlude.

Singing Camberwell Beauty is not “the last waltz” on the album, as Maze is a short Camberwick Green on acid piece that leads into Two. The album cover will give you a clue about the “two heartbeats” referenced in the song.

Horratia is “the story of an aging B-movie actress revisiting her life and career; a young face that many people once remembered and now an old face that is all but forgotten, except in the minds of obsessed horror/sci-fi convention-goers…” I love the twists and turns in the instrumentation on this track.

Positive Negative is inspired by The Avengers, and has a wonderful, slow building malevolent end section as layer upon layer of distorted organs pile on top of the vocals.

Photo by Chris Saunders

The album ends on Three Paths Charm and is the longest track in this collection. A mostly instrumental piece, with the occasional backward vocal lines and chants, acting almost as a summary of what has gone before.

Cobalt Chapel is a captivating first release, and there is a real continuity in the instruments used and the textures and moods they create. Its very easy to lose yourself in this album, and I am really looking forward to what the bewitching partnership of Cecilia Fage and Jarrod Gosling cook up in the (hopefully near) future.

Buy the CD on Amazon

Buy the Vinyl on Amazon

Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: Alternative, Vinyl
Categories : Music Review

Elbow – Lost Worker Bee

26 07 2015

Lost Worker Bee is a new EP release from Elbow, recorded to “…tide fans over until the next album.” Often EP’s contain fillers, such as remixes or alt takes, but that’s not the case here. Lost Worker Bee is formed of four new songs that would not sound out of place on any previous Elbow album.

There is a sense of mystery around the EP, with little in the way of information online, other than a few short quotes from Guy Garvey informing us that the songs are all set in Manchester and that the band are proud of the EP.

In these days of information overload, its a pleasure being able to listen to new music and use your imagination to try and figure out the meaning and influences behind songs.

Powered by urgent, jittery percussion, the title track from the EP twists and turns over Guy Harvey’s searching vocal. A Baba O’Riley referencing synth line runs through the middle section of the most musically adventurous track on this release.

“Searching the earth like a lost worker bee”

The instrumentation on Lost Worker Bee, especially the trumpets, conveys a feel of the past and also places the song in a clear northern setting.

“I know that somewhere a hard drinking girl
With kindness in reservoir looks to the sea”

My favourite track on the EP, And It Snowed reminds me a little of Bell X1, especially the piano and bass interplay. The simple, un-fussy arrangement give the lyrics an opportunity to shine through.

“You’ve done your leaving
Livid in your splendour and alone”

I love the way the music drops back to just drums and guitar midway through the song, which gives the feeling of the quietness that follows heavy snowfall.

Roll Call is the longest track on this release and powers along at a fair old pace. A chugging twin rhythm guitar line is a highlight of this song, with Guy singing about “a kid in a bath tub” and what seems to be a song of the city, offering short glimpses into the little stories that pop into view as you speed by on the 6 and a half minute journey through the track.

photo credit: tom sheehan

Usually Bright ends the EP at a slower pace. A stripped back acoustic arrangement, lightly played piano, guitar and bass provides the backdrop as Guy sings of the “Hotel in my hometown, The saddest room I ever woke in.”

The song ends abruptly as soon as the lyrics end, bringing this short EP to a close. A new Elbow album may be a while off, so I hope we are treated to another taste of new music from the band soon, either in the form of a another new EP or a single. But until then, enjoy the Lost Worker Bee EP.

Buy the Lost Worker Bee EP (MP3) on Amazon UK

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alternative
Categories : Music Review

Lone Wolf – Lodge

27 04 2015

Lodge is the third (and final) album by Lone Wolf aka Paul Marshall. The idea for the album came after Paul found out that the place where he had recorded the majority of his material as Lone Wolf, a studio called The Lodge in Bridlington, was set to close it’s doors for the last time.

Holed up inside The Lodge studio with only his producer, James Kenosha and trumpeter David Wärmegård for company over a six day period, Lodge is the result of this organic recording process.

One stylistic choice that immediately jumps out is the absence of guitars on the album – Lodge is pretty much piano, voice, trumpet and percussion. It is also noticeable early on how the sound of the room has been captured – clicks, scrapes, amplifier crackles, feet shuffles and descending piano keys all leak into the recordings, and become part of the performances. Not in a “I’ll sample a buzzing bee and make a rhythm track” but as a natural part of the recording, and as such, they become an integral part of the songs.

