Category: Albums

Trevor Beales – Fireside Stories

Everyone loves a tale of lost genius that it can be all too seductive when a press release comes along promising such. Add in a dash of Hebden Bridge then wrap it up in the contemporary photographs of Charlie Meecham and the omens were so strong that anything other than a revelation would be a severe disappointment.

Thankfully it delivers on the promise and the vinyl is already on its second pressing before I’d even written my review. You’ve got the intimate ambience of a guy taping his stuff in an attic but then given the modern mastering by Andrew Liles. What he’s done with cassette recordings from the early 70s is nothing short of miraculous.

He really could play that guitar and sing with a full heart but the most surprising part is how his original compositions sound like they’ve stepped out of some classic songbook. You could imagine John Renbourn covering these songs with a cheery aside about “old classics”

Trevor Beales died suddenly at the age of 33 in 1987. Its taken all this time for his music to reach us but it’s found its time and it’s place.

Tokio Ono – Individuals

This is one of those albums that you need for stress emergencies. It’s the first album I’ve heard that’s made me think of 16 bit CD-Rom game soundtracks as it does Tangerine Dream.

There’s a beautiful sense of melody matched to a big, wide sound. The percussion is spacious, and the mood is very special. It’s hard not to imagine myself on an alien beach, having a wonderful time.

What we have here is someone who’s gift for composition is as great as his skill at production. Someone who can paint the walls with his music and make you feel like you’re somewhere else.

Review of Ben LaMar Gay – Certain Reveries

Walking an extraordinary tightrope between free jazz and song, this album us another testimony to the power of duos. Ben is mainly on his cornet, though he does add a little synth and vocals in there too, and matched perfectly to drummer Tommaso Moretti.

It’s a match made with searing chemistry, both artists expressing perfectly together. It hits all my favorite jazz adjectives: questing, nocturnal, spiritual, instinctive, ecstatic, experimental – sometimes simultaneously.

I never heard a cornet sing like this before and damn me if that ain’t the perfect drummer for it to bounce off.

Sweet sounds.

hand-written review of Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan – Districts, Roads, Open Spaces

 

Salvatore Mercatante – Decas

If you like your electronic music big, dark and elegant then this is going to take you away. Think icy but elegaic synths, crisp drums and warmest, deepest bass.

It made me think a little bit of peak Biosphere. That high fidelity sound, the sharp minimalism and intense atmosphere. The rhythm providing more for the composition than the dance floor

There’s something immensely immersive about the sound. I called the music ‘icy’ but at the same time it has a really ‘warm’ analog sound.

If you’re looking for some electronic music with a soul and with a ton of atmosphere then this is it.

Oracle Column – Lily

review of the most cosmic thing I’ve heard in ages

Is it a cliché to call something “deep”? As I sit here with my headphones on listening to distant percussion sounds, weird synth noise bubbling in one side of my head and divine chimes of sound at the other side, meeting in the middle of my brain, well….it feels like a deep experience.

It starts off like meditation music with “Boaz” which is side A. That spiritual feeling soon gives way to strong vintage science fiction. It’s BBC Radiophonic Workshop scoring with Jodorowsky. By the end of it, it makes me feel like I’m free-falling through inner-space.

Side two “Joachim” kicks off as a hypnotic drone jam, really sounding like the two artists are facing off over their gear. It evolves into something sunny, melodic and vaguely dubby.

This is easily one of the most cosmic things I’ve reviewed in ages. Make sure to bring your own oxygen supply.

RHYS CHATHAM – A CRIMSON GRAIL FOR 400 ELECTRIC GUITARS

OK, let’s start off with just the facts. This is a live album, clocking in at under an hour, documenting highlights of a 12-hour performance of 400 electric guitars directed by the composer Rhys Chatham. Interested? You should be.

This is not a colossal sonic bombast, this is the sound of 400 guitars shimmering an incandescent symphony of sighs and shadows. The acoustics of the basilica of Sacré-Coeur in Paris really lend themselves to such subtle, delicate music. If you want crude comparisons, then the best I could do would be to suggest the guitar sound of post-rock at it’s most beautiful meeting modern composition.

I had heard bad things about the sound quality of this album. Some people had complained bitterly about hearing other sounds such as microphone bumps or clips but I found only a very vibrant live recording that captured the sound and atmosphere of what must have been quite an extraordinary event.