ART BRUT **
Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! (Alcopop!)
“Close your eyes and hold on tight / Everything’s gonna be alright”, Eddie Argos reassures us on chipper horn-heavy opening track Hooray! But unfortunately it isn’t – or at least not for the next half hour or so. Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! is a midlife crisis version of Los Campesinos!’ first LP, and Argos an embarrassing dad clinging desperately to his youth by singing about crashing house parties (the title track) and the uncomfortable aftermath of one-night stands (Awkward Breakfast). BW
BARRY ADAMSON ****
Memento Mori (Mute)
Memento Mori is a great introduction to the cinematic soul of Barry Adamson, featuring his work with Magazine, Nick Cave and beyond. John Barry’s soundtrack world was sports cars and Martini; Adamson’s is switchblades. backroom clubs, trilby hats and femme fatales. It is not surprising that David Lynch got hooked on Adamson’s tunes and put in a call. Hopefully Adamson’s back catalogue will be reissued with the same splendour as what Pylon records have done Stateside with Nitzer Ebb. DN
BILL RYDER-JONES ****
YAWN (Domino)
Having lost touch with Bill Ryder-Jones after his departure from The Coral, I don’t know quite what I was expecting from YAWN, his fourth solo LP – but it wasn’t this: an hour of softly-spoken vocals wrapped up snugly in a comfort blanket of drowsy, lambent melody. Opener There’s Something On Your Mind is typical in the way that it starts out all lo-fi loveliness before warm feedback bleeds in, but single Mither steals the show, blossoming with beautiful inevitability into a shoegazey daydream. BW
BISMUTH ****
The Slow Dying Of The Great Barrier Reef (Dry Cough)
The title of Nottingham duo Bismuth’s two-song second album betrays environmentalist concerns – one member has studied extensively in this field – yet itself sounds like tectonic plateshift, incremental erosion of giant masses, the loss of hope for the world. Extreme doom metal with no guitar, TSDOTGBR’s title track lasts 32 minutes and contains not just immense 0mph riffs but long passages of dark ambience and cold ethereality. A fine, original statement in a not-often-innovative genre. NG
DAUGHTERS *****
You Won’t Get What You Want (Ipecac)
Eight years after their third full-length and an extended hiatus, Daughters return with this new collection of music. You Won’t Get What You Want is a fitting title for an album from a band who progressed from technical, complex grindcore into something more refined with every release. This isn’t a sea change, but songs are more articulate, more dynamic and are allowed to breathe with the addition of new instrumentation. It’s not the same as before, but it’s distinctly Daughters all over. GM
DAVID CROSBY ****
Here If You Listen (BMG)
Crosby’s back with his Lighthouse Band – Becca Stevens, Michael League and Michelle Willis – presenting a collaborative effort, writing and trading lead vocals, on this wonderful, mostly acoustic blend of gorgeous guitars and keyboards. They can’t escape comparisons to those soaring CSNY-style harmonies, but so what? Opening single, the thoughtful, spiritual ballad Glory, Your Own Ride (a touching letter to Crosby’s son Django) and I Am No Artist, with Stevens’ Joni Mitchell-ish vocals, all display their beautiful chemistry. RLR
GINGER WILDHEART ***
G*A*S*S MARK II (Round)
So this is a curious release. In 2014 Ginger Wildheart spent the year treating fans and subscribers to three new songs a month. This album is the second of three releases of those songs in album format. Honestly, it sounds a little indulgent: there are abrupt shifts in style between songs and, at first, I felt the whole thing just didn’t hang together. Yet the more I listened the more I liked. One for the fans? Probably. Worth a second listen? Definitely. JPD
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE QUEEN ****
Merrie Land (Studio 13)
Damon Albarn travelled by train around England and Wales for inspiration for this very British album. That’s not to say Merrie Land in introspective. Far from it, this as much a reaction against Brexit Britain as it is a celebration of the island’s land and music. Being produced by Tony Visconti seems to have rubbed off on Albarn, whose phrasing is very Bowie – but it’s the ghost of Syd Barrett that seems to linger in these songs. Whimsical with an underlying menace of surreality. JPD
