China Drum - BBC Radio Sessions
Beggars Arkive
Released: 3rd July 2024
China Drum find themselves in the archives as they were signed to Mantra, a Beggars subsidiary on which they released three moderately successful albums between 1996 and 2000. There are six tracks here, recorded at the Reading Festival on 25th August 1995 and first broadcast by John Peel that same day. The songs featured are 'Barrier', a 1995 single; 'Simple', the band's debut self-released single from 1993; 'Meaning', from 1994's Great Fire EP; 'Fall Into Place', which later featured on the band's debut album, Goosefair, 'Wuthering Heights' from a joint single with Flying Medallions on Fierce Panda; and 'Down By The River', a song that appeared on the band's second album in 1997. Of course, the highlight here is the cover of Kate Bush's iconic single which brought the band a fair amount of publicity and led to later covers of other pop songs, including the theme tune to the TV show Rupert The Bear. Unlike most of the Arkive releases, these tracks are live recordings and that probaby suits China Drum as it reflects well the power of their punk anthems. These songs are wildly energetic, occasionally head-turning and feature some good musicianship; the drumming in 'Down By The River' is particularly impressive. The band split up in 2000 when their change of direction on their third album went down like a lead balloon, but they have since reformed and remain a dynamic live attraction. Again, this twelve-inch clear vinyl EP has been produced by Beggars Arkive in their series of Radio Session releases (ten records form Volume One), which are available by subscription only and limited to a run of 500 copies. The covers of these records remain singularly unimpressive; it appears the label was unwilling to pay for a few photographs of the bands.
The Loft - Riley & Coe Session 09.10.23
Precious Recordings
Released: 5th July 2024
The Loft of course are one of the greatest indie guitar bands of all time, famous for a handful of songs recorded for Creation in that label's early days and for not getting along very well. There's no doubt in our minds that this quartet could quite easily have ruled the world had they managed to keep things together, but it wasn't to be and though the individual members released some fine records after the inevitable split, none of them were as intriniscally perfect as those recorded by The Loft. It was a surprise when the band reassembled, however loosely, but they remain a thing without having done very much recently in the way touring or recording new songs. We were delighted when they popped into BBC Maida Vale Studio 4 to record a few songs for Gideon Coe and Marc Riley's radio show in October 2023 and even more so when Precious Recordings rushed to get the songs released as the fiftieth record in their series of top indie radio sessions. By the accounts of all four members, this session was relaxed and easy, with the band playing well and everything recorded in one or two takes. "We seem to have learned to be more careful of each other and focus on playing together. Who'd have thought?" commented vocalist/guitarist Pete Astor. The four songs here contain two tracks originally recorded at Bark Studios in 2005 and which first appeared on the Cherry Red Ghost Trains and Country Lanes compilation in 2021. Both songs chime and are as clean as a whistle, which underlines how focussed the playing was, yet how relaxed the four individuals were as everything is made to sound ridiculously easy. There really is little to compare to The Loft; when they play together they produce a magical sound that is instantly recognisable and helplessly uplifting. Pete Astor's lyrics are always involved and detailed and his voice has a beautiful tone that hasn't changed a bit over the years. 'Beware' is a typical Loft song with everything that makes us want to go out on to the streets and knock on doors to proclaim their glory. 'Ride' is equally wordy with Astor and Andy Strickland's guitars working beautifully together while Dave Morgan's trademark crashing metal underlines the pedigree. We can't remember if The Loft ever recorded 'Worm In My Brain' which was the first track released by Astor's post-Loft outfit The Weather Prophets, appearing on the 1985 Creation compilation Different For Domeheads. It remains a top song, rooted by Bill Price's bass, as is 'Time', a Richard Hell cover that was one of the few tracks recorded by The Loft in their first incarnation. The version here almost sounds cheerful, which is a nice take on the dry original. This ten-inch single has been pressed in a limited edition of 500, so snap one up quickly before they disappear. They are available from Pete Astor's Bandcamp. It's The Loft. Every home should have one.
