Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

MAGIC POTION – ” Pink Gum “

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Punk Slime Recordings proudly present Pink Gum, the long awaited debut album from Stockholm’s Magic Potion, Formed by Gustaf Montelius, Andreas Sandberg and Kristoffer Byström and now joined by Johan Harrius, Magic Potion burst out of nowhere in the spring of 2015 with the debut single ”Deep Web”, a home-recorded gem that brought the attention of bloggers all around the world.

Soon the debut EP Melt, including the single ”Booored”, was released via PNKSLM Recordings and Beech Coma to acclaim, Its warped out slacker pop of the best kind, recorded on an old reel-to-reel, it instantly wormed its way into the ears and hearts of its listeners.

Since then Magic Potion’s been holed up in their small studio in the suburbs of Stockholm and now they’re finally able to unveil their debut album Pink Gum,  The fruits of over a year’s work, along with eight new tracks that truly finds the band coming into their own. Terrific melodies and songwriting, all recorded on the same old reel-to-reel and self-produced by the band it’s a marvelous debut from one of Sweden’s most exciting new acts with lead single “Milk” leading the way.

Praise for the Melt EP
“a bedroom pop Velvet Underground specifically tailored to listless millennials” – Noisey
“if Real Estate lived in the cooler part of town” – Buzzfeed
“With echoes of Wild Nothing and similarly hazy purveyors of skewed, dreamy pop music, Melt still stands as one of the best debuts to wrap itself around our ears and hearts in 2015.” – GoldFlakePaint
“Euphoric almost to an extreme, the group’s characteristic sound is a flight of sun-kissed freedom, exactly when you need it most” – The Line of Best Fit
“slightly unorthodox, but sweet and simple enough to be enrapturing

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SEPTEMBER GIRLS – ” Heartbeats “

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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‘Age Of Indignation’ is a more vociferous album than their sublime debut ‘Cursing The Sea’. It would perhaps be a misreading of September Girls to suggest that ‘Age Of Indignation’ is a massively more political statement than their debut, (which tackled heavyweight subjects such as societal to attitudes towards woman, victim blaming and rape.) However there does appear to be a more sustained sense of fury and indeed a genuine sense of indignation throughout, as it hones in on it’s targets with eloquence, clarity and deadly clear-eyed precision.

RANDOLPH’S LEAP – ” Cowardly Deeds “

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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A change of label has done little to dull the appeal of Scottish based band Randolph’s Leap. Having hopped from Lost Map back to their original home on Olive Grove, Adam Ross and his many-legged baroque-pop outfit plough a familiar furrow . Brass and strings are liberally peppered over ten tracks, but with none of the po-faced seriousness that such classical instruments can often bring. The Leap’s approach is more akin to Glaswegian mariachis Woodenbox, with a focus on fun melodies and raucous live shows; the 150-odd-second blast of Not Thinking will fit in seamlessly.

Regret and epic closer Saying Nothing do bring a more reflective tone and there’s a little progression here – Microcosm’s muscular (albeit stripped back) approach sounds more like the Pixies before it erupts into a big trumpet-laden sing-along. It’s a trick they often employ but it’s executed with such joyful abandon that only the hardest of hearts could complain.

Randolph’s Leap are an 8-piece Glasgow-based folk-pop hyphen-obsessed band made up of Adam Ross (guitar/vocals), PeteMacDonald (keyboards),Adam Florence (drums), Vicki Cole (bass), Andrew MacLellan (cello) and Heather Fox (violin), Fraser Gibson (trombone) and Ali Hendry (trumpet).

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KATE JACKSON – ” 16 Years “

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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If you’re excepting a Long Blondes style record, you’d perhaps be best advised to pop ‘Someone To Drive You Home’ on. However, if  you’re a fan of beautifully crafted sophisticated, evocative British pop music, full of wistful poetry and passion then ‘British Road Movies’ could be the album for you

Kate Jackson’s debut solo album ‘British Road Movies,‘  has been a long time coming although according to Kevin Shield’s clock eight years is but a mere wrinkle in time. There were times when it appeared a Kate Jackson solo album would simply never happen.  Kate appeared to have given up on music after relocating to Rome to peruse her first love, painting. Thankfully the appeal of grey skies, weak tea, weaker TV and the perpetually cynical humour of whey-faced English folk proved too much of a draw for Kate and she eventually returned to her hometown of Bury St.Edmunds. There was also the small matter of the fact that she still had a half realised album on her laptop originally written with Bernard Butler,

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Butler’s guitar work is pretty impressive  it’s equalled by Jackson’s sublime vocal performance, this sounds very much like the Kate Jackson, the iconic alluring lead singer of The Long Blondes. Throughout ‘British Road Movies’ her vocal is far more emotive than her previous work and has a depth, tenderness and warmth which makes it a far more personal experience. The predominant underlining theme of the album is one of discovery of searching – first via  escape, and then seeking a connection, somewhere to fit in before the realisation that what you’d been searching for had perhaps been right in front of you all the time. Because that sense of place, connection, and love is perhaps for some of us only truly found in the place we’d been trying to escape

