Lots of new stuff this week…
Gilroy Mere – The Green Line. Latest from Clay Pipe Music, a gentler, more bucolic version of Ghost Box. This is a nice slice of dreamy folktronica, a musical travelogue inspired by the Green Line buses that used to serve the Home Counties around London. It’s not particularly challenging, but it’s thoughtful and well-arranged: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ZL9eVnvUw
Electric Wizard – Wizard Bloody Wizard. Kind of the flipside of the above, though it’s similarly unchallenging in that it delivers what you expect and does it well. It’s by far the most ‘melodic’ EW album yet, and very Uncle Acid in places.
Antibalas – Where The Gods Are In Peace. Heavy Afrobeat collective from New York (and the main band of the guy behind Here Lies Man, who somebody on this forum is a big fan of…?). It’s good, though pretty much does what it says on the tin ie. a more guitar-intensive version of Fela Kuti’s sound: https://soundcloud.com/daptone-records/antibalas-gold-rush
Broen – I Love Art. Swedish art pop types, some pleasingly clever and quirky synth-driven tunes herein, bit like if Field Music went full-on 80s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3JBiVp_6bk
Brockmann/Bargmann – Licht. Trippy motorik instrumentals from two blokes who used to be in Camera, again not ground-breaking, but agreeably diverting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS_R4Swd-_w
Gökçen Kaynatan – s/t. Maverick Turkish electro psych/prog guy gets the Finders Keepers compilation treatment. There’s a certain element of exoticism/Orientalism about this stuff, but it’s fascinating listening nonetheless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKMwHErP3LE
Motorpsycho – The Tower. Just fantastic, quite possibly their best.
Q is for…
Quartz – Satan’s Serenade. The very definition of hard rock journeymen, Quartz were active from the mid-70s, and supported all of the major players, but never really made it in their own right. This compilation of their first two albums and various singles demonstrates why: some decent riffs and good players, but they’re not quite heavy enough for the NWOBHM, with a proggy AOR tendency unhelpfully creeping in at times. Lacklustre production from Tony Iommi too (see also his career-sinking work with Necromandus) – and ultimately Quartz become a footnote in Sabbath’s timeline, with guitarist and keys player Geoff Nicholls effectively becoming the Sab’s fifth member from Heaven And Hell onwards. On the plus side, this does contain their perfectly decent stab at Mountain’s ‘Nantucket Sleighride’, aka the air-guitaring, headbanging title music to contemporary current affairs show Weekend World. And this has a fine opening riff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kid6AMzcimk
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