Friday 31 October 2014

News - The Vultures Release Special Halloween Video


To celebrate All Hallows' Eve, gloriously inventive London sextet The Vultures are releasing
a free download of their spine­tingling new single ‘Vlad’ on October 31. A song that will
raise the hairs on the back of your neck due to either its malevolence, its
magnificence, or both, 'Vlad' should be a staple of every playlist this Halloween.


A beautiful composition of noirish intent, ‘Vlad’ – part­Hammer horror score, part post­punk
masterclass – features a dazzling sweep of strings enveloping a resounding beat. Atop this
Balkanesque blend drifts a deliciously dark vocal, evocative of Scott Walker making a
blood oath with Bela Lugosi: “What’s the point of dying/when you have no soul?” runs the
lament for the Impaler; enough to make you shed a tear for the ruthless Romanian prince.
'Vlad' is accompanied by a comically discomfiting video, involving a gaggle of mutant
muppets hosting a cookery show for the strong of stomach. Kitchen nightmares, indeed.
'Vlad’ will be officially released on 7" vinyl, as part of a double­A side with 'Cancer',
on 8 December on Ciao Ketchup Recordings.




Links


If you enjoyed this review please follow hiapop on Twitter here, and like on Facebook here.










Music - Part 325 - Heat Leisure




Heat Leisure – III and IV (Thrill Jockey)
Vinyl/CD/DL
Out Now



Alternative psychedelia collective release their new album. 

There are quite literally two sides to the new album from Heat Leisure, the collective made up from members of Pontiak, Guardian Angel and Beach House with the addition of Robert J Otten III.  Sid one has III span its breadth and it’s a wonderful monster.  The first six and a half minutes are taken up by the rambling monologue of Ken Babbs (Merry Prankster, Grateful Dead) as he takes us through an episode of intriguing and often amusing musings with an accent not dissimilar to that of Johnny Cash.

As the voice reads, a synth gurgles underneath before being superseded by a dramatic cascade of incessant percussion and ponding guitars and drums to a climatic end.  It has to be heard to be believed.  Apparently containing high levels of improvisation (you really wouldn’t know such is the chemistry between the artists) as well as organs and samplers, III is one of the delights of the moment.

The album was recorded on the farm belonging to the Carney brothers (Pontiak) with Lain Carney in control of the engineering.  Whilst recoding the album on 1” tape the ancient reel caused sounds to uncontrollably speed up and slow down creating wonderful effects which were enhanced as part of the album.

Second track (and side) IV is less cohesive and whilst still interesting, it maybe lacks the power and charm of III.  After a slow, sometimes off key intro, treated voices echo over a trip-hop beat which extends into manic percussion with a buzzing bass sound underpinning the proceedings.  Halfway through it breaks pace into a more subtle and constructed piece where near tribal drums and floating keyboards create a semi-ambient atmosphere.

Heat Leisure have created a very listenable and addictive album which is both original and compelling from the first word to the last note. 

8.5/10

Published on Louder Than War 25/10/14 - here


If you enjoyed this review please follow hiapop on Twitter here, and like on Facebook here.







Wednesday 29 October 2014

Music - Part 324 - Kevin Pearce




Kevin Pearce – Dynamite (AWAL/Pearcemelodies)
Vinyl/CD/DL
27 October 2014


Alternative folk singer/songwriter releases his new album. 

This is a pleasing little beast (the album that is, not Kevin Pearce, although I’m sure he’s lovely chap).  Eleven tracks from the Essex man confidently written and arranged with a voice that could often melt candy floss from forty paces.

Opener Dynamite isn’t as explosive as its title would suggest despite starting with a semi-crash of percussion it soon settles into a gentler affair with an effective guitar stroke and pleasing chant.  It’s not long before comparisons to Tom Mcrae and Turin Brakes appear, so it’s particularly interesting to see Tom and Olly Knights appear on the track Bedlam.

