For the love of music
It’s hard not to feel both twinges of cynical suspicion and mild concern when it comes to Laura Marling's rapidly rising starlet status. Already shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize twice, signed to a major label with plenty of marketing muscle power and encumbered by gossip-friendly side-stories of past relationships with members of Noah … [Read more...]
Although it’s somewhat lazy to keep talking of Pete Astor in terms of his veteran status - list-dropping his past CV entries with The Loft, The Weather Prophets, The Wisdom Of Harry, Ellis Island Sound and as a solo trading artist – some context is important in highlighting his journeyman status that has been aided by several Doctor Who-style … [Read more...]
Damon Krukowski (Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi) on… Various Positions by Leonard Cohen (Passport Records, 1984) "I went to see Walter Yetnikoff... Walter said, 'Leonard, we know you're great, but we don't know if you're any good,' and he turned down Various Positions for U.S. distribution because it wasn't contemporary." (Leonard … [Read more...]
Singer/Songwriter NEeMA has crafted something deeply personal and precious with her sophomore LP, Watching You Think. Its wonderful unity of lightly orchestrated folk, intelligent poetry, warm production, and endearing, almost vulnerable vocals make it an instant classic in the genre. NEeMA entrances you with her affective tales of life. Born of … [Read more...]
The latest album from Petracovich, Crepusculo, has a certain sense of transition and tragedy imbued. Lead singer Jessica Peters-Malmberg recorded the album during her pregnancy. After her son was born and passed away shortly after the album was shelved and brought back to life a year later, along with Jessica’s enduring passion to sing and play … [Read more...]
It’s somewhat of a double-edged sword for anyone brave enough to be romantically entangled with Roger Quigley (who trades solo as At Swim Two Birds and also under a band umbrella as one of The Montgolfier Brothers). On the one hand, a Quigley relationship is pre-destined to end in an emotional cataclysm, to be deconstructed in painful detail … [Read more...]
No introductory thematic connection-making spiel this time around, just some notes on three semi-obscure oddments that might otherwise slip through the net, fall through the cracks, go under the radar, get lost in the crowd, slip overboard, become needles in haystacks... yadda yadda yadda. Glen Johnson - … [Read more...]
It's not hard to understand why the world of reissues stirs up such confusion and cynicism, given the multiple lines of attack followed by artists and labels alike to keep back catalogues alive or resuscitate them from near-death. So, for every long-awaited first CD reissue of a lost vinyl relic (anything by Lee Hazlewood for instance) and … [Read more...]
The need for a constructive and creative break from the strictures of a bill-paying 'day-job' has spawned the beginnings of innumerable bands. But what if your band has become the 'day-job'? Well, then maybe you require an old-fashioned side-project to let steam off outside the confines of democratic compromise or to tackle something your … [Read more...]