30.11.2024-MUTUAL BENEFIT Growing At The Edges (Transgressive,2023)

 

INDIE FOLK

   Every Mutual Benefit record feels like its own world, and Growing at the Edges, the fourth album from the Brooklyn-based project, is the most expansive yet. It’s aptly titled, pushing out of the boundaries of the baroque indie folk Jordan Lee’s been honing for over a decade. Growing at the Edges isn’t just a culmination of that process; Lee’s fascination with classical and jazz bleeds into the record, like the saxophone harmonies that waft through single “Wasteland Companions” or the billowing coda of “Season of Flame.” It’s Mutual Benefit’s fullest, most confident release yet.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/kw7ddk

29.11.2024-SCARLET FANTASTIC Reverie (Dirtbag Baby,2016)

 

POP

     It is probably fair to say that not many people were anticipating a Scarlet Fantastic album in 2016; their previous (and only other) record, 24 Hours, was released back in 1987 when Maggie K De Monde and Rick P. Jones had formed the band from the embers of the peerless Swans way, who split after one extraordinary album, 1984’s The Fugitive Kind.

     Where the ’80s Scarlet Fantastic traded in super-sparkly sophisticated pop music, (see 1987 smash ‘No Memory’), the new incarnation (which is effectively a solo effort from De Monde with guests) has a more organic, almost folky feel. However, the themes are not as far removed; De Monde still exudes positive energy and this always comes across in her work.  Stylistically, Reverie has more in common with her 2012 album Union, which was recorded with (Marc Almond‘s keyboard player) Martin Watkins and released under the name Maggie and Martin.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/7xbs09

28.11.2024-I BREAK HORSES Warnings (Bella Union,2020)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Sweden’s I Break Horses (aka Maria Lindén) returns with her third album, Warnings, demonstrating her music has lost none of its magisterial artistry during the project’s six-year hiatus.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/apx7ug

25.11.2024-AMY HELM Didn't It Rain (eOne,2015)

 

AMERICANA

   First a member of the post 9/11 alt-country collective Ollabelle, and subsequently working extensively with her late father Levon Helm – the drummer and regular lead vocalist of The Band – Didn’t It Rain Is Amy Helm’s debut solo album.

   Didn’t It Rain is a pleasant blues infused Americana offering, with impassioned vocals and immaculate playing.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/3ccdv5

24.11.2024-CHAD VALLEY Imaginary Music (Cascine,2018)

 

CHILLWAVE

   What's immediately striking is Manuel's voice, which is as high in the mix as ever. Liquid smooth and clear as a bell, his controlled and restrained falsetto often recalls Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant — a worthy lodestar if ever there was one. In terms of instrumentation, Manuel continues to mine the '80s for his synth touchstones, but they don't define the album, and things never sound obvious or parodic; it's a well-balanced mix of old and new.

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

23.11.2014-ALPINES Oasis (Untrue,2014)

 

ELECTRONIC

   Despite the lack of immediately catchy hooks and anthems, Alpines’ debut album is impressive for its almost hypnotic qualities, taking the listener away and placing them in an alien environment of soulful lyricism and darkly atmospheric beats. This London-based duo probably won’t generate the song of the summer with ‘Oasis’, but if any listener is willing to take the time to appreciate the album not as individual tracks but as a unique and fascinating whole the experience will surely prove itself worthwhile.

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

22.11.2024-I LIKE TRAINS The Shallows (I Like Records,2012)

 

ALTERNATIVE / POST ROCK

   The music is dark, pulsing; it drips with the artificial, electric sound of mellow 80s dystopian pop. If ever there was a soundtrack for a party held on the oil-drenched shore of a Malibu beach house in Blade Runner, this is it. Synthesizers frequently pair with drums and heavy bass rhythms that enthrall, while lead vocalist David Martin sings with a hushed inevitability as simple – and intense – as breathing.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/es6l58

20.11.2024-HAZEL ENGLISH Wake Up! (Polyvinyl,2020)

 

DREAM POP

   “Sometimes I feel like we’re just sleepwalking through our lives,” says the Australian California-based singer-songwriter Hazel English, who aims for her album to “make people more aware and mindful”.

   Wake Up! may tackle weighty themes of capitalism and power struggles in relationships, but the woozy ambience of its shoegaze and Sixties-inspired pop is not exactly going to propel you into an invigorating new way of life.

