Future Threats
It is a decade now since the renaissance in alternative music really kicked off and the parallels with today are remarkable. When the chasm between the mainstream and the underground first opened up around 1980, it took ten years before shoegaze bands rose to prominence. Now, ten years on from 2013, they have reappeared and come to dominate the scene. We still shake our heads that we seem to be living in a time warp with nearly every former band having resurrected itself, yet we should not be that surprised. They formed in the first place because the mainstream musical offerings were so awful and as that remains the case today the purpose for their existence is no different. This time around the Shoegaze giants of the past are having even greater success than they did the first time, Slowdive seeing their latest album hit the top ten in the UK and do serious damage to the Billboard charts in the States. Their recent tour was notable for the sheer number of young fans in attendance; hundreds of new shoegaze and dreampop bands have been formed in recent years, some of them quite alarmingly good, most of them looking to build upon the foundations Slowdive and Ride first built. All of this owes a lot to the internet and Tik Tok which has brought this music to the attention of young listeners; the internet and its rapidly evolving dynamic being both a boon and a destroyer. We have fallen into a world we cannot control, currently run by corporations who have targeted every individual as a consumer, know our preferences to an almost molecular level, and use every psychological trick in the book to part us from our money and, more dangerously, from each other as it is always easy to pick off the isolated and defenceless. Happily, as well as dissect us, the internet can also be used to build community and we urge one and all to continue to interact to keep the underground musical subculture alive. We are not numbers …
Two worrying things now stare us in the face. With the advance of AI, how long will the corporations be able to control what they are developing and how will this affect humankind? And, a couple of years after shoegaze came Britpop. Are we about to face the same hell again? Are we on an eternal merry-go-round from which there is no escape? It’s terrifying in the extreme.
2023 was the first year we can accurately describe as post-pandemic. There were still one or two lockdown records appearing, but these were in the minority and the sheer number of albums released is surely a reflection of new-found freedoms and growing confidence. This is not to say that nothing has changed because of the lockdowns. The biggest effect, as always, has been at the cutting edge, as grassroots music venues have closed at an alarming rate. The Music Venue Trust reported in September that the country had lost some 15.7% of such spaces. They calculated this meant a loss of 4,000 jobs, 14,250 events, £9 million of income for musicians and £59 million in direct economic activity. Calls to the government to act will obviously fall upon deaf ears, so we are likely to see an increasing decline. They will only note that 2023 has been the most profitable year on record for live music as people have flocked to stadiums to see the likes of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. Ever increasingly, the best chance of seeing live music will be to pay sky-high ticket prices to watch specks on the horizon prance around another faceless arena. Meanwhile, there will be hardly any venues left where emerging bands can develop; this means nothing to the corporations who are probably looking to create all their future stars by AI and sell their music on their streaming sites. Again, this fight is ours. Support small venues, support upcoming bands, do everything you can to prevent the music you love from being wiped off the face of the earth. The threats are not just real, they are here and now.
With danger lurking all around it is massive credit to those who manage venues, promote gigs and run record labels that the alternative music scene had such a superb year in 2023. It was a prolific year and a more diverse one. The Blob (see our review of 2022) still exists, but it has been fun to see it tripping over itself, with more activity at the margins. It has been a great year for jangle pop, a decent one for shoegaze and hardcore, whilst in the psych field record labels have combatted the vinyl shortage problem by joining together (four or five at a time) to work releases in their own territories. There are more records being pressed now than a couple of years ago, but investment in new plants has still been too slight to make a huge difference so it is good to see those with the shallowest pockets working together to find solutions.
So much has been released over the past twelve months that there is a huge variation in respective sites’/magazines’/shops’ choices for the albums of the year. Our list, of course, is the most fabulous one, but if you find it lacking in any way, then take a look at the other ones we have featured. Most of these have a vested interest in what they are choosing so you may take their picks with a pinch of salt, though if you have a love for the alternative we feel you will find more joy there than in looking at those of the glossy monthlies (for example) whose interest in the underground is of necessity shallow as they need advertisers and money is tight in our field. Just for fun and to assess their commitment to new music, Mojo’s cover stars this year were Blondie, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Depeche Mode, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Siouxsie, The Smiths, Dylan (again) and The Rolling Stones. Uncut offered David Bowie, Neil Young, Curtis Mayfield, Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, The National, Nick Drake, Bruce Springsteen, Kate Bush, Tom Waits, The Who and Sly Stone. Most of these are dead or in their 70s or 80s. Finger on the pulse only to see if they can find one.