Album opener Wilderness sets the scene – deep piano notes and a mournful trumpet line drop you straight into the mood of the album.

Alligator features Marshall’s powerful, soulful voice over one of the album’s key tracks. It sounds like Mr Lone Wolf is physically thumping the piano at times during the chorus, which builds to a powerful crescendo as cymbal-less drums carry the song to it’s conclusion.

lonewolf1

Crimes was the first track that I heard from the album, and I instantly fell in love with the song. It reminded me of late period Talk Talk, in it’s use of restraint and steady pace. Distorted trumpet takes the place of what would have usually been guitar and synth lines, and this gives a real feeling of continuity to the album.

Crimes has a chorus to die for and is already one of my favourite Lone Wolf songs.

“These crimes, these hideous crimes,
oh they make me want to lie my way out of your life”

The lyrics to Give Up seem to refer to finding something akin to a mirage in the isolation of despair.

“Maybe I’ll meet you in the water, maybe the water’s just dry land”

It’s amazing how a song with such simple, stripped back instrumentation can convey the mood of the song so well. The way Give Up shifts up several gears in one of the final choruses, before winding back down to a solo piano outro, is intensely moving.

Give Up contains a great vocal arrangement. It’s clear on this album, more than previous Lone Wolf releases, that the space in the arrangements really gives him the opportunity to soar.

Mistakes really sticks in your brain – I guarantee that this is the song you will find yourself humming long after the song has finished. The lyrics are a tale of the album – how we are hearing every note, including the mistakes. It’s the most uplifting song on Lodge.

Mess has a little of the feel of recent PJ Harvey releases – 2007’s White Chalk in particular, another album that eschew’s the artists usual way of recording.

There is a feel of real sadness throughout the songs and lyrics of Lodge, but as Mr Dwight famously once sang “If someone else is suffering enough to write it down…Sad songs, they say so much.” Lodge is a deeply personal and very honest album, and I think that the songs will resonate with a lot of people.

The tracks towards the end of the album took longer to work their magic, but if you stick with the songs, your patience will be rewarded, as Lodge is an album that bears new fruit after repeated listening.

Taking Steps is a case in point. The track didn’t stand out at first, but three weeks into living with the album, the track is now one of the highlights for me. The almost post-punk drum and bass-line intro section bleeds into a smoky, late-night jazz infused piece that I now never tire of hearing.

It would have been a safe and easy option to dress these songs up in studio effects and slap on layers of synths and strings, but that would have killed the raw emotion that runs through the veins of this album.

Art of Letting Go features a powerful vocal outro as the song finds it’s natural end point. Get Rough is moderately more upbeat than the songs that precede it, and feels more like the Lone Wolf of The Devil & I.

Token Water, the longest track on the album, picks up the night-club jazz feel again, before heading off into an almost Blue Nile like outro, as the song shuts down abruptly with a discordant trumpet blast.

Talking of blasts, that’s how the album closer, Pripyat, announces itself. Deep piano strikes, maybe acting as warning sirens, usher in the tale of the now abandoned Ukrainian city near Chernobyl. Some wonderful trumpet and vocal interplay brings the album to it’s close.

I’m sad that Lodge is apparently the final Lone Wolf release, but hopefully if enough people discover this beautiful album, it won’t be the end of the line completely, and it will be a case of RIP Lone Wolf, long live Paul Marshall!

Buy Lodge on Amazon

Buy the 1st Lone Wolf album The Devil & I on Amazon

Buy the 2nd Lone Wolf album The Lovers on Amazon

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alternative
Categories : Music

East India Youth – Culture of Volume

8 04 2015

Culture of Volume, the second album from East India Youth, opens with The Juddering, an instrumental that starts off spitting out a synth- line reminiscent of Bowie’s title track to Station to Station, before the big synths take over.

Culture of Volume is not an instrumental album, the majority of the tracks feature vocal performances, the first of which, End Result, sneaks in some Duran Duran sounding synth flavours, and displays an intelligent, expansive arrangement.

Beaming White, though driven by mid-80’s sounding synths in the intro, has a feel of Delphic‘s Acolyte album. And that’s a key point with this album – William Doyle (aka East India Youth) is clearly influenced by the 80’s sounds of Kraftwerk, David Bowie, Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Foxx and Soft Cell but he writes songs that are contemporary, with vocals more inspired by Wild Beasts and Everything Everything than his apparent 80s influences.