There are similarities too to maybe Simon & Garfunkel and Cat Stevens, and that’s heaped praise indeed.  Kevin fits neatly into a niche of beautiful folk writers with a modern twist and he excels at sending you somewhere incredibly tranquil and warm.


The thread to Dynamite (the character) and its story is complicated making the songs ironic in their simplicity.  There’s also a comic book (or graphic novel if you will) to accompany the album which weaves the two media together.

Bedlam floats into the sky gorgeously and in a short space of time takes a hold of your senses and caresses them lovingly.  Album highlight The Tales Of The Stardust is maybe the strongest link to Cat Stevens and also Donovan as Kevin’s soft tones are taken down a tone or two in an effectual piece that again is superbly produced (which he also does as well as playing most of the instruments).

The tones continue right up to the albums end – serene songs full of passion and heart – taking in enthralling The Tired Fighter along the journey.  And a journey is what Dynamite is.  From start to finish it glides effortlessly through sumptuous tracks of glorious quality.  Kevin writes way beyond his years and should be one of those names that rolls off the tip of your tongue. 

8.5/10

Links
Kevin Pearce website
Kevin Pearce on Twitter
Turin Brakes album review


Published on Louder Than War 22/10/14 - here




Friday 24 October 2014

Music - Part 323 - Suzi Quatro


Suzi Quatro – The Girl From Detroit City (Cherry Red Records)
Deluxe CD Box Set
20 October 2014




Rock Legend celebrates 50 years in music with the release of a new box set.  

As a 6 year old in 1974 I was madly in love with Suzi Quatro.  I think it was love, or maybe it was the leather cat suit?  Whatever, I loved her.

An astonishing career spanning six decades is now represented in a lavish book-bound boxed set of four cds containing singles, b-sides, rarities and unreleased tracks which celebrates 50 years in music.  Suzi without doubt paved the way for Debbie Harry, Joan Jett and others like them.  Playing the seemingly huge bass guitar which almost towered over her, she brought the profile of women in music to the fore.

Beginning in the 60s with Sister Patti, The Pleasure Seekers had a brief relationship with Mercury Records releasing soul inspired tracks.  In 1971, the legendary Mickie Most came across Cradle (the renamed Pleasure Seekers), and not particularly liking the band he did love the bass player. 

Releasing her debut solo single, Rolling Stone in 1972 met with little interest, but the following year saw not one but two UK number single with Can The Can and 48 Crash written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.  The songwriters extraordinaire of the era also had big hits for The Sweet and Mud and helped create the sound for which Suzi would become known.


The Top 20 hits followed for the next two years including another number 1 in the form of Devil Gate Drive.  When the hits floundered slightly in the UK, they blossomed in Australia until a return to the Top 5 with ballad If You Can’t Give Me Love and She’s In Love With You.

Often labelled as part of the Glam rock movement, she wasn’t.  Suzi was good old rock ‘n’ roll, the nearest she came to Glam was wearing a trademark catsuit in silver.  What she was, was definitely a revolution.

What is interesting in this collection is watching Suzi’s trek through styles of music over the years.  Her venture into mainstream pop (including the very average cover of Wild Thing) and into the West End with her starring role in Annie Get Your Gun showing what an amazing voice she has.

There other cover versions too – Glad All Over (The Dave Clark Five), Does Your Mama Know (Abba) and Breaking Dishes (Rihanna), the most impressive though is her take on Strict Machine where the pumping bass is key and the song fits Suzi like a metaphorical glove.  The insertion of lyrics from Can The Can perhaps also referencing the similarity of the guitar riff on which the Goldfrapp hit is based.


The fourth  cd features unreleased tracks, rarities and demo’s many released for the first time including a version of The Normal’s Warm Leatherette where an outtake from 1980s Rock Hard album is giving its first outing.  Grace Jones would have a huge hit with it later the same year.