Onwards to the market. Despite the value of vinyl sales overtaking that of CDs last year we were met with all sorts of warnings that the vinyl revival was stuttering and that CDs were going to be in the ascendancy in 2023. This has proved not to be the case with vinyl sales increasing by 11.7%, a vast improvement on the meagre 2.9% achieved in 2022. Meanwhile sales of CDs again decreased; coming in at around 10.6 million as opposed to 11.6 million the previous year, a drop of around 9%. This marks the slowest rate of decline for nearly a decade, but it still large enough to cast doubt upon the theory that sales in this format have plateaued. The total of vinyl sales has now risen for sixteen consecutive years and is at its highest since 1990, which was really a watershed year after which many people started switching to the new CD format.
Of course a good proportion of the 5.9 million vinyl sales has been achieved by the usual suspects, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey and Lewis Capaldi, though it is interesting to note that the biggest seller of the year, Swift’s 1989 shifted 78,767 copies, while The Rolling Stones’ first new album in decades, which was the second best seller, only recorded 42,815 sales. Fairly large numbers but not as high as to be headshakingly worrying for the industry. For it is likely that any rising stars in the mainstream will be quick to embrace the profitability of vinyl, whilst the sales for older, more established artists show no sign of declining. We admit we were probably wrong when we suggested that there were only so many copies of Rumours that could be sold; it was the fifth best selling vinyl album again, appearing in the top ten for the eighth consecutive year. The Dark Side of the Moon also maintained its grip in the top ten. It seems we will never be rid of them.
Over 50% of albums in the top 100 sellers were released over two years ago, though seven of the top ten were new in 2023, which does show a fairly broad spectrum of purchasers. On our side of the fence (if only just for some) the Gallagher brothers, Sleaford Mods, Depeche Mode, Blur and Boygenius all made it into the top hundred. Record Store Day increased vinyl sales by 122% and National Album Day by 51%.
All of this has taken place in an environment where streaming not only remains the dominant force in music sales, but a growing one. It is estimated that £1.6 billion will be made in revenue by the streaming companies in 2023 (a staggering £12.5 billion in the States), and all by companies who refuse to pay artists properly for their work. Market leaders Spotify are now looking to cut even their meagre payments to the musicians whose songs stream the least and this country is desperately in need of some regulator to control this industry and end the exploitation. These corporations put little or nothing into developing new music but use their near-monopolies to leech off the creators of their product. We know that many people in the alternative field use streaming sites for ease and always invest in physical copies of the music they love, also buying merchandise to help booster bands’ incomes. But it has come to the point where it is probably justified that we ask ourselves whether we are doing more damage by feeding these monsters rather than believing that using them for convenience does little harm. We begin to wonder who is really using whom.
The alternative music world took another huge knock when the crucial marketing site Bandcamp was sold to Songtradr, just eighteen months after it had been acquired by Epic Games. We live in a world where nothing is beyond the grip of corporations and it appeared that Epic’s seizure of the artist-friendly music hub was simply a tactical move to help Epic in their disputes with both Alphabet and Google. Almost immediately the new features that had been a feature of Bandcamp dried up and in the early part of 2023 the staff there decided to unionise. Whether or not this pushed Epic into dropping the site is uncertain but it was snapped up by Songtradr whose main focus is in licensing music for television shows, adverts and films. There may be some benefit for artists in getting their music on to streaming sites more easily and in licensing their music to other media, but these are largely irrelevant pluses for the majority on Bandcamp across many genres who simply use the site to connect with their audiences, sell their records and their merchandise and benefit from such promotions as Bandcamp Friday where traditionally fees have been waived. At first glance that does not seem to fit easily into Songtradr’s outlook, the company keen to promote itself as “the world’s largest B2B music company”. This is a money-focussed corporation whose first move on acquiring the site on 16th October 2023 was to lay off 50% of its employees, among them the senior editor of Bandcamp Daily, JJ Skolnik. That magazine was seen by many artists and labels as a crucial part of getting their music heard and by listeners as a valuable tool for discovering new sounds. Its future is uncertain but it seems doubtful it will survive in its current form. Songtradr stated that it will "continue to operate Bandcamp as a marketplace and music community with an artist-first revenue share," but definitions of "marketplace" and "community" can look very different through corporate eyes than through the eyes of the supporters of underground music. Oil and water. The remaining Bandcamp staff offered up the following thoughts, "Bandcamp United is looking forward to bargaining with Songtradr in the near future regarding wages, working conditions, and benefits. It is our hope that Songtradr honours our existing progress (including Union Security and preserving our artist-first mission in our Collective Bargaining Agreement) that we have already made at the bargaining table." Of course, this is all very worrying and alternatives to Bandcamp are currently being worked on. No doubt 2024 will see if any of these are viable and come to fruition.
