The word ‘ambivalent’ is often somewhat misused, and used to express indifference. When I first heard Detieti’s latest album, Serious IV, I was not indifferent. I was ambivalent. I had very strong, simultaneous and contradictory feelings whenever I listened to…
View More Detieti – Serious IV
Melody (noun): ‘a sequence of single notes that is musically satisfying; a tune.’ ‘The aspect of musical composition concerned with the arrangement of single notes to form a satisfying sequence.’ ‘The principal part in harmonised music.’ ‘Sweet music; tunefulness.’ It’s…
View More Kite Parade – The Way Home
Peder Balke was a 19th Century Norwegian painter, an alumni of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, known for dramatic representations of the landscape of his homeland. From humble beginnings, he travelled widely, through Norway and abroad. In 1846…
View More Bresk – A Journey Through the Life of Peder Balke 1804-1887
Denied access to her band members during lockdown, this amazing follow-up to 2019’s debut solo effort has been lovingly crafted by Rosalie together with her partner Rosco Wilson, and the creative juices have most certainly been flowing. The only other…
View More Rosalie Cunningham – Two Piece Puzzle
There are some artists who are prolific enough that I sometimes struggle to keep up. I’m not talking about Buckethead levels of releases, where quantity far outweighs quality (the gems in his vast discography lost in a sea of mediocrity),…
View More Ángel Ontalva – Angel on a Tower
Just over six months after the release of their last album, Common Ground, there is another new studio album from Big Big Train, their fourteenth. Maybe a little quick, but the band explains that they wanted to take advantage of…
View More Big Big Train – Welcome To The Planet
Tales From A Misspent Youth is the latest fascinating exploration into rock heritage from Clive Mitten, the former main song writer of legendary ’80s cult progressive rock band Twelfth Night. Following his remarkable 2021 release Suite Cryptique: Recomposing Twelfth Night…
View More Clive Mitten – Tales From A Misspent Youth: Volume I
When I read the announcement of a new album from the Nordic Giants it raised my interest, having previously reviewed their documentary/soundtrack project album Amplify Human Vibration for TPA and also a concert on their 2017 tour. The duo blew…
View More Nordic Giants – Symbiosis
Jonas Lindberg may well be an unfamiliar name to many of you (it was to me), but that should change very soon, because his talent as displayed on this latest album Miles From Nowhere is undeniable. In fact, Jonas Lindberg…
View More Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side – Miles From Nowhere
The name Vast Conduit may at first sight appear somewhat ungainly, but it is appropriate for the fortuitous circumstances in which this new band, built around Enchant keyboardist Bill Jenkins, came into being. Nominally based in California, the sextet are…
View More Vast Conduit – Always Be There