JACK MAC ***
Swagger Mac (self-released)
This Cardiff saxophonist’s debut is a barrage of tightly executed boiling-over funk, where the party spirit is very much the focus. It’s fun, it sits nicely in the pocket and each instrumentalist oozes skill and finesse. However, many of the songs verge dangerously on the side of corny. The real substance is found in the slower more methodical grooves such as Happy You’re Here, Walk Away, Need A Break and Break Of Day. A promising first offering. CPI
JOSEPHINE FOSTER ****
Faithful Fairy Harmony (Fire)
Whether meant as generosity or punishment, Foster’s latest album weighs in at a hefty 18 songs, though considerably lightened by the Coloradan’s remarkable voice. Pitched somewhere between Vashti Bunyan and Cate Le Bon’s upper register, it wobbles like a singing saw all over Faithful…, over music that twists sparse folk into shapes variously gothic or picaresque. It’s a great mad ramble of an album, sometimes like an old gramophone record beamed from a distant planet, and rewards getting lost in. WS
JULIA HOLTER***
Aviary (Domino)
Anyone joining Holter at the highpoint of …Wilderness is going to be thoroughly bewildered by this confounding test – Holter following up a commercial success with a challenging and sprawling listen. It’s not all bad though, start halfway on the euphoric leftfield pop of I Shall Love 2, jerk to the kaleidoscopic orchestral funk of Underneath The Moon), soak in the austere beauty of Words I Heard then crash your cortex into the wall of sound of I Shall Love 1. CS
LAIBACH ****
The Sound Of Music (Mute)
You, you utter sham liberal, are not ideologically cleansed enough to be able to comprehend the dialectic of Laibach, they of once annoying-to-communists-now-playing-North Korea ironically fame. Less so shall you even begin to comprehend the critique of capitalism contained within the pounding beats and plush orchestration of their cover of that pinnacle of Western cultural imperialism, The Sound Of Music. Even when creating such tawdry puns for the masses as rhyming Maria with Korea, their intellectual fervour knows no bounds! Also, it’s really good. FT
MAN WITHOUT COUNTRY ****
Infinity Mirror (Killing Moon)
It’s been a bumpy road but Welsh musician, vocalist and producer Ryan A. James is back with renewed energy. Infinity Mirror is a mix of electropop and dreampop/shoegaze and includes singles Remember The Bad Things and recent release Achilles’ Heel. The album has lots of solid beats, but vocally and tonally tracks are too similar, except for the musically haunting Lafayette, far too short even at six minutes. I wanted more Lafayette. LN
MARIANNE FAITHFULL ****
Negative Capability (BMG)
An acquired taste, Faithfull rewards the faithful with reflection on life, loneliness, aging and death encroaching. In her indomitable, no-BS way and trademark raspy, deep voice, she doesn’t so much sing as recite. She’s Puck and The Gypsy Faerie Queen paired again with Nick Cave in this folksy, splendid single, yearning for someone to love in the hauntingly beautiful In My Own Particular Way and eulogizing close friends who’ve passed in songs like Don’t Go, that are devastatingly disconsolate and exquisite. RLR
MIKE DENNIS *****
Edge In Wordways (self released)
Ever-productive hip-hop violinist Mike Dennis has been constant with his wordsmithery since first appearing a few years ago. Edge In Wordways is fresh right from album opener Astronaut, its originality and essential humour living alongside sounds that are astounding, especially when created by one person. Rob Nichols (aka Junior Bill, who features on a track) captured it perfectly when he described to me the amount of excellent tunes and rhymes Mike had just sitting there waiting for an album to be placed on. JE
SETH LAKEMAN ****
The Well Worn Path (Cooking Vinyl)