On to our albums of the year. This is the first year we remember when it wasn’t a case of scraping around to find enough albums of good enough quality to fit into the top fifty, but where we struggled to narrow the field down to that half century. After three solid days of debate we had the number at seventy-two and it took another three days of agonising before we finally settled on the final fifty. This meant we left out a host of albums we thought would have been sure things, maybe giving the nod to a few more obscure contenders whose work may have been in danger of being overlooked.
In the Psych field we have tended to favour the dark side more than the light, including Stereocilia’s immense Crystalline, Black Delta Movement’s addictive Recovery Effects, White Canyon’s subtle Gardeners of the Earth, Daiistar’s shaking Goodtime, Catatonic Suns’ blistering self-titled debut (full of Loopy goodness) and Lorelle Meets The Obsolete’s techno metal oddity Datura. In the top twenty Dead Sea Apes join two by The Telescopes, the debut from Isolated Gate, with giants in the field, Helicon and Firefriend the highest psych entries.
If you like your Shoegaze and Jangle Pop, then check out Mint Field’s fascinating Aprender A Ser, Heathermint’s sharp Feline, The Jasmine Minks’ first album in forever, Dead Leaf Echo’s enveloping The Mercy of Women, The Suncharms’ warming Things Lost, The Red Pinks and Purples’ sensitive The Town That Cursed Your Name, Rat Columns’ inventive Babydoll, Special Friends’ startlingly good Wait Until The Flames Come Rushing In, Pale Blue Eyes’ mesmerising This House, late contender Fragile Animals’ Slow Motion Burial (we need to be able to buy vinyl in the UK as the postage is horrendous), Sigur Ros’ pretty Átta and Suds’ teasing The Great Overgrowth. In the top twenty Silver Biplanes produced a confident debut, The Radio Field hit all the right frequencies, Emma Anderson offered up Lushy treats, Slowdive did what they do and Bdrmm continue to impress.
There are post-punk miserabilists in Chain of Flowers, Fred Abong, House of All, Protomartyr, Thinly Veiled, Trampolene, Autobahn, Ist Ist and There Will Be Fireworks. There are old favourites in Blur, Teenage Fanclub, The Boo Radleys, Kristin Hersh and Crime & The City Solution. There is avant-garde hip-hop experimentalist Klein, genre-busting Young Fathers, slowcore Deathcrash, the completely potty The Bug Club, and even a few rockers hanging around. Spotlights indulge in gripping goth post-metal, The Stones offer up an album that is surprisingly strong, while Ian Hunter again shows that age is no barrier to talent. And his is supreme.
If you want more information about these records check out our reviews pages where most are discussed in more detail. And if they are not, they will be when we catch up.
It has been an interesting year and, despite the constant barriers and pitfalls that hinder alternative artists, we admire one and all greatly for managing to express themselves so cogently and inventively. And for interacting with their supporters. This was something that rarely happened in the golden years of the underground movement but has been made much easier by the internet and by the fact we are all soft bastards these days. Many thanks to Jason for always being on hand to remind us of what we have forgotten, to Gary for his regular contribution and to Jackie and Sue for always being there. Special thanks to Nat Cramp for adding his thoughts to our review. His label holds a special place in the hearts of many of our readers and we wish continued success to Sonic Cathedral and confusion to our enemies. We all know we are facing a battle we can’t win, but we can remain true to ourselves, scorn the unbelievers and hang around as long as we can rejoicing in what is good and beautiful and right and decent and vital to life and soul.
