Gentle Stranger - Inner Winter
Iām liking this more than I thought I would based on the one song that I heard beforehand which sounded nice enough. A lovely wintery sounding album, the Quietus describing it as a ārecord definied by starkness, by distant field recordings, melancholy drones, acoustic guitars and plaintive vocalsā*. Has Martha Skye Murphy guesting on a couple of songs.
Piers Faccini - Songs I Love Volume II
Anglo-Italian musician whose music fuses folk, acoustic blues, and West African textures. has played on a lovely song by Ballake Sissoko a couple of years ago too.
Jim E. Brown - Torture
Jim E Brown is back with another album of his awful shouting singing and lofi sounds and song titles/lyrics such as āI TEXTED YOU A PHOTO OF THE SUNSET AND YOU NEVER RESPONDEDā and āPOST TRAUMATIC STRESS FROM MY KFC EXPERIENCE IS CONSTANTLY AFFECTING MY MOOD AND OVERALL HEALTHā and āPRAWN MAYOā.
Joby Talbot, Neil Hannon, The Cast of Wonka - Wonka
The soundtrack album for the new Wonka movie. With (I think) six songs written by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, and orchestrated mostly by ex-Divine Comedy member Joby Talbot.
Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld - Live in Berlin
Today seems to have a flurry of live albums, most of which Iāll ignore, but I reckon Iāll listen to this one as I love one of their joint albums in the past, and the snippets Iāve heard have sounded really good so far.
Prolific jazz keyboardist (using his impressive array of vintage synths) teams up with drummer Ayo Salawu. Concept album commissioned by Sonoton and inspired by the 70ās & 80ās Sonoton music Library Catalogue.
Various Artists - The Faithful: A Tribute to Marianne Faithful
A benefit album with profits going to support Marianne Faithful in her recuperation from long Covid. Artists covering Faithful songs on this album include Cat Power & Iggy Pop, Shirley Manson & Peaches, Tanya Donnelly & The Parkington Sisters.
Wordy New York underground rapper, had my favourite rap album of last year with Spirit Roaming. Apparently is releasing two albums today? Only this one on BC so far though
FFO billy woods, Earl
Oh, second album is out - but exclusively via his own new site. Wonder if Iāll get round to that one ā¦
Dark, woozy beatsmith mars kumari follows up the absolutely stunning 'mars kumari type beat with a guest packed album that sounds like what Iād imagine itād feel like to a plume of living smoke drifting over a city at night. Sounds a bit like how I i always imagined Burial would sound whenever people describe Burial to me. Featuring Dalek, Fatboi Sharif and a few others Iād never heard of before.
Follow-up to her YIAN album from March, this three track EP is all haunting strings and vocals with some spoken word. Some similarities to Anna B Savage.
The Trudy - Outside Time EP
Folky dream pop? Theyāve been around since 1979 formed by two former Cardiacs members but only three albums in that time (1980, 1991, 2016) and multiple line-up changes.
Louder Than War said āThe Trudy are the coolest UK cult pop band youāve probably never heard of. They should have been our Blondie, a smart, art-pop hit-machine. Connections with the Cardiacs meant they had a bohemian oddness and were just too cool for playing the mainstream game.ā
The Spatulas - March Chant EP
Lo-fi garage pop from Portland, Oregon. They give me that feeling that they canāt play that well but it somehow comes together into more than the sum of its parts, like The Raincoats or The Vaselines.
New track out today, a little less melodic a little more techno than usual -
I also have a London show tonight at TAM (Temple of Art and Music) in Borough / Elephant & Castle for anyone that wants to escape the office christmas parties for a dance and jump around. Free Entry.
āā¦ itās such an affirming collection of cathartic, bombastic, pop-rock-inspired post-punk. Little and Taylor are as interested in channeling Coldplay as much as they are Bruce Springsteen and Bauhaus.ā (Paste magazine review).
2 from me and both were released on the 06/12, but anyway Iāll add them here regardlessā¦
Cumulus Frisbee - The Only Way Out Is Through - LP - Fusion
Synth heavy prog with a little math rock and a little drum & bass. I wasnāt a fan of the preview track nor the 2nd track, but once Mauricesax joins in from Track 3, the sound really took shape for me.