Tag: Scotland

Bryan Day+Ernesto Díaz-Infante – Untitled Currents

Ernesto Díaz-Infante is a favorite on this blog, so any release of his is welcome, but Bryan Day is a new name for me.  He is an instrument maker and improvisational musician who also runs Public Eyesore Records.  This collaboration is quite dark, bordering on a cacophonous take reminding me of works by Derek Bailey […]

Rose McDowall – Our Twisted Love EP

It’s amazing to think that this EP is the latest (and hopefully not last) artifact released by former Strawberry Switchblade front-woman Rose McDowell.  She had been active singing with groups like Current 93 and her own project, Sorrow, for many years, and this EP continues on that dark and eerie road.  I get the feeling […]

Brìghde Chaimbeul – Carry Them With Us

A big and hearty thanks goes out to my dear friend and brother in music, Hubert, for turning me on to this album.  Brìghde Chaimbeul plays smallpipes, a wonderful instrument criminally neglected in comparison to its more famous cousin, the Highland pipes.  These smallpipes have a more ethereal sound to them, and in the hands […]

Strawberry Switchblade – 1982 4​-​Piece Demo

Strawberry Switchblade were my first musical crush, and perhaps the most charmingly twee band I heard during the 1980s and there was a lot of competition in those days. This EP from 40 (!!) years ago sounds as fresh as their eponymous debut album, but the sound is far rawer, more post-punk and less synth-sounding.  […]

Jonny Martyr – Impossible Space

A pleasant surprise out of Edinburgh, Scotland.  Jonny Martyr is a pianist who manages to, “build a world of sound with contemporary classical, electronica, post-rock and serialist influences.”  There is truth in advertising in this release, as each track manages to balance these genres perfectly.  It looks like Martyr has a few albums to his credit, […]

Andrew Paine & Richard Youngs – Bonus Disc

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 […]