28.02.2025-MAE POWELL Both Ways Brighter (Park The Van,2021)

 

INDIE POP

     Both Ways Brighter evinces a vibrant collaborative spirit, from its playfully layered instrumentation to its lyrics about caretaking and camaraderie even in cold, hostile environments. Recording the album opened an opportunity for Powell to collaborate deeply with other members of her band: Bassist Mayya Feygina, drummer Sam Jones, guitarist Spencer Owings, and Garrett Barley on lap steel. She began working on the record in 2018, before COVID-19 lockdowns shunted her and her bandmates into relative isolation, and completed it two-and-a-half years later with producer Jason Kick. The unhurried pace of the recording process let Powell and her collaborators animate the songs layer by layer until they came into the brightest versions of themselves.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/t3f6xx

27.02.2025-MATTEAH BAIM Falling Theater (Dream Drive,2014)

 

INDIE POP

   Matteah Baim constructed the album to be both musically seamless and lush, as well as offer unexpected elements and textures. Falling Theater was arranged by Maxim Moston of Antony and the Johnsons and features contributions from several members of the Johnsons, as well as Au Revoir Simone, MGMT, The New York Philharmonic, and The Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem. The album art was shot in the Los Angeles theater district by Lauren Dukoff, a photographer noted for her portraiture and documentary work in and out of the studio.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/stbw5y

26.02.2025-NATALIE JANE HILL Solely (Dear Life,2021)

 

INDIE FOLK

   Van Morrison named one of his albums A Period of Transition, a phrase that could apply equally to Natalie Jane Hill’s second album, Soley. Following a move from the Blue Ridge Mountains back to Austin, Texas, in 2019, she began a period of self-discovery that led to the new album. In the process, she also found herself open to external creative input. Using an expanded sonic palette, the additional colours and textures provide a sonic shift making Soley an even more engaging proposition.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/ge5lcp

25.02.2025-PAUL McCANN Here Comes The Rapture (MakMem,2018)

 

POP ROCK

   ‘Here Comes The Rapture’ is the debut album from Paul McCann. The album is pure pop rock, with infectious, upbeat melodies and guitar driven hooks throughout.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/30kazt

23.02.2025-EUROPEAN GHOST Collection Of Shadows (Unknown Pleasures,2018)

 

POST-PUNK / DARKWAVE

   The umpteenth dive into the past, in the never forgotten, and never enough celebrated, ’80s. However, European Ghost don’t simply copy that formula, but also put their mark on their music, as they do in their sophomore album entitled Collection of shadows, released by French label Unknown Pleasures Records.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/7umn6v

20.02.2025-DUBTRIBE SOUND SYSTEM Baggage (Defected,2003)

 

ELECTRONIC

   Since 1991, after booting their DJ, SF deep housers Dubtribe Sound System (husband Sunshine/wife Moonbeam Jones) mixed up house and dub-chilled, not stirred. A proudly viable live band, DSS also pumped out a plethora of dancefloor luvin‘ twelvers and now have Baggage. No samplers were harmed during the recording-it‘s hyperreal in both instrumentation and topic. Titles “Shakertrance,” “Raggatronique,” “The “Rhythm In Your Mind,” “Lo Disco,” and “Do It Now” appear fluffy and the tracks do bounce, but a deeper dig into the bag o‘ tunes reveals concern for today‘s house music.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/mzq72k

19.02.2025-ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER Betrayed In The Octagon (Deception Island,2007)

 

ELECTRONIC

   Opening track “Woe Is The Transgression I” opens like some strange, impressionistic piece inspired by a firestorm on Mars or something. Big, loping noise envelopes you as the song slowly tracks nearly 9 minutes of your life away. It’s truly heavy and heady stuff. There’s a “Woe Is The Transgression II” later on that sucks nearly 11 minutes of your bandwidth away and it’s even darker and more desolate. But it’s not all space madness on here. “Behind The Bank” feels like that double sunrise on Tatooine, or the moment those purple dust clouds clear and you see the new day’s light. Sounds sculpted from analog noisemakers always make for better sounds, and Lopatin surrounds Oneohtrix Point Never’s world with plenty of analog bliss here. But this isn’t about geeking out over gear, this guy really seems to take a serious mental trip on these songs. “Eyeballs” has the buzzing vibe of androids waking from a 100 year shutdown, while “Betrayed In The Octagon” is all oscillating fervor and wheezing square waves inching their way into the great abyss. “Parallel Minds” feels like a Boards of Canada interlude, while “Laser to Laser” almost sounds and reads like some sort of Philip K. Dick term for Replicant sex.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/k6g8bb

18.02.2025-TESS PARKS Blood Hot (359,2013)

 

NEO PSYCHEDELIC

   An 11-strong collection of woozy, pared-back psychedelic blues turning on a mixture of Cramps-style riffing and barely-there guitar parts that add atmosphere but not much else. Slow-churning rockers Somedays and Love Around top and tail the album, but at most points in between the mood is funereal, the overall flavour one of brooding menace as Parks's lyrics unspool at a speed which makes you think she was weaned on cough syrup and Diazapam. She's like an kohl-eyed indie-goth Lana Del Ray - the little girl who got the first Velvet Underground album to play with instead of the Cabbage Patch Doll.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/7pk8mk

