Review: After emerging from Mike Sheridan and The Night Riders, Birmingham's The Idle Race sought a new guitarist in late 1966 and decided to hire local teenager Jeff Lynne. By the time they signed with Liberty Records, Lynne, younger than his bandmates, had become the frontman and showcased his talents as the chief songwriter and lead vocalist. Their debut album, The Birthday Party, came in October 1968 and combined Beatles-esque melodies with surreal, ambitious British pop and duly received critical acclaim. Despite this, it didn't sell well due to Liberty's decision not to release a supporting single but it is now recognised as a classic so gets reissued on nice heavy vinyl complete with a 24-page booklet of rare photos and a new essay.
Review: There are some records you buy simply because you love the name. Or maybe that's just us? Either way, from where we're sticking stuff into the shopping cart, Index For Working Musik's second long form is one of those examples. Which Direction Goes The Beam more than lives up to the quality of the band name, and then goes and adds artwork which can only be described as 'stunning' into the mix. Angular, jerky, harsh, and artsy rock noises that run between the savage and distorted to the rousing and rollocking, the five piece should be ranking up there with the most innovative, imaginative and inimitable guitar outfits out there at the moment. Chamber-esque arrangements, strange murky mystery, and the overall feeling that we're in uncharted territories and nobody - but nobody - wants to find their way home
Review: Emerging from the vibrant but devilish Bermuda scene of the early 70s, Spacing Out stands as a gleaming instrumental lapis. The entirely self-taught band recombined the raw chi of OG instrumentation with pre-spirited arrangements by The Meters, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin and The Isley Brothers. This one cemented the Invaders as a finely polished instrumental ensemble, gilding the slabs for the retro-soul and funk scenes to follow, and which were in turn incubators of hatchlings Daptone and Big Crown. The reissue, a collaboration with the band and their full participation, comes complete with an expansive booklet by Jefferson "Chairman" Mao, offering an in-depth look at the group with rare photos. With expository, reverb-laden percs, ridin' breakdowns and low strung brasses, the record arouses a mood of loose-girdled passion.
Review: In 1997, You Ishihara - a key figure in the of history of Japanese underground music, mainly thanks to his output as the leader of the band White Heaven - released this beauty. It's his debut solo album and in terms of the attention it received at the time, you might describe it as nothing more than a damp squib. Subsequently, it's only been availble on CD. However, for the first time on vinyl and to coincide with growing recognition that this is an album that's been unfairly lost in the cultural zeitgeist, it's now getting its flowers. Ishihara has a voice that lets those 60s melodies unfurl with the majesty of a flower opening its petals after a long winter. But he can also ramp it up to 13th Floor Elevator-esque psychedelic scuzz brilliance: 'Crevice' is all flailing hair, drum fills and beer spills. A lot of fun to balance out his Lou Reed-esque downtempo stuff.
Review: Oli Heffernan's ever-evolving project, Ivan The Tolerable, joins Riot Season for two captivating albums that explore the beauty of entropic drift. Recorded swiftly as a quintet, Heffernan enlisted Christian Alderson on drums, John Pope on double bass, Kevin Nickles on flute and saxophone and Ben Hopkinson on electric piano. The first album was Vertigo, a dense and disorienting work reminiscent of Sun Ra meets Exploding Star Orchestra. In contrast, Water Music evokes serene landscapes with sounds of waves, creaking hulls, and gentle winds, blending influences from Laraaji and Natural Information Society. Bob Fischer of Electronic Sound Magazine describes Water Music as a "beautifully soothing psychedelic jazz album" perfect for a summer daydream.
Review: Broc Recordz's Cosmos Giants album is a celestial creation that stems from a monumental collaboration between Janko Nilovic, JJ Whitefield from Poets of Rhythm, and Igor Zhukovsky of the Soul Surfers. Together, they've sculpted a sonic world where genres meld seamlessly and offer a transformative auditory experience where funk, psyche, and soul all inform a jazz underbelly. The ensuing musical odyssey rather defies easy categorisation that is all about immersion in meticulously crafted tracks. From the laidback vibes of 'Inner Space' to the eerie and celestial melodies of '(Wind From) Mount Everest' this is a high-class record.
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