Ape School – S/T (Counter)
A chance discovery like the one Michael Johnson made prior to recording this album (his first under the Ape School title) can shape a recording and give it focus, or it can restrict it. Happily, Johnson’s discovery was a beautiful old Moog (apparently the fourth ever made by Mr. Moog himself), [...]
Pop Levi – Police $ign (Counter)
Oh, I get it, dollar signs look like an ‘S’. Right. Childish by name, one supposes, childish by nature. Indeed, Pop Levi’s Police $ign begins with some rhythmic spitting and soon cavorts into primary-aged dullard rock histrionics. The monster that is the elusive riff, as a concept, can be seen [...]
Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy (Big Dada)
Speech Debelle’s genesis has been one defined entirely by herself, and one that purposefully eschews any conventional notions of lay-dee hip-hop. There’s little hardship and none of it is glamorised, the music is only harsh when it needs to be and, most importantly, Debelle’s dizzying lyrical constructs provide fulfilment [...]
This week, the escalating-in-excellence Steve Abel has a go. His latest album is really good, and you’d buy it if you knew about how good it was. Here’s how good it is. Anyway, recovering from the torrential water attacks from nature which habitually bombard our fair capital, here’s Steve.
In a word, how’s your week?
Bustling.
What did [...]
Malcolm Middleton – Waxing Gibbous (Full Time Hobby)
Because Waxing Gibbous is reputedly Malcolm Middleton’s last solo LP for quite some time, you’d expect some sort of parting message, a farewell, a sign-off. It appears to be “Fuck off. Can’t be fucked”. And that’s in no way a bad thing. Hasn’t most of his career, whether [...]
This time, PM has managed to pin down Rob from Morton Valence and ask him our usual pertinent posers. This could well be the first subject where the final question is answered with one statement. Then again, on hearing Morton Valence’s latest album, it comes as no surprise. Bitterness and loveliness all bundled up like [...]
Trespassers William – The Natural Order Of Things EP (Gizeh)
Matt Brown and Anna-Lynne Williams are intuitively linked to one another, sharing a musical relationship that is both complimentary and wrought with nuance. This EP sees their haziness reach their most ethereal depths yet, but still manage to handle pop currency well enough to make the [...]
At the tail-end of last week, I was due to interview one of The Wu Tang Clan’s most eloquent, passionate and natural vocalists, Ghostface Killah. He, along with his accompanying Theodore Unit troupe, was to appear at the Scala in Kings Cross. Because of the reported nature of the hip-hop interview, I expected some degree [...]
Steve Abel & The Chrysalids – Flax Happy (Kin’sland)
There’s a vein in Antipodean pop that deals with the very darkest material, from the ubiquitous Nick Cave to the newly valorised Devastations, who find melody and drama in life’s corners and crannies more than their highways and coffee shops. Sonically, Steve Abel’s second album aligns with [...]
Lightning Seeds – Four Winds (Universal)
It’s not often I’d slip into a first-person perspective, but this one’s kind-of important. The first record I ever bought for myself, armed with accrued pocket money and the influence of an older brother’s desire for making exhaustive mixtapes, was Sense by Ian Broudie’s Lightning Seeds. As a work, it [...]