With well over four hours of music, the collection if fascinating.  One of music’s true legends finally acknowledged in a career spanning release.  The collective also contains the new single of the same name which lyrically is a clever summary of the beginning of Suzi’s career and there’s no real reason why it couldn’t be a success for her.  Maybe if she sports a 5” Blitz Club quiff and wears the arse of her jeans round her knees it will be.

PS I still love you Suzi.

9/10

Links


Published on Louder Than War 18/10/14 - here





Music - Part 322 - Oozing Wound




Oozing Wound – Earth Suck (Thrill Jockey)
Vinyl/CD/DL
20 October 2014


Thrash trio release their new album.  

I shouldn’t like this.  It’s not really my cup of tea.  But, there’s something about it that makes me listen to it more than once.

Opener, Going Through The Motions Til I Die maybe isn’t something to play late at night when you’re getting ready for bed, but it’s certainly one to wake you up in the morning (wearing headphones of course so as not to wake the family!).  It’s all power and aggression and shouty vocals (am I getting old?), and it’s actually not bad at all.

Through the seven tracks of Earth Suck, Oozing Wound treat us to some super fuzzed-out bass and amazingly frenetic drumming as they unfurl humankinds path towards destruction (what else?) and have a good laugh about it.  If they can’t stop it then they’re going to have a damn good time along the way.


Don’t let your kids listen to the lyrics either, as tales of an unborn child eats its twin (Genuine Creeper) and going to work high on drugs (Hippie Speedball), the later of which seems to initially slow in pace before gaining speed (no pun intended) with a chugging guitar sound and throbbing bass. 

Recorded in three days (so long?) Earth Suck apparently also features a viola.  Somewhere.  I’ve yet to find it, but who am I to doubt it?  Maybe it’s rigged up to bass amp somewhere and yanked up to volume 11?  Maybe it’s the screeching sound on When The Walls Fell which, as the highlight of the album is power personified whilst retaining enough elements of a song to actually be enjoyed.

With titles like Colonel’s Kernel that just make you grin, the accompanying music is stark, vivid and alive.  False Peak (Earth Suck) ends the album and it’s straight into an unbelievably fast paced piece of madness.

Did I enjoy Earth Suck?  I don’t really know to be honest, but I do know that it will get another listen.

7.15/10


Links
Thrill Jockey Records
Oozing Wound website
Oozing Wound on Twitter
Oozing Wound Retrash album review

Published on Louder Than War 18/10/14 - here




Music - Part 321 - Wayne Hussey




Wayne Hussey – Songs Of Candlelight And Razorblades (Eyes Wide Shut Recordings)
CD/DL
Out Now


Former Sisters Of Mercy man releases his new album.  

Wayne Hussey has mellowed.  Gone are the pounding drum and basslines of The Mission and The Sisters Of Mercy, gone are any remainders of Dead Or Alive too.  Wayne Hussey has mellowed.

Songs Of Candlelight And Razorblades brings us fourteen tracks from the Scouse legend, each one produced by him, with promotional videos made by him, and on his own record label.  You’ve got to admire him, made with the help of crowdfunding there’s no huge anthemic songs on here.

Opener, Madame G very much sets the tone for the album.  Sparse, with an almost jazz-like backing, his voice is still there, still as gravelly and potentially as strong as ever.  Potentially, because it never really get into second gear.  Maybe its intentional or maybe it just won’t get there anymore, either way it’s better than the vast majority of allegedly ‘great’ singers that there are out there.

As slow burner follows slow burner it’s soon evident that the album isn’t going to explode, there are some interesting song titles including JK Angel Of Death (1928-2011) which sparkles like a diamond in the dirt with jangly guitars and nothing much more.


Wither On The Vine teases an reminds us of earlier ventures with drums and echoing guitars which lift the album to medium pace, and Hussey’s voice is finally allowed to break free.  It’s still there, and the chorus is memorable and likeable.  It’s a reminder of how underestimated he is as a singer.

