More more more. More albums, shall we dance around it all again, Did we say that last time? Maybe. And the time before? Probably? Where were we? Hey, too many albums not enough time, and (some of) these things do demand proper time and anyway, and, and then, and the Art Car Boot Fair and all that went into that, and you do know we only have time for the good ones don’t you? Well most of the time, then again sometimes, well sometimes we do have to kind of establish where we stand. And we do know no one reads the editorial bit at the top, well why would they? Here’s some more albums, there are so many, the one’s that weren’t delt with yesterday are now all lost underneath the ones that arrived today and that rather good album that landed here last week is burried way down in the mountain with all the others that are demanding time and attention…
The Leaf Library – Library Music: Volume Two (WIAIWYA) – They are quietly beautiful, they never ever are obvious about it, they do make georgeously intelligent pop music, lush, rich, warm, alive. “Gathering together rare recordings, compilation tracks, limited edition releases, collaborations and hidden gems from their ever-expanding musical world”, this is a delightful album, it is a lot more than jsut that though, pop yes, but more, pop might suggest throwaway or instant, this is neither, this is beautifully crafted, sculpted, quietly full bodied, an album loaded with delight after delight, what more needs to be said? – Bandcamp
Madam Orange – Parallax (Amagram) – Madam Orange, an entity uniting Chicago-based avant musicians/solo artists Emily Rach Beisel (bass clarinet, electronics) and Bill Harris (drums, electronics), we’re told they will unveil their “eccentric solo album” Parallax, through Amalgam on October 23rd. Well they’ve revealed it to us today. It is powerful, it kind of feels like less rock-orientated slightly more left field Party Dozen and like Party Dozen, they do have that chemistry, that thing that duos have, that understanding, that appreciation of each other’s space and that sometimes less is a lot lot more. I like the way they allow each other space, that they work so well together, that it does feel like a solo album as they mover as one thing towards the outer limits of heavy improvisation, rhythmic interlock, amplification, and now and again a tasty bit of rather deliciously colourful feedback. it is dense, it is heavy, down at the bass end of things, it is intense, it is fluid, it is instrumental, spontaneous, telepathic, it isn’t an onslaught, far too sophisticated for that, far too crafted, beautifully so. Eleven colourfully focused movements combining “free-range and non-compliant techniques”. A sense of the ethereal here and there, some almost haunting woodwind, subtle, hints of never too obvious electronic manipulation and well, all is well… – Bandcamp / www.amalgamusic.org
Submasq – Spirit Animal (Willowtip) – This sounds a lot like Queensryche did, I suspect this will interest a lot of people far more than it does me. I accidentally went to see Queensryche once, the Royal Albert Hall, it was probably two of the longest hours of my life, this band kind of remind me of that evening with their relentlessly bombastic loop of histrionics and their advise not to trust ourselves. I should go read the e.mail and the press release and see who they actually are, I do like to hit the play button before looking at the baggage. This album has been kind of coming at me at the same pace for most of the morning now, repeated playing it is not winning me over: “Progressive rockers Submasq (formerly known as Subterranean Masquerade) will make its Willowtip debut with the September 18 release of its seventh full-length album, Spirit Animal” – surely they mean their debut and not “its Willowtip debut”, they are a band after all, a group of people, not an “it” whatever AI might want you to think. I assume Willowtip is a record label, you PR people need to stop using AI to write your press releases…
“Submasq’s new album is an autobiographical journey through trauma, addiction, bipolar disorder, and collective memory. At its core lies a constant search for identity and belonging, expressed through nine new songs that embrace bold, accessible songwriting while seamlessly blending ethnic instruments with forward-thinking progressive rock….” Why do bands always want their names is capital letters? It really is annoying. This really isn’t my idea of “forward-thinking Progressive Rock”, far from it, at best it is a fog of rather dated bombastic hard rock that really is crying out for a mood change or two, a touch of light and shade. Forward-thinking? Progressive? Nah, regressive maybe? A 90’s take on Queensryche that I suspect will interest a lot of people far more than it does us. Apparently there’s Oud and bouzouki, violin and cello somewhere in the stew of it all and here’s a note telling us which tracks we can play on the radio – yeah right, dream on. Actually, to be fair, there was about a minute of rest bite just there before they continued with their bombastic operation and their mindcrimes and that’s a morning’s listening I’m never going to get back…