The March Violets - Crocodile Promises
Metropolis US
Released: 19th July 2024
The March Violets never managed to record an album in their pomp and this is their first effort at doing so since vocalist Si Denbigh suffered a stroke in 2016 and the band continued as a three-piece with founder members Rosie Garland and Tom Ashton joined by bassist William Faith. Crocodile Promises very much captures the essence of the Violets, though it lacks the male-female vocals that were a big part of their make-up. It means there is less tension in the songs, though they retain a sharp edge with Garland's theatrical vocals draped over Ashton's guitars. Ashton was always the most impressive of the goth guitarists; he has an uncanny knack of playing a riff that will cut you in half and sweep away the pieces, and the more he contributes here the better the album becomes. There's a subtlety to his touch these days as he drapes sound over 'Virgin Sheep', 'Kraken Awakes' and 'Mortality', while his big guitar lines still carry the power of yesteryear. His solo in 'Headed For The Fire' is gorgeous, grating and painful, the Violets at their best. It takes a while to get used to Rosie Garland's approach to songwriting as it is slightly different to the classic Violets' blueprint where two vocalists sing over each other in a edgy battle for dominance. Her voice is rich and smoother and the choruses underline this rather than challenge it. There is very little white space. It doesn't take many plays though to get used to the new way and before long you can't help singing along to her dark poetry. The new boy here is bassist Mat Thorpe and he feeds the drum machine with fat, rolling basslines. Some of his riffs are so crunchy it feels like he is chewing at your face and it helps to add a weighty threat to the whole. The March Violets are still a fantastic live act and it is good to see they are not prepared to dwell on former glories but are looking to create new chapters in the book of broken promises. It is so good to have them back and active. Give this one a few plays before coming to any conclusions.
Cazayoux - Echoes
Weird Beard / Echodelick
Released: 2nd August 2024
If you enjoyed the multi-label release of Cazayoux's debut album in April 2023, this new psych-funk offering is pretty much more of the same, with ten tracks stretching over forty minutes that will have you tapping parts of your body you didn't even know existed. Cazayoux are a multinational band based in Austin, Texas, founded by drummer Forest Cazayoux, with members hailing from the United States, Mexico, Japan and West Africa which of course brings a rich narrative of cultural soundscapes to the collective. Their music is a thoughtful amalgamation of psychedelic funk, afrobeat and jazz which defies the listener to pigeonhole it. Indeed, the music assumes a life of its own as it pours out of the speakers and takes you on a journey of sensual exploration which could lead to anywhere and anywhen. There is little surprise that Cazayoux quickly became live favourites following their inception in 2020, with their high-energy performances shaking even large audiences into life and if you are having a party, you could do much worse than to have these tunes tumbling out of your speakers. Echoes arrives as a result of a collaboration between a multitude of labels, and is available in the UK from the Weird Beard website and in the USA from Echodelick. Available on flouro green vinyl, this again has only been pressed in limited numbers, so snap one up quickly.
Trigona / IO Audio Recordings - Split
Weird Beard / Echodelick / Fuzzed Up Astromoon
Released: 5th August 2024
Another global joint project, with Weird Beard hosting in the UK, sees Trigona and IO Audio Recordings each taking one side of a new album, with the pair collaborating on 'Space Sickness', a track only available on the digital download for those who buy the vinyl. The Beard previously released Trigona in April 2022 and those who managed to grab a copy will know it was the work of Adelaide's Rob Shiels who had spent eighteen months recording hours of songs in his home studio during the lockdown before shaping them into that full length debut album. As here, all of the tracks were instrumentals dominated by electric guitar and driven by programmed motorik beats. This new split LP features three weighty tracks from Shiels, all over six minutes in length, all sounding like the colours of the world are being turned into shadows by the approach of dusk. The guitars in 'Spectra' are solemn without being sad, yet helplessly attractive, while 'Andaman Sky' dances sadly as sights slowly become memories. It really is pretty stuff; ideal for sinking into an autumn evening. The inspiration is clearly the Indian Ocean, the home to the Andamans and 'Vespicula' (a venomous ray-finned fish) and though the animal may border on the fearsome, the closing song is testing and inquisitive rather than dangerous. IO Audio Recordings are from Orange, California, and their offerings here are more urgent, the nine minutes of 'Paranormal Champion' always probing with the music growing in purpose and power until it threatens to overwhelm. It's edgier than Trigona's calming waves, with the near ten minutes of 'Ascend And Return' building ghosts on a throbbing drone before morphing into a grating alarm where guitars crash, drums pirouette and everybody looks nervously over their shoulders. It's a big contrast to the first side, but equally as compelling. If Trigona have relaxed you, IO shake you up again. Available from Weird Beard and the usual suspects, Split has been pressed in sea foam green and blue vinyl and is lovingly housed in a special die-cut sleeve. There are 300 copies only so get in quick.
