July 2012

Described on their official web-site as 'The Psychedelic folk-rock band from Newcastle', 'Into The Light' is taken from their forthcoming 2nd LP 'Gone To Ground'. It sounds for all the world like a Gene Clark penned Byrds tracking, right down to the vocal phrasing and rich harmonies. The guitar chimes like McGuinn and if something so retro may seem fairly pointless to you, think on. Alfa 9 do this stuff so well here that fans of the likes of Teenage Fanclub as well as The Coral and of course The Byrds can all safely apply.( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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Formed in 2009 and featuring Portishead man Geoff Barrow, Beak also contain members Billy Fuller and Matt Williams for this slice of experimental electronic post-rock. A shifting drone-like siren weaves in and out, cymbals sounds tap away amid dark rolling drums. Not one to play to your Kiss FM loving friends but it's great to know Geoff and friends are pushing barriers and trying to create something fairly unique here. Well, think a modern electronic take on 'Fire' from The Beach Boys 'Smile' LP. It's as good a description as any.( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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Anyone who is a fan of reverb packed sci-fi rock, such as me, is always going to like Death By Raygun. You can pick up this track for free as well as their recent releast 'The Cliff Hoyt Experience' on Bandcamp where the full five song EP will only cost 2 of your earth pounds. Call it sci-fi, garage rock, sludge - it packs a ghostly atmosphere and reminds this listener of Crystal Stilts slower moments. ( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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Released during December 2011 on Dan Dare Records as part of Dub For Light's 'Mindset' CD and well worth me drawing attention to it here even though many months have passed. I grew up (well.....) listening to John Peel spin classic dub tracks from the 70s and have also loved the sound. Dub For Light don't do anything to put a modern take on the basic ethos of the music, eg, reggae instrumentals that revolve almost exclusively around heavy basslines. Apparently there's a lot of this kind of stuff in the US right now, which surprises yet delights me. For your down-tempo, dub reggae needs then, you can do worse than to check out 'Rodinia' - they list King Tubby among their friends on Myspace and that's good enough for me. ( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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I discovered this track during the same soundcloud trawls I took where I also found Death By Raygun. I guess putting in Joe Meek as a tag generally leads to such things. What things? Well, spiralling surf guitar and a rhythm section that sound straight out of 1960 and I mean that well. The sound is scarily authentic, right down to the compressed bass and drums alongside hi-treble guitar parts. Think this is a one man in a garage operation as far as I can tell, as I have no further information but do check out soundcloud if any of this sounds remotely interesting.( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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This sounds to me like Dennis Wilson crossed with Florence and the Machine and Fleetwood Mac. It's a slow-burning tune that may well not grab you straight away but the massed brass instruments, guitars, cymbals and vocals (reminiscent of Sandy Denny) become an intoxicating mix. This is the 2nd single taken from her Debut LP and enough for me to invest in a copy of same very shortly I should imagine.( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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Released on Domino Records, this is the first single from Patrick Watson's album 'Adventures In Your Own Backyard' and very lovely it is too. Based in Montreal, a lazy comparison when hearing 'Step Out For A While' is to think Arcade Fire yet also recent songs by Bon Iver and why not through in a flavour of Jeff Buckley for good measure?( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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You remember Martin Carr, don't you? Sure, we all remember him! Well, former Boo Radleys leader Martin Carr has returned once more in a typically low-key fashion to release 'Sailor', a song well upto bottom-half of the table Boo Radleys standards, so pretty much relegation form if this is meant to be enough to draw us into new Martin Carr projects. Don't get me wrong, the song itself is well constructed and fairly memorable, it's just the cheap sounding production values do nothing for me when Martin really needs a bit of a Beatles/Beach Boys/My Bloody Valentine vibe going on - either that kind of vibe or, better still, a few genuinely new turns to get us all interested again.( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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Naturally my love of dub reggae can extend to more moderns takes on the style, this monster bass blows your speakers one, definitely one to annoy the neighbours with. The song itself is entirely nonsensical of course if our only criteria is music as art, for which this entirely isn't - it's heapfuls of fun of sometimes that's all you need in this world. I'm resisting the temptation at my age to yell 'House MAFIA!!!' at the top of my voice. Almost certainly, resisting is entirely for the best. The Mavik on Youtube( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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Apparently a new Blur album is far from being certain, even with this and 'The Puritan' being released on itunes, two brand new Blur songs. 'Under The Westway' owes a heavy debt to Procol Harum to ears listening in our house but then Damon never was one to shy away from borrowing a little from other artists here and there. To place this in the Blur back-catalog think of 'The Universal' if it had been recorded around the time of 'Modern Life Is Rubbish'. Entirely lacking in innovation then, but so is much commercial music these days. The bottom line is this is good enough to add to the Blur legacy rather than take away from it. ( reviewed 14/07/2012 )

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