As the album reaches its final half dozen tracks it’s maybe a case of best saved until last.  Whilst ‘Til The End Of Time does have an 80s rock ballad feel it’s soon overshadowed by probably the albums finest track, Devil’s Kind which crosses Country borders and even has hints of Johnny Cash and his version of Personal Jesus. 

As the album closes with the haunting marathon which is the spoken word Aporia, you can’t help thinking that the album is still waiting to ignite and that Hussey has huge things around the corner.

7.5/10


Links
Eyes Wide Shut Recordings
The Mission website
The Mission on Twitter


Published on Louder Than War 17/10/14 - here








Thursday 23 October 2014

Music - Part 320 - Glitterbeat Records




Glitterbeat: Dubs & Versions 1 (Glitterbeat Records)
Vinyl/CD/DL
20 October 2014

Glitterbeat Records release a collection of dubs and versions from their artists. 

It was maybe always inevitable that Glitterbeat Records would release a compilation album.  Whether it was expected after the label had been in existence for only eighteen months is a different matter, but the decision to put together a collection of dubs and versions from their own stable is inspired and the tracks included are top notch.

Everyone must know the score by now, originally a remix method for reggae and ska, dub has morphed into its own genre with any style of music now offered up for the treatment.  It is, however with these two music types that dub usually sits mostly at home.

With the exception of Dirtmusic, all the artists featured across the ten tracks are Malian.  Samba Toure features three times whilst Ben Zabo has four offerings, and with remixes by the likes of Mark Stewart, Dennis Bovell and Schneider TM you start to believe that the album will be something special.  It is.


From the opening of the now indigenous sound of Malian guitars, Dennis Bovell’s treatment of Samba Toure’s Aye Go Mila is wondrous.  The Jamaican legend drops dubs and echoes all over the place and the timeless groove beats gloriously for not nearly as long as you’d want it to.

And so the album proceeds.  Ben Zabo’s Danna is remixed wonderfully by Mark Ernestus where horn sections continually sound over a massive bass throb.  Voices drift in and out and the near trip-hop beat from the original is given pride of place.

Tamikrest, who gave us one of 2013s best albums, Chatma, are also given the Bovell treatment with a dub take on the desert-blues sound of Itous.  Both male and female vocals roll around a Saharan soundscape with beautiful and spacious abandon.

There are some surprises along the way and superb they are too.  Former collaborator with member of Einsturzende Neubauten and Can, Dirk Dresserhaus (aka Schneider TM) dubs Be Ki Don by Toure where the vocals are electronicised and given a sci-fi treatment amazingly successfully.  The legendary Mark Stewart is let loose on Dirtmusic’s Smokin’ Bowl and the results are typical of the trailblazer.  Vocals are muffled and echoed, and additional screeching synth effects are incorporated to again completely turn the original on its head.

With further remixes from Nozinja, Harmonious Thelonious, Larry Achiampong and Studio Zuma the album is a timely reminder of one of the years finest record labels, and with Dubs & Versions 2 already in the pipeline, they’ll be around for many more years to come.

9.5/10

Links
Glitterbeat Records




Wednesday 22 October 2014

Music - Part 319 - Wooden Arms




Wooden Arms – Tide (Butterfly Collectors Records)
Vinyl/CD/DL
Out Now


Alternative Chamber Music band release their new album. 

The initial tones of opening track December are intriguing if not beautiful.  Violin strings and piano make for a captivating experience, almost Kate Bush like (that comparison will almost certainly be used again), it reeks of class and genius.  The softest of vocals compliment the music perfectly as drums, trumpets and continuing sweeps of violin magnificently gel and become instantly at one.  Breaking into a near trip-hop beat as the track fades, it’s an incredible piece of music.

The theme of chamber music flows though the album but rather than appear high-brow, it communicates the Wooden Arms sound dramatically and offers an alternative to today’s often mundane pop.  Vicenarian does go slightly more along the pop line, bit again the gorgeous violins and near doo-wop vocals take it to another level.


