Venetian Snares/Daniel Lanois Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois Timesig/Planet Mu This surprise collaboration features two Canadian wunderkind musicians that push and pull in very different directions. It might be a head-scratch (or indeed a head-fuck) for many, particularly if you are arriving at this as a Lanois fan unaware of Venetian Snares. But there’s gold […]
Electric Light Orchestra, A New World Record (1976) When my dad got the greatest hits album many moons ago we all sat around the campfire eagerly…he’d swear by this band, ELO, “bloody hell”, he’s say, “they’re fuckin good!” etc…And man, the songs…turns out I knew so many of them, even as a wee one. They’d been […]
Welcome to episode 121 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T, Yeastie Boys and Le Petite Chocolat. I reckon I first met Barry Saunders some 15 years ago or so. He used to come in for chats in the music store where I worked. He was a new dad. His little girl – now a university […]
Marcelo Zarvos Z: The Beginning of Everything Varese Sarabande The single-series period drama Z: The Beginning of Everything was an enjoyable watch; based on the novel of the same name, a fictionalised account of the lives of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and the dawning of the jazz age, it featured a strong effort from […]
Stuart A. Staples Arrhythmia City Slang For Stuart A. Staples’ first solo album in nearly a decade and a half you might think there’s not much of a connection to the Tindersticks’ work – but, actually, this bares closer resemblance, all up, to some of his band’s work, particularly the soundtrack and installation work, than […]
A few weeks ago I was out walking the dog, nothing unusual there, I try to do it most days… And a woman stopped to pat the dog, to remark that the dog was cute, and funny, and friendly – also not that unusual – he is all of those things (most of the time). […]
Builders, Beatin Hearts (1983) Where did Bill/William Direen come from? I tried to find out a bit more about that just the other week – I had him around for a podcast. It’ll be up soon. It was my first time meeting him. Though I know a lot of his music and have read some […]
Mali Mali Azimuth Home Alone Music Album number three for Ben Tolich – aka Mali Mali – and in that way you’d hope, you’d always want, he continues to grow, to mature, to further dazzle in his quiet, shoe-gazing way. Each new release building on the one previous.
I’d love to say I’m a huge Magazine fan – but I’m not, simply because I’ve not really bothered. Funnily enough, the Magazine album I know best, is the 2011 release (from a reunion phase) called No Thyself. I reckon that’s brilliant. A really great album. So – I’d never heard Real Life but I […]
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Live at KEXP! Colemine Records I loved the debut studio set from Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio (in fact I thought it so nice, I reviewed it twice!) But the thing that really hipped me to this band and sold me on their sound was this live-to-air; released here for Record Store […]
my best intentions were never ever that good, probably shouldn’t admit this here then again, i always knew i would, self-sabotage is barely ever ‘all the rage’, but you do what you must when you have to fill the page.
Bob Dylan, Triplicate (2017) I am enjoying Bob Dylan’s roll through the standards, serving up evergreens whenever/however he feels like it – this time a triple album, three separate 30-minute, 10-song mood-pieces. I’m still digesting this one in fact – hence the move to the LP, an easier way to take it all in in […]