Old Man’s Will – At Last (Small Stone) – They’re from from Umeå (wherever that is?), they sound like they’re from somewhere like Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh on three? They do have a bit of Billy Dunn about them), it is cert much a retro thing, dare I say a typical Small Stone thing? Clean cut radio friendly pop-edged 70’s hard rock, the press release talks of them channeling “the spirit of 1970s hard rock and blues rock acts like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Humble Pie”, they’re nowhere near the heights of those three massive bands and really they’re far far more obvious that that trio, maybe a touch of Lynyrd Skynyrd in their sunny FM radio riffage and some of that slide guitar work and their rather basic yer extreemly crafted laid back Black Crowes feel. This sounds like it should be released on eight-track cartridge, it sounds like it should be blasting in a carefree way from a Ford Mustang with the roof top down and the road open and well, without doing anything remarkable, Old Man’s Will are remarkably enjoyable in a very retro totally unoriginal 70s poppy radio-friendly hard rock kind of way. Apparently Umeå is in Sweden, the album artwork is awful, don’t let that put you off… Bandcamp
The Black Wizards – Force Majeure & The Acts Of God (Hassle) – There’s an urgency to Force Majeure & The Acts of God, the fourth album from Portugal’s The Black Wizards. An album named after the legal phrase used to describe uncontrollable circumstances: “the title reflects the chaos surrounding the record’s creation, while hinting at the band’s own sense of mischief and defiance” and we’re still fighting the mountain of albums here, this one came out a couple of weeks ago, been meaning to mention it, too many albums, easy to let the good ones escape you. The Black Wizards, rather like Frankie and the Witch Fingers, sound like they’d be a blast live, especially in some small overcrowded black hole of a club. They are essentially (yet another) slightly psychedelic hard-edged garage rock ‘n roll band who make all the right musical moves at all the right moments, you kind of know (most of) their moves before they get there, nothing wrong with that, they make those chosen moves deliciously well, righteous, go ahead make a move…
A three piece led by Joana Brito’s jagged no-messing slightly honeyed sometimes (when needed) rather commanding vocals, fuelled by José Gomes’ gravelly replies and that interplay driven by Helena Peixoto’s forceful drumming. Apparently recorded in an intense five-day session with Cooper Crain in Porto, the album is urgent, the rough edges thankful left unattended enough to cut. Yes, there is a rather obviously volatile live energy to it all, an instant buzz, a righteous buzz right there demanding it all. They’re loaded with classic 70s rock riffs, with that garage energy, with the colour of it all, and crucially they’re no one trick pony, there’s soul here, there’s an edge and as positively obvious as a lot of it is, they do have that vital something extra, they’re serious about all this, they’re not just another stepping stone, she certainly isn’t. There’s swagger, there’s a surprising bit of warmth, a curve ball or two, there are different coloured songs, tunes, they’re almost restrained at time, beautifully so. An album you need to let brew a little before it really grabs you properly and I strongly suspect I really need to see this band live… Bandcamp
And on we go…
EXP – Exp (Reptilian Records) – “From the twisted family tree of Cop Shoot Cop, Lubricated Goat, Swans, Live Skull, and then some comes a peculiar mutant hybrid, ring-tailed and sharp of tooth and claw. A new bloodline of nocturnal bug-eyed rock ‘n’ roll beasty for aficionados of the sick punk and psychedelic freak strain. Reptilian Records presents the arrival of EXP and the collective’s eponymous debut LP.” all of which makes me want to cut them some slack and stay with it; Cop Shoot Cop performed on of the best gigs I ever got to see, a low key almost secret thing that almost destroyed the back room of North London’s Bull and Gate.
