Cruel Force: HanedaOut 27th March on Shadow Kingdom Sits at the playful end of German thrash, emphasising the melodic elements of Destruction circa ‘Mad Butcher’. On the basis of this material there is a clear effort to align with the rough and tumble of 80s thrash via the period correct mix and throaty vocals, but... Continue Reading →

"As a memoirist excavating my life, I needed a solid pier to anchor the boat. To write incisively about events that happened forty to fifty years ago, finding music to evoke those times was key."

The finest early album of the down-homiest picker among modern jazz guitarists.   [row-start] [half] [/half] [half] Personnel Herb Ellis (guitar), Jimmy Giuffre (tenor saxophone, arranger), Richie Kamuca (tenor saxophone), Art Pepper, Bud Shank (alto saxophone), Jim Hall (rhythm guitar), Lou Levy (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Stan Levey (drums) Recorded on March 26, 1959 atRead more

I had a musical Easter weekend. We watched Wayne’s World for pizza night on Friday, my band practiced for 4 hours on Saturday, and I spent most of Sunday afternoon making a new mixtape: April is often a melancholy month for me. Last April I made an “April Showers” mix that I described as a […]

As part of their 50th anniversary celebrations the record label Rough Trade are reissuing 50 curated albums taken from every year of their existence. The record chosen for 1992 is a reissue of Aphex Twin’s classic album Selected Ambient Works 85-92. The reissue comes in a picture disc format spread across two LPs ,with newContinue reading "Selected Ambient Works 85-92 reissue"

Cosmic Music: The Life, Art and Transcendence of Alice Coltrane | In Conversation with Andy BetaOver on Aquarium Drunkard today, you can read my chat with the great author/critic Andy Beta about Cosmic Music, his new, highly recommended Alice Coltrane biography. Andy’s book is fascinating from start to finish, going deep into the journey that this awe-inspiring woman went on, from Detroit to NYC to India to LA … and into far less terrestrial territory, of course. As I told Andy, on pretty muc...

In the last year or so I've read about many people moving from streaming services, like Apple Music and Spotify, to their own music library. To support these local libraries, many seem to be getting themselves a music player, such as the Fiio Echo Mini. While moving to a local library is something that I've thought about many times1, I don't understand why people are buying these little music players. The big selling points generally seem to be: Bluetooth connectivity so...

About ten years ago I sat down in front of a camera and recorded eleven videos showing how I play mandolin for contra dances. I've now done something similar with piano, this time with thirteen videos. This is not a high quality effort: I didn't write any scripts or even plan what I was going to say. Think of it as if we spent half an hour together, with me showing you how I play. Also keep in mind that I'm self taught, and my particular style that isn't for everyone. And my keybo...

less on social media, more in places I control

As a fan of the Pets since watching them play West End Girls on Top of the Pops, then getting Please on vinyl in 1986, having the chance to see them play an intimate show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden was a #lifegoals moment last night.For these five Obscure shows, they’re only playing B-sides and album tracks. I’m more of an old school 1980s PSB fan, so it was a total delight to hear three tracks from Please, a couple from Actually as well as Introspective and Behaviour.They’ve...

"Battle Hymn of the Republic" by US Army Band and Chorus Listen on Apple Music Your browser does not support the audio element. Which lyric always gives you goosebumps Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; / He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; / He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: / His truth is marching on. - This has actually been a top 40 hit twice in its history, for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Andy Wil...

These days, music I'm not familiar with rarely hits me like a ton of bricks. Rarely, but not never.

Best Record of 2001: Day 12 Daft Punk- Discovery (Note: this first appeared here as part of out Top 100 records series) The origin story of Daft Punk is now firmly cemented in pop music lore. Three guys, Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homen-Christo, and Laurent Brancowitz, get together to make some records under the name […]

I’m struggling with how much a really like AI-generated music. A lot of time, I just have music on in the background while I work., Instrumentals are great for this. Lately, I’ve been listening to “Spy Jazz” which is some moody stuff that sounds like it’s from the 60s. It’s… mindless. It just plays in the background, like the soundtrack to “Oceans 12,” and I don’t think about it much. But then I found Eddie Dalton. And this has me a little worried. Eddie doesn’t exist, clearly. You can tel...

It’s sort of amazing to think that Bill Frisell, despite being as prolific as he is, also has so much unrecorded music sitting around that he can hand enough to constitute a concert-length program to another ensemble, here the Westerlies, and on top of it, that program introduces a new album that is apparently, per […]

I finally gave in to those "free CD" Instagram Reels and it might be the most analogue music discovery I've made in years.

Taroug -“Cicada” James Holden – “Common Land” Rare DM – “Compliment” The post Visual Velcro 49 first appeared on Palms Out Sounds.

Beautiful Bandcamp spring-has-sprungers selected by Secret Soul Society‘s Cal Gibson. This year the longed-for return of spring has been somewhat tempered by thoughts of World War III possibly having broken out: but on the basis that any distraction is a godsend in such dark times, here’s a few mystical moments carved out of the musical ether. […]

U2 is ground zero for me. They weren’t the first act I loved as a kid, but they were probably the first that I took seriously. Achtung Baby wasn’t my first album, but it was certainly the first that I absorbed as such – a world unto itself, sophisticated rock music for adults just a […]

I made my first visit to Nagoya, Japan a few weeks ago, but only saw their Shinkanesen station and Legoland Japan, situated on the city’s port lands. There’s no point to this besides to say “hey go look at my holiday pics” but also that if local shoegaze ambassadors Blurred City Lights had released their […] The post Blurred City Lights -『 月光 』 appeared first on Space Echo.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a few months, but life has a habit of getting in the way. Anyway, last month I [...] The post Old and New Vinyl, Blue Note Style first appeared on jazzcollector.com.

The Clearlight that concerns us here is a French musical ensemble with a shifting line-up, formed by and oriented around the activities of its keyboard-playing composer Cyrille Verdeaux. Clearlight, in other words, shouldn’t be confused with the short-lived American psychedelic band known as Clear Light. Cherry Red have just released five Clearlight albums in one … Continue reading "Clearlight: Symphonies"

Does anyone still use Last.fm? I just (re)discovered that I’ve had an account since 2007. Old profile photo to match.

Abronia - Shapes UnravelI know I’m not alone in lamenting the fact that we only got one Heron Oblivion LP (plus a killer live album). But if you’re on the hunt for some similarly styled, truly electrifying neo-britfolk, look no further than Abronia’s latest LP Shapes Unravel. The Portland, OR-based six-piece features tightly wound guitar interplay, a galloping rhythm section and the strident vocals of Keelin Mayer, not to mention the wild card addition of pedal steel-er Rick “The Far Sound” P...