It's
shameful when great albums miss a review but it's never too late to give them
the credit that they deserve. We thumb through his our collection and bring you
more albums you should still hear.
Picturebox –
Songs Of Joy (Gare Du Nord Records)
CD / DL
8.5 / 10
Out Now
Canterbury's Robert Halcrow
possesses that enviable talent of writing near perfect pop under the pseudonym
of Picturebox. Songs Of Joy sounds like
a gorgeous mix of The Kinks and The Beatles (circa Rubber Soul and Revolver)
with some fine tunes that are as catchy as they are enjoyable.
From album opener Friday Morning
11am, a song that is textbook Ray Davies, to closer Disgusting (a faux New Wave
guitar pop-rocker) thirteen tracks are performed with the talent of a man
clearly well versed in his craft.
Everything has a chorus that is difficult to shake, and a melody that is
pure delightfulness.
Even the one song not penned by
Halcrow, the highly infectious Garden Song with additional voices from Welsh musician
and artist Pulco, fits perfectly into the proceedings. Like Pulco, Halcrow is also able to sing
about real-life events and make them sound utterly enthralling, Crazy Golf
being one such example.
Songs Of Joy does exactly what it
proclaims to do. It's all very simple
and very polished as well as being a fine example of song writing at its
best. An album worthy of sitting in everyone’s
music collection.
Grawl!x -
Aye!
CD / DL
8.5 / 10
Out Now
James Michael
Machin otherwise known as Grawl!x, has featured on Louder Than War several
times but his album Aye! seems to have dodged the radar. A shame as it's a lovely little thing that
takes you on a journey containing neo-classical, dream-pop and occasional
slices of reverb all in a highly polished stadia package.
There are
some fine alternative pop pieces in the likes of Gumption and Kumquat, and whilst
their titles don’t immediately instil intrigue, they soon embed their highly
addictive melodies in the unsuspecting listener. Pando is a dreamy, 90s sounding Indie pearl
with some fascinating drum rolls and rhythms.
It's one of
those albums that will demand more than one play as Machin commands every instrument
on the album with fine aplomb.
Compliance features him via a vocoder of sorts over a synth backdrop
creating an unconventional yet subtle dream world. Each track is as good as the last as the
title track is saved for the finale of the album, and once more features light
vocals gently ebbing against engaging instrumentation.
The next
Grawl!x album is allegedly complete and if it even begins to touch the
wondrousness of Aye! then we're in for a treat.
Dementio
13 – Dead Of Night EP (Tanzwuth Recordings)
DL
8.5 / 10
Out Now
From Cardiff
via Lancashire comes the works of Dementio 13, an artist quickly making a name
for himself after several albums and EPs worth of material. Fascinatingly not being bracketed into any
genre, the styles vary from synth pop to drum n bass to krautrock in the
blinking of an eye, and as such holds much in the way of captivating an audience.
With the
latest EP, Dead Of Night released in April, five tracks are on offer with four
of them generously around the 6-7 minute mark.
Available as a name-your-price release from Bandcamp it kicks off with
4am Sun an angelic piece with appropriately added choral voices which completes
a quite beautiful sound.
With
NIghtview the pace is picked up somewhat into a semi-techno offering that leads
into an almost electro funk effort with Shadow On The Wall. The change in styles keeps the collection
fresh and incredibly addictive.
If you’re unfamiliar
with Dementio 13 then it’s probably high time you acquainted yourself as with
over twenty releases in the back catalogue there is a lot of catching up to
do. Dead Of Night confirms why Paul
Dementio is an artist highly regarded by his peers and one in increasing demand
as a remixer.
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