Issue 56

Simple, (in the best sense), precise and blessed with a magnificent gift for melody, this record is an absolute must if you like intelligent, reflective pop music.

A great record, and long in the gestation, Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval and MBV’s Colm Ó Ciosóig reunite after eight years to bring us Through the Devil Softly.

I’m sure a million other reviewers will talk about the influence of Andy Weatherall’s production upon this... but there really is a startling bravura that was maybe not noticeable on Street Horrsing.

The music is very much the sort of fun, throw–away affair that will either entrance you or piss you off completely. Personally speaking, I enjoy it lots.

...this, their live LP, is an absolute belter, and one that captures the band in their purest, most undiluted form. Simply put, if you are to own one Brakes LP, then this is the one.

Despite seeming a bunch of bashful, silent types, Joensuu have a mighty powerful vibe, one which is a tad shamanic (yes I’m going to play the Finno-Ugric shaman card sorry)

Enjoyable stuff, if you’re feeling a bit Gothic.

El Radio is a very quiet record. Indeed, so quiet you will have to be patient and give the music a chance over a number of listens.

They are impeccably groomed in the follicle department, so much so that they could easily sneak through a few rounds on X Factor without anyone noticing.

Tracks can become a woozy, slightly drugged plod at times, reminding one, (if we’re going to be fashionable) of Amon Düül 2’s Yeti played at 16rpm, or the Fugs after about 16 pints of mild.

A beautiful LP this one, but if you’re a big fan of AR Kane’s 69 you’ll have heard this kind of floating, dubby abstraction a good twenty years ago.

...who thought it was a good idea to take a bit of Funkadelic’s spirit and beat, the Cosmic Jokers’ synth sound and an interest in the after-life and make it into what genuinely sounds like, and to all intents and purposes is, a zombie musical.

The conceit behind the LP's birth is a marvellous one, and in many ways, a product of the psychedelic era.

The astonishing bravura of the music is something else, as is the track listing; switching as it does through tempo and moods as if the musicians were casting off one pair of trainers in preference for another.

I also get the feeling yer man enjoys spinning a bit of Kate Bush vinyl now and again, as there’s that classic Bush-style balance between outrageously catchy pop and overblown arty sounds

It’s a pretty good LP, with one or two stand-outs; (e.g. Go Home Production’s Love & Fire remix). And the two bonus tracks are pretty great. I do think the powers that be missed a trick by not releasing the original as a bonus CD.

This social comment by our Blessed Elders is akin to David Attenborough telling us the planet’s going to rat shit>

...a packed Kleine Zaal, (full of people who had either found pictures of my sixth form class from 1986 and then swore unyielding fealty to the power of our collective dress sense back then, or borrowed Molly Ringwald’s cast offs en masse), testified to the sheer trendiness of the event.