Title track, Tide confidently evokes feelings of ebbing waves flowing and caressing the beaches.  Vocal interplays between male and female voices are superbly arranged and seems to cascade against a backdrop of strings and piano.  Rising and falling then rolling again Tide sounds like two, maybe three short songs interwoven together.  For the final minute, rousing drums enter and the choral harmony towers confidently above all else.

Again, the Bush comparison comes in the form of the backing to Noah.  A one chord only simple yet successful movement perhaps serving as an interlude to the albums final tracks Waiting and False Start, the latter of which appeared on their critically acclaimed debut EP last year.  Both tracks are pensive and bountiful in their continuing nothingness.  Wooden Arms don’t go overboard in their arrangements as they don’t need to.  Simplicity is the key to creating a sound that is nothing short of sumptuous.

The downside to Tide is that there are only six tracks.  Maybe a pre-cursor to a longer, inevitably towering collection, Wooden Arms have the talent and skill to create masterpieces of often spectacular class.

9/10


Links


Published on Louder Than War 15/10/14 - here





Monday 20 October 2014

Music - Part 318 - Inspiral Carpets



Inspiral Carpets – Inspiral Carpets (Cherry Red)
LP/CD/DL
20 October 2014



Legendary Indie rockers return for their first album in twenty years.  

A great deal has, and will be made about this being the first new Inspiral Carpets album since 1994, but is it any good?  Well the simple answer is ‘Yes’, the longer answer is ‘You’d better bloody believe it’ as the Oldham lads done good roar through twelve new tracks like it’s their debut and their lives depended on it.

The songs sound like they’ve never been away (or have their batteries just simply been recharged), as swirling organs, thumping drums and infectious choruses fill every track and the band stamp their mark like only they can do.  They sound like no-one but themselves.

Opener Monochrome sets the bar high, and the bar remains there for the remainder of the album.  It’s testament to the albums strength when recent single, the brilliant Spitfire, is possibly one of the weakest tracks on the album.  It’s still classic Inspirals.  Their brand of unforgettable, fun pop/rock seems to have not deserted them and it’s like they’ve never been away.  Can it really be twenty years?


For the uninitiated, it’s like listening to a Best Of collection it’s so good.  Toe-tapping, dance inducing, chorus humming songs continue to pour out at an alarming rate giving no chance for respite as the metaphorical Carpet Express steams along not stopping at any station, instead opting to show moonies at the would-be passengers on the bustling platforms.

The songs were apparently ‘recorded quickly to keep them fresh’ and there’s no doubt that they achieved it.  Calling Out To You is classic Inspirals with organ riff and rising chorus which is difficult to forget,  not that you’d want to, whilst Flying Like A Bird slows the pace somewhat as they get as beautiful as they possibly can.

An appearance by Manchester brother-in-arms, the genius that is John Cooper-Clarke on Let You Down, confirms not only the bands brilliance but also that JCC is still a force to be reckoned with.

Inspiral Carpets are back, bigger, better and louder than ever.  There’s a track here called Our Time, let’s hope so.

9/10


Links
Cherry Red Records
Inspiral Carpets website
Inspiral Carpets on Twitter


Published on Louder Than War 13/10/14 - here






Friday 17 October 2014

Music - Part 317 - Mary Lattimore And Jeff Zeigler


Mary Lattimore And Jeff Zeigler – Slant Of Light (Thrill Jockey)
LP/CD/DL
Out Now


Harpist and multi-instrumentalist pair up for their debut album together.  

If Slant Of Light is an improvised piece of work, then Mary Lattimore and Jeff Zeigler have an incredible understanding of each other’s work.

Lattimore, a renowned and sought after classically trained harpist (Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker have worked with her) has a wonderful talent on one of the most beautiful instruments in the World.  Her timing and presentation is second to none, her skill is unquestionable.  Zeigler, part time member of Arc In A Round and multi-instrumentalist is one of the most sought after engineers of the moment (see Kurt Vile and War On Drugs).  Together they make beautiful music.