Three Quarter Skies - Fade In
Sonic Cathedral
Released: 6th September 2024
Despite Slowdive becoming the rulers of the world in recent times, their drummer Simon Scott still found the time to record an album under the Three Quarter Skies banner, and a bloody good one it is too. Though Fade In is obviously going to be tagged with the shoegaze label, it stretches its reach way past any categorisation, creating slabs of sound that shudder with power, purpose and emotion. We have rarely heard a record that exudes such certainty; there isn't a note or a word out of place and its tidiness is a wonder given the complexity of its origin, Scott grieving at the loss of his mother. "My creative well was already beginning to overflow and losing my mum pushed me over the edge," he explained. "I didn'’t want to write pretty tunes, or sentimental and saccharine music about love, or pretend how happy and healthy the world is." Despite his assertions, there is a lot of prettiness in these songs. There is a quiet serenity to 'Leave A Light On' that is genuinely moving, solemn guitars whispering from above like guardian angels. 'Crows' also shimmers with beauty, it's sparkle breaking out through a hazy drone, underlining the tender vocal. Pretty much of this may be, but it is certainly not saccharine; these tunes carry a weight, a gravity, that is not suffocating but somehow calming. It's unusual that such powerful sounds can sooth, but these float rather than smother. It is as though universal truths are being revealed, carrying the sorrows of history and time, teaching but not lecturing, urging but not condemning. It really is a remarkable thing. This is not music to sink you into your dreams; that would not serve its purpose. It is music that talks to your brain and places it on the path to certainty and reason, however bleak that path may appear. It doesn't offer salvation, but it does offer comfort and assurity and that is no small thing.
Ist Ist - Light A Bigger Fire
Kind Violence
Released: 20th September 2024
With their fourth album, Ist Ist hint at greatness for the very first time. Their first three albums were of high quality but the band's inexorable progression seems to have gained in momentum over the past couple of years and they have now reached a level where it should be impossible for anybody to ignore them. This was not something that could have been easily predicted because their growth has been far from linear. Their first album was released on the cusp of the lockdown and the second recorded in the middle of it. It led to the four-piece finding new ways to write songs and test new paths and ideas. When it came to album three all doors were open to them, but happily they re-found their original course and set the wheels rolling once more down the monochrome post-punk route they had first mapped. But they had learned valuable lessons and everything has come together here with breathtaking style. Ist Ist are no longer a band of components. They are such a solid whole that it is impossible to pick their songs apart; they have welded themselves into their own universe and nothing can get through to threaten their impressive integrity. When Mat Peters first joined the band on keyboards, his first task was to decorate the songs the band had already written. He did it prettily, but it was still touching up what had been before. Over the past years it is staggering to see just how much he has consolidated the band. His keyboard pieces are the blood flowing through these songs just as Joel Kay's drums are the pulse and Andy Keating's bass the heartbeat. Take one out and everything would fall. These songs are complete and it is this that shows just how special Ist Ist are. They hit you hard and take you over. At first listen you guess that they are succeeding because they are more commmercial, but it's far from the truth. These songs are so gripping because they are simply better: better played, better arranged, better produced, better sung, better written. And so the incipient greatness is revealed. Hold these songs up to the ones they play on the radio and there is no commerciality there at all. Ist Ist are still dark. Their lyrics border on the psychotic and the opening line of the album clearly shows that these are not your regular pop hits ... "There's a big black cloud that follows me around." Adam Houghton's singing has reached a new level. His voice has mellowed and he has a much more confident control over his intonation and delivery. In truth, this is a record with very few weaknesses, if any at all.
'Repercussions' is the highlight here. It's not just the best song on the album, it's the best song the band have ever recorded. Playing it becomes a compulsion, the keyboard riff messing with your head while the rumbling bass deals with your insides. It is perfect in every way. Yet, there are many tracks here that challenge it closely, from the disturbing 'The Kiss', the glistening 'I Can't Wait For You' and the shimmering 'Dreams Aren't Enough' with its fabulous, delicate guitars. 'Something Else' is perhaps the closest to matching its brilliance. It's insidious, creeping up on you until you cannot shake it from your brain. Again, it is Peters' playing that grabs hold of you, but there are so many nuances in the song every time you play it, there is somthing new revealing its face. Bloody hell, this is a good record. We could name every track because there is beauty and brilliance everywhere and it takes your breath away. We make no guess as to where this record leaves Ist Ist and no predictions as to where they will end up because they simply defy all expectations. To us, there are no limits; they have the talent, the drive and the unity to continue to forge ahead and we're just enjoying the ride.
