Bella Union Vinilo y CD

Review: "A document created in the shadow of incredible darkness. One from which the creator hadn't planned on escaping and still doesn't. Hence the title of the album. It is the result of an illness that I've battled my whole life. It isn't something that the world has done to me. It's the world I live in, and it's no one's fault."
So says Brian Christinzio, AKA BC Camplight, of his sixth album. As ever, it's a musical masterpiece packing dense layers of instrumental experimentation and theses-worthy lyrical poignance. An artist who has never played by the musical rules, fans of strong juxtapositions will again be in there element, with a tracklist that spans grunge-y garage rock, twisted barroom journeyman stuff, theatrical guitar pop, and plenty more. But the sounds themselves are only one half the genius. When it comes to arrangements, things are as playful as they are innovative, keeping listeners guessing as to how structures will pan out.

Review: 2022's stunning album Once Twice Melody was a fine example of Beach House doing what they do best - living bang up to that name, with intimate-but epic instrumentation falling somewhere between surf-y jangle and grand shoegaze. 'Become' is definitely on a similar tip, and as such feels much like an extension of the long form.
Dig a little deeper, though, and scratches begin to show. While the full-length record represented Beach House reaching for the stars, or at least the moon, and stepping into the role of festival headliners, here the sense of pure confidence and occasion is less pronounced. That may not be a bad thing, mind, because while Once came across like a finished article, refined and prepared, things here seem somehow rawer, as though we're sitting in on a session as oppose to getting the signed off product.

Review: Experimental electronic supergroup Creep Show are certainly a dream team, with the band made up of various members of certain timeless acts: John Grant (of Hercules & Love Affair), Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire), Benge (Wrangler) and Phil Winter (Tunng). The album is a mix of darksynth, industrial funk and experimental noise, with vocals by Grant and Malinger providing a surreal, vocoded oeuvre. The titular 'Yawning Abyss' is ploddy and skeletal enough, but then we move into the real meat of things with the likes of 'Bungalow' and 'Moneyback', which carry on the album's extant deathly techno-dysoptian vibe with an increasingly post-punky effect.