The Charlatans - Talking In Tones - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Tim Burgess and co will soon be releasing their 12th album, featuring this woozy psychedelic meander issued in association with online bastion of taste The Quietus. There's no hurry about this rather gorgeous epic - the trademark Burgess croon, gently bubbling drumbeats and the merest of indelible guitar hooks nudges this appealing single towards its lip-trembler of a chorus. For a band that's faced more heartbreak than most within its ranks, The Charlatans are sounding more and more like a band at the peak of its powers. "I feel strengthened". Indeed.
Martin Carr - Mainstream - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Edited from the new album The Breaks by the Boo Radleys frontman, Mainstream is an acoustic sad-face little melodrama in the spirit of autobiography - "I'm drowning in the mainstream/I kid myself I'm happy as I am...". What Martin Carr could do with is a thoroughly world-changing hit-single although sadly this probably isn't it, not because it's rubbish or isn't grimey, dubstepping trap-hop (or whatever) - Mainstream might just be a little too naval-gazing, even for today's simpering audiences. I Don't Think I'll Make It would make a cracking radio-song (hint hint) - or you just buy Carr's rather lovely album instead.
Buzzcocks - It's Not You - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Back with a bang are messrs Diggle and Shelley whose first album for eight years, The Way, has just been streamed online at Spotify. From it comes this vociferous romp, co-written by Pete Shelley and drummer Danny Farrant. It's the usual super-charged love-story gone wrong, spat with bitterness yet back-filled by harmonies and an underlying sense of melodic triumph. Not quite Everybody's Happy Nowadays etc but a mighty step in the right direction.
Simple Minds - Honest Town - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Alongside Blindfolded, Simple Minds have issued two songs to tease followers with news of new album Big Music (reviewed elsewhere on this site), their first for five years. It's a promising return, not least for those of us still reeling from the Belfast Child years - Honest Town is a weighty slice of proto Euro-disco tailor-made for venues smaller than arenas but larger than your local hop. But that's the Simple Minds way - optimistic to the last, brimming with big tunes and a Jim Kerr vocal that's rarely sounded clearer in its latter days. The guitars soar, the drums pound and "lights shine" - welcome back to Simple Minds.
Cheryl - I Don't Care - ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Or to quote the song's asinine lyrics, "I don't care/and it feels so fucking good/to say I swear/that I don't care". You know what Cheryl - nor do I. Your record is Kylie-by-numbers at best. And then half as good again.
Duncan Reid and the Big Heads - C'est La Vie - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
"Shit happens/that's the way it goes.." - and so our second nomination for this round-up's poet laureate award rumbles forth. Duncan Reid formerly of '70s punk japesters The Boys (aka The Yobs) has his feet in new-wave and his head in the clouds of pop and to prove it he's unleashed what sounds like a remodel of Boomtown Rats' Rat Trap, sped it up and written some easy-going lyrics that spout, 'yeah, whatever' in your face. It sounds like The Lightning Seeds doing 'angry', twenty years out-of-date but likeable nonetheless.
Whyte Horses - The Snowfalls - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Hey hey, it's The Velvet Underground AGAIN! Just kidding although just prior to the distorted vocals and woozy mind-bending backing kicks in, it is a bit Sunday Morning. Rather than being from New York or San Francisco, Whyte Horses hail from Manchester and bear just a little resemblance to what The Charlatans and Temples are doing right now (see above). Rather pleasing.
Neil Cowley Trio - Sparkling - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
From the acclaimed threesome's recent Touch and Flee album, Sparkling is a languid jazzy meander that justifies anyone's decision to learn to play piano, drums or double-bass (or all three). There's a wonderful simplicity about all of this, an instrumental with so very little obviously going on, yet plenty brimming beneath the surface. Use your imagination and you may well end up in a crumpled heap sobbing or leaping naked around the nearest green-space.
Black Rivers - Voyager 1 - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Formed of two Doves members, Jez and Andy Williams, Black Rivers eschew the (admittedly enthralling) downbeat nature of their day-jobs and point their noses to the sun for something comprised of '90s drum'n'bass (think Kosheen), a smattering of out-and-out euphoria and a dramatic pop number that heralds the start of something very promising indeed.
Harry Edwards - The Only Thing You See - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
He's from Norwich, works in Tescos and takes James Blake's and Airship's minimal electronic stylings to another level by adding loads of treated piano, echo, reverb and nape-hair raising melodies. This track is one of a handful currently making waves on Soundcloud as well as being Lauren Laverne's Headphones moment on BBC6 Music recently. Currently unsigned, Edwards' future is surely assured after already uploading half-a-dozen shivery gems for your delectation. If floating in space was a style of music, it might be this.
Jon Hopkins - Form By Firelight (feat Raphaelle Standell) - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
One of four tracks compiled for an EP entitled Asleep Versions (due November), Form By Firelight is the perfect antidote to insomnia (in a good way), complete with typical Hopkins barely-there beats, ambient background sounds and a wistful dreamy vocal from Ms Standell. Hardly a builder's hum-along, FBF is a beautiful way to spend five minutes gazing into misty darkness, just before the dawn throws light into your bedroom and another dull day take over.
Flying Lotus - Coronus, The Terminator - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Y'know, I was expecting very little from this man's new material - I've struggled to see past the clunky beats and appreciate the acclaim levelled at the Lotus. With Coronus, I'm nonethewiser although it is a rather engaging morsel. Taken from the album I'm Dead (to be reviewed elsewhere on Flipside), minimal beats usher in snippets of emotive vocal and the barest of crunky beats that tip the balance between funk and electronica without committing to either. By all accounts, the new album is his Bitches Brew, so to speak with Coronus being the light relief. You have been warned.
