• Music

    Yat-Kha – We Will Never Die

    June 11, 2021 - By 

    Albert Kuvezin (Альберт Кувезин) is a legend in the ethno-rock and World Music community.  He was one of the founders of the band Huun-Huur-Tu, which brought throat singing into prominence.  He went on to form his own band, Yat-Kha, who I came across in 1993.  He was managed to meld together traditional Tuvan music (the region in Russia close to Mongolia and not so terribly far from China) with post-punk and even country music. On June 21, Yat-Kha’s latest album, We Will Never Die, is due for release as a download and will be available on CD and vinyl. The…

  • Music

    The Utopia Strong – The Utopia Strong

    June 10, 2021 - By 

    The Utopia Strong are a band out of the United Kingdom which blew me away.  Praise to Chris Morley for alerting me to the band’s existence.  It sounds something like Krautrock or psychedelic rock which goes funky.  It’s almost as if you can dance to some of this material.  The musicianship is excellent, reminding me of Gong or groovier elements of bands like Embryo or even Neu!  It turns out that I was right to think this, as the pedigree of the band is impressive. Personnel: Kavus Torabi (Gong/Cardiacs/Knifeworld/Guapo) Steve Davis and Michael J. York (Coil/Teleplasmiste/Guapo) The Quietus Magazine also…

  • Music

    Various Artists – Meticulous Midgets compilation 2021

    May 13, 2021 - By 

    I almost feel bad for only promoting the download of this release.  Our dear friends over at Meticulous Midgets, one of Russia’s finest experimental/avant-music record labels also releases a magazine to go with the album, and it’s a stunning affair.  This is the second one I have had the pleasure of reviewing, and it makes me pleased to know that promotion of new music in the country is in good hands with my Moscow-based colleagues.  What’s more, they don’t rest with promoting local acts.  The artists on this comp hail from the United States, the United Kingdom, German, Spain, France,…

  • Music

    Frau Blücher and the Drunken Horses – Smile

    April 27, 2021 - By 

    Sounding like a band crossing the energy of American garage surf gods The Lords Of Altamont, French punks Les Thugs with the legendary Motörhead, Frau Blücher combine a poppy, but aggressive garage-punk with hints of metal.  The band name comes from a running gag from the movie Young Frankenstein, and you can read about the history of the name here.  Gags and comedy aside, Frau Blucher make great power pop.

  • Music

    Brendan Perry – Songs of Disenchantment – Music from the Greek Underground

    April 21, 2021 - By 

    Dead Can Dance singer and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Perry is absolutely enamored with Greek culture, and it’s obvious because a lot of DCD’s work has an affinity towards it.  Perry is especially appreciative of rebetiko, the local variant of the blues in Greek culture.  This album is his paean to his adoration of rebetiko, and is perhaps the first time some of these ballads have been recorded in English.  This disc is a labor of love.

  • Music

    Tommy Guerrero – Sunshine Radio

    April 19, 2021 - By 

    Tommy Guerrero’s music came to me via a recommendation of a friend online.  I had heard his name bandied about years ago because of friends of mine who were into skateboarding, but I had no idea he was making music.  And such good music, I must say. The album is full of instrumental psychedelic tracks.  According to Tommy, influences such as Ethio-Jazz, Afrobeat and spiritual jazz inflect the album, and you can hear this from the first few notes.  This is one I’ll be coming back to frequently.

  • Music

    Curve – Blindfold EP – Bootleg EP Series 1 & Chinese Burn – Bootleg Series Vol 2

    April 7, 2021 - By 

    There’s not a lot more to say about the legendary Curve that I could add to, save for most of the 1990s, they were among the best shoegaze bands, and it could be said that maybe only My Bloody Valentine were more highly esteemed, yet the members never seemed to stop working.  Dean Garcia maintained a great career as a session musician and even playing in a band with his daughter called SPC ECO (Space Echo), while lead singer Toni Halliday started two other projects called Scylla and Chatelaine, as well as appearing on a track with the American band…

  • Music

    Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs – Bonus Disc

    March 19, 2021 - By 

    This has to be one of the most charmingly weird, frankly unclassifiable discs I’ve heard in a while.  Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs manage to pull together a collection that should sound like a mess, yet it’s a rather enjoyable one.  The music goes from lo-fi disco tracks (which for some reason, remind me heavily of the ur-supergroup Big In Japan) to outtakes from a later-era David Bowie session.  This is a gritty gem of a disc.  The only shame is that it took me six years to come across it.

  • Music

    Toronja – QuedarseIrMorirEgo

    March 12, 2021 - By 

    This one-track release was in my queue while I was doing some work, and when it came on, I assumed it was a track of Spanish cold wave from the early 1980s.  Toronja, as it turns out, is a Chilean project from this year, and they manage to do a good job making a sound that is at once fresh and vintage.

  • Music

    Suzanne Belaubre – (DIY)

    February 25, 2021 - By 

    Record label and magazine La Souterraine offer the best indie music coming out of France these days.  Their latest release by Suzanne Belaubre is bound to be a cold wave masterpiece. The tracks are short and the production is excellent, if sparse.  That sparseness works well with the music, and it gives the music an odd, very French, electro-pop vibe to the tunes.  It’s a quirky album, but well worth hearing a few times.