“Collaborators J. Natz (bass guitar/vocals) and AE Csaky (guitars/synth) are the main protagonists of the Brooklyn-based multimedia project that is EXP. The first two songs recorded on EXP’s eponymous debut album, “Plague” and “Hey Kid,” find the rhythm section from Cop Shoot Cop J. Natz and Phil Puleo playing together for the first time in a dozen years. Puleo having been called away by touring duties with his primary band Swans left the door open for Mr. Bloody Rich Hutchins (Live Skull, Art Gray Noizz Quintet) to drum on the rest of the album. No strangers there, as Natz and Hutchins had done time as the rhythm section for Stu Spasm’s Lubricated Goat….”
Really though, I’m struggling to stay with this and I really don’t know why they have to keep on telling us Billy’s put a mask on, we heard you the first seven hundred times mate, now how about telling us why William has a mask on? Oh, the song has ended without coming anywhere near any kind of conclusion. I guess we’re in some kind of dark moody alternative Swans-ish set of landscapes, right now they’re running through some kind of hazy psychedelic instrumental tune that feels rather foggy and now we’re heading towards The Doors or maybe the Gun Club and well hints of post-rock, noise rock, alternative, cinematic textures, touches of experimentalism and really, the whole stew just kind of lacks that something, that thing that things like this always need, that bit of magic, that x factor, that bit of soul, or that voice or that personality or… Bandcamp
The Ocean – Solaris (Pelagic) – The Berlin band are back with a new line up, the label are pushing it as a Prog Rock thing, what it really is is more of that over-polite rather predictable slicker than slick unadventurous watered down very melodic neo-prog meets some kind of post metal, at best the modern end of Pink Floyd or bands like Porcupine Tree, or maybe even Coldplay go slightly psot metal and really not within a thousands miles of our idea of a Prog Rock thing. I guess they do what they do well enough, no real musical personality but that pretty much seems to be the case with most of these super-slick self proclaiming modern (neo) prog or post metal bands. Here’s their Bandcamp we’ll politely leave you with it and head off to listen to some Cheer-Accident or some Sleepytime Gorilla Museum or Needlepoint or maybe some National Diet. At the very least, something that claims to be Prog Rock should challenge in some kind of way….
Jack Grisham and the Life Undone – Jack Grisham and the Life Undone (Coda Music/Lost In Berlin Records) – “Founding T.S.O.L. frontman Jack Grisham had stepped away from music and was happily writing novels and making films when a chance meeting with German musician Lars Triesch offered an opportunity to make a truly authentic album with a kindred spirit. The result is the single-minded, gorgeously melodic self-titled debut of Jack Grisham and the Life Undone, a record that marries hard pop and alt.rock to the fearlessly eclectic spirit of early Southern California punk rock”. Now I can’t say that melodic Southern California punk rock sound or indeed T.S.O.L never meant that much to me, they maybe do (or did) to some of our readers: “Jack was central to the genre-fluid, stylistically voracious sound of the original T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty), a hugely influential pillar of early 1980s SoCal punk. He also spent much of the ‘90s touring with Epitaph Records punk/alt-rock supergroup The Joykiller. He returned to T.S.O.L. in 1999 until their farewell shows at the turn of 2026”. This is the melodic middle aged sound of a punk rocker growing old gracefully, it doesn’t really bite, there’s no disgrace,, there’s no real sense of anger or anything other than a couple of guys politely enjoying making harmlessly poppy slightly rocky guitar led music, kicking at it would be like kicking at a puppy…. it isn’t on Bandscamp, did I see it was on Spotify? Cant’ really be bothered to check, release their self-titled debut album initially on 2nd October exclusively via Coda Music (whatever the hell that is, some app or other by the looks of it) before dropping worls wide on 30th October via Lost In Berlin Records. This is probably as dangerous as the album gets, it isn’t really for me: “I don’t write for anyone but me,” said Jack. “I’ll never do this because someone else will like it. I’ve learned that lesson hard and it almost put me in the grave”.
And there’s hundreds more waiting….
