Where were we? Asked that last time, enough of that and on with the music and what we said last time or last week or last year, you’ve read all this already, never mind the damn editorial, cut to the chase and never mind the biscuits or the dogfish, just jump down past this bit, who needs an editorial? Jump past and let the actual music do the actual walking and the actual talking. Exact same thing again, another five (or so) slices of musical things that have passed our way recently and however you like to slice it and of course it was the price of apples and here comes the intro, Don’t be flippant she said, how could it ever be flippant? I can’t remember why she said that now, in one ear, out the other….

Five? There’s something rather compelling about five. Cross-pollination? Five more? Is there another way? A better way? A cure for pulling flying rabbits out of the clouds? Is there a rhyme? Is there a reason? Was there ever a reason? What do reasons make? Five more? Snake oil? Everything must go and same as last time (and the time before that) five, and no, we never do and the proof of the pudding is in that proof reading. When we started this thing, oh never mind, it doesn’t matter why we started this damn thing and like we asked last time, does anyone bother reading the editorial? Does anyone ever actually look down the rabbit hole or is it all just method acting? We do really try to listen to everything that comes in, we do it so you don’t have to, we are very (very) very very picky about what we actually post on these fractured pages or about what gets played on the radio or indeed what we hang in a gallery. Cut to the chase, never mind the editorial, there’s loads of music further down the page, well five or so pieces of music that have come our way in the last few days and cut cut slash and cut it, who needs an editorial or words or worms in general? What’s Wordsworth? Just facts and links and sounds then. Here you go, play the music, grab your five, eat your greens, go eat some art, go eat some fresh music and don’t forget whatever it was we said last time…

Here we go again, five slices of music that have recently come our way, in no particular order, starting somewhere out there in Brooklyn this time

1: Earth Ball – Moon FM is taken from Earth Ball’s forthcoming ‘It’s Yours’ album, out May 17th on Upset The Rhythm, the album is glorious, we’ll tell you more before the week is over, promise, things have been a little more fractured thn usual recently, if you can’t wait (and really why should you?) the album details are on Bandcamp, we will be back with more in a (little) bit though, this sounds massive, this is right up our street, this is far better than Taylor Swift or that bloke who plays for West Brom

We’ll be back in a moment with more coverage, meanwhile, Earth Ball and the rather fine Chris Corsano are touring together, here’s the dates – May 20 – London – Cafe OTO, May 21 – London – Cafe OTO, May 22 – Manchester – White Hotel, May 23 – Bristol – Cube Cinema, May 24 – Shrewsbury – English Bridge Workshop, May 25 – Glasgow – Flying Duck, May 26 – Newcastle – Lubber Fiend, May 27 – Leeds – Wharf Chambers, May 28 – Nottingham – The Chapel, May 29 – Lewes – Con Club.

2: Magic Fig – Well they didn’t take long to hook us in with their San Francisco flavoured prog rock and their jester hats and their bits of punting, give it a moment, let the Market Square Heroes dance around the psychedelic bits, this is the cool as flip second single from Magic Fig’s self titled debut album (out on May 17th), more about the whole album in a minute, for now here’s a tantalising taste…

And here’s a little bit more Magic Fig along with someone else’s words, we’ll be along with our own words in a moment once we’ve unpacked the whole albumand got our ducks all in order, that or those three boats…

“Bursting forth in a bouquet of dreamlike hooks, choral vocals and Moog pitch-bends, Magic Fig’s debut proves that the technicolor heart of San Francisco’s psychedelic lineage is still beating and as vivid as ever. Featuring alumni from the Bay Area’s best and brightest pop, psychedelic and garage bands (The Umbrellas, Whitney’s Playland, Almond Joy and Healing Potpourri among them) Magic Fig’s debut is full of sonic fireworks, top-shelf musicianship, hooks abound and a distinctive melding of prog rock and pop joy reminiscent of the 60s/70s Canterbury greats. Produced by Joel Robinow of Once and Future Band.”

3: clocolan and a rather beautiful slice of Kraut rock flavoured minimal forward movement, you can find the track on Bandcamp, I’m Afraid to Look Out appears to be a new track, the first since the 2023 album that you can find underneath the video. clocolan, from Providence, Rhode Island, is a new name to us, YouTube decided we wanted to listen to the track straight after something else we were playing, so like it when that happens.

4: Normil Hawaiians – Empires into Sand is the first album of new material from Normil Hawaiians in 40 years. The group first refined their sound during the early 80s, hitting on a pastoral experimentalism that drew on ambient drone, motorik impulse and post-punk pep…. Here’s a irst taste, more, lots more, we have a lot of more to do in the coming days, it is a non-stop thing that really should stop soon, we’re well past our sell by date or so I read the other day….

5: Gabriel Birnbaum – Composer and prroducer Gabriel Birnbaum (Wilder Maker, Mutual Benefit, Katie Von Schleicher) has shared The More They Come Around, a track from his new solo LP Patron Saint of Tireless Losers, an album that comes out on June 28th Via Western Vinyl. Here’s some links, all about the links and the signposts and off you go to find out more if you want to. The details in his songs are the things that bring them to life.

And while we are here, it is the first day of May (happy Beltaine) which means the start of a new playlist that will, as always, evolve throughout the month, early days right now and nothing is as it seems, stay tuned as piece of music are added through out the month…