Review: LA based industrial trio HEALTH have had quite the curious trajectory from their confrontational noise-rock beginnings, to providing the acclaimed score to Max Payne 3, all the way to redefining themselves as a gritty, synth-metal behemoth on 2019's Vol 4: Slaves Of Fear. Following on from their lockdown-inspired two-part Disco 4 collaborative project which boasted cuts written in tandem with artists ranging from a multitude of differing sonic spheres, such as alternative hip-hop (JPEGMAFIA, Ghostemane) to hyperpop (100 Gecs) and even grindcore (Full Of Hell), their latest endeavour appears to be taking cues from both their more vicious experiments as well as their newfound collaborative ethos. With features from the likes of Godflesh and Willie Adler of Lamb Of God, whilst embracing both their metallic and techno-leaning indulgences simultaneously, Rat Wars promises to distil the myriad of components essential to the sonic makeup of HEALTH into one oppressive, melancholic, hellish, absorbing and vital collection.
Review: South London's potent indie auteur Heartworms unveils her highly anticipated debut album here on Speedy Wunderground. It has been produced by longtime collaborator Dan Carey and fuses the driving, motorik energy of Depeche Mode with PJ Harvey's sharp lyrical prowess, and is finished off with the offbeat rhythms of dance-punk favourites LCD Soundsystem. The result is a dark, intense sonic assault that is unmistakably Heartworms in the way it blends gothic post-punk with unashamed emotion and relentless momentum. It once again proves why Heartworms is one of the most exciting new voices in alternative music.
Review: Hedvig Mollestad has a considerable weight of recorded music under her belt from her pre-existing trio with Ellen Brekken and Ivar Loe Bjornstad, and now the Norwegian experimental guitarist is heralding a new outfit for further explorations on the outer edges of jazz fusion. Joining Mollestad on her journey this time around is Stale Storlokken on keys, fresh from Supersilent and Elephant9, and promising improv drummer Ole Mofjell. Weejuns is a freewheeling excursion somewhere around the orbit of bands like Henry Cow, Soft Machine and Mahavishnu Orchestra, captured live from various gigs in Oslo and Stavanger and spread across an expansive double album.
Review: The difficult second. Apparently not for composer and producer David Jospeh. Once again delving into the latter work of Mark Hollis with and without Talk Talk for jumping off points and inspiration, this time the lead artist drafts the muse's son, Charlie Hollis, to play piano on no less than four tracks, alongside band veterans Robbie Macintosh, Laurence Pendrous, Andy Panayi, Martin Ditcham and Simon Edwards. Listing all the other musicians who have contributed here would be a long task, so let's cut to the chase. This is lush stuff, which incorporates but never obsesses over elements of jazz, post rock, ambient and soundscape. It's vast and also notably intimate, like finding the perfect spot of seclusion and shade under a beautiful tree while gazing out over endless horizons.
Review: Talk about appropriate names. There's something about Helen Island that sounds as though it has been cast adrift, washed up, and left to establish its own thing. The Parisian enigma's work feels ghostly, haunted by a past that has vanished into the ocean mist. Whether they'll ever be reunited is the real question, but mystery is the joy here. Whether it's at the uptempo, synth pop hued 'Hot Zone Regular Day', or the weird and wonderful psyche-electronica-field style 'Forever Starts Today', breathy samples on 'Indivisibl' or the innocent contemporary classical-cum-ambient plucked strings and keys of 'Restless Lovers' and 'Gore Lore', the whole thing is a strange and beguiling ride through the outer reaches of popular music.
Review: Second time around for Cosmic Assault, Californian guitar god and sometime Chrome member Barry Johnson's ninth album as Helios Creed. Something of a hard-to-pigeonhole classic, the album combines his ravaged and acid-fried hard rock and psychedelic metal sound with elements of industrial music, horror soundtrack style synths, and all manner of decidedly cosmic and intergalactic sounds. As a result, the set attractively veers from intense, mind-man gling workouts rich in heavy riffs and elongated guitar solos ('Cosmic Assault', 'Rise'), exotic excursions ('The Master'), and more immersive explorations of the outer reaches of the aural universe.
Duster - "And Things Are Mostly Ghosts" (version Overdose mix) (3:18)
Her Space Holiday - "Famous To Me" (Hurtful Kid mix) (3:59)
Tapping (2:44)
Review: Hankerers after 90s band musicians turned Y2K solo electronica artists will water at the mouth at the first play of this one. Her Space Holiday was the first-time solo alias of Marc Bianchi, the American indietronic musician known for his membership of the bands Indian Summer and Calm. Turning his hand to solo soundcraft at the turn of the millennium, and releasing under Skylab and Tiger Style - the latter of which saw to the release of the first edition of this record, albeit with a different sleeve design - Bianchi's solo output would echo the post-hardcore humours that characterised his group work, except for the fact that it would also somewhat electronify them into contrition, resulting in every logical conclusion from lasery broadcast neofolk ('Snakecharmer') to anxiolytic hyperballad emo ('Through The Eyes Of A Child').
