Iraina Mancini – What You Doin’
Pulling stylish influences from sixties soul, beat and freakbeat, Iraina is a woman out of time whose love of cool retro sounds goes deep but happily her influences are not so overwhelming that they prevent her from making stonking new sounds of her own. This is no mere pastiche, Mancini is a sought after DJ too and the noise she makes be it as a performer or as a spinner of vinyl nuggets comes from a place that is real. Her debut album ‘Undo the Blue’ is out now on the Needle Mythology label, also purveyors of superior quality vintage finery for discerning 21st century ears; a fine marriage indeed especially for all lovers of brilliant new things that sound and look like old things…
M Ward – Too Young To Die
And further still in the realms of fresh offerings with a pleasing echoes of the past, this is another fine cut from the latest M Ward album ‘Supernatural Thing’, this time a gorgeous floating bubble of a song enhanced by the heavenly vocals of First Aid Kit. Don’t those sisterly harmonies sound like they have been waiting all the while to be layered on the silky, twangy London American sound that Matt has pretty much perfected this past two decades? Absolutely lush…
Queens Of The Stone Age – Negative Space
From the new album ‘In Times New Roman’, there is something reassuringly punchy in this latest piledriver by Josh Homme and his crew. Everything the band has built their reputation on over twenty years is here; crunching electric riffage, pounding rhythm, sky splitting solos and a melodic top line that never takes a dip, this is why Queens Of The Stone Age are arguably one of the only bands who keep Rock alive and relevant in the modern era. This is out and out beautiful carnage, the musical equivalent of Bazball (cricket reference for the non-sporty types) in that is entertains with the kind of aggressive intent that knocks out windows and forces middle lane drivers into the ditch; get out the way because they mean it…
Brigid Mae Power – I Must Have Been Blind
Another sublime tune from the new album ‘Dream From The Deep Well’ which is out now on Fire Records. Brigid, who is often filed under folk although she barely carries a hint of traditional sound, reminds me a little of the great Sandy Denny. Something in the way her music hangs suspended, wholly untroubled by time as her often heavy ballads are bursting with space and air but nevertheless, when she sings you are hypnotised by her words and her voice, it is both unrushed and simultaneously commanding; just let her music lay you down and lift you up…
Rain Parade – Angel Sister
These are the cultish legends of the eighties jingle-jangle Paisley Underground scene out of Los Angeles, a movement that had a big hand in revitalising the music scene’s acceptance of Byrds-like guitars, fuzz tones and sunny harmonious vocals as legitimate sounds in the pop arena. Without them would we have seen The La’s, Beachwood Sparks or The Coral? Well, yes actually we probably would have but the outsider element of a band like The Rain Parade flying proudly against mainstream trends in the early eighties cannot be ignored, they did it better than most back then and continue to today as a reformed act of over ten years by now. Their new album ‘Last Rays Of A Dying Sun’ is out now on online platforms whilst physical formats are available on September 8th…
Shana Cleveland – A Ghost
In her down time from La Luz Shana has made one of the most consistent sounding and reliably satisfying albums of the year. ‘Manzanita’ was issued a few months ago now with this haunting little spook-fest as the opening track, setting the scene for a collection of songs that gel together fantastically well sounding, as they do, like a broadcast direct from the hazy limbo we occupy in those half aware moments between a deep sleep and properly waking up. I sincerely hope that more and more people wake up to this album, it is a sensual piece of work perfect for the wee small hours…
Fruit Tree Records 