Hello again. Sorry to have missed out August, but life got in the way of things, as it does. August was a slow enough month musicaly, but September is certainly making up for the slow down.
Some of these reviews may seem a little brief but I’ve got COVID as I’m putting this together and feel rubbish. So this is all we get. Anyway.
Let’s get down to it, boppers.
Slowdive
Everything is Alive
One of the few heart warming stories over the last couple of years has been the critical re-evaluation of Slowdive. For a band that were so reviled, seeing the world come round to how good they are is lovely to see. Having them reform and then deliver two albums of this quality though? That is amazing. Maybe I’m giving the game away too early in this review, but I love this album.
Everything is Alive started life as an ambient album, and in places you can still hear this foundation in these songs. There’s a delicate lightness of touch here that harkens back to their Pigmalion days, but Everything is a full band affair.
As much as I enjoy the first half of the album, it feels like the album clicks propperly into place when we get to the track Kisses. From there it feels like the band focus in on what makes them great and we get a closing run that’s as good as any they’ve made before.
Kisses itself, is the kind of joyous indie song that Slowdive are the masters of, sun dappled music for summer days, with Neil and Rachel’s voices in perfect harmony.
Chained to a Cloud sounds exactly like that title sounds, the electronics coming to the fore, filling the song with a hazy glow. The Slab, the album closer, is faster paced, with the drums mixed to sound huge, while the guitars slowly fill all the space left. It’s going to be glorious live.
Everything is Alive isn’t as immediate as its predecessors, it took a week for me to get into it properly. You may need some patience with it, but it will reward your time and I’m very happy to say that this album is everything I need from one of my favorite bands of all time.
Routine Death
Comrade
There’s a lot of genres covered in this relatively short album. It opens with some gorgeous, delicate shoegaze, with the second track, Becoming a Monster, channeling the woozy euphoria of Spiritualized. Things change with the third, Marla, a beatless drone is a palet cleanser before the synthwave of Turnaround, which has the icy sheen of an Italians Do It Better release.
The album darkens further with Look at the Glory of Man, a claustrophobic, drone laden track, filled with voices that are always just out of the listeners ability to understand. It’s a great way of increasing the album’s uneasy feeling, while leading into the album’s most unexpected twist.
Gouge Away, a Pixies cover by way of A Forest by the Cure is an interesting idea, but I’m not sure it works. It’s not bad, but it is the only weak point on the album for me.
With the last track, The Free Man Thinks of Death, we’re in full post punk / darkwave territory. Drum machines clank, guitars are layered and drenched in reverb, leaving us with a song that could happily soundtrack the beginning of The Hunger.
To its credit, none of these changes in style are jarring. The album flows effortlessly and is a great (dark) entry into the new wave of goth.
Red Meat
Providence
Red Meat plays 80’s and 90’s indebted industrial techno that’s savage, queer and politically furious. Built from distorted vocals, crushing beats and some unexpected film samples these two songs do not fuck around.
The lead track is the most floor friendly here, the clattering drums are perfect for stomping your boots on darkened dance floors. But, for me, the highlight here is the second track.
Remission is a seven and a half minute, slow build of seething, white knuckle rage. The song locks into a marching rhythm, activates its Tactical Neural Implant and boils through some brilliant Front Line Assembly styled industrial.
If you’re in the mood for something stompy, this will more than scratch that itch.
hoodie x K James
065 (scorpio)
Dub / Shoegaze / Trip Hop
There’s a wonderful place in music where electronic and guitar music comes together, but it’s very difficult to get just right.
Happily, 065 (scorpio) is perfectly balanced. Dub bass, trip hop drums and swathes of shoegazing guitar combine with a gliding female vocal, come together in what is one of my favourite songs of the year.
It feels like I keep advising people to play certain releases out loud, but in a world where most music is absorbed on headphones, sometimes it’s necessary to remind people that music needs to be played loudly as well, and this is definitely one of those releases. That dub bassline should be felt in your chest at least once. This is a truly beautiful song, you need to let it shine.
Rupture // Rapture
Disconnect
Worthing’s premier melodic techno maestro is back with a new EP after quite a long hiatus (Well, for him). In that time he released a new project called Spectral Flux, a much darker release than R//R’s sound, and it seems to have had an interesting effect on his main act.
Disconnect still has the slick sheen that is R//R’s trademark but cracks are beginning to show as some of the darkness that inhabited Spectral Flux creeps into the mix here. The second track, Horizon’s keyboard line has more than a little feel to the Exorcist’s Tubular Bells, which give the track a lovely bit of menace.
Lifeform has its trance influence a bit more noticeable, (not that this is a bad thing) but otherwise this is business as usual for R//R, euphoric, hands in the air techno.
Bong-Ra
Vaseline
For this EP, Bong-Ra has ditched the doom jazz of his last two albums and returned to his roots of dark breaks. There’s honestly not a lot to dive into here, you just need this checklist to see if this is for you.
Do you like rapid fire breakbeats? Do you like deep bass with sinister vibes? Yes? Then jump in my friends, because this is four tracks of high octane adrenaline, aimed right at your ears.
A.A Williams
Without You I’m Nothing
A.A’s gothic tinged post rock is the perfect vehicle for this cover, her sense of drama really fits perfectly with Placebo’s. The wall of guitars really lift the last half of the song, giving the original a run for its money and giving me five minutes of music that I never want to stop.
Girlfriend.
In Silence
Girlfriend. (With the full stop) are an Irish band on their third single before what is hoping is their debut album. It’s glorious grungy, noisy, indie rock. In Silence is as great as the two songs that have come before it and I’m having to be very careful not to overplay these songs. They’re probably going to be on the album and I don’t want to ruin it before it’s released.
Mclusky
The Unpopular Parts of a Pig
19 years after their last album, Mclusky dust themselves off and give us a blast of their old magic. 4 songs, none of which are longer than 2:50. Some of which are incredibly fast, very funny and weird. Some are slow, very funny and weird. Honestly, no one has a turn of phrase like Falco and it’s great to hear his lyrics in Mclusky form again.
The tracks don’t seem to be on Spotify or youtube, so here’s the bandcamp link. Go buy this ep and support this band, so we can have more good things in the world
https://mcluskymclusky.bandcamp.com/album/unpopular-parts-of-a-pig-the-digger-you-deep
The ways of exile 