   This graceful debut is led by a voice so sweetly soothing and expressive that it recalls both Lana del Rey and Hope Sandoval.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/24xw2i

17.11.2024-WRETCH 32 FR32 (Polydor,2017)

 

RAP / HIP-HOP

Perhaps stung into action by the meteoric successes of Skepta and Stormzy, Wretch 32 returns with almost indecent haste just a year after Growing Over Life. The opening salvo of “DPMO” (“don’t piss me off”) and “Gracious” establish a mood of pressurised celebrity that seems beneath him: aren’t these just the sort of rote complaints we’ve heard countless times before, from lesser talents? Wretch’s skills are better employed playing both sides of the sharply-observed gender battle “His And Hers (Perspective)”, and outlining early experiences of racism, and the emergence of pride and self-awareness, in “Colour Purple”; while even a routine streetlife rap such as “Thugs Prayer” contains cute throwaway barbs like “Everybody fly, but ain’t none of us pilots”. The limp, autotuned love song “Happy” and drearily positivist “Good Morning” are lazy nods to the mainstream, but elsewhere Wretch is better served by the dark sparkle of arrangements featuring grimy sub-bass synths and itchy electro beats tinted with eerie vocal samples, thumb-piano and synthetic pan-pipes.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/xzqz6p

16.11.2024-NIKI & The DOVE Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now (TEN,2016)

 

FUTUREPOP

   Niki and the Dove's Malin Dahlström has one of the most fantastic voices in pop, and on their LP 'Everybody's Heart Is Broken Now' she whirls herself into a frenzy to nip malignant growths like heartache and hate in the bud.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/kxi9t7

12.11.2024-ANNAH MAC Little Stranger (Sony,2011)

 

POP

   Annah Mac, the farm-girl who left Southland for Auckland in the hope of securing a record contract, reveals more than just prime-time FM radio potential on her major-label debut.

     Along with those infectious melodies comes a strong dose of lyrical ability as Mac (full name Annah Macdonald) documents the journey from small town to the big smoke, hinting at both a sense of loss and a sense of discovery.

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

11.11.2024-BATHS Romaplasm (Anticon,2017)

ELECTRONICA

   Will Wiesenfeld lacks the proper sensibilities to become a bona fide pop star as Baths or either of his other sobriquets. His oft-experimental approach to electronica and his indie label affiliation place him as more of an underground hero, albeit one who’s enjoyed a prodigious amount of praise and coverage. With a sotto voce that at times leans too hard on the adenoids, Will knows better than to preen his voice for Top 40 radio. His home is with the glitch crowd. But pop star or no, Wiesenfeld, as Baths, taps into those universal feelings that makes pop music so accessible and so, well, popular.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/d3p0fl

 

10.11.2024-BITTER RUIN Hung, Drawn & Quartered (Bitter Ruin,2010)

 

ALTERNATIVE / EXPERIMENTAL POP

   Described as a boy/girl duo, but never to be underestimated when it comes to both their live and recorded sound, Bitter Ruin’s dynamic is a huge part of what makes them stand

out. Since their formation, Bitter Ruin have been a loud and proud voice in the brave new world of DIY artists - gigging, recording and releasing music direct to their fans around the world through social media.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/0ih9xq

08.11.2024-JOANA SERRAT Dear Great Canyon (El Segell Del Primavera,2014)

 

FOLK

     From the Spanish coast, Joana Serrat surprises listeners with her fresh take on Americana pop, and Dear Great Canyon harbours pretty and subtle European influences that lend the album its flair. This record has a seamless energy to it that keeps it captivating and vast.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/g3qo6g

05.11.2024-BRANDEE YOUNGER Brand New Life (Impulse!,2023)

 

JAZZ

   Pioneering harpist Dorothy Ashby established the instrument’s place in post-bop jazz. Younger pays tribute to Ashby’s achievements, covering her songs and tracing her influence on contemporary hip-hop.

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

04.11.2024-JOSH WERNER Mode For Titan (MOD Reloaded, 2020)

 

JAZZ / AMBIENT

   Mode For Titan could have potentially been a bass-dominated disaster, but actually turns into its promise – ambient bass music you can enjoy.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/rquyn3

01.11.2024-LISA GERRARD & JULES MAXWELL Burn (Atlantic Curve,2021)

 

MODERN CLASSICAL

   

Ethereal and mystical Nordic-influenced new album from Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard and Jules Maxwell.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/odyw60