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Members
Kate Jackson – Vocals.
Seymour Quigley – Guitars.
Reuben Kemp – Bass Guitar.
Ken Last – Keyboards/Synths
Shannon Hope – Drums.
16 Years by Kate Jackson taken from the album British Road Movies, out via Hoo Ha Records
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The EXPLORERS CLUB – ” Together ” Deluxe Version Extra Tracks

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Explorers Club mark their return with “Together”, the quintet’s third album of harmony laden sounds. Hot off the heels of “Freedom Wind”, their first release which showcased their Beach Boys influences, and the triumphant follow-up “Grand Hotel”, an exploration of Classic soft pop ideals, “Together” is sure to bring you a little of summer in your mind as we approach these cold wintery days.

Jason Brewer, founder and visionary of the band, has patterned the album in the mold of post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys classics such as Friends, Sunflower and Love You, while adding his own unique touches and flourishes of inspiration with his band mates.

Listeners can expect exquisite harmonies, tight musicianship, flowing melodies, and gorgeous vocals. Standout tracks include the modern sunshine doo-wop of “California’s Calling Ya”, the bouncy pop of “Once In A While” and the contemplative “Quietly”.

“Together” is a must for fans of well-crafted pop music.

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THE EXPLORERS CLUB ARE:

Jason Brewer – Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizers, Fuzz Guitar,
Rock-Si-Chord, Maestro Rhythm King
Paul Runyon – Vocals, Piano, Hammond Organ, Rock-Si-Chord,
Synthesizer, Guitar, Wurlitzer
Michael Willamson – Vocals, Lead Guitar, Fender Bass, Organ,
Upright Bass, Acoustic Guitars
Wyatt Funderburk – Vocals, Fender Bass, Rock-Si-Chord
Kyle Polk – Drums and Percussion

The JUNIPERS – ” Red Bouquet Fair “

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Junipers are a 5-piece band who started out as a recording project in 2000.
The recordings mix a collection of instruments like Sitar, Zither, Balalaika, Harp, Mellotron etc, with vocal harmonies, psychedelic effects & enough pop elements to keep it all sweet.
They released their debut album “Cut Your Key” in 2008 & recieved rave reviews from Uncut magazine, The Word, Record Collector among others. They gained single of the week on BBC Radio 2 & airplay for their 4 singles released so far by Steve lamacq, Bob Harris, Mark radcliffe, Janice Long, Marc Riley, Tom Robinson, Cerys Matthews etc.
The follow up album “Paint the Ground” was released in Feb 2012.

Five piece Leicester group. Have quietly released one of the albums of the year.

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Joe Wiltshire, Robyn Gibson, Peter Gough, Ashley Selden and Ben Marshall.

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Primal Scream – ” Chaosmosis ” Best Albums of 2016

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Chaosmosis

What we love about Primal Scream is their unflinching determination not to stay in one place or to rest on their laurels. 2013’s More Light received fabulous reviews from the media, being lauded as their best outing in some thirteen years, yet three years down the line Scream have moved on again, abandoning the lengthy psychedelic grooves of that sixty-eight-minute monster to produce the stripped down Chasmosis, which runs to just thirty-eight minutes and ten tracks. And this latest offering is possibly the purest pop album the band have ever produced, the dominant synthesisers giving the music a Casio-danceability but with most songs showing a preference for melody over rhythm. As such, it is probably fair to say you will not fall in love with this record at first listen, but treat it with respect and give it a few spins and you will find yourself appreciative of its gentle charms. There are moments when Chaosmosis comes across as Primal Scream’s Young Americans, with brash, soulful female backing voices dominating ‘100% Or Nothing’ and Bobby Gillespie’s vocals crushed and earnest on ‘I Can Change’, but the record is eclectic. ‘Private Wars’ is pretty much a folk song, ‘When The Blackout Meets The Fallout’ darker T. Rex-techno, and ‘Golden Rope’ a rockier groove.

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The remainder of the collection is pretty much fizzing synth-pop and it is difficult not to feel uplifted by the lightness of its touch. ‘Trippin’ On Your Love’, probably the closest the band get to a Screamadelica moment, is an inexorable grower, ‘Where The Light Gets In’ is full of Abba influences, and closer ‘Autumn In Paradise’ hints at a gentler, more positive New Order. As ever Primal Scream draw in a myriad of influences and turn them into something surprising and challenging.

The TRIFFIDS – ” Born Sandy Devotional ” Performance 21st October 2016

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Triffids UK 2016

Australian band The Triffids announced a headlining tour to take place in Europe. A unique show featuring the remaining members of the band – Rob McComb, Alsy MacDonald, Martyn Casey, Jill Birt and Graham Lee and some guests will perform the album ‘Born Sandy Devotional’ in its’ entirety (It’s the 30th anniversary of the release this year)

‘‘The Triffids were hailed by the music media as “one of the most influential and important bands to come from Australia” and their 1986 album Born Sandy Devotional, has become a modern classic. Led by singer and songwriter David McComb, The Triffids formed in Perth in 1978 and soon relocated to London, achieving popularity throughout Europe and becoming the first Australian group since the Seekers to feature on the cover of New Musical Express.