Hearts That Never is one of the more up-tempo pieces, with a great bass-line and rolling percussion. The hands-in-the-air anthem Entirety is lifted by the sweet keyboard lines towards the middle of the pacey, at times industrial track.

The stand-out song for me is Carousel, which has shades of The Garden era John Foxx, and a real 1980’s 4AD feel in the use of long, spacey reverbs. Beatless and beautiful, it’s a moving piece of music, especially the slowly distorting outro, which has a little of the feel of The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski.

The straight-forward pop of Don’t Look Backwards has a dreamy treated piano and strings ending, which plays perfectly into my second favourite track, the 10 minute plus Manner of Words. Slow-burning textured pads and lead lines give way to disintegration and decay.

The album closes with Montage Resolution, another instrumental soundscape built from layers of jagged reverb-heavy lines underpinned by a deep synth.

This is the first music I’ve heard from East India Youth, and its piqued my interest enough to seek out their debut album, Total Strife Forever.

Buy Culture of Volume CD or download on Amazon

Buy Total Strife Forever on CD or download at Amazon

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alternative
Categories : Music Review

Sanguine Hum – Now We Have Light

25 02 2015

Now We have Light is Oxford band Sanguine Hum’s third album, and the follow up to 2013’s The Weight of The World.

Now We have Light expands on the sound and themes of the previous album, but takes things a step further, with a concept based double album. I’ll leave you to discover the concept when you explore the CD (look into my eyes, buy the CD).

Desolation Song sets the scene, introducing the main character in the concept. Some beautifully layered textures and solo lines from guitarist/vocalist Joff Winks, plus an array of tempo changes ensure that this album will appeal to fans of Pink Floyd and Steven Wilson.

“It’s basically a tale, the telling of a story…”

The gently pastoral backdrop of Drastic Attic leads into the psychedelia of Getting Warmer, with its bubbling synths and distant bells courtesy of keyboardist Matt Baber.

Out of Mind is a perfect example of the complexity to the arrangements and performances on Now We have Light. A subtle break-down and then build-up takes place at the songs mid-point, with the rhythm section of bassist Brad Waissman and (current no-man / Tim Bowness / Henry Fool drummer) Andrew Booker really adding to the mood and drive of this key song.

The keyboards (a mixture of hard Moroder-esque sequencers and jazzy rhodes) cook up a treat on the jazz-rock referencing Theft. Derision closes the first CD – and normally a track of this quality would be a fitting album closer, but the story continues onto the second CD.

Cat Factory is driven by a tight funk bassline, and reminds me a little of some of the mid-70’s Stanley Clarke albums that I listened to in my formative years.

sanguine-hum

On the Beach (no, not a Chris Rea cover version) is one of the most progressive tracks on the album, which at times also has a feel of Hatfield and the North and early Genesis.

The two longest tracks on the album are up next – End of the Line has a steady groove and addictive keyboard lines. Spanning the Eternal Abyss weighs in at nearly 11 minutes and as such has the space to fully explore the riffs, moods and multiple layers of the song.

Spanning the Eternal Abyss is made up of several parts, and I particularly love the toms and piano early section, before the track slows down (with a glitchy, funereal pace percussion loop) towards the end.

The album’s closing tracks, Bubble Trouble and Settle Down feature vibraphone work from jazz musician Jim Hart. Settle Down features the album’s best vocal performance from Joff Winks. It struck me on the early listens to Now We have Light that whilst the lyrics are an important ingredient in the songs, they are not obtrusive but make their point on repeated listening.

If you like modern progressive rock (Steven Wilson, Big Big Train, White Willow, Lifesigns et al) or progressive influenced / post-rock bands such as Radiohead, Mogwai or Sigur Ros, I would urge you to investigate Now We have Light and the music of Sanguine Hum.

Buy Sanguine Hum – Now We Have Light (Double CD version) on Amazon
Buy Sanguine Hum – Now We Have Light (Box-set – 2CD/DVD) on Amazon

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alternative, Progressive Rock
Categories : Music, Music Review

Wayne Hussey – Songs Of Candlelight & Razorblades

29 10 2014

So you’ve not heard the second solo album from The Mission singer-songwriter, Wayne Hussey. What would you expect to hear? The sound of an artist trying to re-create the “glory years” or an album drenched in 80s goth nostalgia?

What about one of the albums of the year, full of moving vocal performances, a real variety of styles, and an album that sound’s nothing like his “day-job” in The Mission?