Slant Of Light was recorded in Philadelphia earlier this year and contains four mesmerising tracks.  Opener, Welsh Corgis In The Snow is nothing short of beautiful.  The synergy between Mary’s harp and Jeff’s ambient tones is amazing and their understanding of each other is quite something.  The emptiness is chilling and the wide expanse of near nothingness conjures up picturesque imagery.  A Harp is just made for this kind of thing.

Following on with The White Balloon, Zeigler contributes a layered acoustic guitar which repeats and rises over the background of the most delicate of harp sounds.  The swirling synths create another gorgeous backdrop and to say the track is relaxing is a deep understatement.


The third and penultimate track, Echo Sounder focuses initially on a drone/ambient intro which is lightly speckled by harp.  The continual tone of synth allows Mary to effectively improvise freely without any constraints and the pairing is allowed to work even when bizarre synth effects are randomly thrown into the mix.

Unfortunately, the fourth and final track of the album, Tomorrow Is A Million Years is far more abstract and improvised to the point of having very little meaning or cohesion.  Maybe some would call it avant garde, others pure experimentalism, but what it really is is two artists sounding (ironically) a million years apart.  It’s maybe a shame, as three quarters of Slant Of Light is sheer beauty, but it doesn’t stop the album being something quite special.

8/10

Links


Published on Louder On War 12/10/14 - here








Music - Part 316 - Mechanimal




Mechanimal – Secret Science (Inner Ear Records)
CD/DL
Out Now


Greece based ‘drone n roll’ trio release their new album.  

Why have a never been told how good Mechanimal are?  Well, if I’d have listened to the recommendations of Transmission 13 I might have known.  But, why aren’t Mechanimal more in my face?  Why haven’t I fallen in love with their music before now? I have now.

Born out of the unrestful streets of Athens in 2011, fronted by Giannis Papaioannou a journalist and pioneer of the electronic music scene the group produce an exciting mix of industrial-electro-post-punk which recalls Rammstein, Kraftwerk and Joy Division. 

Their sound is fresh and clinically raw, continuous bass throbs and krautrock melodies accompany spoken word lyrics and shoegaze guitars over ten tracks of the very highest quality.  Album opener, Kindergarten sets the scene with a bizarre intro, almost haunting (imagine Tears For Fears’ forgotten b-side The Big Chair) with creepy voice and gurgling synth before guitars and bass synths crash in to complete the opus.

Sensucht then begins with a repetitive hook almost reminiscent of 80s electro as chugging guitars knurl away at the clean-cut sound with a raw passion.  Vocals are wonderfully dark and even manage to sneak in a very effective chorus line. 


We Come Alive cannot avoid the comparisons to a Depeche Mode remix, but what a compliment.  Effervescent synths stamp along with a driving beat and vocals from American Freddie Faulkenberry add an enflamed semi-rage to the piece.  His voice on The Den has similarities to the black, lonesome tones of Ian Curtis as Mechanimal continue to recount the troubled Greek landscape with convincing effect.

The group’s ability to effortlessly move between hard industrial sounds and more poppy electronica ones is superb as Song To The Sirens demonstrates.  There’s something completely gripping about their sound that a UK audience would devour in droves. 

Album closer, the mammoth Down in The Basement in sheer bliss.  Constructed like your favourite extended remix it builds and drops and rises back again like a proverbial phoenix, and threatens to fill any void that the mighty Cabaret Voltaire may have left in our souls.

Mechanimal are exciting and bold and sinister.  More importantly they are here, now, and just have released on of the finest albums of the year.

9.5/10


Links


Published on Louder Than War 12/10/14 - here







Music - Part 315 - Blueblut




Blueblut – Hurts So Gut (Rub Recordings)
LP/CD/DL
Out Now


Psych Avant Garde trio release their new album.  

