INTRO.
Tierra Whack retired from music at least once already and who knows by the time you read this, Tierra might have done it again. Best celebrate while we can then by singing along with Tierra and all of the other big hits and misses this week. Probably discreetly, in the shower. They are the entertainers after all, not us.
SINGLES.
by Ancient Champion
Do I need to remind you of my ongoing shower woes? The self-same shower currently pulled together with Gorilla tape. £9 per roll at this moment of asking. It's a sing-song loss, as Tierra Whack reminds us, no one in the house, nor my neighbours can hear me Singing like Whitney, Singing like Britney, Singing like Aretha, Singing like Alicia... I sound great. I'm thinking Tierra could have one of those old echoey Hollywood showers because without a doubt Tierra sounds greater than I ever do. It's just the shower thing right? Tierra Whack, putting the art into artist quite courageously I think.
by Ancient Champion
Originally on the 2017 LP, Disco Popular, Mi T-Shirt De La NASA is a joy and can be found on MIS's 2004-2024 retrospective out now. As brilliant now as it ever was. Joy is an understatement yep.
by Toon Traveller
Guitar opening, straight otta Coldplay, (it's their guitar sound), but then it's them harmonious West Cost style harmonies. Slippy summery, slide guitar. Easy on the ear, vocal. Soft on the brain, lyrics. Feather's touch on the soul, melodies. It's soft and sentimental, in a heartfelt, sincere touching way. (NO SARCASM) Ruined by the need to mimic Coldplay's guitar melodies, tone and sound, (has guitarist read "Guitar Magazine" to mimic Jonny Buckland's Guitar, strings, pick-ups, amps and tuning).
by Toon Traveller
Clashing driving guitar, Oasis chords, vocals, not a Manc sneer but a strangled pastiche. Singing into scratchy distorting megaphone, a waste of time. A driving pounding beat, power pop by numbers. Guitar lines, solo's straight outta Noel's 'play guitar the Noel way' book. You are welcome to my career destroying copy. Melodies sub Brit-pop. It's all of 40 years too late. Close the lid, whisper last rites, and drop the tomb stone, and walk away humming 'What's the story morning glory'.
ZERO s
by Tim London
Beyonce is a chain - you know, like Tescos. Maybe Lidl. A supermarket, occasionally surprising the browsing customer with unlikely goods. You came to Beyonce for some soulless R&B pop, immaculately produced by the latest young gun arranger/producer and you leave Beyonce with a bag full of soulless country pop, with a list of ingredients, that, on close examination, are very bad for you. The sound of politics and real love dying.
by Hamilton High
The Warning come with a warning of course, that these women are the hottest rising band in rock right now and who could could argue with that... Three sisters from Monterrey, Mexico, Dany, Paulina and Alejandra Villarreal are right there on the cusp of riot grrrls vs out and out banal rock. "I wanna make mistakes and live in regret..." That I like. Who knows which way they'll go? I can get with that. For now though, this is as exciting it promises to be, there is not volume ceiling for listening. Epic. Your neighbours really do need to hear this too.
by Lee Paul
Pokey LaFarge reborn into Joy. Soul-ish joy.
by Toon Traveller
I've been listening to Sun Atoms, their currently single, Ceiling Tiles and this earlier piece, 'Let There Be Light' Very strange, Leonard Cohen with a heavy cold and a sparse accompaniment, embodying a distant horn, empty streets, cars swishing along empty wet streets. Disturbing yes, threatening... Menace never sounded so warm and appealing. This is a real slice of played out, washed up, tired of life, resigned, sliding into decline voices. I love all of that stuff.
by Alan Rider
"‘80s rock icons", "New Wave legends", and similar hyperbole litter their press release(but at least they didn't trot out the 'long awaited' cliche). But who are Missing Persons? For legends, it may surprise them to discover that I've never heard of them. It may be that they didn't merit my attention back in their '80s 'heyday', like so many other disposable pop acts that decade spawned, or perhaps their name was in fact a description of their stellar career. They seem very excited though about the 'full concept video' they've produced to go with the pedestrian la, la, la, electro pop fluff they've produced here. I'm not. It tells a pretty cringe worthy tale of the struggles to make it in LA (yawn) and is, apparently, part autobiographical. '‘Visionary album"? Only if you need glasses.
by Toon Traveller
These harmonies are soothing. Truck stop blues, bemoaning love, lost in the dust, broken, down the road, or railroad track. I used wonder what happened to all those songs Irish Parents used to play? Some of us remember those wimpy, maudlin, whining, songs well. Here's it's grandchild. OK, it's Americana-ised, it's Sunday mornings, it's drifting around, it's regrets, it's tearstained coffee dregs, train waiting, Philadelphia dreaming. It's one of those songs you 'get' and love, or 'get' and despise. I have the feeling it'a headed for the top Stateside Mid-West Summertime Hot 100. It'll soar cloud high, in the golden sun.
