Demob Happy

FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
8.5/10
On their first album ‘Limbo Panto’ Wild Beasts got painted by some as peddlers of a contrived English eccentricity that was unfashionably arch, all barbershop harmonies and old world camp. While many were turned off by their falsetto front man Hayden Thorpe, whose gymnastic [...]

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Jackson Toth waves his Wooden Wand goodbye?
8/10
FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT:
Previously leader of the New York-based experimental jazz-folk collective Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice, James Jackson Toth’s solo debut is a lush take on alt-country informed by blues, soul and, occasionally, punk. Whereas Wooden Hand … was very much an avant-garde [...]

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10 year milesone for classic psych rock album
9/10
Mercury Rev’s 1998 album was undoubtably a turning point, a massively influencial re-envisioning of the pop-rock form that inspired countless imitators. Marginally pre-dating The Flaming Lips’ equally stunning The Soft Bulletin by about one year, in my view Deserter’s Songs began a protracted period of American dominance [...]

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MP3s that have caught my attention this month include Beach House’s ‘Gila’, taken from their new album ‘Devotion‘. Slowcore dream pop informed by The Velvet Underground and Nico, Gila is the highlight of an album of similarly melancholy and somnabulant tunes. Meanwhile, I am enjoying the obliquely titled ‘Recent Bedroom’ by Atlas Sound, from their [...]

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Follow the herd
9/10
‘Shepherd’s Dog‘ is a significant departure for Sam Beam and judging some fan reaction it is not going to be an easy transition for a large bulk of his followin. However, if like me you were not particularly enamoured to his old style - stripped down folk in the mold of Bonnie Prince [...]

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‘Roll River Roll’
8/10
Richard Hawley’s latest album is embued with the same romantic retro ambience as his previous ventures. The former Pulp guitarist turned baritone crooner gives a masterclass in classic pop nostalgia, pitting his melancholy Roy Orbison-cum-Scott Walker vocals against beautifully arranged compositions. Whereas he has garnered some criticism for playing it too straight, and [...]

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Frequently enjoyed album
8/10
The term ’slowcore’ doesn’t really do justice to this album, conjuring as it does images of painfully protracted, po-faced minimalist post-rock. ‘Frequently Asked Questions‘ is nothing of the sort. I bought this album on a whim on its release in 2001 and still find myself playing it periodically six years later. It’s not [...]

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