Albums of the Year
Louder Than War
20. RVG - Brain Worms
19. Gel - Only Constant
18. Boygenius - The Record
17. The Shits - You’re A Mess
16. Frankie & The Witch Fingers - Data Doom
15. Ren - Sick Boi
14. PJ Harvey - I Inside The Old Year Dying
13. Rhoda Dakar - Version Girl
12. Queens Of The Stone Age - In Times ...
11. Swansea Sound - Twentieth Century
10. Teenage Waitress - Your Cuckoo
9. Evil Blizzard - Rotting In The Belly ...
8. Pigs x 7 - Land Of Sleeper
7. Osees - Intercepted Message
6. Baxter Dury - I Thought I Was Better ...
5. Mudhoney - Plastic Eternity
4. Tolhurst x Budgie x Lee - Los Angeles
3. John - A Life Diagrammatic
2. House Of All - House Of All
1. Benefits - Nails
www.louderthanwar.com
New Musical Express
20. Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good
19. Militarie Gun - Life Under The Gun
18. Genesis Owusu - Struggler
17. Yves Tumor - Praise A Lord Who Chews
16. Foo Fighters - But Here We Are
15. JPEGMafia & D Brown - Scaring The Hoes
14. 100 Gecs - 10,000 Gecs
13. Romy - Mid Air
12. Queens of the Stone Age - Times New Roman
11. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
10. Blur - The Ballad of Darren
9. Mitski - The Land Is Inhospitable ...
8. Amaarae - Fountain Baby
7. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres
6. Caroline Polachek - Desire
5. Paramore - This Is Why
4. Troye Sivan - Something To Give Each Other
3. Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
2. Olivia Rodrigo - Guts
1. Boygenius - The Record
www.nme.com
Resident - Brighton Record Shop
10. Boygenius - The Record
9. Cmat - Crazy Mad, For Me
8. Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer
7. Slowdive - Everything Is Alive
6. Blur - The Ballad of Darren
5. Bdrmm - I Don’t Know
4. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
3. Mandy Indiana - I’ve Seen A Way
2. Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy
1. Lankum - False Lankum
www.resident-music.com
BBC 6 Music
Unranked
BC Camplight - The Last Rotation of Earth
Benefits - Nails
Boygenius - The Record
The Bug Club - Rare Birds
The Coral - Sea of Mirrors
Gabriels - Angels & Queens
Gregory Alan Isakov - Appaloosa Bones
Grian Chatten - Chaos For The Fly
Irreversible Entanglements - Protect Your Light
James Holden – Imagine This Is ...
The Japanese House – In the End it Always Does
Joanna Sternberg – I’ve Got Me
Lisa O’Neill – All Of This Is Chance
Little Dragon - Slugs of Love
Loraine James - Gentle Confrontation
The Loving Paupers - Ladders
Mitski – The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We
Say She She - Silver
Sleaford Mods - UK Grim
Sufjan Stevens – Javelin
Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming ...
Willie J Healey – Bunny
Yussef Dayes - Black Classical Music
www.bbc.co.uk/6music
So, here we are deep into December, another year about to be over, and it feels like it’s very much a case of limping over the finish line, ready to collapse in a heap. Certainly not much cause for celebration – that can wait until Sonic Cathedral’s 20th birthday next year.
Continued here...
Nathaniel Cramp
A Moment In The Sun is the debut long player by Silver Biplanes, a melodic indie band based in Bedfordshire, featuring wife-and-husband team Vanessa and Tim Vass alongside drummer Rob Scott. Tim is well known to us as the bassist and lyricist in the legendary Razorcuts, co-writing all of their songs, whilst Vanessa was the singer in '90s indie band The Melons who are probably best remembered for their two live sessions on Mark Radcliffe’s Radio 1 show. Given their backgrounds, there is little surprise that Silver Biplanes produce sweet indie pop in a style that could have been labelled as "cute" but for its lack of ragged edges. The music here is sharp, assured and well-constructed, and though it pretty much walks a straight line, hints of psychedelia, post-punk and krautrock touch the songs giving them a vital individuality that makes the whole collection intriguing. Occasionally a theme found in old Razorcuts' songs emerges: a sense of belonging to a place tied to an affinity with the natural world that surrounds it. Fabulous.
