Tough Love Vinilo y CD

Review: RECOMMENDED
We're struggling for many ways to describe Free Advice, aside from 'a genuinely wonderful listen'. The second record from San Francisco-based gems Cindy, it's an outing that remains understated from beginning to end, and yet somehow manages to deliver gritty, gruelling rock 'n' roll, euphoric day-tripping anthems, honest love songs and more.

At the most sedate, 'Seeing Double' sounds like it could almost frighten itself, a cute but damaged, delicate and loose arrangement. 'Wrong Answer' is more like a slap in the face but through a wall of static, fuzzy guitars and a thick layer of white noise helping keep what could be a runaway train in check. Just about. 'Fixed Idea' is bound to make you feel like there's still so much hope to cling to, and is among the most quietly empowering things to sound a bit like Velvet Underground we've had the pleasure of hearing in quite some time.

Review: "They quarrelled and scraped, this much is true. But never was his fate so cruel. Peel Dream convened, "Enough's enough!" They kicked him out and tossed his stuff. All alone he sips his tea, burns his incense, scrolls TV. And peering out beyond the fore, longs to make it back once more." A cute little poem, as featured on the album artwork to this cute little record, it betrays the essence of the music that's here. Although hard to precisely put a fine point on it, Peel Dream Magazine crafts this kind of child-like, innocent, floaty, lo-fi pop sound that makes you feel something along the lines of a small kid watching escapist morning telly. Except in this case the fantasy world that unfolds before you isn't visibly made from cheap balsa wood and quick paint jobs. Instead, it's vividly detailed, and feels utterly complete. Like Bibio meeting Beta Band on Sesame Street. A bit.

Review: The Town That Cursed Your Name is a welcome return from Glenn Donaldson aka The Reds, The Pink, The Purples. The LA-based artist says of the record that "I realised as I was piecing it together that it's a song cycle about trying to live while also feeling called to make music. The album addresses that duality ably with wry observation and a mix of the micro- and macroscopic realness Donaldson is so well-loved for. This record is heavier than the last with more fuzzy guitar textures and heavier lines throughout. From lo-fi to college rock, the influences here are varied and the songs are both beautiful and dazzling.

Review: DIY pop titans the Reds, Pinks & Purples take aim at the threads of hope with untethered abandon on their new album Unwishing Well. With the project helmed up by songwriter and musician Glenn Donaldson and backed up by collaborators Thomas Rubenstein, Lewis Gallardo, Daniel Pearce and Kati Mashikian, the new LP is a romantic sadcore memory-dive, fleshing out a 90s leftfield pop quintessence and lending it a contemporary production edge. Touchstones like The Go-Betweens, The Smiths, Magnetic Fields and Felt lend well to a terrific outpouring of emotion over ten tracks, which is remarkably frank in its admission of the worst foibles of the music industry and the metaphor for life evoked in this (read: 'Your Worst Song Is Your Greatest Hit').

Review: Four piece outfit The Umbrellas call themselves "renegade romantics" and they are adept at making irresistible indie pop hymns. 2021 marked the year they dropped their successful breakout debut album and in the wake of that they went on national tours and got plenty of critical acclaim. Fairweather Friend is the difficult second album that didn't prove so and brought yet more lush and candied melodies with confident guitar, great vocals and plenty of studio finesse. Not bad for a group that met at San Francisco record emporium Amoeba Music.