Review: To mark its 15th anniversary, Hurts' debut album Happiness receives a long-awaited vinyl release as a rather special limited-edition picture disc. The synth-pop duo's breakthrough was originally released in 2010 and is revisited in full here with all the hits, featuring such as 'Better Than Love,' 'Wonderful Life' and 'Stay.' This debut vinyl pressing adds further value with a side of deluxe edition highlights including the festive fan favourite 'All I Want For Christmas Is New Year's Day' and Arthur Baker's remix of 'Wonderful Life.' It's a sleek and nostalgic listen that reminds of the moody glamour and melodic punch of Hurts' defining debut.
Review: Imagine you're in for a long car journey and can only take one Suede album, which one do you take? Well, this is the one, really. Reissued as an expanded 3CD set, it features all their best b-sides from the hallowed first three albums (Suede (1993), Dog Man Star (1994) and Coming Up (1996), plus a further 19 B-sides and extra tracks from 1999 to 2023. It's the extra, latter day era numbers that are getting a standalone release on vinyl for Record Store Day as Sci-Fi Lullabies Vol.2, but with this CD set you get everything lumped in together as a bumper package. The tracklist is ridiculous: 'The Sadness in You, the Sadness in Me' from 2022 is a power ballad that could stir the most stoic of hearts. 'Another No One' is a slow, achingly beautiful and melancholy number and 'Europe Is Our Playground' - clearly written pre-Brexit - celebrates a golden Schengen era: "From Spain to Camber Sands/Europe is our playground."
Review: Depeche Mode's standout album Violator (1989) produced the landmark song 'Personal Jesus', and with its catchy bluesy riff and innovative but rare use of guitar by the otherwise great synthpop act, the song would upend and expand at the edges of an already well-varied sound. With lyrics inspired by 'Elvis And Me' by Priscilla Presley, exploring themes of devotion and stardom, while the record's controversial promotions saw the band take out personal ads, as well as advertise a phone number through which fans could hear the song. Now Matt Early (aka. Funky Wogan and Hardbag), DJ, producer and remixer extraordinaire of Far Horizon and Sub London fame, lays down an ingenious edit backed by the original number on the flip. Limited numbers on this furtive output, so keep your shopping cart fingers poised...
Review: Kelly Finnigan, based in San Francisco, continues his rich legacy of soul with a fresh collaboration alongside fellow genre legend Renaldo Domino. The pair's new 45, kicks off with 'Keep Me In Mind,' is a track originally laid down in 1967 by Buffalo's Samson & Delilah, but Finnigan brings a modern, soul-soaked touch to the tune, locking in with tight rhythms and vibrant horns, all while channeling the essence of classic male soul duos like Sam & Dave. On the flip side, 'Let Me Count The Reasons,' pulled from Finnigan's recent A Lover Was Born, dials down the tempo into a more tender, romantic groove. Written with long-time collaborator Max Ramey, it beautifully weaves influences from Detroit to Philadelphia soul. This 45 is yet another nod to Finnigan's knack for crafting timeless soul, making it a must-have for DJs and lovers of classic, heartfelt music. With every release, Finnigan proves why he remains at the forefront of modern soul.
Review: Sarah Mary Chadwick's ninth album drifts in on the smoke and hush of a late-night confessional. Half jukebox heartbreak, half art-song seance, we find a multi-talented but downcast musician tiptoeing the edge of a major life shift, as Chadwick sings of the moments before a commitment to sobriety. Hers is the kind of detoxified clarity that only hindsight allows; tremulous voices sing with candid exposure on 'I'm Not Clinging To Life' through subjects of age and lost time, backlaid by piano pitched so high we can feel vicariously the artist's vertigo. The New Zealand-born Melbourner recorded the album with Chris Townend, who reamped the full mix through a piano held open by a sandbag to create its strange, aspirant reverb effect heard throughout. The result is a record attenuated by granular bulks of memory and detachment; devastation, reframed with restraint.
Review: Swedish trio Death And Vanilla continue to carve out their atmospheric niche, blending elements of post-ambient electronica and spectral folk to craft something distinctly unsettling. Their latest foray into live scoring breathes new life into the eerie, folkloric narrative of a 1968 ghost story. As they shift seamlessly between stuttering tape loops, minimalist drum machines, and haunting choral effects, they create a tension that pulls the listener deeper into the supernatural. Tracks like 'Supernatural Breakfast' are pulsing with an old-school, Carpenter-esque vibe, while others, like 'Nightmares', evoke a sense of unease with their swirling winds and spectral sounds. The band's ability to inhabit these otherworldly spaces is a nod to their growing mastery of atmosphere, a skill that's increasingly becoming their signature. Even as they explore the boundary between the familiar and the uncanny, Death And Vanilla remind us that their sound can be as inviting as it is unnervingly strange.
King Fade (CD One: Slow Buildings 30th Anniversary Remasters)
Angel (Will You Be My)
One Blue Hill
Henry
Under Your Nose
Little Gesture
Song Of Solomon
Fine Friend
Gesture Of A Fear
Always I
Suggestion
Fine Friend (CD Two: Fine Friend EP & unreleased Sessions 1993-1995 - extended version)
Special Present (edit)
Marimba
Reprise
On Your Own (Tape demo)
Always I (demo)
Loopy (Tape demo)
Henry (demo)
Angel (acoustic Tape demo)
Honesty Spills (Tape demo)
Marimba (demo)
Review: Up there with other shoegaze trailblazers like Lush, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, Pale Saints set the bar for dreamy, eerie and atmospheric guitar music and have influenced countless bands sketching out similar sounds since. This third album of theirs, which is now getting the full re-release treatment after being long out of print, saw them achieve new pop heights. The three-minute banger 'Angel (Will You Be My)' and 'Under Your Nose' are particularly strong in this regard, with singer Meriel Barham sounding like she laid the foundation for what The Orielles would go on to become. Elsewhere, 'Henry' - a more than ten-minute epic - shows a more harrowing, dark side of theirs with slow and tuned down tones leaning more towards sludge metal. Pale Saints' ability to express themselves so diversely puts them up there as hallowed forefathers of shoegaze who will never lose relevance.
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