Now into their fourteenth year as a band, Dead Sea Apes have become a yardstick on the psych scene, always setting the bar high for others and looking to grow and evolve. This is their first non-collaboration since 2020 and it sees the band revert to a power trio of Brett Savage (guitar), Jack Toker (bass) and Chris Hardman (drums). The songs are shorter and punchier than before, though they still average seven minutes each. They also rock hard, rejecting the unsettling ambience of their previous work and replacing it with an immense barrage of sound that will shake you to the bones. Guitars howl and wail as the rhythm section creates a devastating momentum that drags the tracks along. Each one thunders by so powerfully that time appears to compress and become irrelevant. Only the title track swerves from the course, but this is so insidiously twisted that it will simply finish you off in a different way. This is a bruising record that will stamp its authority into your brain.
Subterfuge have been treading the jangle pop trail for many years now, with The Radio Field being the solo project of their guitarist Lars Schmidt. Having found some success with his first EP, Lars decided to make the band a proper thing, recruiting three new members who have produced an album of outstanding quality. It is not that The Radio Field produce anything groundbreaking or particularly innovative, it is just that what they do is done tidily and superbly well. Playing this collection drags you back to hazy summer days in the late 1980s and early 1990s when you whiled away your evenings to jangling guitars, cider and dreams of a better world. This is smart and addictive, with neat horns occasionally doing what neat horns should do, crashing guitars that crash when they need to crash, and melodic backing harmonies introduced when only melodic backing harmonies will do. This is a jangle pop masterpiece.
Though Ian Hunter has been prolific in recent years, producing a series of worthy albums, we have always felt that since the loss of Mick Ronson these have lacked some ambition musically and ambition is something anybody accompanying Hunter needs in spades as the man remains an astonishing wordsmith. This is not a criticism that can be raised about Defiance (Part 1) where the playing reaches new heights thanks in part to the fine array of musicians who were keen to offer their input, including Ringo Starr, Joe Elliott, Billy Gibbons, Duff McKagan, Todd Rundgren and Slash. The album also features sadly some of the the final recordings from Jeff Beck and Taylor Hawkins. It's no surprise that the best in the field would want to work with Hunter, whose influence is as undisputed as it can be overlooked. When Hunter speaks, others listen. And learn. Few others can reach into their past and drag out stories in such a way that you feel you are having your own life laid bare.
Very few albums have knocked us as stupid as Of Tomorrow. While on the face of it, it is the band's most straightforward album for years, closer inspection reveals it to be far more complicated than it first appears. It may be dressed as a lamb but underneath it is something far more dangerous and complicated: the human condition exposed. At first listen it appears to be more conventional and approachable than much of Stephen Lawrie's work. He even sings on the album, and sings very nicely, but this record is not conventional, not approachable and not easy listening. This album is painful as it lives in two worlds, and that really lies at the centre of all of Lawrie's work. It is about belonging: the need to belong, the desire to belong and the battle to discover just how he does belong in an environment that can be bewildering, dangerous and frustrating. Perhaps these thoughts have been intensified as in his personal life Lawrie has reached the point where he is as happy as he ever has been, yet joy and contentment fit uneasily into the world he observes so intently. Very few artists in history have sought for answers as diligently as Lawrie. He has left no stone unturned, no frequency untuned and no barrier unbroken in his efforts to see beyond the realm of natural vision. Yet has he found answers or just more questions?
