Review: Recorded during the final year of her life, this posthumous release finds Marianne Faithfull looking both backwards and forwards - reconciling the weight of legacy with the intimacy of reflection. Across these four new tracks, she honours the dual foundations of her 60-year career: chamber pop and traditional British folk. 'Burning Moonlight', co-produced with long-time collaborator Head, echoes the melancholic grandeur of 'As Tears Go By', while 'Love Is (Head version)', written with her grandson Oscar Dunbar, floats with tender defiance. The flip side turns to lineage and tradition: 'Three Kinsmen Bold' is stark and ancestral, passed down from her father and 'She Moved Thru' The Fair' is sparse, aching, and spectral. Faithfull was born in Hampstead and came of age in 60s London, and here, on what is now her final release, she returns to the very start - not out of nostalgia, but with grace and resolve. It's the completion of a circle, yes, but it still leaves a faint line trailing off into the air.
Review: Unsettled Scores Records presents the long-overdue release of the soundtrack to The New York Graffiti Experience 1976, a seminal documentary by Fenton Lawless. One of the earliest films to document NYC's graffiti culture, the project began in 1974-75 as a slideshow created by Lawless and producer Justine DiIanni and featured original photos as well as the track 'French Fry 97.' That song, along with other recordings from 1974 by Lawless and his band, now appear on this official soundtrack, which is previously unreleased. The music captures the raw thrill and creativity of a pivotal moment in underground culture so this is a vital piece of NYC history.
Review: In 2021, Douglas Dulgarian of TAGABOW launched Julia's War Recordings with Guttering, a collaborative EP by MJ Lenderman and Wednesday which was described at the time as bringing out the best bits of both artists' work. It's an EP that paired sighing harmonies with dense power chords and twangy lead guitar and set them on the path to becoming the indie rock giants they are in 2025 with Wednesday's Rat Saw God and Lenderman's Manning Fireworks both being loved by indie fans and critics alike. Now back on wax, this early collaboration offers a glimpse of the magic that sparked their rise to the top.
Review: Dorothy Tennov's tenuous concept of "limerence" has fuelled many an artistic outing and project, most notably in recent times an Yves Tumor star cut from the ineluctable PAN compilation, Mono No Aware. But it's UK rising indie star Jacob Alon's new and debut album, In Limerence - wuthering on the bloodied tips of his last 10" 'To Selene' and forerunning 7" 'Liquid Gold 25'- that perhaps really does the most thoroughgoing justice to the erotomanic, smitten concept of impossible, obsessive love. Bold electric modern folk reimaginings and wambling blears are brought out lovingly by speedy hothouser producer Dan Carey, ensuring Alon's ethereal vocals effuse over evocative storytelling on 'Fairy In A Bottle' and 'Confession'.
Review: This LP captures Canadian-American rock outfit The Band live at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre in Washington, DC on July 17, 1976 - not August 16 as often misreported. The group formed in the mid-50s and combined r&b, jazz, Americana, folk and country and are said to have been an early influence on George Harrison as well as the likes of Eric Clapton. Sourced from a soundboard recording for the King Biscuit Flower Hour broadcast, this pressing includes plenty of their essential tracks from the lamenting sax and drums of 'It Makes No Difference' to the more resounding rock 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down', all of which demonstrate the sort of musicianship that led Bob Dylan to choose them to be his backing band on his infamous first-ever electric concert tour in 1966.
Review: The masterful New Jersey-raised, Manchester-based songwriter BC Camplight releases his seventh album. It comes nearly twenty years to the day on from his debut album and two years on from his most widely praised release, The Last Rotation of Earth, regarded as a masterpiece. So expectations are high with this one and thankfully he's not let the pressure get on top of him and has delivered a more cinematic, sophisticated and nuanced record than he's ever managed before. A great place to start wit it 'Fear Life In A Dozen Years', which instrumentally sounds akin to some Japanese AOR and has a sultry swagger. Oddly it takes a proggy left turn into heavy metal, but his fearlessness to blend different styles and the tasteful nature of his arrangements make him one of indie music's true greats.
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