Sunset Images - Nada / Cero / Infinito
Dirty Filthy / Echodelick
Released: 24th September 2024
It's nearly three years now since Mexico's Sunset Images unleashed their biting Traumatismo Nacional album which was a howling protest at the state of their nation, "a sharp and deep wound represented in sound". Samuel Osorio and his accomplices embraced the darkness, producing an astonishingly powerful and bitter collection of songs that reflected the album's title, "National Trauma". They are back here with a three-track EP which sees the band no more pleased with the state of things as is hinted at by the record's disturbing monochrome cover. Whilst it is a shame there is not an album on offer, the three tracks here stretch to twenty-one minutes, though appropriately it is the EP's closer 'Infinito' ('Infinite') that consumes nearly thirteen minutes of that. Opener 'Nada' ('Nothing') is a brutal post-punk assault with distorted guitars hiding behind huge, pounding drums that are relentless as hollow vocals call out from the welter of noise. 'Cero' ('Zero') is more twisted and buried in distortion. The muffled vocals emerge from a hazy swamp with ferocious guitars diving in and out with evil intent. It's a symbol of failing to understand the world that surrounds you where very little make sense. Sunset Images are nothing if not alone and there are very few bands who can capture that desperate solitude as well as they; these songs really do hit very hard. 'Infinito' begins with a pointed guitar singing over a dull drone before an absolutely fantastic protest against the inexorable beat of time leaves a temporary mark that is all too soon forgotten as the circle of life proceeds as it was, as it is, and as it always will be. Sunset Images see a world riddled with racism, sexism and injustice and curse themselves that they cannot be or do more to counter this. However, their music offers some light in the darkness and helps to focus the mind on their plight. It's a call to arms, perhaps a desperate one, but one that will make the listener ponder on seeking a better way for us all. The EP has been pressed on ten-inch translucent red vinyl distributed by Dirty Filthy Records and Echodelick. Unfortunately there are only a hundred of these so fight hard to get hold of one.
The Telescopes - Halo Moon
Tapete
Released: 27th September 2024
Stephen Lawrie has been extremely productive over the past few years and has released a number of albums that feature among his very best. There have been two a year for the past couple of years and Halo Moon is the second of 2024, following hard on the heels of Growing Eyes Becoming String. That album was begun a decade previously and put on hold when a computer crashed, losing the album files. When a copy was discovered recently Lawrie was quick to finish the album, which was released in February. While that had a foot in two eras, then, Halo Moon is very much a signal of where The Telescopes are today, all of the songs written, performed and produced by Lawrie in his studios in Shropshire before being paraded across Europe in a comprehensive tour. As would be expected Halo Moon doesn't stray far from the theme that has been prominent in all of The Telescopes' recent albums, the struggle to reconcile the transience of life and love with the eternal, unfeeling immensity of existence. Unusually, this record sees Lawrie in a more positive mood and this can be attributed in part to the phenomenon in the album's title. Going into his studio with few ideas, Lawrie and his wife Andrea caught a glimpse of a halo moon and the sight had a deep emotional impact on them. "The halo moon is a natural phenomena caused by refraction of moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere," he explained, "Andrea and I saw one for the first time on day one of recording; we had never heard of it before. It felt quite magical and powerful. It's hard to describe but it cast a spell over the sessions that followed, very much like being in a dream state. It inspired Andrea to paint the image on the front cover and inspired me to make the album. After seeing that moon the music just flowed."
Maybe because of its rare beauty at the heart of the unrelenting cosmos, Lawrie regards the vision as more than an astral phenomenon; it becomes a benign presence, worthy of praise. The tone is almost spiritual. "The cinders are glowing. Tonight we awake. All hail the halo moon." Its influence gives power over the unrelenting night. "See the way the darkness falls. Learn the ways that it takes hold. Love is the answer to your calls. Give in to love all will unfold." These are rare triumphs for Lawrie. Usually his mind is weighed down by the hopelessness of his fight, but here the flicker of light that is life and love is able to dominate. "Tell it to the sun. Day is never done. It goes on and on. Never gone." It is no surprise that some of this euphoria creeps into the music. Though each song has a funereal beat and Lawrie's voice is gentle and subdued, his tone is nuanced and evocative and his guitar work both pretty and effective as it falls like gentle rain. It's impossible to escape the American feel to some of the music. 'For The River Man' is country blues, 'Shake It All Out' is rock and roll, and 'Come Tomorrow' unashamedly gospel. Of course, all of this sounds distinctly different Telescopes-style, like the bones of the genres are being exhumed and pieced together respectfully in new ways. Lawrie insists this was not an intentional move but suggests the haunting quality of much of his music may be due to certain influences. "I am fascinated by the dreamy longing of artists such as Jim Reeves, Lee Marvin and Patsy Cline, also the minimalism of people like Charlie Feathers, Jody Reynolds and Howlin' Wolf. I love the old catalogue guitars such as the Tiesco Tulip as well, for the twangy simplicity and the Hawaiian tremolo bends you can find with them. Maybe some of all that filtered in. But any spirituality found in my music is a direct conversation with the cosmos or existence in general."
If only every artist would confront existence with the same determination as Stephen Lawrie, then we could find ourselves with a far more interesting and thought-provoking music scene. As it is, he continues to plough a lone furrow, leaving in his wake a series of challenging and beautiful records that will surely go down in history as one of the most remarkable portfolios of all time.
