Maybe I’m that very rare thing…a “casual” Spiritualized fan… Look, I know about Spacemen 3 (and Jason Pierce) but I really only know the great trilogy (to me at least, and who am I kidding, it won’t just be me) of Spiritualized albums: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Let It Come Down and Amazing Grace. And it’s only here, now, seeing […]
UNWIND: Chisholm/Meehan/Dyne Orange Rattle I first heard Hayden Chisholm (saxophones) – well at least first really took notice on the glorious collaborative album Small Holes In The Silence featuring Hannah Griffin’s voice and Norman Meehan’s piano. The music was sparse, the lyrics drawn from famous New Zealand poems. Griffin and Meehan have an ongoing project in collaboration with Bill Manhire. Chisholm was the silent star of […]
Pet Shop Boys Agenda [EP] x2 Recordings Ltd A ‘surprise’ new Pet Shop Boys EP? Yes, please! Apparently it’s a standalone release…which is to say these four songs won’t appear on the next new album (which is – or rather will be – a thing). So for now we have a set of political songs. Now Pet Shop Boys has always included anthems with […]
A lot of people seem to think that Paul McCartney and John Lennon hated each other – were competitive, and the band broke up, and that Yoko was a pesky nuisance as well. The Yoko thing? That’s mostly racism. And sexism too. Paul and John are on the record as having had a bit of […]
Sheena Easton, Sugar Walls [Single] (1984) I was pretty into Sheena Easton across the 1980s. First off she had the Bond theme from the first James Bond movie I ever saw, then she had this association with Prince. She had a few big hits on the charts too, anyway, but the Prine-thing was a deal-sealer for me. I can’t remember not being […]
Alejandro Escovedo is a songwriter’s songwriter – people like Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams and Bob Dylan reference him among their favourites – not only that, he has backstory that would make you want to get on board anyway. Maybe even if his own music wasn’t super-great, which it is and has been across the last quarter-century. His enviable […]
Sam Newton Stare Into The Dark Sam Newton/Independent Sometimes exactly what you want is a songwriter that is dialing it right back. Across three albums Australian singer/songwriter Sam Newton has been exploring that concept. Here with his latest it is almost entirely about ‘the song’. Sure he has a pleasant voice – he summons the requisite vulnerability, heartbreak, and in fact a range of emotions. He’s […]
Probably couldn’t have picked a worse time to ‘discover’ Koffi Olomide. I’d never heard his music, not sure I’d even heard of the Congolese singer and musician, if I’m honest. But in a routine-Googling to find the cover image and any background guff to add to this – I found out he’s accused of multiple sexual assaults and is generally […]
Francisca Griffin The Spaces Between CocoMuse With 20 years off since her last release you could definitely say there have been some spaces between – but welcome back Francisca Griffin (formerly Kathy Bull of Look Blue Go Purple) and The Spaces Between, recorded over a few days in 2015 and 2016 and released now – is […]
recently, someone was telling me that the tuatara in the playground in Cuba Mall (I call it a playground, it’s a slide and this fucking tuatara-thing) is the most pointless playground-thing around.
Matt Brewer Ganymede Criss Cross Master bassist and composer Matt Brewer has been making ‘heady’ art-filled jazz music across the last two decades as sideman and leader, and importantly as a writer, working with the likes of Dave Douglas, Christian McBride, Greg Osby, Brad Mehldau and many more. Most recently he’s been creating dizzyingly wonderful larger-ensemble workouts, but here it’s […]
Pet Shop Boys, Introspective (1988) Probably the biggest love affair I’m having now with a band from the past is Pet Shop Boys. Always liked them. A big band – with huge singles – when I was a kid. And the first two albums were packed with highlights and I had a copy of the greatest hits CD through […]
