Category Archives: Fresh Juice

Fresh Juice

23rd January 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

The WAEVE – Kill Me Again

The WAEVE are Graham Coxon (from Blur) and Rose Elinor Dougall (previously of the Pipettes and various solo guises) together in life and in this, potentially ongoing, musical liaison. They have an eponymous debut album on the way and if this taster is anything to go by, it promises to be a corker…

Dave Rowntree – Devil’s Island

I often think I did well getting into Blur, they are indisputably one of the all time great British bands and since their splintering (although they do reconfigure occasionally, such as for live shows later this year) the solo releases and new projects frequently produce work to match the sounds they made together. And so it is that drummer Dave finally makes his singing debut in 2023 and rather delightfully, he is demonstrating far more than just superb drumming…

Fatoumata Diawara featuring Damon Albarn – Nsera

That this weeks fresh juice can offer a trio of top selections all with Blur connections proves they are still very much forward thinking, creative entities (and you can’t say that about many bands or band members 35 years into their careers). The way Damon Albarn picked up the world music baton this century reminds me of the always ground breaking work my next artist did in the previous one…

Peter Gabriel – Panopticom

It may have taken him twenty years but at least when Gabriel releases an albums worth of new music, which he is due to do in 2023 as well as undertake an arena tour, it is always something worth hearing. There is a value in taking your time although it’s hard to make a strong case for two decades, that’s barely a song a year, but then this is an artist who has always doggedly done things his own way and you have to take your hat off to those individualists, they are a rare breed…

Yazmin Lacey – Late Night People

Yazmin Lacey makes soul music with feeling and a razor sharp, adventurous cutting edge. She has a new album called ‘Voice Notes’ arriving in March and it is one that I have great expectations for, this is an artist that has been producing the goods for a while now and is worth your time and attention…

Lisa O’Neill – Silver Seed

One of the most resonant voices in folk music is releasing a new album called ‘All Of This Is Chance’ in February and it promises to be one of the must hear LP’s of 2023 if the early signs are anything to go by…

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Fresh Juice

16th January 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Quasi – Nowheresville

The first welcome return of 2023 is US melodic fuzz maestros Quasi who have a new album, ‘Breaking the Balls Of History,’ arriving on Sub Pop in February preceded in the past week by this typically crunchy taster…

Nicole Cassandra Smit – Wolves

The opening weeks of a new year are often spent soaking up those late discoveries of the previous year lacking the extensive attention they deserved due to December’s prioritising yearly retrospective lists and the like. Nicole Cassandra Smit was one such late find and although her ‘Third In Line’ LP did get immediate album of the year list status with me, it is only now that I am properly catching up with an appreciation of her superb voice, as witnessed here on a live recording from later in 2022…

Beach Bugs – Santa Olala

Why such a deliciously summery sound should be so pleasing in midst of cold wet January I cannot explain, but the sunshine pop and surf guitar echoes of Beach Bugs do indeed make you feel warmer inside, no matter what the reality outside the window…

Wilco – A Lifetime To Find

Only Wilco could tackle the subject of mortality and still manage to put a smile on the face of the listener, even this video from late 2022 has something of the feelgood factor about it. Last years ‘Cruel Country’ album stands as yet another fine release by a band who have never really gone off the boil and this time they sounded out-and-out country, a genre they have forever been associated with but rarely embraced quite so directly before as here…

Nataly Dawn – Over The Moon

Nataly Dawn operates her musical creations with the Pomplamoose duo as a seemingly thriving cottage industry of independent releases on YouTube but for me, where she really excels is on her singer-songwriter solo albums where the combination of a lush voice and her rich melodically driven writing frequently makes for essential listening. This latest offering is taken from the new album ‘Gardenview’ which I strongly recommend…

Camilla George – Journey Across The Sea

From her ‘Ibio-Ibio’ album released later in 2022, this live clip recorded at the Jazz Cafe in London on the album launch night shows just why this superb saxophonist, composer, bandleader and innovator is such an integral part of the current London jazz scene…

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Fresh Juice

9th January 2023

A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

Nadine Khouri – Keep On Pushing These Walls

This is the second single release from the soulful singer-songwriter’s ‘Another Life’ album. A tribute to musical artist Lhasa de Sela, there is also a recent live clip worth checking out on YouTube offering an impressively controlled performance but I have opted for the official video in my link…

Personal Trainer – Milk

They’re an Amsterdam based rock band with a changing line up and in a classic kitchen sink indie style, here they are singing about drinking milk straight from the carton, charmingly grounded and frivolous…

Margo Price – Change Of Heart

A lovely stripped back version of a late 2022 single set to appear on Margo’s forthcoming ‘Strays’ album. She remains the driving force in cosmic country music today, this is top drawer…

Benjamin Clementine – Atonement

The music of Clementine seems to have matured into the pure, direct to the heart, elemental art form that it always threatened to be with his most recent album ‘And I Have Been’. There is something of the classic in this sparse, black and white video clip. Two thirds of the way through I started to suspect it is actually a live performance, it looks like that piano is really being played then, at the conclusion, a wonderfully unrehearsed moment leaves the viewer in no doubt…

Mary Halvorson – Night Shift

Jazz guitarist Halvorson is a captivating enough player as it is but her whole ensemble, especially the vibes player, are really on it during this live performance of the opening track on her ‘Amaryllis’ album…

OSEES – Scramble Suit II / If I Had My Way

Even on a YouTube clip these gassed-up garage rockers can make your ears ring, talk about plugged in…

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