It’s the latter you will actually hear. I’m not a fan of The Sisters of Mercy or many of the so-called “goth” groups from that era. But goth didn’t pass me totally by without digging it’s talons into my heart and leaving me with the love of some of the bands such as All About Eve and song’s such as The Mission’s Tower of Strength, Severina and the beautiful Butterfly on a Wheel, so I was curious as to what a Hussey solo album in 2014 might sound like.

If you put aside any preconceptions, you might discover that Songs Of Candlelight & Razorblades is an excellent album. The album opener is a brave choice – Madam G is a lovely, infectious torch-song, with a subtle late-night arrangement, and was co-written with former All About Eve singer-songwriter, Julianne Regan. Don’t take my word for it, have a listen yourself on the Spotify link below.

Nothing Left Between Us is a slowly building song chronicling a decaying relationship.

“Why are we still holding on, to something that’s already gone”

Wayne Hussey

You Are Not Alone has a Laurel Canyon feel, with a touch of Led Zeppelin thrown in for good measure.

The Bouquets & the Bows is the highlight of the album for me, mainly due to the powerful vocal performance. I love the ending of this song, with the acoustic bass intertwining the piano riff as the song drifts away.

Wither on the Vine musically seems to reference The Cure from around the A Forest era, with the drum and guitar sound. A song calling for tolerance, this track is the one that would likely appeal to fans of Hussey’s earlier work.

I’m reminded a little of This Mortal Coil when listening to No Earthly Cure. A fine chorus tops this wonderful song.

The sequencing of the album works really well – ‘Til the End of Time continues the pace of the previous songs, then winds down with an acoustic breakdown as the swampy Devil’s Kind romps in and turns up the tempo.

When I Drift Too Far from Shore is a string-driven, Bowie-esque piece, whilst Next Station references a Bowie song in it’s lyrics (and possibly in the the song title too).

The album closes on the spoken word Aporia, which touches on some of the problems of the current human condition (racism, homophobia) and what’s that I hear, Bauhaus‘s Peter Murphy on backing vocals?

To quote Aporia – “ignorance just ain’t no defence”. I’ve told you how good this album is, have a listen on Spotify and if you like what you hear, support the artist and buy the CD.

Buy Hussey – Songs Of Candlelight & Razorblades on Amazon UK

Buy The Mission – The Brightest Light (2 CD) on Amazon UK

Buy The Mission – Anthology – The Phonogram Years (2CD) on Amazon UK

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alternative
Categories : Music Review

Knifeworld – The Unravelling

27 07 2014

The Unravelling is a wonderfully psychedelic, progressive album. Tracks veer from Pretty Things influenced 60s pop, to all out progressive tinged epics, often within the same song!

The album’s opening piece, I Can Teach You How To Lose A Fight, sets the scene for the whole album, with shifting time signatures aplenty and a neat segue into the album’s shortest track, The Orphanage, which thunders along driven by some great new wave guitar.

Don’t Land on Me is a wonderfully progressive piece, with a feel of King Crimson in some of the instrumentation. The switching of lead vocals between Kavus Torabi and Melanie Woods works really well, especially on this track.

This Empty Room Once Was Alive is the most disturbing track on the album. Simple instrumentation underpins a song that at first listen seems to be a song about being haunted, but soon reveals itself to be about the deep pain of loss and the loneliness that follows bereavement.

“And all I am is frightened, I’ll forget just what we had”

Another track to be filed under disturbing is The Skulls We Buried Have Regrown Their Eyes. Shifting rhythms, spidery rhodes and an imaginative use of brass provide the backdrop to a gothic horror story. A track that works really well with the lights turned off.

Destroy The World We Love reminds me a little of the mood of Mansun‘s Six album. An infectious guitar riff underpins the song, indeed the second half of this track is one of the highlights of the whole album.

“You hold a secret in your hands”

Album closer I’m Hiding Behind My Eyes is my favourite track on the album, and is sequenced well, as the most traditional sounding track on the album. The song benefits from an even pace, only going off piste for a brief period in the tracks mid-section, as it builds to a perfect album finale. I love the interplay between piano and guitar in the first section of I’m Hiding Behind My Eyes.

“In this cold galaxy, you and me,
Could form another world now.”

On first listen, you might be put off by the complexity of The Unravelling, but stick with it and you will be rewarded with a rich album filled with moving, haunting, imaginative stories set to powerful music that dips in and out of the decades for it’s inspiration.

Buy “The Unravelling” on Amazon