January 22 has all of the theatrics of a U2 with more grit, and for an album self-recorded (at least partly on the artist’s sailboat), it is a stunningly ambitious achievement.
Ron and Russell Mael’s overlooked 21st-century gems.
Opus Three, the second single taken from the recently-released _Memory Box’_album by London’s Rodney Cromwell gets an enhanced version with a new 5-track maxi-single, released on April 20 via Happy Robots Records.
Faced with only the loosest of structures, the musicians used their improvisatory skills and deep understanding of their partnership to create songs that ebb and flow like water over the ocean bed, seemingly shifting at random, but in reality following an internal logic.
Oakland*-based duo *Othered present their hard-hitting debut album Othered Vol, 1 on limited edition vinyl and digitally, following up the single “Journey To The Edge”, a heavy rock / metal anthem replete with signs of our times.
One of the many journeyman supergroups populating the arena rock circuit in the 1970s, Detective never quite found the success it deserved.
Presented in Resonance’s usual sterling packages, with extensively researched booklets in each, both Morning Glory and Inner Spirit are musts for any Bill Evans fan.
What the artists attempt to achieve on Sacred Spiral is a lot, but listen to any of the songs and it’s clear they come extremely close to the sublime.
Irish indie alt-rock band Friendmaker presents “Weird”, the second single from their forthcoming debut album. Musically, this deliberately repetitive ear worm subtly changes on each refrain, reflecting the abstractions of dreamlike repetition. With audio samples of psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s dream theory bookending the piece, this is three minutes of rhythmic indie rock with hooky melodies and pounding choruses.
Cellist Erik Friedlander has been out front of the vanguard of his instrument’s potential for decades.
Overall, the album leaves the listener with a sensation that can only be described as awestruck.
The five-piece band puts their own spin on the Red Dirt country genre with a Heartland sensibility that focuses on honest vignettes of individual lives to which their audience can immediately relate.
Texan electronic and ambient composer Paris Music Corp. a.k.a. John Andrew Paris a full-length self-titled album. With 14 tracks on offer, this is his first record in half a decade, the previous release being the Rewind LP in 2017.
Pianist Eri Yamamoto, bassist William Parker, drummer Steve Hirsh and woodwindist Chad Fowler congregated to cut loose and see what happened, and what happened was remarkable.
Kaapstaad presents a chill and immersive debut single, titled “Night”, bringing distinct lo-fi chamber beats from the Baltic and beyond, influenced by such notable artists as Neils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Ludovico Enaudi, BVG, Agnes Obel and Grouper.
Named in tribute to late trumpeter Kenny Wheeler (after a Wheeler tune from the album Angel Song), Kind Folk has grown into a formidable force.
Following on from the critically well recieved Doomsday Noises, LA quartet, Sons of Silver are back with a new blistering five song EP Ordinary Sex Appeal. Remember when rock and roll rulled the roost? Sons of Silver certaily does!
The final salvo from the recently released and much applauded Telefís album a hAon is the “Archbishop Beardmouth At The ChemOlympics” EP, which finds band members Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee (U2, REM, Modest Mouse, The Wombats) and Cathal Coughlan (Microdisney, Fatima Mansions) collaborating with revered electro-pop pioneer Thomas Leer, in addition to creating different versions of four key album tracks.
Unsurprisingly, Riches to Rags sounds a lot like mid-eighties Replacements, with melodic songs, bar band energy, Leonard’s whiskey-toned rasp and Stinson’s distinctive hard pop flash guitar.
NYC post-punk collective have released two electrifying singles to pave the way for their latest album Bright Black.
We can’t say for sure how multi-instrumentalist, composer and bandleader Michael Leonhardt felt when his fifteen-year-old dachshund Normyn passed away. But on his latest album The Normyn Suites, he’s trying to tell us.
Parabola West is back with new music with the album Stars Will Light the Way to be released on April 29. Ahead of this, she shares the lead track “Hannah”, an ethereal tale of the thin veil between the physical and spiritual worlds, heightened by the use of the medieval hurdy-gurdy and the haunting Swedish folk instrument Nyckelharpa. ·
Recorded in 1972 and in the vaults until now, the two-disk Live at Room at the Top features Adams at the titular Edmonton club backed by the Tommy Banks Trio, with Banks on piano, Bobby Cairns on bass and Tom Doran on drums.
Cornell’s trajectory somewhat echoes that of Nick Lowe, whose raucous beginnings gradually gave way to a gentler croon subtly influenced by pop of the 50s and early 60s.
Since the arrival of the Beatles and the Kinks sixty years ago, the UK seems just stuffed to the shores with guitar-led pop bands with a batch of cool tunes. Add Stourbridge’s Amoeba Teen to the list.
