Demob Happy

Intoxicating Man 9/10 Serge Gainsbourg is criminally underrated outside France. Listening to this comprehensive best of compilation it is evident that there was more to him than the sleazy Gallic rogue that is stereotypically presented in the media. By contrast, ‘Initials SG‘ reveals Gainsbourg to be a restless sonic innovator. While his lackadaisical, half-spoken vocal [...]

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Cut and paste psych pop 8/10 If you like all or some of the following artists you might like The Ruby Suns’ Sea Lion: Caribou, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Ariel Pink, The Go! Team, Avalanches, Deserter’s Songs-era Mercury Rev, Yeasayer, El Guincho, Flaming Lips or Grizzly Bear. Made by a Californian (Ryan McPhun) relocated to [...]

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Float away… 8/10 ’20 Ways to Float Through Walls’ may sound like a cryptic title but it’s a fairly literal description of the boundary-hopping eclecticism featured on this fine compilation by the Crammed label. I am by no means an afficianado of ‘World’ music and rarely buy music that might fall into that category. I [...]

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Fairweather view 7/10 A slightly tongue-in-cheek bohemia runs through this wigged-out collective’s latest LP. There is a lot of shoddy material released through Ninja Tune but this can certainly be placed in the context of the more interesting artists on their roster (see Amon Tobin and Bonobo also). Live instrumentation is pitted playfully against the [...]

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