by Toon Traveller
Starts late-60s, chilled out, laid-back, cooled-down, vibe, not that I remember but I saw the films. Jesus, there's even a wistful whistling, middle-eight. Wow, not heard that since Roger Whittaker, Left Old Durham Town. Durham rejoiced. Retro it may be, one of those, TV Movie, Mom and Pop, empty bar, jukebox last play, tables cleared tunes. They make up, slow dance, longingly kiss, and live happily in Anonymity City, Samesville County, Idaho.
by Alan Rider
The video for 'Shiver' (taken from last years 'Radical Romantics' album) was inspired by the Lovers of Valdaro, the pair of 6000 year-old human skeletons in Italy that were discovered “locked in an eternal embrace”. Interesting, and not at all creepy. No, not at all. OK, it is creepy. Very. The song itself is a lolloping affair, neither here nor there really. A case of video 1, song 0.
by Alan Rider
I'm a sucker for a funny band name and The Lovely Eggs back that up with a very retro '60s psychedelic surf rock pastiche here. Its fun. In a gloomy and depressing world, fun is good. This won't break any new musical ground, far from it, its as retro as they come, but the Lovely Eggs are, well, lovely!
by Ancient Champion
Oh, wow...
by Alan Rider
This is a cover version of a Sophie Ellis-Baxter song. All I can say is "why?". Royel Otis seem to be popular with the kids in Australia and North America. All I can say is the kids are easily pleased and have low standards. This is bland, derivative identikit indie crap if I've ever heard it. They will go far.
by Ancient Champion
I don't know who is buying music at the clip required to sustain an industry, not me. I load these tracks up in one tab on my computer, write the review on a second tab, return to the press release on a third tab. Once, thirty years ago I was part of a brain trust that began putting all of this way of doing online for American entertainment companies that could afford it. Now everyone does it. Often, I'll launch a video, without realizing I am listening to the groovy all purpose music/audio track that accompanies an advert or two that I am not watching which precedes the music the publicist wants me to hear and I'll sometimes think, that piece has a really good bass groove. And I'll check the tab and see I am actually hearing music from an advert and I'll feel sad. I don't know why, it's just another visualizer. Then the real track will come on and I will be doubly sad. What if it is meaningful, significantly so, but not memorable and now I can't get back to find out who did the music for the advert which was really interesting.
by Alan Rider
As it was Valentines Day this week, it seemed appropriate to have a look at this typically gloomy take from Belgian Goth duo Lovelorn Dolls on that annual saccharine twee-fest, though to their credit all profits from Bandcamp downloads will directly go towards supporting CVFE (Collective against Family Violence and Exclusion), a Belgian association combating domestic violence. Lovelorn Dolls sure have a bleak view of the world with guns placed to heads, tales of crushed love, and so on. Gloomy faced singer Kristell Lowagie is not likely to appreciate your flowers or chocolate then, I'd say. I'm just waiting for them to do their version of 'Happy Talk'. It'd be a scream. By that I mean it would probably be all screaming.
by Toon Traveller
Genres, Genres, a world of categories and confusions. Psycho rockers, early Joy Division meets the Cure, or any Synth Goth Gloomsters, anti Brit-pop fashion trenders. Lost industrial noises, echoes, rust belt rain dashed towns. Corrugated, tattered posters, closed and abandoned neighbourhoods, lost lives. Forgotten, desperate hopes, hanging on, memories, dreams, despair, resignation. 30 years too late culturally, especially here in the UK. However, it has inspired an intriguing questions, what will a 'post industrial' and 'A, I.' ravaged 'Silicon Valley' look and sound like. Second Play, Ceiling Tiles' doomed and dispassionately gloomy is a strange charm that is strangely enticing.
by Jay Lewis
I should always be cautious about the record that I fall head over heels in love with after several hours of sifting through another pile of 'yes and so what...' new music. But And They Spoke in Anthems is not letting go of me. After a five-year break (which was preceded by another five-year hiatus), singer-songwriter Arne Leurentop has his most personal music to date, 'You, Silly Wommer, You' is dedicated to one of his best friends who died suddenly. It is reflective without ever being maudlin, it is a celebration of a life, a reminder of the extremely fragile brilliance of our time here. Oh, and the 'one shot' video is an utter joy, a lovely tribute.
EPs
by Alan Rider
With a song title like this I just had to give it a listen. Not that I'm a Satanist, you understand. In fact all of the Satanists I have come across have been fairly tame characters, not what the now-deceased head of The Church of Satan, Anton La Vey, would have been aiming for at all. This EP won't stop him spinning in his grave either. British doom/sludge outfit The Sorrow of Being Immaculate sure bring the mood down, but that's about it. This is plodding to say the least. You get five same-y tracks, plus a couple of re-mixes that are a marginal improvement, if that. Sludge is an apt description of the sound they are going for on this. If wading through aural treacle is your thing, then knock yourself out. Otherwise, step carefully around this muddy puddle.
