ALBUM REVIEW – THE UNTHANKS: IN WINTER

There is often a sense of cheap cash-in to Christmas albums, a quick fix. Throw together a few familiar cover versions and the odd original, garnish with tinsel and sleigh bells for a quota, quickie package, a good way of fulfilling contractual obligations. Thankfully, The Unthanks’ ‘In Winter’ is a far more satisfying proposition. As […]
There is a great sense of detail in The Innocence Mission’s latest album, ‘Midwinter Swimmers’. It is apparent in lyrics that have a poetic precision and colourfully capture place. The music is imbued with a fragility reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan and mingles lo-fi charm with subtle shifts to create a cinematic palette. It is a […]

ALBUM REVIEW – THE INNOCENCE MISSION: MIDWINTER SWIMMERS

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 22 NOVEMBER 2024

Here are the week’s stellar collection of new releases. Cistern              New Standard              From a group featuring members of N0V3L and Crack Cloud comes a 5-track display of DIY-rock anthem recorded on an 8-track tape machine. The band are defined by tight musicianship, harmonious and dissonant instrumentation, do-it-yourself recording and experimentation. The Attendant              Unit EP              Pete […]
“Just want a girl as cool as Kim Deal” The Dandy Warhols sang in 1997. Not many musicians have had such songs of adulation written about them, but then not every musician has dominated the alternative music scene like Kim Deal. It seems remarkable that this is her first solo album in a musical career […]

ALBUM REVIEW: KIM DEAL – NOBODY LOVES YOU MORE

ALBUM REVIEW – FATHER JOHN MISTY: MAHASHMASHANA

With his 2022 album, ‘Chloë and The Next 20th Century’, it appeared that Father John Misty was trying to dial down the ambiguous signals that had permeated his earlier releases. Its mixture of golden era Hollywood and cruise ship opulence signified an artist happy to embrace the mainstream, an arena for which his outstanding melodicism […]
An ultra busy week with lots of tantalising releases. Here is our summary of what’s what. Xeno & Oaklander     Via Negativa (in the doorway light)               Refined retro-futurist synth pop with a tension between Teutonic, utopian synthetic pop and lyrical narratives of ghosts in silos, ruined mills, and the traumas of mineral excavation. The Green Child          […]

ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 15 NOVEMBER 2024

ALBUM REVIEW – JULIAN MAYORGA: CHAK CHAK CHAK CHAK

What a joy it is to discover a new favourite record label. It can open entire new colourful worlds of sound. Over the past month alone, Glitterbeat Records has offered up an extraordinary collection of new releases, a veritable magic pick and mix. From Turkey has come the psych rock mayhem of BaBa ZuLa’s ‘İstanbul […]
Unquestionably, Tomo Katsurada’s ‘Dream of the Egg’ has the week’s most intriguing concept. It is a collaboration with visual artist Shoko Otake for which Katsurada provides the soundtrack to a 20-page picture book inspired by the 1920’s children’s story, ‘Yume No Tamago (Dream of the Egg)’. In addition to the picture book, the package consists […]

ALBUM REVIEW – TOMO KATSURADA: DREAM OF THE EGG

ALBUM REVIEW – PETER ALEXANDER JOBSON: BURN THE RATION BOOKS OF LOVE

It is rare if not unique that an album lands in the Silent Radio inbox for which Les Dawson is cited as an influence. Fortunately, Peter Alexander Jobson’s ‘Burn The Ration Books of Love’ does not contain any mother-in-law jokes and the piano playing is of a far superior standard to Dawson’s onstage shenanigans. Instead, […]
To release a debut single and announce a debut album not long after, you must have a set of bollocks and confidence in your work which The Wood have. Consisting of scousers Alex Evans and Steve Powell, who met whilst Powell was recording Evans in his ARK recording studio and was blown away with his […]

ALBUM REVIEW – THE WOOD: DAYS