In 2008 the band was inducted into the Australian Rock And Roll Hall of Fame by Nick Cave. In October 2010 ‘Born Sandy Devotional’ was listed at No. 5 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.

Robert McComb (guitar/violin, the Triffids; older brother of David McComb) :
“Sometimes I feel like [this song] is my life, growing up in Perth. Which is why [David McComb] got some credit as an Australian songwriter, because he used those images – the hot sand, the salt on the skin, the sun on the sidewalk, burning their feet. It’s just my childhood, as it was his.”

Lindy Morrison (former drummer, the Go-Betweens) on Chicken Killer:

“From the first snare beat at the end of the first line – ‘I knelt, I aimed, I missed, I ran’ – Martyn P Casey and Alsy Macdonald set a cracking, rolling rhythm that carries this wild tune to the finish line.

“Nick Mainsbridge was the engineer on the album, and I swear you hear his touch: ‘Just let them go,’ he would have thought. And David is as big and blustery and confident as ever as he sings for his lost love, with gorgeous imagery. It’s a shocking, sad, violent song of love and revenge.”

NICK CAVE – ” I Need You “

Posted: December 30, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Outside of David Bowie, there was probably no more discussed and analysed album this year than Nick Cave’s  Skeleton Tree. You surely know the story by now, mid-way through recording Skeleton Tree, Nick Cave was struck by personal tragedy with the death of his son Arthur. Exactly how much of the album preceded or followed the event, it was almost impossible to not hear the spectre of grief hanging heavy over the entirety of Skeleton Key.

In some lesser writer’s hands Skeleton Key could have been a painful mess, but if there was one person you’d back to perfectly tread the line between sentimentality and anger, it was Nick Cave. His entire career has been spent writing in the darker echelons of the human mind, but here he seemed to walk amongst the darkness he previously narrated – this darkness, this pain, this was reality. What Skeleton Key does so well is steer clear of being a tribute, this isn’t an album about death, this is an album about grief, and a brutally honest one at that; when in Magneto Nick sang, “the urge to kill somebody was basically overwhelming“, you could tell he meant it. Skeleton Key is quite possibly the finest album ever written about the process of grieving, and its ability to cripple and shape every aspect of your life; it offeres no resolution, no light at the end of the tunnel, just an all-encompassing monolith to loss – it is also, almost coincidentally, a masterpiece for sure.

Skeleton Tree is an emotionally challenging listen and you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by this beautifully, raw, bleak yet inspiring album. It’s been said much of the album was written before tragic events enveloped Mr Cave and his family, but for the listener, it remains impossible not to link the two when contemplating such an astonishingly intimate dark collection of songs.

GRUBBY LITTLE HANDS – ” Garden Party “

Posted: December 29, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Grubby Little Hands is the woozy, psychedelic pop project of Philly-based songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Donnie Felton and Brian Hall, who began collaborating in college as music theory and composition students. As a duo, they released two albums: Imaginary Friends (2009) and The Grass Grew Around Our Feet (2012). Leading up to their forthcoming third record Garden Party (2016), guitarist Joseph Primavera and drummer Chad Brown were added to the lineup, significantly enriching the sound palette. On Garden Party, the band use tuneful melodies, densely layered guitar and synth textures, and tight rhythmic foundations to create an amalgam of pop songwriting, paisley psychedelia, and vibrant avant-rock. This is packaged into songs that range from stadium-ready anthems and buoyant surf-rock to whispering lullabies and contemplative deep-cuts, making for a dynamic and mercurial listening experience.

Conceptually, much of Garden Party’s lyrics are rooted in an existential anxiety that Felton and Hall experience on both a macro and micro level. The ever-looming- but-never- arriving imminent doom of civilization that pervades 21 st century mass media and internet culture leaves Felton and Hall with a seemingly distant or apathetic perspective. Album opener Dial Tone fantasizes about a hypothetical party where no people are present but automated technology goes through the motions nonetheless. Don’t Shoot Straight describes catastrophic destruction from the perspective of theater patrons who are humored by the apocalypse that’s unfolding before their eyes. But Felton and Hall have a very personal appreciation for their own mortality, as victims of separate cases of random violence that left them near-death. Felton was once beaten unconscious by a group of young men in a case of mistaken identity, and this incident is referenced in the track Michael. Years later in 2008, during production of their first album, Hall was stabbed in the abdomen with a 12” hunting knife by a complete stranger in center city Philadelphia in an unprovoked attack. He narrowly survived, and his attacker was convicted of attempted murder and imprisoned. So as album closer We Don’t Exist explores various afterlife theories, accepting and ultimately embracing the inevitable end, there is clearly a personal significance underlying the bigger picture being painted.

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