Eight appears to take a further step away from The Boo Radleys' classic sound, full as it is of horns, rhumba and reggae rhythms, and drenched with close harmonies, smiles and sunshine. In some ways this is a shame and some grating guitars and structural madness would be welcome, but as with its predecessor this is a record difficult to criticise as there really aren't any weak points and there are many things to love. It's gentle, sometimes soft, and even the poignant lyrics are bathed in a warm glow of melody that soothes the hurt. There are intricacies in build and sound which will still be tapping at your brain when you are twenty plays through and it's pointless listening to this twice and assuming you have its number; there are depths you will discover on multiple listens and the effort will be well worth your while. And take your time to digest what is being said. It's no easy task to paint over the dark bits of life and turn them into shades, but The Boo Radleys have this gift. Happy sad.
We have never been keen on labelling bands, but London's Deathcrash have become inseparable from the term 'slowcore'. If that means they are slow to the core then we suppose it is half right. Deathcrash's music sets at odds the voices and the music, the former usually melodic and gentle while the latter is spiky and apparently placed in front of the words to trip them up or pin them down. Listening to their tunes is like tip-toeing through a field full of bear traps: sharp, unpredictable and dangerous, yet strangely uplifting. At their slowest they are threatening, at their fastest they are quite simply brutal. Deathcrash can shape a soundscape and rip it to shreds in a few magical seconds. These are dark sounds that mesmerise you before they hurt you. The original release of Less came out in March 2023, with the band releasing Less+ digitally in November with extra tracks added. We've included the second version here but either will thrill you. The new mixes in the later package include some gems, however, that shouldn't be missed.
The boundaries between Kristin Hersh's three projects have become more blurred in recent years, with crossovers in the sounds of Throwing Muses, 50Ft Wave and her solo output becoming more obvious. Recent years have seen Kristin's solo releases become rockier, being shaped with her electric trio, but on Clear Pond Road, things have become simpler once more. She is back with her acoustic guitar, yet the sound here is far from the harsher, hurt tones of her early albums. This is a solo work that appears to be so much more than that. There is a warmth, a radiance to these songs that is quite beguiling. Kristin no longer sounds tortured but vastly knowing; these tunes are intimate but not vulnerable. There is a serenity to her voice as it travels across paths where there were no paths. She has always walked her own walk but never before has she sounded so sure of where her feet are landing. It only takes three or four words to reveal her disappointment with the world, the people in it, or events that surround her, and those words can be both crushing and inspiring. This is huge. There really isn't anyone else like her.
Isolated Gate sees former Pale Saints singer/bassist Ian Masters working with electronica maestro Tim Koch (Central Processing Unit) and Universe In Reverse is their first full length offering, following the release of two EPs in 2022. Anybody who loved Pale Saints will acknowledge that they teased the boundaries of sound, but Universe In Reverse pushes that to a new extreme with the duo laying down some seriously disturbed tones, all surrounded by conventional grooves, soulful vocals and ludicrously addictive harmonies. They do this with such success that this record could breeze past you without you quite realising how bloody weird it really is. Eight tracks stretching over forty-two minutes is almost as classic as it comes, but that's where the classicism ends. Universe In Reverse is a fascinating experiment in sound where the songs triumph despite all attempts to undermine their very definition. A record that has been played with a lot, and one that is absolutely absorbing.
If you have ever seen them playing live, it will be obvious to you that Helicon are a class above your everyday psych band. When we try to pin down just why this is, the points that keep coming to mind are ambition and attention to detail. That may sound prosaic, but it counts for a hell of a lot. Where many bands are content to play a guitar, Helicon want to play with the stars and they won't believe that such dreams are out of reach. God Intentions is simply Helicon proving themselves right. There is such scope to this band's vision that it really does take your breath away; Helicon take the concept of an album to new heights and they know that the way to do this is to put everything in its right place at the right time. Fortunately, this appears to be easy for them; they have the knowledge and the talent to capture their dreams. Described by some as "cinematic", that's too cold for us; that is dressing up a stranger's vision. This is all-encompassing, personal and inspirational, a psych opera full of astonishing musical movements. Deeply moving.
Two things are immediately obvious from this record. First, that it is full of Lushy goodness: the construction of the songs, the intonation and timing are so redolent of Lush in their mid period that there is a welcome familiarity which is both warming and heartening. Second, despite having the courage to step out as a solo performer, the whole thing does seem a little apologetic. Yet, Pearlies is a beautiful record containing some quite exquisite songs, only occasionally getting a little sugary. In style it borders on psych folk and is far less guitar-orientated than might have been expected, though the preponderance of electronica may have had something to do with producer James 'Maps' Chapman. Amongst her musings, Emma states, "Swimming through space when time's postponed / See if I make it on my own." From the evidence here, she will have no trouble at all in doing that and hopefully these first steps will help to boost her confidence.