Tim Burgess and co will soon be releasing their 12th album, featuring this woozy psychedelic meander issued in association with online bastion of taste The Quietus. There's no hurry about this rather gorgeous epic - the trademark Burgess croon, gently bubbling drumbeats and the merest of indelible guitar hooks nudges this appealing single towards its lip-trembler of a chorus. For a band that's faced more heartbreak than most within its ranks, The Charlatans are sounding more and more like a band at the peak of its powers. "I feel strengthened". Indeed.
Martin Carr - Mainstream - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Edited from the new album The Breaks by the Boo Radleys frontman, Mainstream is an acoustic sad-face little melodrama in the spirit of autobiography - "I'm drowning in the mainstream/I kid myself I'm happy as I am...". What Martin Carr could do with is a thoroughly world-changing hit-single although sadly this probably isn't it, not because it's rubbish or isn't grimey, dubstepping trap-hop (or whatever) - Mainstream might just be a little too naval-gazing, even for today's simpering audiences. I Don't Think I'll Make It would make a cracking radio-song (hint hint) - or you just buy Carr's rather lovely album instead.
Buzzcocks - It's Not You - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Back with a bang are messrs Diggle and Shelley whose first album for eight years, The Way, has just been streamed online at Spotify. From it comes this vociferous romp, co-written by Pete Shelley and drummer Danny Farrant. It's the usual super-charged love-story gone wrong, spat with bitterness yet back-filled by harmonies and an underlying sense of melodic triumph. Not quite Everybody's Happy Nowadays etc but a mighty step in the right direction.
Simple Minds - Honest Town - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Alongside Blindfolded, Simple Minds have issued two songs to tease followers with news of new album Big Music (reviewed elsewhere on this site), their first for five years. It's a promising return, not least for those of us still reeling from the Belfast Child years - Honest Town is a weighty slice of proto Euro-disco tailor-made for venues smaller than arenas but larger than your local hop. But that's the Simple Minds way - optimistic to the last, brimming with big tunes and a Jim Kerr vocal that's rarely sounded clearer in its latter days. The guitars soar, the drums pound and "lights shine" - welcome back to Simple Minds.
Cheryl - I Don't Care - ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Or to quote the song's asinine lyrics, "I don't care/and it feels so fucking good/to say I swear/that I don't care". You know what Cheryl - nor do I. Your record is Kylie-by-numbers at best. And then half as good again.
Duncan Reid and the Big Heads - C'est La Vie - ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
"Shit happens/that's the way it goes.." - and so our second nomination for this round-up's poet laureate award rumbles forth. Duncan Reid formerly of '70s punk japesters The Boys (aka The Yobs) has his feet in new-wave and his head in the clouds of pop and to prove it he's unleashed what sounds like a remodel of Boomtown Rats' Rat Trap, sped it up and written some easy-going lyrics that spout, 'yeah, whatever' in your face. It sounds like The Lightning Seeds doing 'angry', twenty years out-of-date but likeable nonetheless.
Whyte Horses - The Snowfalls - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Hey hey, it's The Velvet Underground AGAIN! Just kidding although just prior to the distorted vocals and woozy mind-bending backing kicks in, it is a bit Sunday Morning. Rather than being from New York or San Francisco, Whyte Horses hail from Manchester and bear just a little resemblance to what The Charlatans and Temples are doing right now (see above). Rather pleasing.
Neil Cowley Trio - Sparkling - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
From the acclaimed threesome's recent Touch and Flee album, Sparkling is a languid jazzy meander that justifies anyone's decision to learn to play piano, drums or double-bass (or all three). There's a wonderful simplicity about all of this, an instrumental with so very little obviously going on, yet plenty brimming beneath the surface. Use your imagination and you may well end up in a crumpled heap sobbing or leaping naked around the nearest green-space.
Black Rivers - Voyager 1 - ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Formed of two Doves members, Jez and Andy Williams, Black Rivers eschew the (admittedly enthralling) downbeat nature of their day-jobs and point their noses to the sun for something comprised of '90s drum'n'bass (think Kosheen), a smattering of out-and-out euphoria and a dramatic pop number that heralds the start of something very promising indeed.
Harry Edwards - The Only Thing You See - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
He's from Norwich, works in Tescos and takes James Blake's and Airship's minimal electronic stylings to another level by adding loads of treated piano, echo, reverb and nape-hair raising melodies. This track is one of a handful currently making waves on Soundcloud as well as being Lauren Laverne's Headphones moment on BBC6 Music recently. Currently unsigned, Edwards' future is surely assured after already uploading half-a-dozen shivery gems for your delectation. If floating in space was a style of music, it might be this.
Jon Hopkins - Form By Firelight (feat Raphaelle Standell) - ★★★★★★★☆☆☆
One of four tracks compiled for an EP entitled Asleep Versions (due November), Form By Firelight is the perfect antidote to insomnia (in a good way), complete with typical Hopkins barely-there beats, ambient background sounds and a wistful dreamy vocal from Ms Standell. Hardly a builder's hum-along, FBF is a beautiful way to spend five minutes gazing into misty darkness, just before the dawn throws light into your bedroom and another dull day take over.
Flying Lotus - Coronus, The Terminator - ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Y'know, I was expecting very little from this man's new material - I've struggled to see past the clunky beats and appreciate the acclaim levelled at the Lotus. With Coronus, I'm nonethewiser although it is a rather engaging morsel. Taken from the album I'm Dead (to be reviewed elsewhere on Flipside), minimal beats usher in snippets of emotive vocal and the barest of crunky beats that tip the balance between funk and electronica without committing to either. By all accounts, the new album is his Bitches Brew, so to speak with Coronus being the light relief. You have been warned.