Review: Guitarist and composer Patrick Higgins moves out of his comfort zone for a high concept record that pushes boundaries in many directions. As emotionally charged as it is expansive, the title track itself premiered at Monom Studios, Berlin, on a 75 surround speaker setup, giving some idea as to how bold and high spec the ideas are behind the collection as a whole. Versus has plenty of fingers on live instrumentation, but it's also concerned with totems of electronic production - the seamless interweaving of musical textures and layers, free improvisation and an appreciation for bridging styles within and between tracks themselves. Avant garde, ambient, experimental, and installation-worthy stuff from a true great, these are less tracks and more sonic moments contributing to a wider, singular work that's good enough to fully immerse you.
Review: Some 37 haiku poems are given an avant-garde, 64-minute musical backing with translations from poet Harry Gilonis, on this unique project by composer and multi-instrumentalist Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow) and vocalist Atsuko Kamura. We hear a vignetting lingual interplay, with lines in English by Hodgkinson sung in Japanese by Kamura, as a wide instrumental span covers percussions, violin, viola, harp, clarinets, guitars and electronics result. Recorded between Tokyo and London, the album offers a startlingly satisfying sonic renga (a Japanese poetic form encompassing a succession of haikus), lending the brevity of classic haiku an expansive, stretched-out prosthesis. From the 17th through to the 20th-century, this is a subduing but still irregular experience, as it formally demonstrates the laconic and aphoristic essence of the haiku.
When People Are Occupied Resistance Is Justified (10:21)
It's Over, If We Run Out Of Love (5:04)
Emotionally Clear (4:04)
Hope Is The Last Thing To Die (4:50)
You Will Know Me By The Smell Of Onions (4:38)
Necessary Genius (3:42)
Yeah X 3 (4:47)
I Laugh Myself To Sleep (4:13)
Too Muchroom (3:47)
Agitprop 13 (6:50)
Stop Apologising (5:37)
Tyranny Of The Talentless (5:46)
Love In The Upside Down (4:39)
Blind On A Galloping Horse (5:32)
Review: David Holmes' first solo album since 2008's The Holy Pictures, Blind On A Galloping Horse now comes to Heavenly Recordings. A politically-charged LP full of sonic interrogations of political disaster and turmoil, Holmes here joins the cast of artists using their art to provide solace to music fans suffering at the hands of the Uncertainocene. With updated versions of the previously released singles 'Hope Is The Last Thing To Die' and 'It's Over If We Run Out Of Love', as well as a recording of an unreleased song by Holmes' late friend Andrew Weatherall, we're reminded of conflict, migration and othering, as all manner of voices combine to form a diverse but unified whole against a backdrop of leftfield post-punk - be they the spoken word accounts from Afghan and Ukrainian refugees now welcomed as residents in Belfast, or the French and Irish observers of the UK's turmoil of recent years.
Review: Julia Holter's sixth album, Something In The Room She Moves, is a dreamlike exploration of complexity and transformability, featuring flowing harmonic universes and fluid, water-like melodies. Her vocal register, reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux, Nico, or Kate Bush, possesses a matchstick intensity, rekindling its own flame through the conversation in her voice. Holter's diaphragm shifts between instruments, creating a continuum of fretless electric bass pitches counterpointing with gliding vocal melodies. Glissing Yamaha CS-60 adds a touch of experimentalism, while her production choices and arrangements maintain a sense of simplicity and refinement. Holter's singing resonates in somatic frequencies, evoking a deep connection between mind and body. With its liquid, ever-changing nature, 'Something In The Room She Moves' invites listeners to immerse themselves in a world of sound that is both ethereal and profoundly human.
Review: Julia Holter's sixth album Something in the Room She Moves might just be the Los Angeles songwriter's best work. In the past she has often explored memory and dreamlike futures but on this new outing she is very much more in the moment throughout. She explains herself hat "There's a corporeal focus, inspired by the complexity and transformability of our bodies." Musically the album mixes fretless electric bass pitches with her unique vocal melodies. The recognisable sounds of the Yamaha CS-60 interweave with more organic wind instruments and add up to a fluid, watery sound that flows smooth and carries you along with it amongst the gorgeous harmonies.
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