Review: Dr. Robert of British 80s pop hitmakers The Blow Monkeys and British folk icon Matt Deighton (Mother Earth, Bill Fay, Paul Weller) have formed a new duo and release their album on the not-for-profit Last Night From Glasgow label. Their respective histories - writing really accomplished pop songs and performing in bands with some of the best artists in the history of rock n' roll - raise expectations, but they absolutely smash them. The title-track is a beautiful marriage of pastoral psych folk and glam rock, where there's melodies to spare and affecting, deeply soulful timbres at every turn.
Review: If you're unfamiliar with Dr Robert, we recommend checking out The Blow Monkeys. Robert Howard, as he's credited, formed the iconic new wave and 'sophisti-pop' group in 1981 and his piano keys, bass notes, guitar melodies, vocals and words define the band's sizeable back catalogue. Matt Deighton, meanwhile, might mean Mother Earth, Bill Fay, or Paul Weller to some listeners. He's been involved with them all. Here, the esteemed UK musicians run into one another on Last Night From Glasgow, a treasure of a patron-funded, not-for-profit label out of Scotland's biggest city. It couldn't be a more credible and thoughtful combination. Musically, the result packs crazy levels of musicality, taking a lead from pop, soft, folk and psyche rock to produce a sound which moves between soaring to understated grandeur to deceptively complex and overtly intimate.
Review: Following the release of their cracking third full-length Blacked Out in 2024, Seattle punk n' rollers The Drowns revisit their origins with a reissue of 2018's much-adored debut LP View From The Bottom. Though hailing from the grunge capital of the world, the band bear more sonic similarities to folk-punk troubadours Dropkick Murphys than the type of icons who've worked with Seattle legend Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Murder City Devils) who handles remastering duties, beefing up anthems such as 'Eternal Debate' with extra snarl and soul. Complete with updated artwork offering a more artsy minimalist companion piece to the original, this version also comes with a newly added cover of 'Satyagraha', the opening cut from hardcore punk legends 7Seconds classic 1989 LP Soulforce Revolution.
Review: After an initial collaborative album released in 2019, French instrumentalist-producers JB Dunckel and Jonathan Fitoussi have reunited for a twin rumination on memory, and its necessary dialogue with the present moment. Namechecking such musical memories as the motorik beats and kosmische builds of the 70s, all the way through to Detroit house's signature 4x4 march, the pair offer a starkly minimal, Parisian, post-punky dance record here, mixed in with layered, industrial atmospherics. Active recalls of marimba minimal ('Marimbaloum') and Moogish doom liturgy ('Atlantica') also lay among the memory traces here, just waiting to be rediscovered by both listener and interpreter.
Review: For the first time, experimental saxophonist and composer Jimi Tenor finds Norweigan dance powerhouse DJ Sotofett, both teaming up for a collaboration: 'No Warranty Dubs'. Completing the trifecta is Berlin ensemble Kabukabu, the five-piece Afro-jazz-funkers whose original recordings - many of which were overseen expertly by Tenor himself - now come redistilled through a dubwise filter paper. The loose-limbed, lackadaisical energy of Kabukabu's live instrumentation merge fully with Tenor's genre-blurring composites, as Sotofett recasts fifteen tracks into rhythm-driven, bass-heavy versions. The original free jazz and Afro-influenced elements remain present, but they here serve as rawer material for layered studio treatments, channelling echo-drenched edit work and hypnotic repetition, where nothing ever rests to the point of complacency.
Review: This eight-track release plunges listeners into a world of sci-fi techno, where melodic interludes meet deep, atmospheric edges. Side-1 opens with 'Fukaeri', a track defined by its broken deep beats and ambient drift, evoking a sense of floating through a distant galaxy. 'The Increasing Past' follows with gentle IDM beats, rich colo, and masterful productioniperfect for deep, immersive listening.'Tela' delivers a serene ambient experience, holding the quiet beauty of a rising sun with its delicate textures and evolving warmth. 'Gyeon' shifts into a slow breakbeat with a gentler, deeper approach that feels both introspective and expansive. 'We Are Not Alone' closes the side with cloud-like ambient soundscapes, hazy and airy, as rising vocal arcs add to its otherworldly aura. Lush, cosmic soundscapes and intricate beats create a masterful blend of ambient and techno elements, perfect for those seeking both depth and escapism.
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