Taken from “I Am Not There Anymore”, out July 28 on Merge Records. The Clientele’s “I Am Not There Anymore” regularly evokes what singer-guitarist Alasdair MacLean calls “the feeling of not being real.” Recording for the album began in 2019 and continued piecemeal until 2022—in part because of the pandemic, but also because the band…
Tag: alt-pop
ALISON EALES Mox Nox (Fika Recordings, 2023)* Inevitabile citare come prima referenza dell’album di debutto solista di Alison Eales quel piccolo ma preziosissimo culto del pop d’autore scozzese che rispondeva al nome di Butcher Boy. Di quella band, la cui troppo breve parabola si è svolta tra il 2007 e il 2011, Alison Eals è…
THEORY OF GHOSTS EP1 (Faint Horizon, 2023) Uscita in formato breve, storia lunga. Esattamente sei anni fa, un album emblematicamente intitolato “Closure” faceva calare il sipario sulla ventennale storia di Piano Magic, senz’altro la creatura musicale più significativa e duratura di Glen Johnson. Si trattava, inevitabilmente, di un momento di radicale cambiamento per l’eclettico artista…
[video of the week] Alison Eales – Fifty-Five North
“Fifty-Five North” is the first single to be taken from Alison Eales’ debut album “Mox Nox”. A song firmly rooted in Glasgow, and expresses how a place can be both transformative and overwhelming. The song features samples from the Glasgow subway, with a rhythm track from the sounds of the train doors closing, and a…
DOOM FLOWER Limestone Ritual (Record Label, 2023)* La fascinosa timidezza della voce di Jess Price, le linee sintetiche oblique di Matt Lemke (Suns) e le ritmiche scandite del basso di Bobby Burg (Joan Of Arc) hanno dato luogo alla peculiare alchimia di Doom Flower, la cui vorticosa combinazione di elementi, stili ed esperienze sfugge a…
[video of the week] Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra – Mikos
Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra Announce The Release of Their New Album Racing The Storm, Out 17th March Via Bella Union and shares opening track video “Mikos”. Following their recent standalone single “Right Here”, today Emiliana Torrini & The Colorist Orchestra announce the release of their new album Racing The Storm, out March 17th via Bella Union and available to preorder here. To…
LET’S WHISPER The In-Between Times (Fika Recordings, 2022)* Ancor prima di leggere le note di copertina di “The In-Between Times”, dai suoi tredici brani si percepisce immediatamente un senso di piacevole confidenza, come se le sue canzoni dalla durata media dei canonici tre minuti venissero da lontano, rispondendo a un lessico universale di suoni, storie…
[video of the week] Pete Astor – English Weather
Track is taken from the new album “Time on Earth”, out October 7th 2022 via Tapete Records. Video by Ian Button. Pete Astor is a musician, writer and educator. He led Creation Records’ groups The Loft and The Weather Prophets, writing songs and releasing records that helped define the sound of the label and the emerging Indie…
[video of the week] Rosie Carney – Tidal Wave
Taken from the album “I Wanna Feel Happy”, out May 27th 2022 via Color Study. Rosie Carney was born in Hampshire, England but moved to Ireland at the age of ten. She signed a record deal at age 16. In 2019, Carney released her debut full-length album titled “Bare”. “I Wanna Feel Happy” follows Carney’s…
LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR Overwintering (Elefant, 2022)* Quel senso di innata nostalgia che ha costantemente innervato le creazioni musicali di Bobby Wratten nei suoi oltre trent’anni di attività, sotto diverse forme e denominazioni, appare probabilmente oggi ancor più pronunciato e, per certi versi, si attaglia in maniera del tutto coerente con il suo profilo…
[video of the week] Catastrophe Waitress – Second Valse
Second single from the E.P. “Silent Talk”, out February 4th 2022. Catastrophe Waitress is an indie-pop band, based in Freiburg (Germany). The five songs on the new record range from light-footed folky to poignant orchestral. The two-part singing carries you through the multi-faceted compositions and touches you with its simplicity. In terms of sound, the…
[video of the week] Feutre – Apocalypse
Taken from the album “Nos rencontres”, out now via Kocliko Records. Feutre is a French indiepop band from Bordeaux. At the end of 2019, Feutre was formed by bassist and composer Michaël Korchia (who plays in Vacance and was in the indiepop duo Watoo Watoo) and Virginie Raynaud, singer and lyricist, with a jazz background…
SEMI TRUCKS Vs. California (Meritorio, 2021)* Tra la miriade di proposte in circolazione che presentano come riferimento un pop dai contorni nostalgici e sognanti, capita ogni tanto che qualcuna si distingua da una pur piacevole omologazione di stili e sonorità. È senz’altro questo il caso dell’album di debutto del losangelino Brendan Sepe sotto l’alias Semi…
SHOESTRINGS Expectations (Shelflife / Discos de Kirlian, 2021) Per sua stessa natura, la nostalgia è un sentimento che si manifesta “fuori tempo massimo”, quando le vicende che ne sono ad oggetto si sono già concluse o comunque è troppo tardi per poterne modificare il corso. Forse anche per questo può considerarsi a ragione un sentimento…
[video of the week] BSÍ – Vesturbæjar Beach
New single by Icelandic duo BSÍ. Reykjavík’s central bus terminal BSÍ is no longer only the most miserable location you can find in all Iceland – it’s also finally reincarneted and praised as the name of a very new band. While people still wonder if BSÍ actually stands for Brussels Sprouts Intl., it’s at least sure…
THE REDS, PINKS AND PURPLES Uncommon Weather (Tough Love, 2021) Non si limita più a disseminare gemme di artigianato pop attraverso la rete il progetto casalingo di Glenn Donaldson (Skygreen Leopards, Art Museums). “Uncommon Weather” è il terzo album ufficiale del musicista di San Francisco negli ultimi tre anni e, come gli altri, sviluppa il…
[streaming] Michael Cormier – Degradation
“Degradation” is the opening track from “More Light!!”, out June 25th 2021 via Oof Records & Dear Life Records. When he isn’t drumming in Friendship, writing songs with Hour, co-running the prolific indie label Dear Life Records or working as a bread baker, Maine-raised, Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist Michael Cormier is ruminating on the miniscule moments that…
[streaming] Sin Fang, Sóley & Örvar Smárason – Shame
New track from the collaborative project of Sin Fang, Sóley and Örvar Smárason of múm and FM Belfast. It combines the individual strengths of three acclaimed musicians, blends melody drenched folk sensibilities with splashy pop beats. After releasing a new collaboration track at the end of each month in the year 2017, collected in the…
[streaming] The Catenary Wires – Mirroball
New single from The Catenary Wires, out April 16th 2021 via Skep Wax Records and Shelflife Records. “Mirrorball” takes two lonely single people, and takes them for a night out in an 80s disco. Surrounded by divorcees and middle-aged drunks, will they be too shy to talk, or will they find some love action? Is this going…
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