Constantly reviewing new albums does have its downside, especially as it seldom allows the time to reflect upon or backtrack to albums reviewed in the past. So always a pleasant treat when a new offering allows the opportunity to dig…
View More Crooked Mouth – One Bright Midnight
Producer and composer Rupert Hine first came to our attention as leader of the funk-fusion band Quantum Jump who released three albums in the 70s. A&M then signed him as a solo artist, and he made three highly individualistic albums…
View More Rupert Hine – The Best of Rupert Hine: Unshy on the Skyline
Formed in November 2014, KoMaRa consist of drummer and percussionist Pat Mastelotto, who should need no introduction, Slovakian guitarist David Kollar, and trumpeter Paolo Raineri. Paolo Raineri is a well known figure in progressive jazz, and has also leant his…
View More KoMaRa – KoMaRa
Complex, evocative, challenging but ultimately satisfying, such is the summarised description I would impart on the new release by Snarky Puppy, entitled Sylva, just released globally on the GroundUP Music/Ropeadope Records label. To those unfamiliar with the band, Snarky Puppy…
View More Snarky Puppy with The Metropole Orkest – Sylva
King for a Day is the latest impressive release from Norwegian Symphonic/Progressive Rock band Magic Pie following on from 2011’s well-received The Suffering Joy. This new album develops their usual style and themes with powerful flourishes, flamboyant passages and elements…
View More Magic Pie – King For A Day
It is an impressive fact that Tennessee’s Glass Hammer are now on seemingly their 17th studio album since their debut in 1993, the core duo of Steve Babb and Fred Schendel still at the heart of it all. With vocalist…
View More Glass Hammer – The Breaking of the World
We Were Here is the first solo album from US composer and guitarist Malcolm Smith, a name perhaps not too familiar to many, so where he comes from may be of interest. He emerged towards the end of the 90s…
View More Malcolm Smith – We Were Here
With their debut album being one of my favourites of 2013, the arrival of the highly anticipated new album from Italian eclectic progressive rock band Not A Good Sign was always going to be greeted with a cheer chez moi.…
View More Not A Good Sign – From A Distance
When I first heard of Tammy Slater I thought: “Hmmm”. For most of her day Tammy is high on a cocktail of Baby Bio and diet pills from the 1950s. At night she drags herself by her tentacles through the…
View More Tom Slatter – Fit The Fourth
For ten years or so from the mid 1990s I was consumed by a deeply entrenched record collecting bug. Many hours were spent trawling Record Collector sale lists, mail order catalogues and latterly eBay for ever more obscure vinyl delights.…
View More Fields – Contrasts: Urban Roar to Country Peace