Everything Is Alive is not a record that celebrates the band's recent commercial success; Slowdive take nothing for granted, especially as it is now six years since their successful return with the eponymous Slowdive. Indeed, this is a record that is considered, mature and reflective and, as a response to the pandemic, surprisingly light. Though accessible, it doesn't glitter, it merely shimmers and nods its head knowingly. Slowdive are aware of what they do best and to show too much excitement would have been vulgar. There is an assurity in sound which is no doubt aided by age and experience; there is also a deftness of touch and some fine musicianship. Slowdive put just enough into each song to complete it without ever looking to break out from their self-imposed restraint. These songs are what they are so take from them what you will. Most listeners will be nudged by their beauty and replete in their quietude. Slowdive continue to be Slowdive and we could never ask for more than that.
For those of us who remember Trampolene as the spiky inheritors of the early Manic Street Preachers, it has been fascinating to watch their evolution over the past few years. Time has certainly rubbed away some of the rough edges of their sound, yet the sharpness of their minds has not blunted, and with age they have gained an ear for melody and a realisation that you can make just as big an impact by asking nicely rather than shouting into the night. The result is Rules Of Love And War, an album we would never have believed the band could have made a few years ago, but one that may just come to be seen as their greatest ever achievement. This record not only has a bit of everything thrown into the mix, but is worked so cleverly it appears seamless, rounded and whole; the Tramps' manifesto dressed so finely it cannot possibly fail to be noticed. There are no bad moments; this is just a beautifully made record from beautiful people. Trampolene are a treasure.
Decreation Facts sees Firefriend treading new ground. Whereas 2021's Dead Icons dripped slowly through your consciousness and captured your soul through stealth, this collection simply scares you to death. If you think you have heard unsettling music before, you were only at the prologue as Firefriend here write the definitive book on how to unnerve and disturb. It's a struggle to hint at just how this record sounds. Take The Doors at their most spaced out, cross them with Siouxsie and the Banshees at their scariest (1980-81), inject them with liquid paranoia and you are halfway there. A lot of the credit for this must lie with bassist and vocalist Julia Grassetti who plays the creepiest basslines, not content with notes that build the melody and carry the song along, but instead forming patterns of sound that make you believe there's something fatal lurking just around the corner. It is a record that ably captures the zeitgeist of the times and one that will have your brain in a whirl. Seldom have we come across a collection where we have had to turn the record off at various stages just to think about what it is doing and what it is saying. And to shake our heads clear. Remarkable.
Ist Ist were at a crossroads. Their second album was made under the constraints of the lockdown in circumstances that were as challenging as they were unpredictable. Whereas a lot of bands were consumed by the darkness, Ist Ist moved in a different direction, looking to the future with a warming positivity, softening the edges of their sound and dressing their music in more colourful hues. This was a surprise as few bands had delineated their career trajectory more precisely than they; building their future on their own terms they had an exact vision of what they wanted to be. Different paths now stood before them, though deep down we always suspected which way they would move. Ist Ist had become synonymous with stark, linear music rooted in the monochrome world of post-punk and it would be a step too far to swerve away from that. If Protagonists had been merely Ist Ist returning to their roots then it would have been a splendid thing, but the greater achievement here is that they not only dig back to their foundations, but manage to build on them, and build well. Ist Ist have an innate knowledge of what is right and it serves them well. There isn't a weak moment; there is drive and renewed purpose and we cannot think of any other band whose vision is as strong now as it was half a decade ago.