This is a strong return for the youngest of the Lakeman brothers after 2016’s Ballads Of The Broken Few, a dirgy, uninspired offering. After hitting the road with Robert Plant, both as support act and band member, The Well Worn Path doesn’t sound in the least bit Zep-like. But it does sound more Seth-like: varied, catchy, easy on the ear and at times, moving. The return of sister-in-law Kathryn Roberts’ beautiful backing vocals is a welcome reminder of Lakeman’s earlier landmark releases. JPD
TY SEGALL ****
Fudge Sandwich (In The Red)
Fuzz guitar tyrant Ty Segall’s umpteenth album is all big, noisy, fuzz-rock covers. This set rises above most covers albums due to the band’s ability to find the dead centre of each song. Among selections by Sparks, John Lennon and some interstellar overdrive Funkadelic action, their version of War’s bob-along-athon Lowrider sees the suspension completely stripped out, revealing a fuzzed groove and the sheer coolness that was always lurking behind the original’s poppy veneer. AJ
VARIOUS ****
Kreaturen Der Nacht (Strut)
Despite thriving under quintessential conditions – decadence and austerity alike, industrial bleakness, political turmoil – Germany’s postpunk scene of the pre-unification 1980s doesn’t get talked about that much, perhaps because the bands had the cheek to sing in their own language. Here as often, though, ex-Optimo cratedigger JD Twitch is a fount of wisdom, compiling 16 early-decade songs spanning saxy femme chantalongs, snaky dub-rockers, bedroom DIY clankers and a swish mutant disco edit, by Twitch himself, of Christiane F’s Wunderbar. NG
VESSEL ****
Queen Of Golden Dogs (Tri Angle)
Following on from 2014’s Punish, Honey, Queen Of Golden Dogs finds Bristol-via-London producer Vessel moving into a much more interesting direction. Largely eschewing the harsher industrial dynamics that characterised previous efforts, QOGD finds Vessel mixing in influences from the likes of chamber music along with the usual electronic eccentricities. The results are intriguing but a mixed bag, and may turn off some – however, those that stick with it are in for a challenging and rewarding listen. ML
SINGLE
AL MOSES *****
I Want More (Forté Project)
Merthyr quartet Al Moses reckon their debut single is an “anthem for the disillusioned youth”; I Want More is good old rock’n’roll with punk riffs and a hint of Britpop. Musically and vocally tight, this track has the spirit of the 90s with the force of 1976. I want more! LN
ANI GLASS ****
Peirianwaith Perffaith (Neb)
Like a skyscraper’s revenge on Godzilla, Ani Glass’ music is high-sheen and devastating, electronic pop way too classy to emanate from Cardiff. Peirianwaith Perffaith is probably her best statement yet: five minutes of synth prod and vocal flutter that edges towards a climax but always keeps one step away. A swoon. WS
BAUHAUS ****
The Bela Sessions EP (Leaving)
Pete Murphy’s otherworldly voice kicks in on this 1979 version of Bela Lugosi’s Dead and you’re back in the early days of goth-rock. Unearthed numbers Some Faces and Harry (about Debbie) are catchy ditties, while Bite My Hip is the first version of Lagartija Nick. Made me want to dress in black and have a Beggar’s Banquet. LN
MADI *****
Dirty (Word) (self-released)
Wonderful electropop from MADI, Cardiff’s Maddie Jones plus band, with dreamlike waves floating throughout and wonderful vocals a constant. Maddie has always been a very creative person but the wondrous swirling sounds that encapsulate this record are beautiful. I’m going to sit down and have a cup of tea while I await more releases… JE
RED TELEPHONE ***
Victoria Park (Libertino)
Had The Beatles hailed from Cardiff rather than Liverpool, they might have eulogised Victoria Park rather than Penny Lane. Had The Kinks ever come to Canton, they might have found it the perfect place for lazing on a sunny afternoon. Red Telephone certainly think so, with a single that sails perilously close to parody but just about deserves the benefit of the doubt. BW
WESTERMAN ****
Ark EP (Blue Flowers)
This new(ish) London songwriter will almost certainly lure you in to his captivating world by the close of this short EP. Sprawling soundscapes tick gently along with shimmering guitars, soft synth lines and a sporadic bass and vocal. It all feels very warm, free and open, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s songwriting approach; quaint stories that take you on an intriguing and fulfilling journey. CPI