17.02.2025-CAITLIN CANTY Quiet Flame (Not On Label,2023)

 

AMERICANA

   Quiet Flame has an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy that perfectly befits Canty’s songs. There is no overarching theme or preoccupation here; her lyrics speak of hope and disappointment and love and worry. They look outward as often as in, and are suffused with images of rivers and skies, and of moons in particular. They reveal themselves slowly. You hear them once and you want to know them better.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/cld1kl

13.02.2025-OLIVER WILDE Red Tide Opal In The Loose End Womb (Howling Owl,2014)

 

INDIE ROCK

   It’s refreshing to hear an album like Red Tide… being made today; this is certainly not a record “made for the dancefloor” and its production – which is uniformly excellent – is less clear and pristine as it is warm and slightly wooly (in the best possible way). It feels like a very personal record, like Wilde is whispering his deepest secrets into your ear. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/z2d743

   

11.02.2025-DEZ MONA Book Of Many (Caroline International,2019)

 

INDIE ROCK

    This will not be easy listening for everybody, but it pays off – no doubt. There are actually a few cheerful and up-tempo songs (‘High Up The Sky’ and ‘Poppies’). Some catchy melodies are to be found too (‘Lament’, ‘Journey Reunite’, ‘Darkest Hour’). With the interludes ‘Piano’ and ‘Accordion’, both short instrumentals, the listener gets some time to reflect. The main theme of this album is that of war, our Great War. The song titles, as mentioned above, already revealed that. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/4vww0o

10.02.2025-AUTOHEART I Can Build A Fire (O/R,2016)

 

INDIE POP

   Autoheart are lead vocalist Jody Gadsden, guitarist Barney JC and pianist Simon Neilson. Their music is probably best defined as 'indie pop', but this is not 'guys with guitars' indie - the influence of piano and keyboards is very strong. The band's (possibly tongue in cheek) description of the album as "Erasure meets Abba via Limahl's 'The Never Ending Story'" does strike a chord - there are lilts and sways and swoons here that fit with the best examples of 80's pop, allayed to a contemporary backdrop, with lyrics which are poetic, and moving, and heartfelt. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/19en3v

08.02.2025-SNAIL MAIL Valentine (Matador,2021)

 

INDIE ROCK

   Following up the heartbreak anthems on her 2018 debut ‘Lush’ would have been an unenviable task for Lindsey Jordan – AKA Snail Mail – but she pulled it off with elegance and ease on ‘Valentine’, growing out her sound through perfectly executed ballads and captivating melodrama. If you ever need a companion to help you navigate all the heartache that life can throw up, Jordan should be the top pick.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/2x7l19

05.02.2025-KIRSTY McGEE Contraband (Hobopop,2012)

 

FOLK / POP

   Observant and insightful, skilful and sophisticated, Contraband highlights the art of the singer-song-writer in the modern folk genre. The meaning in the songs grows with repeated listening. For anyone trying to make sense of the complexities and uncertainties of emotional life, this CD will remind them that they are not alone!

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

04.02.2025-LISA MORGENSTERN Chameleon (Not On Label,2019)

 

INDIE / NEO CLASSICAL / EXPERIMENTAL

   Chameleon is a fine and ambitious collection of songs filled with expressive piano, 80s synths, dreamy atmospheres and an extraordinary voice.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/ppoa32

03.02.2025-HACKEDEPICCIOTTO Menetekel (Potomak,2017)

 

EXPERIMENTAL

   hackedepicciotto is an experimental duo consisting of longtime partners Alexander Hacke (of Einstürzende Neubauten) and Danielle De Picciotto, American-born musician, artist, author, and filmmaker. Their work together consists primarily of stirring soundscapes blending acoustic instruments such as violin, hurdy-gurdy, and autoharp with rumbling bass guitar and electronic feedback.

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

02.02.2025-LOVE REMAINS How To Dress Well (Lefse,2010)

 

AMBIENT / LO-FI

   Most of Krell's lyrics are unintelligible, but the intended emotional message of the music-- feel it or not-- is consistent. And while the production depends on lo-fi's opacity, it never covers up his quivering falsetto, a show of confidence a lot of young lo-fi musicians can't or don't make. The album's strangest trick might be how representative it is of a now-common aesthetic while still sounding so exceptional in light of its peers. 

https://www.sendspace.com/file/ppgzi4

01.02.2025-COCKY BITCHES Mercy (Slope,2018)

 

PSYCHEDELIC ROCK

   The Cocky Bitches are the new outfit from Paul Leary, the guitarist and producer of the strangest thing to ever come out of Texas, The Butthole Surfers. He has been joined in this new venture by Cold‘s Sam McCandles and a vocalist know only as The Baroness, the band previously existed under the name Carny before evolving into it’s current form and adopting their new moniker.

https://www.sendspace.com/file/nv7lbw