We all know Bdrmm are two bands masquerading as one. First, there is the shoegazing outfit who make some damn pretty records, full of light touches and elegant shades, and then there is the live band who are mad bastards who create a racket and leave entire audiences exhilarated. We cannot think of a better live band at this moment in time than Bdrmm and it would be wrong not to add that the recording artists are pretty close to the mark as well. The contents of the band's second album are aptly depicted by the cover artwork: it is in parts pretty, with flashes of colour and light, and in other parts monochrome, broken and confused. Such is life. It is difficult not to admire just how mature and accomplished this record is. They are a young band who are unafraid of parading their influences yet have produced a record that would not stand in any of their shadows. They are happy to reveal their internal weaknesses and fears, call their record I Don't Know, yet sound so strong in doing so. They really are a beacon of light in a crap world. Bdrmm are remarkable.
Despite their name, Autobahn do not indulge in Germanic-influenced electro, but rather produce a grimy, grinding post-punk sound, more than a little infused with dark gothic rumblings as befits a band from that genre's heartland in Leeds. The departure of their drummer and his replacement by machines and sample-based percussion called for an adjustment in approach, though there is obviously no escape from the band's roots, Autobahn even managing to sound darker, bleaker and more cutting than ever. At times the music is brutal and so broken it is a wonder they managed to capture it on vinyl. There are moments that the band unite in punk-like choruses of protest; it gives the record an air of a manifesto, shouting at the state of the world while showing a unity of purpose. It adds a glimmer of positivity, a belief that life can overcome darkness. Or find hope in despair, ecstasy in ruin. You won't hear many records that have this much power at their heart and not much could stand up to this. Mighty.
Life is decay; we are all broken and in the process of breaking down more. Often, as something breaks down it reveals something else you may not have noticed that may surprise you by its hidden qualities and strengths. Existence isn't skin deep and Stephen Lawrie is one of very few songwriters who understands this. There are recesses in the mind, caverns in the soul, vacuums in existence. Shiny exteriors are for pop stars and salesmen; the superficial is not for artists. Here, with a cheap array of toys and instruments, Lawrie constructs songs that have more form and structure than much of his previous music as he finds coherence in shards and remnants. It gives him the confidence to sing rather than whisper beneath the surface. This is soul music, but Lawrie doesn't emote: the strength of his feelings are carried by his words and his words are poetry: "There is no sense / In this pretence / Our common sense / In passing tense." This album is absolutely gripping in sound and consequence. And intelligence. And perception. And in Lawrie's unsated need to work from every conceivable angle. And every fucking thing else that you can possibly think of. This is brilliant.
Ten years back, the second album by There Will Be Fireworks was the work of young men looking at the world with unknowing eyes. Their third, Summer Moon, is the work of mature adults who have lived, loved, triumphed and failed. It's a fact the band have embraced; this record is so human it almost breathes, so personal you feel it should be kept secret. All of life is here in its sadness, complexity and splendour. At its core is the fact that days change but the heart remains the same. The beautifully shaped music will often hide behind a mood of melancholy, yet at other times shake it off as if fighting against a downward spiral of despondency. It brings power, beauty, grace and light to the sadness, adding an epic grandeur to the songs that maybe belies the fact that these are intrinsically problems we all face in everyday life. People come and go, places diversify, and humans struggle to adapt. It's why we die; we cannot cope with the endless tides of change. We are ultimately small and isolated and that's why all this feels so important. Everything that matters is in flux. Summer Moon channels pain and isolates hope. And it is all done so beautifully it really is one of the most affecting collections of songs you will ever hear.
Crime & The City Solution are becoming mythical, disappearing from the face of the earth only to appear like King Arthur when the world needs them the most. We thought they had gone for good when they split in 1991 and we hadn't expected them to be reborn in Detroit in 2011, throw out an album, and then disappear back into the mists of time. Now they have resurfaced in Berlin a decade later and we certainly hadn't expected them to be offering up an album of such elegaic grace as The Killer. We always believed that 1988's Shine would be the band's major legacy, a record almost unmatched in its riven beauty. Yet in seven songs here Simon Bonney and his new collaborators have produced a collection that will not only touch your heart, but embed itself into your very soul. Within, Bonney declares, "The colour drains from my eyes" and there could be no better metaphor for this record. It is shrouded in darkness, hence the cover and the collection's title. We hear of dreams being killed, dreams that have been an intrinsic part of a long life. Is what's left a world devoid of colour and free from hope? This is a question that Bonney is now exploring and when it comes to delving into the shadows, nobody does it better.
