30.07.2023-ARTHUR BEATRICE Keeping The Peace (Vertigo,2016)

 

INDIE ROCK

     Arthur Beatrice’s style is hard to pin down. Working Out, their debut was compared to The xx due to its intimate, minimalist style, but their focus on piano and classicist melodies is perhaps closer to James Blake and the moody work of Tindersticks. Following it up, Arthur Beatrice have chosen to dramatically pivot in a totally different direction, aiming for grandeur and maximalism with Keeping the Peace.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/owo5zx

29.07.2023/REN HARVIEU Through The Night (Island,2012)

 

POP ROCK

     The instrumentation is orchestral and lush with an intimate live feel to the recording, providing some relief at a time when computerised synthesisers and excessive layering are dominating the market. The album is full of big choruses, and the use of euphoric strings on songs like ‘Through the Night’ make Harvieu sound like a less kooky but more human Florence and The Machine. The one issue with these big choruses is that, combined with the strings and Harvieu’s 60’s vibe, some tracks, like ‘Walking in the Rain’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘Summer Romance’, end up sounding dangerously close to ABBA.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/1f6lyn

26.07.2023-EMILIANA TORRINI Tookah (Rough Trade,2013)

 

INDIE POP

     Emiliana Torrini doesn’t have the highest output in the world and after the mish-mash of all her previous genres last time out, Tookah most certainly provides a step in the right direction in her progression towards merging delicate acoustics and lush electronic arrangements together.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/368min

25.07.2023-SARAH JAFFE Bad Baby (Kirtland,2017)

 

INDIE POP

     For fans who were first introduced to Sarah Jaffe by her moody 2012 track “Clementine,” the artist’s sound is barely recognizable today. Since 2014’s Don’t Disconnect, Jaffe has moved in a decidedly poppier direction, experimenting with vintage synth grooves and extensive sonic layering. Now, she’s back with Bad Baby, and Jaffe’s sound has never been stronger or more diverse.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/m85x04

24.07.2023-CARRIE ELKIN The Penny Collector (Not On Label,2017)

 

FOLK / COUNTRY

     Carrie Elkin's first album in six years, follow-up to 2011's twangy, pure country Call It My Garden, finds the Austin singer-songwriter in a much sparser, folk-gospel-sounding space. Titled in honor of her late father, a lifelong collector of little copper coins and whose passing informed the narrative woven throughout his daughter's sixth LP, The Penny Collector exists in the remarkable, forlorn stretch between life and death, equally funereal and filled with quiet joys. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2zdjtu

22.07.2023-SECRET SISTERS Put Your Needle Down (Republic,2014)

 

COUNTRY

   A journey into the past for the Secret Sisters’ second album.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/fhps8d

20.07.2023-BETH DITTO Fake Sugar (Virgin,2017)

 

SOUTHERN ROCK

   Five years after A Joyful Noise, Ditto (ex-GOSSIP) returns with Fake Sugar, a solo debut that polishes her sound further. But it also benefits greatly from a shift in expectations: Freed of some of the hype surrounding Gossip's earlier records, it recasts Ditto as a versatile, pop-minded rock star who can still shake the rafters with her voice when the moment calls for it.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/aj5p17

17.07.2023-SCHRADINOVA India Lima Oscar Victor Echo You (Universal,2010)

 

JAZZ POP

   Schradinova is Janne Schra who lives in the Dutch city Huizen. Former singer of succesful Dutch popjazz outfit Room Eleven Janne Schra chose to go her own way after several international tours and lots of awards. Something to do with 'musical differences', you know how it goes. With help from former bandmates, Schradinova made an accesible, yet highly imaganitve jazzy album with oddball lyrics about pencils, an imaginary Italian Family and stormy weather. There's rock, Balkan- and latin-influences, and that gorgeous, soothing voice. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/fap9s6

16.07.2023-FOXES The Kick (PIAS,2022)

 

DANCE POP

   The Kick. It showcases Foxes, now a decade into her pop career, at a new peak. There is confidence and cohesion and direction. It is a time capsule, containing an era where the closest we got to a night out was an extra glass of Pinot on a Friday, where burgeoning relationships shrivelled under the weight of stifled Tinder talk. Luckily for us, we can enjoy it where it was meant to be listened to: out in the real world. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/5j31ls

15.07.2023/SISTER SUVI Now I'm Champion (Common Cloud,2009)

 

ALTERNATIVE ROCK

   Members of Islands and tUnE-YaRds collaborate on this eclectic and free-thinking project.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/0zyum5