Hurts So Gut certainly isn’t one for the light-hearted.  Kicking off with You Think is what can only be described as a cacophony of sound.  A raw mix of post punk and experimental sounds and tunes which initially serve as the most effective wake-up call you could ever experience.

Described as a collection of ‘first time ever played one track takes’, Blueblut take us on an ear-splitting journey which you won’t forget for one reason or another.  Following the album opener, Bondage and the epic Fuckhead Toothbrush (with a hookline not dissimilar to Ocean Colour Scene’s The Riverboat Song), the album holds much promise as being an album to delight and treasure.  Unfortunately, it soon descends into a collection of improvisations which hold very little in terms of structure at all.


It’s a shame as the start to the album is quite incredible, but the unshaped, directionless tracks which start with Apocalypso are difficult to warm to. 

The trio originally formed at Porgy And Bess for the Vienna Room Service Festival last year, liked what they did and stuck together.   There’s no doubt that they ooze idea as children’s toys, horns, strange voices and enormous drum sounds combine in the unlikeliest of places.

Pamelia Kurstin whose past performance credits include David Byrne and Yoko Ono, contributes amongst other things, some quite amazing Theremin ‘playing’ for which she has become quite renowned.  Verpratert and Calypsoma are lifted by the extraordinary skill and start to bring a little semblance to the album as it begins to close.  A shame, as it’s almost too late by that stage after being subjected to tracks like noASMR which are fine to listen to once, but a second try is actually bordering on impossible.

Monkey Buh is short and energetic and maybe the key to wider acceptance for Blueblut is to keep things short.  Calypsoma, as you’d maybe expect, takes a calypso beat and washes it with a certain attitude that you won’t have hard before and is probably on the of the albums better attempts.

Hurts So Gut isn’t easy listening, neither is it easy to listen to.  It’s different, yes, but that doesn’t always make an album special. 

6/10


Links
Rub Recordings
Blueblut website
Blueblut on Tumblr


Published on Louder Than War 11/10/14 - here






Music - Part 314 - Daedelus




Daedelus – The Light Brigade (Brainfeeder)
CD/DL
Out Now


American producer and singer releases his new album. 

Alfred Weisberg-Roberts (aka Alfred Darlington, aka Daedelus) is a fascinating chap.  Like his mythological namesake and father of Icarus, he is a craftsman of quite unique style and skill.

The Light Brigade is based around the three-year Crimean War and contains beautiful, haunting pieces which will exhaust your every sinew.  Opening with Until Artillery and quoting from Tennyson’s The Charge Of The Light Brigade is Adam Webbow from 90s Manchester underground band The Lobe.  Setting the scene with a lamentable intro and subtle voice leading into what can only be described as a string of beautiful sadness’s.

Tsars And Hussars has a fabulous continuing bass sound and grips soft, rising vocals keeping them earth bound despite their inkling to float and fly away.


Sometimes ambient, sometimes folk, often experimenting in a familiar comfort zone, The Light Brigade is a wonderful journey through soft, relaxing, provoking tones and textures.  Battery Smoke contains a lovely flowing guitar and Belonging is beautiful in the extreme sensing a warmth and caring that can only be given by a Mother to her Son.

Pre-munitions lifts the pace slightly and provides an elevating feeling again drifting beyond and away.  The occasional drum beat and snare serving perhaps to remind us of gunfire on an open battlefield. 

What is apparent on The Light Brigade is that Deadelus is a free soul unwilling to compromise other than with the sounds of his mind.  There are delightful interplays between, and within tracks which are often compelling and beautiful.  Album closer, Country Of Conquest features a full string section and lonesome piano interludes of inspirational resonance.

An experimental album of sorts but without the nonsense of improvisation, The Light Brigade is an exquisite collection of music by an artist who is clearly undeterred by outside influences and content to work with his own, inimitable style and focus.

8.5/10


Links
Brainfeeder
Daedelus website
Daedelus on Twitter


Published on Louder Than War 10/10/14 - here


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