The half-dozen songs on Any Information, the band’s fourth release, celebrate classic rock power and subvert it with a sensibility that avoids machismo.
Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is pretty much unassailable.
Part of the diverse and electrifying twenty-first century London jazz scene, drummer/composer Jas Kayser makes her leader debut with Jas 5ive.
It goes without saying that it is brave to be this honest and transparent about a subject that many still struggle to talk about openly, but this is also nothing short of a fantastic record.
Dublin alt-rock/postpunk artist Ava Vox presents her debut album ‘Immortalised’, a collection of eight powerful and lush tracks. The pseudonym of Elaine Hannon, formerly of 1980s gothic rock / post-punk band The Seventh Veil, this is the first long-player since launching this project in 2020.
Austin-based electronic outfit Panjoma present their new Sun and Moon EP marking the band’s return to the music scene, back after eight years with what they feel is their best work ever.
Singleton doesn’t walk the fine line between post bop and free jazz – he gleefully, gracefully dances atop it.
Pureocracy thrives and succeeds because of its production, and although modest, it’s a definite contender for one of the year’s strongest debuts.
Manchester*-based electronic artist *Richard Evans presents his debut album Sentinel via Cold Star Media, an eight-track collection that tells the story of humanity at a tipping point and a world trapped in a climate crisis.
It’s easy to wonder why 50 Foot Wave needs to exist, since two-thirds of the band (singer/guitarist Kristen Hersh and bassist Bernard Georges) also comprise two-thirds of alternative rock pioneers Throwing Muses.
Peerless dream pop from a Filipino-Argentinian magician.
London-based indietronica artist Rodney Cromwell has released his Memory Box album via Happy Robots Records. Rodney Cromwell (the nom de plume Adam Cresswell) was a founding member of indie-folktronica band Saloon (who had four entries in John Peel’s Festive 50 & recorded three Peel Sessions) and also one half of acclaimed electronic duo Arthur & Martha
LA-based label 33.3 Music Collective has announced the release of Behind The Veil, the highly-anticipated new album from Beauty In Chaos. Recorded, mixed, and produced by Grammy-nominated producer Michael Rozon, This all-female featured collection brings back three BIC alumni – Tish Ciravolo, Cinthya Hussey, and Betsy Martin – as well as new family members Whitney Tai, Elena Alice Fossi, and Pinky Turzo.
With Balance, Berlin saxophonist Fabian Willmann inaugurates not only his career as a leader, but also brand new Swiss label Clap Your Hands.
Texan electronic and ambient composer Paris Music Corp. a.k.a. John Andrew Paris presents “Almost Lost”, the second flowing single from his self-titled album, following up the lead track “Light Speed”. With 14 tracks on offer, this is his first record in half a decade, the previous release being the Rewind LP in 2017.
Familiar Places, the fourth album by Danish piano trio Little North, could be used as a model for a certain strain of jazz.
Born in Louisiana but based in in Brooklyn, singer/songwriter Zachary Cale blends rural and urban on his seventh album Skywriting.
Manchester*-based indie rockers *Weimar present their new single “The Girls of LA” for release via German Shepherd Records the first taste of their debut album “Dancing On A Volcano”.
The beginning of 2022 brings not one, but two new projects, each with two very different quartets.
High-vibing EDM / dance pop outfit The Keplerians *have released their new Spaceship Earth EP via *Portuguese label Blim Records. A futuristic ride into cosmic dance territory, this high-energy three-track offering is supercharged with punch, positivity and a sense of adventure.
For the Love of Fire and Water, the latest album from the rightly acclaimed pianist/composer Myra Melford, makes a statement on two fronts.
Othered present their hard-hitting debut single “Journey To The Edge”, a heavy rock / metal anthem replete with signs of our times. On April 15, the duo will be releasing their full eponymous album on limited edition vinyl and digitally. They are a collaborative recording project by Henry Austin Lannan and Emily Palen (a.k.a. KnightressM1). Based in the San Francisco Bay area, this powerhouse project also weaves doom, metal and psychedelic prog—rock throughout their music
Over the past two decades, Norwegian jazz pianist Tord Gustavsen and his trio have quietly become some of ECM’s biggest stars on the Scandinavian side.
Electronic mavericks and ex-pat Irish iconoclasts Telefís have released their debut album a hAon (Number One), a highly unique collection of 13 tracks, via Dimple Discs.
While his two studio albums to date haven’t broken any new ground in the turbocharged fusion sweepstakes, they have celebrated the pure joy of ripping it up on one’s instruments and keeping the good vibes going as aggressively as possible.