14.07.2021-EMILY JANE WHITE Victorian America (Milan,2010)

 

NEOFOLK

   Victorian America’ is simply a perfect record. Harnessing elements of folk, gospel, blues, gothic and even country music together to create a stunning backdrop for Emily’s beautiful voice, there is so much emotion written into the music that you can’t help but be swayed by it.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/bku9tn

13.07.2023-SLOW MOVING MILLIE Renditions (Island,2011)

 

INDIE / ALTERNATIVE

   Slow Moving Millie is the name that has been cast upon Liverpudlian songbird Amelia Warner. You may know the name already as the successful actress cast in films including Quills and Aeon Flux or perhaps for her past marriage to Hollywood heartthrob Colin Farrell. The singer is now making a name for herself under the alias of Slow Moving Millie and as one of the latest in UK talents thanks to an advert for John Lewis. With the spotlight firmly fixed on the singers beautiful rendition of the Smiths classic Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want following its use on the latest Christmas advert for the UK retail giant it is now time for the appropriately titled Renditions, the singers debut record.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/9j9z8y

11.07.2023-STAVES Good Woman (Atlantic,2021)

 

FOLK

   The Staveley-Taylor sisters – Jess, Milly, and Emily – pulled through a turbulent period to produce a record that's soulful, sophisticated and forward-thinking.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/gslj0r

10.07.2023-2 BEARS The Night Is Young (Southern Fried,2014)

 

INDIETRONICA

   Raf Rundell and Hot Chip's Joe Goddard continue their mission to bring fun back to the dancefloor.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/lr3zle

09.08.2023-VARIOUS CRUELTIES Various Cruelties (Almanac,2012)

 

INDIE ROCK

   

A well-rounded effort; the band clearly has a knack for melodies and angst-ridden confessions.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/xkdmj3

05.07.2023-GOLDEN GARDENS How Brave The Hunted Wolves (Neon Sigh,2012)

 

SHOEGAZE

     Dreamy indie pop from a Seattle duo, this sounds like wind chimes on a lonely porch at twilight. It’s sunrise after a thunderstorm on the beach, the closing credits of a horror movie with a happy ending, goosebumps on your arms from something terrifying and beautiful all at once.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/y4kf71

04.07.2023-WORK DRUGS Mavericks (Bobby Cahn,2013)

 

CHILLWAVE

   Self-described as a band that "makes music specifically for boating, sexting, dancing, yachting, and living" or "Philadelphia's premier Bat Mitzvah and Quinceanera party band", Work Drugs' name was given by their friend Eduardo S. as they were sailing the Baja of Mexico. Band members Tom and Ben bonded together in sailing school over music, which is when they started composing songs for their first album. Their music has been compared with that of Steely Dan by the Guardian website.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/4ny4s1

03.07.2023-CLAMS CASINO 32 Levels (Columbia,2016)

 

ELECTRONIC

   Michael Volpe is the rare kind of rap producer whose instrumentals are better remembered than the songs they were made for. But then he's a rare producer in general, arriving out of nowhere with an already well-defined and magnetic sound. Layering samples from all kinds of sources (choral music, new age, pop, R&B) and fastening them to sharp drums, Clams Casino productions were both mighty and mystical.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/1a58aa

02.07.2023-WHIPPED CREAM Horse Mountain (Snap,1994)

 

PSYCHEDELIC ROCK

     Whipped Cream was a rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1989, with an initial line-up of Elisabeth Punzi (vocals), Jörgen Cremonese (vocals, guitars), Jonas Sonesson (bass), and Lars Erik Grimelund (drums). With a sound heavily influenced by late 1960s/early 1970s psychedelic rock, and gaining comparisons to My Bloody Valentine they released their debut album in 1990.

     The band's third album, the much more heavy-rock sounding Horse Mountain (1994), by now with Fredrik Sandsten on drums, was followed by a split in the band, with Sandsten and Sonesson leaving.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/18dj9w

     

01.07.2023-GABRIEL BRUCE Love In Arms (Luv Luv Luv,2013)

 

INDIE POP

   Deep. This feels like the most appropriate adjective to use for ‘Love In Arms’, Gabriel Bruce’s long-awaited debut. From his lip-curling baritone, to the self consciously wry yet earnest, almost evangelical lyrics, to a sonic palette that sounds somewhere between Nick Cave and a latter-day David Bowie, this is an album that has a lot going on.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/v7v1iy