LPs
by Jay Lewis
Forget the tired old assumptions or the much-repeated cliches - but it is really only with an artists second album that we get a true reflection of who they really are. That debut may be a beautiful presented portfolio of songs that took years to assemble, but this is the one that really matters! On 'The Pendulum Swing', Katherine Priddy shows what an incredible gift she has for writing and singing such emotional and intelligent songs. 'The First House On The Left' may be my favourite of her lyrics: a contemplation on the place that she has called home, a place that is full of many histories but may also be just bricks and mortar to some onlookers. A masterclass in songwriting.
Ruminations of home and family runs throughout 'The Pendulum Swing', and the songs that are written specifically about her father and brother touch on such recognizable themes to make them universal. Priddy has always been an autobiographical songwriter, but this time around there are no Greek myths or great novels to weave around her tales, instead 'Always, Always' and 'These Words of Mine' reach straight for the heart in the same way that recent outings by Courtney Marie Andrews or Anais Mitchell have done. 'The Pendulum Swing' is a delight, a snapshot of an artist maturing and developing, it is a joy to witness.
by Alan Rider
One of my fellow OL reviewers hated the 'Gift Horse' single off Tangk, giving it a misersly one heart. I like to think I'm a more generous soul though, previously gifting them three hearts for the single 'Grace', but holding back judgement until I'd heard the full album. Reviewer taste differences aside, Idles have been getting progressively more experimental as they go, their previous outing 'Crawler' in 2021 being a case in point. 'Tangk' starts out as it means to go on, with an out-there intro track, 'Idea 01' (I guess they couldn't think of a title for that one) setting the tone for what follows, with a tingling drum and keys ripple set against a juddering distorted guitar stutter. 'Tangk' is a muscular workout throughout, with fuzzy bass and tribal pounding drums the engine house driving every track. The best moments are not the singles, with 'Dancer' being one of the tracks I could easily pass on, but even having said that, it is still full of unexpected scrapes and growls that set it aside from the run-of-the-mill. Lyrically, I have no idea what they are going on about though. 'Hall and Oates' thankfully sounds nothing like that 80s pop duo, but is instead a punky blast, and by the time the sonorously understated and brooding 'Monolith' rounds things off, we know that Idles have their craft thoroughly nailed, combining sonic experimentation with singer Joe Talbot's whistful, yet angry tones. Like a guitar driven Aphex Twin, Idles are not afraid to stretch things tight until they snap off into unexpected directions. Turning a previous consolation one star score into a resounding five heart triumph, well that's a trick you don't often see round here.
by Ogglypoogly
As a concept to have been on the very periphery of, the Metropole Remixes have been a source of great intrigue. With the base material being an already exemplary track there isn’t necessarily much that can be added, and less that required improvement. This collections feels closer to hearing multiple recollections of the same event - each shares a common theme but the interpretation and impact varies wildly from track to track.
Listening to it in one sitting isn’t an experience I’d personally recommend, somewhere around track 6 things started to get weird, akin to an uncanny déjà vu. The usual comfort of the familiar being replaced with the certainty that things aren’t right but a complete inability to spot where changes have been made - which speaks volumes about the quality of the works chosen for the collection.
I recommend taking your time with this one, dip into sparingly over the course of a few days - add them into a very long playlist and let them surprise you. Of course you can listen to them all in one sitting as I have, but you may find yourself slowly dissolving into a pool of primordial ooze.
by Ancient Champion
I don't know whether the telling of the etymology of this record is apocryphal or not, up until the line, "All we do know is: it's a masterpiece and you need it." True.
by Alan Rider
Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Oh dear. This cracks me up, it really does.
by Katherine Pargeter
The clue is in the title. If you wanted to find out why people with otherwise revered music taste (Robbie Robinson and The Band, Rich Rubin, Johnny Cash, Shane MacGowan, Quentin Tarantino...), endorsed, produced, covered, and soundtracked their films with music by that kitsch creator of that dreaded sporting sing-along, then this odd little compilation may be your answer.
I don't know how many versions of Neil Diamond you know of, or how you may balk at his MOR schmaltz, but the one represented on this compilation is a heart-on-sleeve creator of elegant pop songs from someone who served their apprenticeship in the Brill Building. Ideally, I could have done without the sentimental 'September Morn' and gone instead with 'Brother Loves Traveling Salvation Show' or 'Shilo', but it's a minor quibble.
Other Materials
by Alan Rider
Ian Brown is one of those intense characters that continues to produce interesting and relevant music regardless of fashion. The real reason for highlighting this five year old song now though is the video, which is like a mini film and features a truly creepy looking arcade automaton of him. Its a highly original take on a music video. If this had come out at the same time as Michael Jackson's Thriller video it'd have created as much of a stir. As it happened it didn't, but then times have changed a lot after all. Ian Brown is a pretty good social commentator nonetheless, so pay attention will you?
Essentials
Main image screengrab from the Tierra Wack video, Shower Song
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